Guelph Mercury: CWDHS' Uhrig Dominating Under the Basket

Article By:  Rob Massey

GUELPH — If he wanted to be, Ty Uhrig of the Centre Wellington Falcons could be a force to be reckoned with in the District 10 high school senior boys' basketball league. 

He wanted to be a force Tuesday as he scored 34 points in leading the Falcons to a 64-47 victory over the Centennial Spartans. 

"That was my best game of the year," he said. "The key was to work the ball down low and get me good looks." 

"I think he had his most complete game today," Centre Wellington coach Jeff Brubacher said. "We've been challenging him to go to work in the paint and use his size. Today, it paid off for him for sure." 

At six-foot-seven and a half, Uhrig is one of the taller players in the league and he is usually used under the baskets at both ends of the court. However, he isn't afraid to stop and put up a long shot now and then. He hit two three-pointers against the Spartans. 

"I'm athletic and I can shoot threes," he said. "I'm working on my dribbling right now, but I can shoot the long ball, too." 

However, he likes the play under the basket and he doesn't mind the physical play that comes with living there. 

"It's a higher-percentage," he said of shots from in the paint near the hoop. 

The Falcons led throughout the game as they were up 15-10 after the first quarter, 33-22 at halftime and 51-37 after the third quarter. 

James Scott collected 13 points for Centre Wellington while Jasmer Brar hit for 16 points to lead Centennial while Chris Jin had 10. 

The win secured a home game in the quarter-finals for the Falcons. Such is the eight-team league this year that the top four have already clinched home games in next month's playoff openers with three games to go in their regular seasons. 

"We let a couple get away from us," Brubacher said. "I'm not saying we would've won them, but the opportunity was there and we didn't close the door. We're in a good position right now. We've got three tough games coming up and we want to be peaking at playoff time for sure." 

"We've had our ups and downs so far," Uhrig said. "We've been doing pretty good in tournaments so far, but in season games, we're in the middle. I'm hoping we can win our next three games so we can get a higher seed for the playoffs." 

The St. James Lions lead the league at 11-0 and are followed by the Bishop Macdonell Celtics at 10-1, Ross Royals at 8-3 and the Falcons at 7-4. Centre Wellington completes its regular season with games against St. James, Ross and the Lourdes Crusaders (3-8). 

"We had high expectations," Brubacher said of Centre Wellington's hopes heading into the season. "We thought we could be certainly in the conversation as one of the top teams in the league. We've won a couple of tournaments and played well, but we know we've got a lot of work to do." 

Bishop Macdonell 59 Lourdes 53

Chris Poloniato led Bishop Mac with 19 points while Jake Chaput added 13. Craig Valeriote and James Gerstenkorn each had 13 for Lourdes while David Khayapangi added 12. 

St. James 76 Guelph CVI 26

Scoring details were not reported. 

D10 Jr. Boys Basketball

Ross 35 Orangeville 33

Scoring details were not reported. 

Bishop Macdonell 32 Lourdes 29

Kurt Suilanna and Matteo Straddiotto collected seven points apiece for Bishop Mac. David Casupanan led Lourdes with 12 while William Vandenheuvel had 10. 

Guelph CVI 54 St. James 33

Lincoln Rosebush hit for 14 points for GCVI while Rip Singh had 13 and Tapan Aghera chipped in with 12. Matt Sanvido had 12 for St. James while Mike Piovesan contributed 10. 

Centennial 45 Centre Wellington 26

Andrew Gray's 13 points led Centennial while Tommy Nield followed with 10. Cole Newton had 10 for Centre Wellington while Camden LeBastide had nine. 

Retrieved From:  http://www.guelphmercury.com/sports-story/5256209-centre-wellington-s-uhrig-dominating-under-the-basket/

WCSSAA Junior Tuesday: Standings Log-Jam As Teams Hit Home Stretch

There's still a ton to be decided as we enter the final month of the WCSSAA Junior Boys' basketball season.

For starters, the standings at present currently have seven (yes, seven!) teams that sit at 6-2 records or better.  

Not only that, but the three teams that follow them in the standings --- KCI, WCI, and Cameron Heights --- have either been in my CWOSSA rankings or in the discussion at various points during the season.

All told, that makes 9 teams with a lot of sorting out to do before the final standings are determined.

As for Tuesday's results:

The undefeated SJAM Highlanders continued their roll, winning 72-48 over Eastwood.  Brian Zapp had 16 for the 'Landers, while Prabhjit Sangha had a game-high 17 for ECI.

