One of the Ontario Hockey League’s longest-standing records has fallen.

When Waterdown’s Mark Visentin led his Niagara IceDogs to a 3-0 win over Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday night, he earned his 10th shutout of the season, passing the mark held by Len Broderick (1956-57) and Glenn Hall (1950-51).

To give some sense of how long the record has stood, consider that, when Broderick reached the mark, Gordie Howe was the leading scorer in the National Hockey League, Frank Mahovlich had just entered the NHL and Jacques Plante won the Vezina Trophy as top goalie.

In case the shutout wasn’t enough, the win was Visentin’s 14th in a row since returning from the world junior tournament.

The 19-year-old has given up just 15 goals in that time. Six of his shutouts this season have also come in that span. For the record, his last game in that tournament was a 4-0 shutout over Finland in the bronze-medal game.

What makes the OHL record especially remarkable is that Visentin has only appeared in 35 games this season.

He now has 12 games to go after the Canadian junior hockey record of 13 shutouts in a season set by three players, all in the Western Hockey League.

In the first game of round-robin play, they faced the Peel Select 99 Team from Mississauga. The Raiders won in two sets straight (25-14 and 25-16).

In their second match, Waterdown took on the Halton Hurricanes 13U Black team. While the Raiders cruised to a 15-11 victory in the first set, they dropped the second set 15-3 before they roared back to take the third set, 25-22.

In the quarter-finals, the Raiders took on the Burlington Blaze Red team, a tougher opponent than the 25-20 and 25-15 winning scores would indicate. The victory allowed the Raiders to face the Halton Hurricanes Blue 13U team in the semifinals.

The Hurricanes came out strong and defeated the Raiders 25-13 in the first set. In the second set, facing elimination, the Raiders squeezed out a 25-22 victory. In the tie-breaking third set, the Raiders scored the first 12 points on their way to a convincing 15-5 victory.

In the final, the Raiders faced the other undefeated team in the tournament, the Niagara Falls Rapids. The Rapids dominated the first set to win it, 25-12. The Raiders bounced back in the second set, at one point leading 24-14. The Rapids  defended set point by pushing the score to 24-21, but the Raiders held their composure and scored the final point to win the set.  The last game was a back and forth affair, which was tied at 13 before the Rapids closed things out with a 15-13 victory.

Coaches Wendy Mommersteeg, Jason Pundyk and the parents in attendance were very pleased with the Raiders’ effort. Their silver medal surpasses their previous achievement of bronze earlier in the season. Team members include Tyra Baird, Lauren Boswell, Victoria DiCesare, Nicole Lauff, Zoe McMillan, Megan Mommersteeg, Darragh Rumple, Katie Saunders, Carina Schiappa, Shelby Sweetman, Lindsay Wilcox, Kassy Zelko and team helper Luke Mommersteeg.

-Submitted by: David Wilcox

The RWC skaters are enjoying a successful season, with the girls passing many Skate Canada tests. Highlights include the completion of the Gold Skills test by Samantha Francis and completion of the Gold Dance and Interpretive tests by Houghton, who has completed gold level tests in all four disciplines – the youngest Rockton skater ever to do so.

At the Charles Dover Invitational competition in Grimsby, Haley Nedelko won a gold medal in the Senior Bronze Limited category. The skaters are looking forward to the club’s first Achievement Day on March 31.

MVC placed second in their pool after winning straight sets over the Guelph Grizzlies and losing to the Burlington Blaze Red.

In the quarter-finals, MVC came from behind to defeat the Titans. In the semifinals against TCA London, MVC won  25–19, 20–25 and 15–11.

In the gold medal match, MVC defeated the Oakville Thunder Blue, 25–22, 25–18. The MVC 17U team will move up to compete in the championship 18U division.

The 17U coaches are Jos Nederveen and Mike Fuchs.

MVC’s 17U roster includes Brooke Lahaie, Randi Carey and Leah Feuerstake of Waterdown.

There’s a case of ‘whodunit’ in Waterdown.

In the early morning hours of February 8, an employee at sign company quietly put up a unique display on the front lawn of the Calvano family’s Duncan Avenue home. The exhibit featured stiletto-type shoes and handbags – a stylish albeit public announcement marking the homeowner, Cathy Calvano’s 50^th birthday.

It was an appropriate gesture considering Cathy’s passion for fancy footwear. “She loves her shoes,” said Cathy’s husband, Phil, with a laugh. So much so that one of the family’s three dogs is named Blahnik, after the top fashion designer Manuel “Manolo” Blahnik.

While the display of shoes and handbags, which was complemented with a large sign that read “Cathy, 50 and Fabulous! Happy Birthday” came as a surprise to the birthday girl, who stumbled upon it on her way out the door at 6 o’clock Wednesday morning, the family doesn’t know who is responsible for this kind gesture.

