Local athletes at Pan Am Games

Nine either live or train in the West Island, including diver Arturo Miranda, who trains under head coach Yi Hua Li at the Pointe Claire Diving Club, Dorval’s Vincent Goodfellow in men’s rowing, Beaconsfield’s Stephanie Horner, Vaudreuil-Dorion’s Karah Stanworth-Belleville and Tobias Oriwol of the Pointe Claire Swim Club in swimming, Pointe Claire’s Tracy Little in synchronized swimming and Pointe Claire’s Joëlle Bekhazi and Marina Radu along with Dorval’s Whynter Lamarre in women’s water-polo team. West Island resident Pat Oaten will serve as head coach of the water-polo team. For Little along with Bekhazi, Radu and Lamarre, the Games serve as a qualifier for next summer’s Olympics in Beijing. Oaten’s troops won their first two games, 5-2 over Brazil on Saturday and 14-5 over Puerto Rico on Sunday.

Mormina signs

with Canes

Quietly, yet with assured relief, Dollard des Ormeaux native Joey Mormina recently signed a one-year contract to play for the NHL Carolina Hurricanes. The deal pays him $475,000 on the NHL level and $55,000 on the AHL level.

Mormina, a strapping six-foot-six, 220-pound defenceman, learned his puck skills in the Dollard Hockey Association before going on to play midget AAA for the Gatineau Intrépide — he was actually cut by the midget AAA Lac St. Louis Lions —- and university hockey for the NCAA Colgate University Raiders. A sixth-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2002 NHL entry draft, Mormina, 25, inked a multi-year entry-level contract with the Los Angeles Kings in 2005. He spent the past two seasons with Manchester of the AHL. Last year, he had two goals, nine assists and 108 penalty minutes in 62 games.