Forest Heights received 18 points from Branko Damjanovic in a 60-39 win over WODSS.  Christian Payne led the Crusaders with 15.

It was another close one for Grand River, as they nipped Cameron Heights, 57-54.  Luka Ninkovic (16) topped GRCI while Martin Gjorgiev had 15 for the Gaels.

Huron Heights eked out a 51-48 road win over WCI, with Kuel Thomas putting home 19 points in that win.  Abil Mesfin had 14 for the Vikes.

KCI was a 48-29 winner over Elmira, with Aleks Novicic scoring 13.  Jacob Fulcher had 9 for the Lancers.

Southwood dropped Preston, 54-41.  Noah Robinson topped the Sabre scoring with 14, while also recording 14 points were Panthers Mohammed Soleh and Isaac Mapp.

Glenview Park continued to impress, winning 42-29 over Hespeler.  Huzaifa Hassan had a game-high 17 for GPSS in that win.

Bluevale, meanwhile, didn't have much difficulty in dispatching the Galt Ghosts; 53-22 was the final there.  Greg Smith poured in 24 points for Bluevale, while Sullivan Murphy had 9 for GCI.

WCSSAA Junior Standings
1.  SJAM 8-0
2.  Eastwood 7-1
T3.  Forest Hts. 6-2
T3.  Glenview Park 6-2
T3.  Huron Hts. 6-2
T3.  Grand River 6-2
T3.  Bluevale 6-2
T8.  KCI 4-4
T8.  WCI 4-4
T8.  Cameron Hts. 4-4
T11.  WODSS 2-6
T11.  Preston 2-6
T11.  Southwood 2-6
14.  Galt 1-7
T15.  Elmira 0-8
T15.  Jacob Hespeler 0-8

WCSSAA Senior Tuesday: Standings Shake-Up As Gaels Top Rens

What a difference a week makes.

No, I'm not talking about becoming a new dad at this time last week, but rather the shake-up in the WCSSAA standings that have occurred over the past seven days.

In particular, the Grand River Renegades, who entered WCSSAA play last Thursday with an unblemished record, have now dropped two straight after a 65-57 home loss to Cameron Heights.

Sasha Simic poured in 26 points in the win, with Nik Farkic adding 10.  Vatrik Odouk (23) and David Bajic (12) topped the Renegade scoring.

The Rens now sit with two losses, tied with KCI (though the Rens have 7 wins to the Raiders' 6).  As a result of the KCI win over GRCI last week, it is the Raiders who now control their destiny the rest of the way (and would pass the Rens in the standings should KCI win out).  They have a decent schedule, with the biggest challenge appearing to come from rival WCI.  

Enough about that for now, as there's still plenty of time to play.

The Grand River loss was also good news for SJAM, who move into first-place after a 63-54 win at Eastwood.  Brett Parrott (21) and Simon Petrov (16) topped the 'Lander scoring while Cham Ujullu had 14 for the Rebs.

The aforementioned Raiders spread around the scoring in a 73-29 win at Elmira.  Seif Adan had 13 for KCI, while Dan Howell notched 11 for Elmira.

The WCI Vikings picked up a big win before starting the "murderers row" portion of their schedule, beating Huron Heights, 57-42.  Griffin Floto and Aaron Grubb had 9 each for the Vikes, while Arshid Babury also tallied 9 for Huron.

Preston won an all-Cambridge battle 50-43 over Southwood, topped by 14 points from Jaskaran Attwal.  Moiz Masud had 13 for the Sabres.

Galt's TJ Lall only had 14 points on Tuesday but the Ghosts didn't need his scoring prowess in a 45-31 win over Bluevale.  Ryan Clutton led the Knights with 7.

WCSSAA Senior Standings
1.  SJAM 7-1
2.  Cameron Hts. 6-1
3.  Grand River 7-2
4.  KCI 6-2
T5.  Forest Hts. 5-2
T5.  WCI 5-2
7.  Galt 4-3
8.  Eastwood 4-4
9.  Huron Hts. 3-4
10.  Preston 2-5
11.  Bluevale 2-7
T12.  Jacob Hespeler 1-6
T12.  Southwood 1-6
14.  Elmira 0-8

Tuesday: WCSSAA & D10 Picks

WCSSAA (YTD: 36-8)
WCI over Huron Heights (by 9)

KCI over Elmira (by 35)

SJAM over Eastwood (by 15)

Preston over Southwood (by 7)

Cameron Hts. over Grand River (by 5)

Galt over Bluevale (by 18)

D10 (YTD:  24-2)
BMAC over Lourdes (by 13)

CWDHS over Centennial (by 6)

St. James over GCVI (by 31)

JF Ross over Orangeville (by 21)

D8 Monday: Phoenix Push Eagles, Saints Cruise Past Celtics

Yesterday in D8 Senior action, the St. Mary's Eagles maintained their league & playoff D8 winning streak although they were pushed at home by the Resurrection Phoenix, holding them off in a 76-69 victory.