“I am the main suspect, but I can’t take the credit,” said Phil. “Whoever did it had an awesome idea.”

With close relatives living on opposite ends of the globe, Phil got to work contacting his children, including sons Nick and Mike, and daughters Jenn and Erica, in an attempt to identify the well-wisher.

So far, his investigative efforts have been fruitless.

Nonetheless, the Calvanos are pleased someone would go out of their way to place the special order – one that was catered to Cathy’s passion for shoes and purses.

“There’s a whole room dedicated to her shoes,” said daughter-in-law Carolyn, who wouldn’t hazard a guess at the number of shoes featured in Cathy’s large collection.

Let’s just say “in the three digits,” noted Phil.

After making his way downstairs at approximately 10:30 a.m. on June 6, 2010, Doug Baron poked his head into the family room of his Waterdown home, which played host to one of two parties the night before. That’s when he noticed the tape that bound Christopher Skinner’s ankles. A few moments would go by before the homeowner realized that the 17-year-old Flamborough boy wasn’t sleeping. He was dead.

“I began to notice that this boy didn’t look too good,” said Baron, testifying at a discretionary coroner’s inquest into the circumstances surrounding Skinner’s death from acute alcohol poisoning.

Baron called 911 and proceeded to follow the operator’s instructions. She, according to the homeowner, encouraged him to perform CPR.

“You’ve got to help me do this. You’ve got to help me do this,” he recalled saying to his son, Kyle, at the time. “Kyle was pretty freaked out at that point. So was I.”

Kyle, a friend of Skinner’s, told a five-person jury earlier this week that he and his pals would drink often and a lot, sometimes to the point of passing out. That’s when a prank would be played on the blacked out person. Skinner was on the receiving end of the “joke” on the night of his death. His body was defaced with red and black ink, his legs were bound with duct tape and CDs were stacked on his head.

Underage and binge drinking had taken place at the Baron family home in the past. The jury heard that the Waterdown home often referred to as a “party house.” Baron and his wife, Wendy, testified that they felt their sons, Kyle and Jesse, would be safer if they partied with their friends under their supervision.

But the Barons were in no condition to watch over the youths that night. Both parents testified they had consumed too much alcohol; Wendy had approximately 13 beers over the course of the evening, while Doug said he had consumed 10 or so.

“I was fairly intoxicated,” said Baron on the witness stand Friday afternoon.

In his questioning, Neil Jones, counsel for the Skinner family, wondered why Baron would allow teens under the legal drinking age to consume alcohol in his home if he knew that consuming alcohol under the age of 19 was illegal.

“It was our sense… that it was a little better than maybe having them go somewhere else,” said Baron.

“You were making it comfortable and easy for them to disobey the law,” said Jones.

“That wasn’t our intention,” said Baron.

“That was the effect,” stressed Jones.

“If feels a little safer, that’s what we were thinking,” said Baron.

“What did you do to make it safer” for Skinner and the other under age persons drinking in the home, Jones asked Baron.

“We didn’t do what we should have done on that evening,” replied the 48-year-old father.

On Friday afternoon, the jury heard Baron say that as he prepared to retreat to his bedroom at approximately 2 a.m. on June 6, he noticed a young man, who would later be identified as Skinner, passed out on the couch.

“It didn’t concern you that another person’s child was laying on your couch, passed out?” said the coroner’s counsel, Karen Shea.

“In retrospect, it should have concerned me,” said Baron.

When asked if it ever occurred to him to contact Skinner’s family to advise them of their son’s condition, Baron said, “That evening, I did not make that determination. I had been drinking. I should have, in hindsight. In retrospect, I definitely should have called…done something more.”

Of the boy’s death, Baron said: “We were pretty devastated and traumatized. We were pretty wrecked about it.”

Still, the message of the dangers of binge drinking hasn’t sunk in for some members of the Baron family. Kyle testified earlier this week that he continues to drink to the point of passing out. Baron said he’s attempted to get through to his son, but the process has been challenging.

“We’ve had some difficulties with him,” said the dad.

Do you “try to be friends with your son?” asked Jones.

“I’m not trying to be his friend, I’m trying to get through (to him),” responded Baron.

Dr. Jack Stanborough is presiding over the inquest, which is expected to wrap up by the end of next week (Feb. 24). After 30 witnesses have testified, the jury may take the opportunity to pen recommendations to help prevent similar deaths. The inquest resumes Tuesday (Feb. 21) at the John Sopinka Courthouse in Hamilton.

Wendy Baron doesn’t remember much from the night 17-year-old Christopher Skinner, a talented musician who was only months away from commencing first-year studies at the University of Toronto, died on the floor in her family room.

