Little girl from Windsor and Timmins gives it one last whirl. See her at the Air Canada Centre. Toronto Sun  Wikipedia

Star-Phoenix 

Happy gathering at Andy Elder’s Grilltime meat shop on Laird Dr Saturday

It was what the Caterer to Leaside  Andy Elder calls his “first annual meating of this amazing group of friends” at Grilltime on Saturday February 28, 2015. Read about it at Andy’s Facebook page.

Wildcats take action to Chief’s net in 3-1 PWHL playoff win

A fired up Leaside Wildcats squad staged a strong performance at Leaside arena Wednesday night to defeat arch rival Mississauga Chiefs 3-1 in their PWHL best of five playoff series. The Wildcats needed the win to stay in the hunt and they got it. Local fans and moms and dads got what they were looking for when Cynthia Cavanagh scored at 10.48 of the first period. Mississauga answered with a goal soon after when Lindsay Agnew broke through during a Leaside penalty. Then, with 26 seconds left in the first, Katie Strain gave Leaside the go-ahead. With the score two to one for Leaside heading into the the second, Leaside was full value for the money considering it had only 21 shots on goal to Mississauga’s 38 for the game. Even so Kaelyn Johnson fired one past Missy goaler Lin Han to give Leaside its third marker. There was no scoring in the third. The shots on goal are a testament to the skill of Leaside net minder Hailey Farrelly. At the end, the Leaside women may be proud of their performance but must know they have their work set out for them if they hope to eliminate Mississauga.

If time hangs a little heavy after dinner tonight, hike over to the Leaside arena and cheer on the Wildcats as they try to shut down the Mississuaga Chiefs in the third game of the PWHL champions. Puck drops at 8.40 p.m. but this time can move.

The lure of a home in a nice neighborhood of Toronto remains one of most potent motivators in the real estate marketplace. As temperatures hung around 15 degrees below this February, home buyers were out grabbing up single family dwellings like there was no tomorrow. Sales for these units were up a stunning 16.9 percent year over year. It is a humbling realization for those who can hardly imagine how to buy one — and for those who are sitting in one which was purchased at an almost embarrassingly low price 15 or 20 years ago, not to mention, say, 1985  The average price of a single family dwelling in Toronto is now over $1 million. Unrelenting high demand along with limited listings continue to fuel bidding wars which show no sign of abating. “The strong year-over-year price growth we experienced in February points to the robust demand for ownership housing in the GTA, coupled with a constrained supply of homes for sale in some market segments, especially where low-rise home types like singles, semis and townhouses are concerned,” said Jason Mercer, the real estate board’s director of analysis in a statement. In all, 6,338 houses and condos sold in February, up from 5,696 a year ago, according to Toronto Real Estate Board figures.

Here’s the Weather Network’s best guess. We’re going to climb out of the freezer oh so tentatively but those three and four degree days with sunshine look good.

Fifty poles caught fire last night

The head of Toronto Hydro Anthony Haines says that last night’s little ice pellet event combined with salt-covered hydro poles to cause 50 utility standards to catch fire and burn to junk in Toronto. As explained by Mr Haines to CP24’s Stephen LeDrew it was “a bit of ice and a whole bunch of salt at the top of these poles” that caused arcing, an electrical phenomenon where electricity leaps through the air between two good conductors.  Salt water is an excellent conductor. The poles were well-caked with salt from days of road salting Thousands of residents in and around the city remain without power this morning after a messy mix of precipitation caused widespread outages on Tuesday evening. As of 10 a.m. Toronto Hydro said that approximately 12,000 to 14,000 customers in Toronto were without power, with areas in North York and Etobicoke the hardest hit. Hydro is offering a educated guess that those still without power may have it by 6 p.m.

Plans were unveiled last night at the Park Hyatt Hotel for the redevelopment of the Honest Ed’s site at  Bloor and Bathurst. That what the developer, Westbank, has called it. Boor and Bathurst. Nice. The sketch at left shows how higher buildings will sit on Bloor St and Bathurst St with a downward slope of all development to the south. That’s Lennox Street shown in the depiction on the right as a low rise trendy walking street. Markham Street, which marks the westward boundary of the development, would be closed on weekends for walkers, shoppers and whomever. Remember link above to see more. Also here for a well done video story of the event.  

The Canadian Bankers Association has issued a $10,000 reward for a felon known to Toronto police as the Well-Dressed Bandit. He has robbed at least four banks in Toronto in recent months, two in Etobicoke and two in west-central locations. He is described as white, 5’11”-6’2″, 45-60, wearing sunglasses, tan gloves and a hooded jacket. In each robbery, he is carrying a tan-coloured carrying case. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7350, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637), or Leave A Tip on Facebook. Download the free Crime Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes, Google Play or Blackberry App World.