Rez lead 28-27 in the first half but some hot shooting by David Nguyen (4 three-pointers) helped the Eagles to a 44-34 halftime edge.

Rez battled back in the second half, cutting the deficit to two points (57-55) by the end of the third, but would not get any closer.

Nguyen finished with 17 points (5 threes) in total.  Jermaine Lyle (11), Minas Abara (9) and Tyrick Thompson (9) rounded out the top four Eagle performers.

Rez received a game-high 24 points from Muyang Iluya and 22 more by Korbil Gany, with Ali Rashid adding 7.

The other D8 senior game on Monday saw St. Benedict get 25 points from Zubair Seyed en route to a 64-47 win over St. David.  Evan Rodenburg added 10 for the Saints, while John McElroy led the way for St. David with 15 points.

St. Mary's continues to lead the "A" division with a perfect 8-0 mark, followed by St. Benedict (6-2), Resurrection (4-4) and St. David (3-5).

Junior
In junior action on Monday, St. David handled St. Benedict by a 60-47 final, backed by 24 points from Brent Lasovich.  Daniel Douse notched 20 for the Saints in defeat.

St. Mary's outscored Resurrection 20-10 in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 58-42 victory.  Jason Jaros led the way with 18 points for SMHS; Jamu Iluya also had 18 in response for Rez.

Pat Martini continued his strong play for PRDG with a 25-point effort in their 51-38 win over Monsignor Doyle.  Caleb Figueiredo had 20 for the 'Stangs.

St. Mary's (9-0) and St. David (8-1) have virtually assured themselves of home playoff games in the "A" division.  St. Benedict (5-4) and Resurrection (4-5) round out the circuit, while over in the "B" division, its PRDG (5-4) followed by Rockway (3-6), Doyle (1-8) and Woodland (0-8).

Weekend Update: Rebels Win In Sarnia

We'll start playing some catch-up over some things that I missed, with the "easiest to report" getting a bit of priority.

The Eastwood Rebels took home the title at the St. Clair "Colt Classic" in Sarnia this past weekend, going 3-0 with all victories by double-digit margins.

Eastwood defeated Ursuline College 76-49 in their opener, with Cham Ujullu netting 20 and Ousmane Kromah adding 18.

A semifinal win went down as a 59-41 final over East Elgin.  Kromah notched 21 and Emmanuel Malek added 12 in that one.

The tournament finals were a 76-39 win over hosts St. Clair, with Ujullu (18) and Kromah (14) again leading the way.

ECI is back in WCSSAA action today, hosting SJAM.

Saints Invitational: Senior Edition

This year's version of the (Senior) Saints Invitational -- a 24-team event -- continues the tournament's unique traditions of years previous.

Most notably, the tournament brings together a wide variety of teams from across the province, and some very competitive ones at that.  As such, it's a difficult tournament to win not only by virtue of the teams playing, but, in addition, the winning team must put together 5 wins in a very tight time-frame.

This year's draw features several CWOSSA ranked teams (Grand River, WCI, St. Benedict, St. James, Bishop Mac, Forest Heights), as well as a couple of provincial-calibre programs (D'Youville, St. Francis, St. Patrick's).

It's a "pool play" event this year.  24 teams, with the winning team from each pool advancing to the quarterfinals.  2nd place teams will play an 8-team "consolation bracket" and 3rd place finishers will play one remaining game against another 3rd place finisher.

Pools are:

A - WCI, Appleby College, St. Anne's (Windsor)

B - St. Benedict, Clarke Rd. (London), Huront Hts. (Kitchener)

C - LaSalle (Sudbury), Glendale (Hamilton), St. Francis (St. Catharines)

D - Jacob Hespeler, St. James, Kingston Frontenac

E - Grand River, Bishop Mac, Turner Fenton (Brampton)

F - St. Pat's (Sarnia), Richmond Hill, Collingwood

G - St. John's, D'Youville, Peterborough Adam Scott

H - Forest Hts., Monsignor Doyle, St. Elizabeth

Pools A & B are at St. Benedict.  Pools C, D, E, F are at Jacob Hespeler (2 gyms), and Pools G & H are over at Monsignor Doyle.

