Windspeaker Sports Briefs - November 2014

Attack Off To Solid Start

The Batchewana Attack got off to an ideal start in the Canadian International Hockey League which is in its first year of operations. The Attack, coached by former National Hockey League player Denny Lambert, who is Ojibwe, won its first three regular season contests in the eight-team league.

The Attack is playing its home contests on First Nation land, at Rankin Arena in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

The CIHL’s moniker is somewhat misleading. All eight of the entrants in the inaugural season of the Junior A circuit are based in Ontario.

Despite winning its first three contests, the Attack were in a three-way tie for top spot in the league standings. That’s because the Collingwood ICE and the Colborne Hawks also both registered victories in each of their first three matches.

After winning its historic first contest 6-2 over the Espanola Rivermen on Oct. 4, the Attack then registered a pair of rather lopsided triumph. The Batchewana side thumped the Greater Sudbury Royals 11-1 on Oct. 11. Two days later the Attack then blanked the same Royals 11-0.

Lambert played a total of 504 NHL contests, splitting his time between the Anaheim Ducks, Ottawa Senators, Nashville Predators and Atlanta Thrashers.

Lambert is no stranger to the junior hockey ranks in Sault Ste. Marie, his hometown. Before turning pro, he had played in the Ontario Hockey League with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. After his pro days he also spent eight seasons coaching the Greyhounds, including three years as head coach.

One of the world’s most exciting young lacrosse stars will now be playing professionally with a Canadian-based team. Johnny Powless, who had spent the past three seasons in the National Lacrosse League with the Rochester Knighthawks, was traded to the Vancouver Stealth last month.

Though he’s just 21, Powless, a Mohawk Turtle who lives in Ontario in the Six Nations community of Ohsweken, already has an impressive lacrosse resume. He won three straight NLL championships with the Knighthawks, in his first three seasons in the pro ranks.

Powless was also still eligible to play in the Junior A ranks in the Ontario Lacrosse Association this past season with his hometown Six Nations Arrows.

He was the captain of the Arrows, who not only captured their league title but also went on to win the Minto Cup, the national Junior A championship.

After his season with the Arrows was over, Powless joined the Six Nations Chiefs, a Senior men’s squad that captured their national crown, the Mann Cup, after winning their Ontario-based league called Major Series Lacrosse.

Powless was also a late call-up for the Chiefs last year, when they also won the Canadian title.

Powless will play his first game in a Stealth uniform on Jan. 3 when the Vancouver side kicks off its 2015 campaign on the road versus the Calgary Roughnecks.

The nine-team NLL also includes the Edmonton Rush, Toronto Rock, Colorado Mammoth, Buffalo Bandits, Minnesota Swarm and New England Black Wolves.

Though he’d obviously prefer to be in the professional ranks now, Eric Roy has returned to the Western Hockey League (WHL) for a fifth season.

Roy, who turns 20 on Oct. 24, had been drafted by the Calgary Flames in the fifth round, 135th over-all, in the 2013 National Hockey League’s Entry Draft.

But the Flames’ brass does not feel the Metis defenceman is quite ready to play pro. As a result, Roy, who attended Calgary’s main training camp in September, once again finds himself playing in the WHL for the Manitoba-based Brandon Wheat Kings.

Roy had also been invited to the Flames’ main training camp a year ago. Though he knew then he’d be returning to the junior ranks he was unable to showcase his skills as an abdominal wall strain kept him out of action.

Roy, who is in his final season of junior eligibility, is once again expected to be a key member of the Wheat Kings’ defence.

After a 19-point rookie campaign back in 2010-11, Roy started to receive considerably more attention during a phenomenal sophomore season. He earned 53 points in 69 contests during his second year in Brandon.

Roy, who is 6-foot-3 and 208 pounds, then had a career high 17 goals during his third year with the Wheat Kings. He also chipped in with 22 assists to end up with 39 points that year.

Roy earned 44 points (11 goals, 33 assists) in 66 games last season.