Gardens packed for Remembrance Day

  Around 3 thousand people packed the Ford William Gardens to pay honour to our veterans, service men and women and those who paid the ultimate price to defend our freedom. Dignitaries who laid wreaths included Mayor Keith Hobbs, MP John Rafferty and MPP Bill Mauro.  As the veterans and service men and woman marched around the arena the crowd gave them a standing ovation in a show of respect and honour.

LU to host National Wrestling Championships

Lakehead University will host a national championship for the 3rd consecutive year.  The Wrestling team will host both the OUA and the CIS championships this spring.  Athletic Director Tom Warden says this shows LU is among the top schools in the country.  Coach Brock Curtis says having home court attention will give his wrestlers a huge advantage.

Thousands attend Remembrance Day ceremonies in Thunder Bay

Honouring our fallen country men was on the minds of over 2 thousand people who attended the Remembrance ceremony at Waverly Park this morning. Dozens of organizations paid their respects by laying a wreath.  Other ceremonies were held at Mount McKay and Fort William Gardens.

The World Junior Baseball Championships a complete success

The Medals were handed out and the final speeches were said and as the dust settled, Thunder Bay can stand proud after a very successful tournament.  Organizer Warren Philp says ticket sales went well beyond what was expected and all the teams and International officials had nothing but good things to say about the tournament and Thunder Bay.  Philp says the volunteers did a tremendous job and all the fans should give themselves a pat on the back for showing the world how great Thunder Bay is.  Jeff Halverson says he was hoping to sell between 20 to 25 thousand tickets and ended up selling over 45 thousand which was a very pleasant surprise.

Chinese Taipei takes the gold

It was a story book ending for Chinese Taipei at the World Junior Baseball Championships. They managed to literally weather the storm in rain delayed 8-4 win over Australia to take their country's second Gold medal. Rain forced the start of the game to be pushed back by an hour and a half and Australia came out of the gates scoring 4 runs, including a 3 run homer after 4 innings to take a 4-2 lead but then mother nature stopped the game again for over an hour. When play resumed Taipei regrouped and scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 5th and never looked back capturing the gold.

Australia takes the Silver, which is their country's best ever showing at this event. Prior to this year, they had won 5 Bronze medals. Team Manager Tony Harris says they wanted the Gold but he's very proud of his team.

Canada falls to Cuba for Bronze

It was a disappointing end for team Canada at the World Junior Baseball Championships. Canada fell 8-2 to Cuba in the Bronze medal game at Port Arthur stadium this afternoon. Canadian starting pitcher Rob Thomas kept Cuba off the board for the first 4 innings before giving up a three run homer in the 5th inning which proved to be the winning runs. Canadian designated hitter Philip Diedrick had another strong day at the plate going 3 for 4 and score one of the Canadian runs. Diedrick says Cuba is a great team and he's proud how his teamates performed. Diedrick hit over 500 for the tournament.

Canadian Manager Greg Hamilton says they had a chance to play for Gold but just couldn't come up with timely hitting. Hamilton says they finished ahead of some very good teams so you can't be too disapointed with finishing 4th.

Elsewhere today Korea beat Italy in the 7th place game 3-1 and the US crushed the Netherlands 18-2 for 5th place. Australia takes on Chinese Taipei for the Gold.

No Gold for Canada

Team Canada's quest for Gold at the World Junior Baseball Championship has ended.  They fell 3-1 at the hands of Chinese Taipei infront of a packed house at Port Arthur Stadium.  The story of the game was the Chinese Pitcher, Lo Kuo Hua, who pitched a complete game three hitter and struck out ten. Canada's designated hitter Philip Diedrick says they had a chance in the 8th inning with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out but couldn't capitalize.  Canada's Manager says its disappointing not to be playing for gold but bronze is still worth playing for. 


Chinese Taipei will now take on Australia in tomorrow's gold medal game at 4:30 at Port Arthur Stadium while Canada takes on Cuba in the Bronze Medal game.  Game time for Canada is noon at Port Arthur Stadium.  Australia punched their ticket to the final by beating Cuba 2-1.

Elsewhere France beat the Czech Republic 8-5 in the 11th place game, Venezuela got past Panama 7-5 in the 9th place game, The Netherlands advanced to the 5th place game with a 8-5 win over Italy and the US is also in the 5th place game after doubling up South Korea 4-2.