As for my "viewing recommendations for Friday", I've put together a "Cambridge road trip" for you, with what I feel are the best games of the day:

9:30am (JHSS):  Grand River vs. Bishop Mac --- Self explanatory, two "top 10 calibre" CWOSSA teams.

11am (SBCSS):  St. Benedict vs. Kitchener Huron Heights --- Again, two ranked CWOSSA teams and get to check out the host Saints in action.

2pm (JHSS):  St. Pat's vs. Richmond Hill --- No CWOSSA representation here, but a team in St. Pat's that has had some early-season tournament success and should be one of the better teams here at this tournament.

3:30pm (JHSS):  Both Grand River and St. James, two of my top 5 CWOSSA teams, are playing at the same time.  Neat opportunity to shuttle back-and-forth between the gyms and check these teams out.

OR

3:30pm (SBCSS):  WCI vs. St. Anne (Windsor) --- These teams played a very tight game a couple weeks' back in tournament play, and this should be no exception.  6'7" St. Anne scoring star Anthony Zrvnar is fun to watch.

Don't forget there's also a junior portion to the tournament, so my "late day" viewing picks would probably feature second round games from that 16-team draw:

8pm (SBCSS, Projected):  St. Benedict vs. Guelph CVI --- Two "top 10" CWOSSA teams could be potentially meeting in the 2nd round, though the Gaels have been struggling a bit lately.

Saints Invitational: Junior Edition

Note:  A post regarding the Saints Senior Tournament will follow, don't worry!

It's a 16-team junior event this year for St. Benedict, who are co-hosting this year's event with Jacob Hespeler, Monsignor Doyle, and Kitchener St. Mary's.  Junior games will take place at all 4 high schools.

It's the third year that the junior tournament will be a part of the "Saints Invitational" tournament, with Windsor Catholic Central and the host St. Benedict Saints having been victorious the past two seasons.

This year, there are 6 CWOSSA teams intermingled into the 16-team field, including three "top 10" clubs --- St. Mary's (Kitchener), St. Benedict, and Guelph CVI.

Here's the first-round draw:

9:30am SMHS:  Burlington Notre Dame vs. Bishop Macdonell

11am SMHS:  St. Mary's (Kit.) vs. Sudbury LaSalle

12:30pm SMHS:  Barrie St. Joseph's vs. Kingston Frontenac

2pm SMHS:  Milton Bishop Reding vs. Orangeville DSS

11am JHSS:  London HB Beal vs. Burlington Assumption

12:30pm JHSS:  Jacob Hespeler vs. Sarnia St. Patrick's

12:30pm SBCSS:  St. Benedict vs. Peterborough Adam Scott

2:00pm MDCSS:  Guelph CVI vs. Collingwood DSS

Second-round games all go on Friday, with semifinals on Saturday (top semifinal at St. Mary's and bottom semifinal at St. Benedict).  Championship final is 6:30pm at SBCSS, while the consolation final is also at 6:30pm, across the 401 at JHSS.

D10 & WCSSAA: Tuesday Picks

D10 YTD:  21-1 (.955)
WCSSAA YTD:  32-6 (.842)

There's a couple of WCSSAA games today, but not a full schedule.  We'll start with those:

Bluevale (2-4) at Eastwood (3-2)
My Pick:  ECI by 17
The Knights have improved since the start of the season, but don't think it will quite be enough to take down the Rebels on the road today.

Grand River (6-0) at Elmira (0-5)
My Pick:  GRCI by 44
The Rens shouldn't have too much difficulty staying unbeaten today against Elmira.

Meanwhile, over in the D10 circuit, it's a tremendous schedule to tip-off 2015, with all games being between teams separated by one or two places in the standings.  Here's a look:

Lourdes (2-7) at Centennial (3-5)
My Pick:  CCVI by 7
Two teams better than their records would indicate; I'll go with the homecourt Spartans in this one.

Bishop Mac (7-1) at CWDHS (5-3)
My Pick:  BMAC by 4
The Falcons have defeated BMAC in tournament play, and they are at home, but I still like the Celts in what should be a tight game.

