Chatham-Kent’s Top 10 Sports Stories Of 2019

Every year CKSN counts down our top 10 newsmakers and stories.

Here are CKSN’s top 10 Chatham-Kent sports stories from 2019:

10. OMHA Excitement – OMHA championships from Wallaceburg’s Midget team, Dresden’s Bantams, and Dresden’s Novice team were hot news in April. Full arenas, memories that will last a lifetime, and local hockey pride.

9. Kyle Dawson Takes The West Coast – The former Wallaceburg Red Devils star has been making news on the West Coast of the continent. He starred playing Junior A lacrosse in British Columbia, winning the league’s Most Sportsmanlike honours, and went on to be an NLL draft pick of the San Diego Seals, who he signed with in September. Oh, and on the ice closer to home, Dawson captained the London Nationals to a Western Conference championship and a berth in the Sutherland Cup.

8. CK’s Up And Coming Players Several names have been making noise in the Chatham-Kent hockey world. Some players have already arrived, like Brett Brochu, Jessie McPherson, and Deni Goure, but others, such as Zander Veccia, Brady Stonehouse Stonehouse, Declan Waddick, Taryn Jacobs, and Brenna Dittmer, have been making news locally, and are sure to be big newsmakers in 2020 and beyond.

7. TJ Brodie – Trade and Collapse – Uncertainty was the real story for TJ Brodie, despite the fact he has continued on as a top performer for the NHL’s Calgary Flames. Brodie was the hot topic of a potential trade last season and this offseason, and was almost part of a deal to Toronto. This season, Brodie made headlines after a scary collapse at practice, before returning to Calgary’s lineup.

6. Arena Talk Continues – This has been a top 10 story for as long as we can remember, and until a new arena is actually built in Chatham-Kent, arena talk is likely to be on this list. Let’s do this council, it’s time to turn this from a talking point into bricks and mortar.

5. Bridget’s Journey – And it was a journey. She started the year starring for the Iowa State Cyclones, winning Big 12 player of the year honours, as well as the Cheryl Miller Award, and was an All-American. She was the 21st overall pick to the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, which is where she headed next making the team out of camp. Along the way, Carleton also played for Team Canada’s National women’s basketball team. She ended the WNBA season with the Minnesota Lynx, before heading across the ocean to play for the WNBL’s Townsville Fire in Australia. What a journey indeed.

4. Jessie McPherson Makes Her Mark – From Chatham to Team Canada. McPherson has become one of the country’s top goalies, playing for the PWHL’s Cambridge Rivulettes. McPherson was one of the top performers for Team Ontario at the U18 National Championships, and earned her way onto Team Canada’s National U18 women’s hockey team. Not a bad year for the Chatham goalie.

3. Emma Pegg Runs Away With 2019 – What did Emma Pegg not do on the track in 2019? She ran at every level from Provincials to Nationals. Set records, and won a silver medal in the 800m for Team Canada at the NACAC Championships in Mexico.

2. Maroons Fire Coaching Staff – Chatham’s top hockey team always falls somewhere on our list, but the event of the team replacing head coach Kyle Makaric with new general manager and coach Tyler Roeszler captured the eyes of our readers. The Maroons are in rebuild mode right now, but the future looks bright.

1.The Wallaceburg or Tilbury Lakers or Thunderhawks – This was our most read series of stories. It wasn’t a single news event, it seemed to be a year of events. The biggest portion of this was the Wallaceburg Lakers looking to move to Tilbury. That move was denied, and the team lost their jerseys in an equipment fire. Shortly after, Wallaceburg announced they were renaming to become the Wallaceburg Thunderhawks, shedding the Lakers moniker, which the organization had carried since the 1970s.