Canada is off to the semi finals

Canada bucked the trend of losing to the underdog in the quarter finals. They beat team Italy 11-1 in 7 innings to advance to the semi finals on the shoulders of a homer night from right fielder Rowan Wick. Canada also got a solid outing from starting pitcher Jonathan Paquet who allowed one run in 6 innings of work and struck out 9. Canada will now take on Chinese Taipei in tomorrow's second semi final. The opening pitch will go at 7:00 at Port Arthur Stadium. Team Canada Manager Greg Hamilton says they got solid pitching and a strong night at the plate and says the added confidence is important moving forward.

In other action today, Cuba knocked off the US 3-2, Australia managed to upend Korea 5-4, Chinese Taipei advanced to the semi finals with a 4-2 win over The Netherlands, France lost to Panama 5-3 and Venezuela topped the Czech Republic 9-6.

Cuba shocks the US

One of the heavy favourites at the World Junior Baseball Championships will be going home without a medal. Cuba downed the US 3-2 on the shoulders of a complete game 9 hitter from their starting pitcher Luis Omar. The US managed to come back and tie the game twice but an RBI single by Cuban third baseman Lazaro Hernandez brought home the winning run. The States managed to get runners in scoring position in the bottom of the inning but to no avail. Cuba will now move on to face the winner of tonight's game between Korea and Australia, while the US will take on the loser. Both of those games will go tomorrow.

Morning Sports Wrap

Canada got a scare from the Czech republic but mananged to earn the win and first place in Pool B at the World Junior Championships. Canada won 8-7 thanks to a two run walk off double from Dalton Pompey. 
 

The win improved Canada to 4-1 which gave them the head to head edge with Korea who finished the round robin in second in pool B after beating Panama 12-2 yesterday.

Elsewhere yesterday Netherlands shocked Cuba winning 9-8 and with the win earning 3rd in Pool B and moving Cuba to 4th.  The US crushed France winning 16-0, Australia pounded Italy 14-4 and Chinese Taipei downed Venezuela 9-0.  Tomorrow Panama battles France, Venezuela takes on the Czech Republic, Korea meets Australia, Chinese Taipei faces the Netherlands, Cuba battles the US and Canada takes on Italy at 7:00 at Port Arthur Stadium.

In the Northwoods League the Border Cats split a double header with St Cloud yesterday winning game one 4-3 before dropping the second game 3-2.

Thunder Bay International Baseball Federation launches bike "Staal"

The Thunder Bay International Baseball Federation is encouraging people to Bike down to Port Arthur Stadium instead of driving. Organizers have converted the off leash dog park into a bike corral and the Staal brothers are helping out. The four were on hand yesterday to bike around and encourage people to use a more active mode of transportation to get down to the ball park. Eric Staal says anything that gets people active and outside is a great idea.

Northern Hearts wrapping up Walk with Doc

Thunder Bay's Northern Hearts is wrapping up their Walk with Doc Campaign this week. The month long event raises awareness about heart health in a fun way. Organizer June Bjorn says exercise is vital for heart health the program allows people to walk with other people and learn more about a heart healthy life style. Anyone can head down to Birch Point Park at Boulevard Lake to take part from today until Thursday from 7-8 in the evening.

Local Soldiers return home

Two Thunder Bay Soldiers landed on home soil after a 6 month tour in Afghanistan. Corporal Richard Cranton and Sergeant John Conrad returned home this morning to a small group of friends and family at the Thunder Bay airport. Cranton says he never thought he'd be this happy to return home and says his tour was a really rewarding experience and is proud to have helped out the Afghan people. This was the first tour for both soldiers.

Folklore Festival another success

Thunder Bay's Culture was on display once again at the Fort William Gardens. That was the scene for the annual Folklore Festival. There was food, dance and many other attractions Saturday and Sunday. Thousands made it through the doors for this years event to take in the entertainment and fine cuisine.

Lack of waterfall causes tourism concern

There's concern tourism will suffer in Kakabeka if the main attraction isn't there. The famous falls have been reduced to a trickle because of the lack of precipitation over the winter. The Past President of the Kakabeka Business Association, Marlis Dudzinski, says there will be a big impact. She says businesses may have to advertise more and feature other outdoor attractions like ATV and motorcycle trails.