St. James (9-0) at JF Ross (6-2)
My Pick:  STJ by 7
Another good game here and Ross definitely has upset potential at home.  However, hard to go against the undefeated Lions at this point.

Guelph CVI (0-8) at Orangeville (1-7)
My Pick:  ODSS by 12
The Bears will look to move two games clear of GCVI in the standings; I like them in this one this afternoon.

D8 Monday: Junior Eagles Top Celtics, Stay Unbeaten

In a battle between two teams ranked in my CWOSSA Junior top 5, the #5 St. Mary's Eagles held off the #3 St. David Celtics, 54-46, at home on Monday afternoon.

Tyreak Farquharson had 20 points to lead the way for the Eagles, while Jason Jaros added 12.  Matthew Radocchia netted 13 for the Celts, with Brent Lasovich tallying 12.

The win moved the Eagles to 7-0 after the round-robin portion of the schedule, with St. David dropping to 6-1.

In other junior action on Monday, Resurrection pulled away in the second half to a 67-46 win over PRDG, despite another strong outing from PRDG's Pat Martini.

Martini, who entered averaging 26.6 PPG in league play, upped that average with a 29-point effort.  Jamu Iluya (24) and Demar Holness (20) were Rez's top scorers.

Other games on Monday saw Monsignor Doyle slip past Woodland (43-31) and St. Benedict topple Rockway (56-32).

D8 Junior Standings
1.  St. Mary's 7-0
2.  St. David 6-1
3.  St. Benedict 5-2
4.  Resurrection 4-3
5.  PRDG 3-4
6.  Rockway 2-5
7.  Mons. Doyle 1-6
8.  Woodland 0-7

Note:  Tiered play starts on Wednesday, with the top 4 teams being in "Tier 1" and the remaining to "Tier 2".

Senior
No surprises in the 3 D8 senior games on Monday.

Tesloth Simon netted 19 points and brother Thijien added 11 as the St. Mary's Eagles rolled to a 72-28 win over St. David.  Mason Cumming had 8 for the Celts.

Omar Comanto put home 16 points for St. Benedict in their 80-38 win over Rockway, with Jesse Reusser leading the Flames with 12.

Sohrob Sultani went for 26 points in Doyle's 70-34 victory over Woodland.  Isaac Lelooster (8) and Shane Clarke (8) were tops for Woodland.

And In Other News....

Just wanted to give you all a heads-up that there may be a "break in the coverage" over the next little while.

My wife and I are expecting our first child (any day now!).  Super exciting, but it will mean that my attention to the blog will be a bit reduced at some point over the next week or so.

In other words, if you don't hear from me for a period of time, don't worry --- I'll be back.

As always, your assistance is appreciated and will be even more beneficial during this busy time!  Please feel free to tweet (@cwossabball) or email (mark@cwossabasketball.com) any news, scores, tournament draws, etc.

Thanks!

D8: Monday Picks

Game of the day actually looks like it's on the junior side of things today, with 1st place on the line in a game between undefeated teams St. Mary's and St. David (both 6-0).  Should be a good one there between two "top ten" CWOSSA teams.

Here are the senior picks (YTD 12-2):

Mons. Doyle by 22 over Woodland

St. Mary's by 41 over St. David

St. Benedict by 34 over Rockway

Senior Boys: Highlander Classic Draws Impressive Field

It should be an interesting (and competitive weekend) coming up this weekend at SJAM in Waterloo as the Highlanders host their home tournament, the "Highlander Classic".

Teams participating include Kitchener St. Mary's (CWOSSA #1), the host Highlanders (CWOSSA #2), Cameron Heights (CWOSSA #4), Assumption (CWOSSA #6), Resurrection (CWOSSA #14), Centennial (CWOSSA #18) and out-of-town teams Windsor Catholic Central and London HB Beal (both "honourable mention" Top 25 teams nationally in the latest NorthPoleHoops.com release).

First-round games on Friday are as follows:
1:30pm - SJAM vs. Resurrection
3:00pm - Assumption vs. Catholic Central

4:30pm - London Beal vs. Cameron Hts.
6:00pm - St. Mary's vs. Centennial

Semifinals are on Saturday at Noon and 1:30pm, with the championship final on Saturday evening at 7:30pm.

The consolation final (4:30pm) and third-place game (6pm) will precede the championship final.

CWOSSA Teams In Action Over the Holidays

There were a couple of tournaments to get you caught up on from this past weekend:

Brock Invitational
The Cameron Heights Golden Gaels (CWOSSA #4) and St. Benedict Saints (CWOSSA #9) were both in action over the weekend at Brock University.

