Villager November 14 pg 11_Villager May 26 pg 11 12-11-13 3:26 PM Page 1
The Villager November 14, 2012 Page 11
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NFL Canada Coach of the Year runner-up Continued from the front Seven years ago, he formed the St. Thomas program. “We were the first school in the area to have a team. Cornwall had some programs so we played against them and even against Quebec teams in the first year.” Now there are programs all over Prescott-Russell and Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry and the school doesn’t need to travel as far to play games. In 2008, Longval also began the local minor football program, the Russell Renegades. “I started mainly with the administrative stuff and recruited coaches. Then when my oldest son was able to play, I began coaching his team.” When asked what it is that drives him to coach, for Longval, it really is the impact he has on the players. “Our society doesn’t always focus on necessities of life. We try to set kids up not to fail but sometimes in life you are going to fail. Sports can be used to challenge kids and show them how to deal with a failure. It teaches them to be accountable to others.” It is not just the impact he sees with current players. Longval also cherishes seeing former players come back and start coaching themselves. “It is an unbelievable experience when you see a kid that you coached returning the favour as a coach themselves.” Longval spends considerable time not only coaching football, but hockey, rugby, soccer and teaches personal fitness classes. Despite his busy schedule he loves what he does. “Someone once told me ‘you can sleep when you’re dead.’ I know it is a lot
of work but the rewards outweigh the effort.” One of the rewards Longval saw recently was the first championship for the school in the form of a junior boys title this past season. But it is not always the wins and losses that Longval remembers. “I think just certain games where the boys turn into men because they have to dig deep and persevere. Seeing them develop character and move on as a coach or player at a higher level is very rewarding.” One player Longval has seen elevate his game to a higher level, team Ontario, is Shane Kelly, an 18-year-old, defensive end who has played under Longval for seven years. “This is a great honour for him. It is so well deserved.” Kelly says that there are many things that make Longval a great coach. “He has an understanding for the players because he played university football himself. He is a good teacher who cares about his players. He will tell guys what they need to do to get to the next level and is very motivating. He teaches you the basics because he knows how to play every position. He’s really just a phenomenal guy.” Someone else who sees all of the work Longval puts in is his wife, fellow teacher, coach and athletic director at St. Thomas, Penny, who says she was brought to tears when she heard the effort taken by the students. “I am just so proud. Football for Nick is a yearlong thing. When one season is done he begins planning for the next. I will regularly see him in bed with his laptop creating plays and of course he is
involved in many other sports.“ Penny was quite happy to share the news of Longval’s finalist nomination with the rest of the faculty at the school. “It was huge for showcasing the school. I sent out an email to all of the teachers not just because of the award, but because it was all student driven. Every one is so excited and proud of the students who made it happen. For the students to reward him like that is just so gratifying for coaches to know that we have been good role models.” way Longval The approaches coaching is something that Penny believes is good for the school. “He makes all of his players accountable. To the rest of the team and in the classroom. We have seen kids who have no drive that are on the verge of failing come into a team that he coaches and have seen their behavior turn right around. His players come to school with a new drive.” It is not only the players he coaches at the school that he affects. Longval’s contributions have reached the teams in the community he is part of. “So many times he is asked to coach a team or be an assistant and to hear kids say ’I can’t wait to get to STA, so that I can be coached by him’ is really something to be proud of.“ It is that influence on sport in the Russell community that makes Longval truly deserving of this honour. London’s Dave Hocking was awarded the title, while Abitibi-Témiscamingue's Trevor Allen-Monaghan was named along with Longval as the other runner-up.
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St. Thomas Aquinas teacher/coach Nick Longval, seen left coaching the junior Ravens, has been named one of the nine finalists for NFL Canada’s Coach of the Year Award. More than 350 coaches across the country were nominated making a finalists’ nomination that much more impressive. Longval was the founder and is involved with both the program at St. Thomas and the Russell Renegades.
Courtesy photo
Panthers lose two on weekend EMBRUN—The weekend started poorly for the Embrun Panthers and ended even worse. The Panthers began with a trip to La Peche on Nov. 9 where they returned home failing to gain any points and then fell to St. Isidore on Nov. 11. Embrun 2 La Peche 6 La Peche wasted little time in getting the scoring started, as 3:30 into the first Dominick Lafrenière-Renaud scored, while Andries Selst was in the box for hooking. The Panthers got that one right back 1:15 later when Eric Garrioch scored from Ryan Kemp and Taylor Armstrong. The teams remained tied at one at the
break. La Peche took the lead in the second with a goal by Guillaume Grégoire. Again the Panthers drew even and again it was Garrioch with his second of the game, 2-2 after two. Unfortunately, only one offense was clicking in the third and it was La Peche’s. The Preds scored four goals, David Gironne, Gauvreau, Antoine Danick Cloutier-Chapman and Lafrenière-Renaud’s second to take the 6-2 win. Dana Polex was in the Panthers net and took the loss. Embrun 1 St. Isidore 4 The Panthers looked to rebound two days later when
they travelled to St. Isidore. The home side jumped out to a big first-period lead with a trio of goals to lead 3-0 after one. St. Isidore added to their advantage in the second making 4-0 with one period to play. Embrun did break the shutout in the third with a goal by Dexter MacMillan, but it was not enough as St. Isidore took the win 4-1. Félix Lalonde scored three goals and assisted on Alexandre Lamarche’s other tally in the win for St. Isidore. Polex took the loss for Embrun; Ghislain Nadeau earned the win for St. Isidore. This week Embrun will visit Papineauville on Nov. 18 looking to get back on track.
