Recapping the 23-24 Winter Athletics Season
Over 230 St. Michael’s College School (SMCS) student-athletes competed in the winter athletics season across 14 teams in six sports, coming away with another season of outstanding camaraderie, sportsmanship, and numerous playoff championship events.
“This was a tremendous winter season with many team and individual successes in tournament, league, and provincial events! Kudos to all the student-athletes, coaches, and support staff for their hard work and dedication,” says Alex Frescura ’92, Director of Athletics.
Alpine
After a warmer-than-normal start to the regular season, the Sr. SMCS Alpine Ski team travelled to weekly events at Mansfield, Alpine, and Devil’s Glen Ski Clubs, showing well in all events and at the CISAA Championships.
Our U14 Alpine Ski team racers had an equally strong season, finishing on top and bringing home the school’s first-ever U14 CISAA Championship. The team was led by Braydon Lamb, Grade 7, who captured individual gold, and Alex Ungeran, Grade 8, who won the individual silver medal. SMCS was well represented by our racers, who exhibited great sportsmanship and team spirit.
Basketball
U14
The U14 Basketball team brought home the CISAA championship plaque for the first time since 2015. After winning their invitational tournament and an undefeated regular season, the U14s hosted Upper Canada College (UCC) for the CISAA final. A slow start in the first quarter gave the visiting team hope, but the ‘Baby Blue Raiders’ upped their defensive intensity in the second quarter and never looked back as they raced to a 64-46 win. An excellent finish to an undefeated season!
Junior DII
The Jr. II squad competed in the very busy 12-team CISAA DII league. The boys competed hard in every game and showed tremendous improvement to make the playoffs.
Junior DI
Rebuilding after a tremendous 2023 season, a very young Jr. DI squad had a strong campaign competing at the Kennedy All-Ontario Catholic, Kawartha Shootout, Woodbridge Invitational, and Notre Dame Blue & Gold tournaments. As the #3 seed at the end of the regular season, the team faced the defending champion Crestwood Preparatory College (CPC) and unfortunately bowed out in the semi-final.
Senior
The Sr. Blue Raiders started the season in fine form showing well in several local tournaments. In the New Year, they started with a bang with a gold in our home tournament, the ‘61st SMCS Dan Prendergast Sr. Basketball Invitational’, and another strong performance at the ‘All-Ontario Catholic Tournament’ in St. Catharines. In the CISAA season, the squad was a perfect 8-0 in the regular season before efficiently handling The York School in the playoff semi-final.
On the Paul Dignan court, in front of a full-capacity crowd, the Varsity Blue Raiders brought the CISAA championship trophy back to St. Michael’s with a 56-44 win over UCC. The team then travelled to Stoney Creek as the CISAA representative in the AAA OFSAA Championship tournament. With wins over Ajax, Richview, and Fr. Henry Carr, the Blue Raiders finished sixth in the province to cap off an excellent 2024 campaign.
Curling
With a mix of a solid group of veterans and some new talent, 10 curlers represented the school in both the CISAA DI and DII divisions. The squads showed positive development throughout the season. In a very tight league, the DI squad made the playoff tournament, where they showed well and look forward to the return of a talented group next year.
Hockey
U14
Using a split squad format, St. Michael’s entered two teams, Blue and White, into a very tough CISAA DI hockey league. Both teams showed well, posting winning records and qualifying for the playoffs. In the first round, they played each other in front of a capacity crowd in an exciting back-and-forth battle. The Blue team prevailed, moving on to the League Final Four and a fourth-place finish.
Junior
The U15 squad started their season with an exciting two-game trip to Bishop Kearney in Rochester, New York. The team played some high-level local competition before finishing their season at the Jr. Double-Blue Invitational with a bronze medal.
As the #2 seed in the CISAA playdowns, the U16 Double Blues advanced to the CISAA Championship game by beating St. Andrew’s College (SAC) by a decisive 8-1 score in the semi-final. Jayden Rhee was a standout in net. Aiden Di Caro led the way in scoring with three goals. Michael D’Alessio scored a pair, and Zachary Soja and Jake Power each scored a single. The team went on to win the CISAA silver medal with a valiant effort in the final against CPC.
Senior
Following a 3-1 semi-final victory over SAC, the Majors advanced to a best-of-three series against Appleby College for the CISAA championship. After losing the first game away, the Majors hosted Appleby in front of a packed crowd for game two. After trailing 2-0 in the first period, the Majors responded with an energetic second, tying up the game 2-2. Unfortunately, Appleby College took advantage of a powerplay opportunity in the third and took back the lead for the win to complete the season. The Majors coaching staff would like to congratulate the players on a solid season and wish the graduating players the best of luck as they finish up their Grade 12 year.
Snowboarding
Having captured the CISAA Boys Overall Snowboarding Championship, the SMCS Blue Yetis qualified five shredders for both OFSAA Alpine (GS Event) and Boarder Cross at Devils Glen and Beaver Valley Resorts, respectively. The team was hunting for the school’s first-ever OFSAA Championship. The immense focus and preparation paid off as the weather was no match for the Yetis, who not only won the OFSAA Boys Team Championship for 2024 but, in doing so, also set an OFSAA record by having all five riders place within the top 50 in the high school division. Liam Minion dominated the competition and placed first overall, earning himself a ‘snazzy’ new cowbell and a gold medal, but was supported by his awesome teammates, Josh Paquin (Most Improved Rider of the year) placing 10th, Matteo Muchalov 25th, Hayden Fraser 47th, and Thomas Duda 49th. Coaches Adrian Spagnolo ’02, Patrick Gamble, Angus Dineley ’03, Miko Romano, and Corey Lance are proud of the season efforts, which capped off with the school’s first-ever OFSAA Championship and a brand-new banner to hang in the gymnasium.
Swimming
Congratulations on the outstanding effort shown by our U14 and Varsity Swim teams during the season and at the CISAA and OFSAA Championship finals.
U14 highlights include Austin Jung’s Silver medal in the U13 50 breast and bronze medal wins in the 50 back and 50 free events. Also, congratulations to Eamon Zietsma for winning the bronze medal in the U14 50 free and the 100 IM. Finally, a fantastic silver medal win for our boys in the U14 200 free relay with swimmers Eamon Zietsma, Austin Jung, Max Brady, and Sebastian Berwick.
Varsity highlights include the spectacular performance by Yichi Zhang, who won three CISAA gold medals and two OFSAA gold medals in his events, including the 200 free, 50 free, and 100 free events in the open division. Impressive top-five performances by Ethan Poon in the U20 200 free and Eren Makul in the U20 50 back. A special shout out to our electrifying U20 200 medley relay for finishing fourth and our U20 200 free relay for finishing fifth overall and earning a top 15 finish at OFSAA. A big congratulations to the seven St. Mike’s swimmers who made it to OFSAA, including Yichi Zhang, Ted Wayland, Joseph McCarthy, Ethan Poon, Eren Makul, Thomas Arciero, and Spencer Schultz. Coaches Neto and Bellisario would like to thank all the swimmers who made it a fun and competitive year while representing St. Mike’s with determination and spirit.
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