The Gaels went 2-1 in pool play, but failed to advance, despite defeating the team that would eventually take home the tournament championship, St. Thomas More.

Cameron knocked off More by a 56-44 final, and trounced Fort Erie CI 79-30.  They were defeated by Toronto Central Commerce, 51-42.

St. Benedict went 0-3 in their pool, but played better than their record would indicate.  They had two 2-point losses (Welland Notre Dame 53-51 & Toronto Brebeuf 45-43).  Their other game was a 58-41 defeat to St. Marcellinus of Mississauga.

Western Purple & White
North Park was a participant on the Senior side of this tournament draw, while Guelph JF Ross took part in the junior edition of the Western Purple & White tournament.

NPC defeated Stratford Central (45-30), before being knocked off in the quarterfinals by Sarnia St. Patrick (67-35).  They dropped their 3rd game to London's HB Beal, 54-45.

The JF Ross juniors dropped their three games at the event.

The Lewisporte Pilot: Sea-Hawks Say Goodbye To Teammate

Article By:  John Browne

Memorial basketball coach Peter Benoite talked about recruiting Jacob Ranton and how he became close to the young man and his family over the years.

He talked about the first time he’d seen him play and the last practice with him. The last time he saw him alive.

Ranton, a 20-year-old Memorial University sophomore died last week. His body was found in the Conestogo River beneath a train bridge in St. Jacobs, Ont.

Benoite delivered a eulogy Tuesday morning at Ranton’s memorial service before a large crowd at Creekside Church in Waterloo, Ont.

He talked about the years he saw Ranton play in a Grade 9 and 10 tournaments at recruiting trips during.

He talked about Ranton’s first trip to Newfoundland and about the phone call telling the MUN coach he was coming to Memorial.  

He talked about Ranton’s first year with the Sea-Hawks and getting over his knee injury and about how much fun he was having playing basketball, about how well he was playing and about how much he meant to the MUN program and of his character.

“Jacob’s death resonated with a lot of people,” said Benoite. “I was told about 1,300 people went through the visitation line. The Ranton family are well known and very well respected in the Waterloo area, so a lot of people felt they needed to come and pay their respects.”

Benoite became close friends of Jacob’s parents, Doug and Sandra Ranton, over the years.

“They came down to Newfoundland a few times to see Jacob play,” said Benoite, “and we've had team meals at their house in Waterloo a couple of times. They’ve travelled to our tournaments in Montreal and have been real good supporters of Jacob and the team. They were always so happy and appreciative that Jacob really enjoyed Newfoundland and Memorial.”

Benoite said Ranton’s parents were doing well under the circumstances.

“They are trying to transition from grieving Jacob’s death, to celebrating his life, which obviously is very tough,” said the MUN coach.

Benoite also said Ranton’s teammates are doing well as could be expected in dealing with the tragedy.

“It was really good to see everybody and to get them together and to have them at the funeral. I thought it was really necessary and I think it helped us to get some closure. I feel it’s going to help in moving forward.”

Benoite said the family and the entire Waterloo community appreciated the fact the entire team came to the funeral.

“Everyone wanted to make sure we got there and thanks to the university and all our supporters in helping make that happen,” he said.

He explained the university “stepped up and really help make it happen. MUN committed funds to help pay for tickets and we had the help of some great alumni to make sure all costs were covered.”

Former Sea-Hawk Loren Kieley, who is one of Benoite’s best friends, set up the gofundme website to help raise funds for the trip.

“The outpouring of support was amazing,” noted Benoite.

“Within 50 minutes, it raised $650, within two hours it was up to $2,300, and $4,500 within four hours. That’s truly amazing and shows our alumni and supporters are eager and ready to help when necessary. It was truly impressive to see.

“I sincerely thank all those who donated.”  

Benote said the team will practise today but admitted it was going to be difficult getting back to the gym and into a routine.

The Sea-Hawks resume their AUS regular-season schedule at home Jan. 10, 11 against Cape Breton Capers.

“We are going to miss Jacob a lot,” noted Benoite.

“There will be a lot of moments when it will hit us as we get back into things. But we have to start, and the quicker we get back into routine, the better it will be.”

Retrieved From:  http://www.lportepilot.ca/Sports/2015-01-02/article-3993883/Sea-Hawks-say-goodbye-to-their-teammate/1