Jets dropped by Canadians; defeat Golden Knights OTTAWA– The Metcalfe Jets, fresh off a big win at home against the Gatineau Mustangs on Nov. 4, rolled into the Brian Kilrea Arena Nov. 6 night and were outhustled by the Ottawa Junior Canadians en route to a 6-1 loss. The Jets followed that performance with a good showing, thanks to goaltending and timely goals, that propelled the Jets to victory when Ottawa West came to town on Nov. 11. Jets 1 Canadians 6 Only able to generate 15 shots in the game, and few quality scoring chances, Metcalfe struggled to skate with the Junior Canadians who controlled the flow of the game and seemed to be able to break out of their zone with ease. The Jets lone goal came short-handed at 5:23 of the first period as Daniel Abraham took a feed from Glenden Bakker and fired a low shot to beat Ottawa’s goalie Matt Couvrette, which at the time tied the
game at 1-1. Ottawa then scored five unanswered goals over the remaining two periods to post the victory. Jet’s goalie Ryan McLaughlin was peppered with 28 shots and took the loss; Matt Courvette earned the win stopping 14. Both team could not get it going on the power play, the Jets were 0-3; while the Canadians went 0-2. Jets 4 Golden Knights 2 The Metcalfe Jets had the right recipe fˇor a win over the divisional powerhouse Ottawa West Golden Knights as net-minder Eric Drouin made a number of big stops early in the game, and veteran Patrick Martin returned to the lineup following an absence due to an injury and helped spark the Jets offence to a 4-2 victory in the increasingly tight Metro division of the EOJHL. After a tight-checking and scoreless first period, Martin opened the scoring for Metcalfe at 13:42 of the
second frame. Martin fired his second goal of the period, on the power play, at 8:23 of the period. The Golden Knights, who entered the game tied with Gatineau atop the Metro division, responded in the third with two goals off the sticks of Phil Edgar and Brad Mason to tie the game at two with eight minutes left in the third period. The Jets’ Joel Cunningham broke the deadlock with just over four minutes left in the match and Scott Fleming put the insurance marker into an empty net with just seventeen seconds left on the clock. Drouin celebrated the win by stopping 24 of 26 Ottawa shots while Golden Knights net-minder Benoit Larocque was tagged with the loss kicking out 22 of 25 Jet’s shots. ˇMetcalfe travels to Buckingham Nov. 16 for a date with the Gatineau Mustangs before returning home to host the Ottawa Junior Canadians on Nov. 18.
Broomball World Champs!
The 2012 World Broomball Championship was recently held in Ottawa Valley venues such as Beckwith, Carleton Place, Arnprior, Almonte, Pakanham from Oct. 29 to Nov 3. Teams from different countries such as Japan, Australia, United States, Italy and Switzerland arrived in Canada to play for broomball supremacy. The Ottawa STARS, a team composed of girls from our region, including Russell, St-Albert, Crysler, Finch, Berwick, Chesterville and Ingleside, went on to capture the championship. They were undefeated throughout the tournament and allowed only one goal against. It was a terrific tournament for them, as they came home with the world cup. The girls will defend their title in two years, in Japan. Janessa Byers, Amy Corvinelli and their coach Gerry Wever were voted to the 1st All-Star line and Byers was also awarded MVP of the tournament. Here, the team poses with the world cup. In front is Rachel Labelle (assistant captain), front row; from left; Becky Ouderkirk, Annie Arcand, Natalie Legault (captain), Leigh Ann Dearing, Trisha Leduc (assistant captain), Justine Byers, Chanel Marion, Nicole Burd, Suzanne Hayes, back row; Raymond Legault (trainer), Gerry Wever (head coach), Kathleen Vallance, Chantal Legault, Stephanie Legault, Lana Begg, Janessa Byers, Amy Corvinelli, Annelie Lanthier, Stephanie Lanthier, Lisa Labelle and Keith Presley (assistant coach). Submitted photo