Ont. Winter Games sledge hockey in Gravenhurst

GRAVENHURST — The Ontario Winter Games slammed into Graeme Murray Arena here this weekend, with bone-crushing hits and plenty scoring for the sledge hockey gold, silver and bronze medals.

Four teams squared off in a round-robin tournament — the North, East, West and Central — over three days of play.

Central and North team players scramble for the puck in a sledge hockey round-robin game in Gravenhurst Saturday morning during Ontario Winter Games play.

Adam Robbins, of Gravenhurst, was on the Central team that made a big comeback late in Game 2 Saturday.

Down 2-1 in the third period, they replied with a pair of goals to beat the North 3-2.

Action started Friday morning with the first of four games that day.

Play resumed again early Saturday with another two games to finish off round-robin portion that let each team play the other three times once each.

The semi-finals went off later in the afternoon.

The finals are Sunday morning – 9 a.m. for the bronze medal game, and 11 a.m. for the gold game.

Ten games were played including six in the round-robin, two in the semifinals and the gold and bronze games on Sunday morning.

All play was at the Graeme Murray Arena, named after the former Canadian National Team member from Gravenhurst.

Play was part of the Games based in Orillia, with action stretching from Huntsville (speed skating) to Bracebridge (synchronized wimming), Rama (hockey), Orillia (wheel chair basketball and more), to Barrie (skiing at Horseshoe Resort).

Among the sports in the towns and cities were snowboarding, cross-country skiing, boxing, judo, kickboxing, 5-pin bowling, curling, wheel-chair curling, fencing, figure skating, ringette, weightlifting, wrestling, target shooting and wushu (Chinese martial arts).

GAME SCORES:

Game 1: North 6 vs East 0

Game 2: West 4 vs Central 1

Game 3: Central 5 vs East 3

Game 4: North 5 vs West 2

Game 5: East 4 vs West 3

Game 6: North 3 vs Central 2

Semi-Final 1: East 4 vs North 3

Semi-Final 2: Central 6 vs West 1

A ‘Beast from the East’ celebrates his 4-3 Saturday morning over the West.
The Graeme Murray Arena in Gravenhurst is a favourite place to play for its sledge-hockey-friendly players’ bench and other behind-the-scene features.