In her testimony on the fourth day of a discretionary coroner’s inquest into the death of the Flamborough teen, Baron said she doesn’t remember seeing any of her sons and their friends, some of whom were under age, doing shots of screech in the early morning hours of June 6, 2010. She doesn’t remember seeing or hearing Skinner fall and hit his head on the kitchen counter. She doesn’t remember how or when Skinner was guided to the family room, where he passed out after consuming enough alcohol over the course of a few hours to boost his blood content to nearly five times the legal limit. She doesn’t remember participating in a hazing incident, where she is said to have written “left” and “right” on the soles of the teen’s feet. She doesn’t remember seeing his friends further deface his body with black and red ink. She doesn’t remember witnessing anybody putting CDs on the teen’s head, nor can she recall witnessing his ankles being bound with duct tape.

“I don’t remember much of that night, I’m sorry,” said an emotional Baron when asked a slew of questions by the coroner’s counsel, Karen Shea, Wednesday afternoon.

Baron claims that at around the dinner hour on June 5, she began drinking beer. Shortly thereafter, she and her husband spent some time playing a video game and continued drinking. By the time her eldest son, Jesse, arrived home after a baseball match with his friends, she had consumed up to eight beers. The boys retreated to the basement where she heard them playing beer pong, a drinking game.

Later that evening, Baron’s youngest son, Kyle, and his pals, including Skinner, turned up after attending a gathering at a Waterdown home earlier in the evening. The group spent time in the garage, where, according to previous witness statements, the boys consumed alcohol and smoked marijuana. They eventually migrated into the house to continue partying.

Baron said she couldn’t be sure the boys were drinking in the garage, nor could she be sure if they had smoked any pot. However, “I saw the bong,” said Baron of the device used to smoke the illegal herb.

Asked if the presence and consumption of illicit drugs in her home cause her to become alarmed, Baron said, “It does concern me.” She said she made attempts to raise those concerns – and many others – with Kyle, who was 18 at the time. “He tends not to listen to me,” said the Waterdown mom.

It is not an offence to allow underage teens to consume alcohol in an Ontario household, but it is illegal to supply a person, who is under the legal drinking age, with alcohol.

“I thought the law, if I didn’t provide it, it would not be fine, but I guess I wouldn’t be in trouble for it,” said Baron of the lax rules surrounding underage drinking in her home. She also believed it was safer for her sons to party at home.

Skinner’s lifeless body was discovered at approximately 10:30 a.m. on June 6, 2010 after a night of binge drinking, which took place, in part, at the Baron family home.

“I was shocked,” said Baron. “I couldn’t believe it had happened.”

But the five-person jury at the inquest heard that nothing was done to prevent Skinner’s death. Baron noted that on the night of June 5 and in the early morning hours of June 6, she, too, had consumed a lot of alcohol.

At the time, she never considered calling Skinner’s parents to advise them of their son’s condition. She never considered dialing 911. She never considered that the 17-year-old was in distress and required medical attention.

“I wasn’t in my right mind to think that way,” she said.

Now, Baron testified at the inquest, she would handle the situation much differently and more responsibly.

But the situation, as noted during the inquest, hasn’t been discussed at length in the Baron home “because I am feeling guilty about the whole situation,” she said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the jury heard from Jesse and Kyle, who are 21 and 19, respectively. While Jesse said he’s cut down on his alcohol consumption following Skinner’s death, his younger brother stated he has no intentions of giving up his drinking and partying ways.

Baron said that she’s addressed the dangers of alcohol use and abuse with Kyle; however, she struggles to get through to him. “Trying to get them (her sons) to sit still to listen,” has proved challenging, she said.

If youth don’t heed the warnings of adults regarding the excessive use of alcohol, then who is in a better position to deliver the message? The inquest jury, as well as the coroner’s counsel and members with standing, are hoping to gain better insight on the issue by posing this very question to many of the witnesses.

It will be up to the jury to make recommendations based on the testimony they hear during the inquest. The suggestions would focus on preventing a similar alcohol-related death.

Dr. Jack Stanborough is presiding over the inquest, which is slated to resume Friday (Feb. 17) morning at 9 a.m. Baron’s husband, Doug, is expected to take the witness stand at approximately 1 p.m. Friday.

O’Hara’s Coming Home series was featured in the Review’s 2010 Remembrance Day edition. For her work, she’s nominated for the Reporter of the Year award, while another series, co-authored by Milton Canadian Champion reporter Christina Commisso, about the harness racing industry, is up for Best Investigative News Story. The General Excellence Award recognizes overall achievement by circulation class in editorial, advertising and layout.

Three finalists are named in each category; their placement will be revealed at an awards gala in April at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

At least two public school trustees are questioning the decision to target Parkside High School for closure and relocate students to Highland.

A staff recommendation presented on Monday calls for students to shift to Highland in September 2014 as part of a plan that would see $15 million in upgrades at the Governor’s Road school.

A competing recommendation from a volunteer accommodation review committee meanwhile calls for a new high school at Highland as well as one at Ancaster High – both rejected as too expensive by staff to be a viable option.

But Dundas trustee Jessica Brennan said the planned upgrades at Highland – including an extra gym, the replacement of four existing science labs with six new ones, an expanded cafeteria and three additional classrooms – “are not going to be enough.”

She suggested the sale of Highland could generate more money for upgrades at Parkside because its property is more than four times bigger, but said Dundas deserves a new school.

“I know the fiscal responsibilities facing us on this board. I know there are very strong cases for new schools elsewhere,” Brennan said, noting the town has seen three elementary schools close in the past 10 years.

“This is a community already happy to merge the two schools in the community. They’re thrilled to do it. They’re already talking about how to do it, and that would be, of course, if the carrot in front of us was a new school.”

Flamborough trustee Karen Turkstra said she’d also “love to see a new school,” but if that’s not possible, calls for a study of traffic and student safety concerns around Highland and suggests they can be addressed by keeping Parkside open.

She said Parkside fits the bill for the merged school because about 100 of the projected 1,100 students will return to Waterdown District when the new addition opens.

“There’s over a thousand lockers at Parkside right now and the land is really, really well used,” Turkstra said.

“I’m very, very, very concerned about the traffic study. I don’t know if anybody’s driven along Governor’s Road in the morning, but that’s just a nightmare,” she said.

“You don’t need a traffic study if they go to Parkside. They go around the driving park, they drop them off and in they go,” she said.

Board consultant Dan Del Bianco said Highland is recommended as the preferred location for a merged school because it has 7.2 hectares of land, compared to Parkside’s 1.6.

“It’s not only the building itself, it’s the outside programmable space, whether it be soccer fields, track field or whatnot,” he said. “It’s very challenging to do on such a small size.”

Trustees voted to receive the staff and committee recommendations as part of a 60-day consultation period that starts on Feb. 27 and will include public meetings on three  separate reviews across the city that could close seven of 18 high schools.

A hearing on the Dundas plan, known as the West ARC, is set for 6 p.m. on April 2 at the board headquarters, 100 Main St. W. All three plans are driven by the board’s wish to eliminate 2,600 surplus seats at city high schools, a number projected to grow to 6,000 by 2020.

Members of the public who are unable to make the hearings can offer their views in writing. To be included in the trustees’ package on the hearing date, the submissions must be received three businesses days beforehand. But the board will continue to accept submissions until trustees make a final decision, which will be no earlier than May 28.

Anyone wishing to make a presentation to trustees must register by noon on the day of the hearing through education director John Malloy’s office at 905-527-5092 ext. 2297 or by emailing Heather Miller at heather.miller@hwdsb.on.ca.

Hamilton could be getting an additional ward by the next municipal election.

At their Feb. 15 government issues committee meeting, politicians were expected to discuss hiring a consultant and begin the process, including holding public meetings,  to examine whether to change the city’s boundaries or add an extra ward to the current 15.

The process, including preparing for a possible Ontario Municipal Board hearing, needs to be completed by Dec. 31, 2013 for the new governance structure of the city to be in place in time for the November 2014 municipal election.

It’s estimated the process would take all of 2012 and most of 2013 to hold the public meetings, and draft a final report for councillors to consider. City staff estimate it will cost about $200,000 to hire a consultant. The money would also cover the cost of holding the public meetings, and any legal expenses in case of an OMB challenge.

The idea of reviewing the city’s ward boundaries, established in 2001 by the Transition Board after amalgamation, was initiated by suburban councillors, who say the representation by population model unfairly burdens them. Councillors representing wards six, seven and eight on the mountain have the highest number of electors in the city, with 27,699, 38,478, and 32,996 respectively. In contrast, wards 13 (Dundas), 14 and 15 (both in Flamborough)  have the lowest electors in the city at 17,994, 11,682 and 17,445. The numbers represent electoral counts from the 2006 municipal election.

There had been some ideas floated by councillors to change the boundaries, including adding a fourth mountain ward, while also shrinking Ward 11, which crosses various urban and rural areas from the Lake Ontario shores in Stoney Creek, through Winona, up the Niagara Escarpment to Binbrook and Mount Hope.

Tony Fallis, manager of elections for the city, stated in a report to councillors that any boundary review process must be transparent and open and follow the decisions of previous OMBs against the cities of London and Ottawa. The OMB cited in its decision against the city of London in 2005 that the public wasn’t “being serviced under the current ward boundaries.” In the Ottawa decision, the OMB stated cities should consider effective representation, encourage “meaningful” public input, and conducts comprehensive reviews of ward boundaries.