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32 Sports Oakville Beaver DENTURES COMPLETE DENTURE $ 349 ea. 905-842-8209 LIMITED TIME OFFER SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2008 Tigers strike early, claim first-ever girls' hockey title By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The T.A. Blakelock Tigers made history, and they're not done yet. The Tigers jumped on the Nelson Flames Thursday at Oakville Arena for two goals in the first four minutes, on their way to a 3-1 victory to claim their first-ever Halton high school girls' hockey championship. "It feels amazing," said Hayleigh Cudmore, who had a goal and an assist for the Tigers. "Some of the girls got burned in the twogame series last year and a lot of the girls have devoted four years to the program." It was the second year in a row the Tigers found themselves playing for a Halton girls' hockey championship. They lost last year's tier 2 final to Iroquois Ridge in overtime. However, the jump to tier 1 is a big one, especially a leap to contender status. The Tigers quickly announced their arrival on the tier 1 scene by finishing first in the regular season with a 7-2-1 record, leading the league in goals and sharing the lead in goals against. Blakelock coach Ron Larose said the arrival of a strong group of Grade 9s, led by Rachel Burton, Emily Carter and goalie Brittany Aldworth, contributed to the rapid rise. So did the cooperation of the local junior team allowing its players, including Cudmore, to play high school hockey, as did a renewed interest in the sport. Twenty-five players came out for the team this year, meaning, unlike last year, Larose actually had to make cuts. Now the Tigers are one win away from going to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) tournament. They will host the Hamilton Catholic finalist (either Bishop Tonnos or St. Jean de Brebeuf) Tuesday, when, with two berths available for the region, a victory will send them to the provincial high school championships. "That's going to be a big game," Larose said. "The girls want to go to OFSAA badly but, to me, (Thursday) was the big game." As it did in the opening game of the series, Blakelock forced Nelson to play DEREK WOOLLAM / OAKVILLE BEAVER CHAMPIONSHIP CELEBRATION: The T.A. Blakelock Tigers bench erupts with celebration Thursday at Oakville Arena after the Tigers appeared to score an empty-net goal to seal a Halton girls' hockey final victory over Nelson. The goal was disallowed, but the Tigers were able to celebrate again moments later as they held on for a 3-1 win over the Flames. catch-up, something the Flames rarely had to do this season. "We knew if we could score two or three goals, our D and our goalie would give us a chance," Larose said. Nelson, 6-2-2 in the regular season, had been the only team to disprove that theory during the regular season, beating the Tigers 3-2 in January (Blakelock's only other defeat was a 1-0 loss to Christ the King). This time, the game plan was to go at Nelson aggressively. "The coaches showed us a video of the last game," Cudmore said. "They wanted us to have a good, hard forecheck and set the tone for the game." That they did. The pressure on the Nelson puck carriers led to Alex Saunders' goal just 1:44 into the game. Less than two minutes later, captain Hilary Jutras upped the lead to 2-0. When Cudmore made it 3-0, Nelson coach Ashley Stephenson knew her team had a daunting task ahead of it. "They always say defence wins championships. They have a couple of junior players and they rode them like horses," said Stephenson. "(Emily) Brown and Cudmore are really good and then their goalie came up with the saves when she had to." Nelson's Jaclyn Conacher scored with just 12 seconds left in the second period. However, the Flames were unable to sustain the momentum, though they did generate some good scoring chances in the final period. Not only did the victory mark Blakelock's first girls' hockey championship, it also signaled the beginning of a possible trend. The Tigers became the second Oakville champion in the last three years -- Loyola won in 2006 -- breaking more than a decade of Burlington dominance. OT grad helps McMaster women's volleyball team to OUA championship Oakville's Margot Randall helped the McMaster Marauders women's volleyball team win its first Ontario University Athletics championship. McMaster, which finished the season with a 16-3 record, rallied from a first-set loss to defeat the University of Toronto Blues 28-30, 25-14, 25-22, 25-16. Randall, a second-year right side hitter for Mac and a former Halton champion with the Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils, played 14 games, averaging one kill, 1.36 digs and 1.43 points per game. The Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship tournament began yesterday (Friday) in Fredericton, N.B. Skaters perform well in Calgary The pressures of a national stage did not intimidate Oakville Speed Skating Club members Patrick Duffy, Jeremy Lin and Zachary Lin. SPORTSBRIEFS All three skaters achieved personal-best times at the Calgary Winterfest meet recently. Duffy completed the 500-metre race in 43.88 seconds, ranking him 10th out of 43 competitors from across Canada. Jeremy Lin posted best-ever times in both the 500m and 1,500m distances, and Zachary Lin set new personal bests in all the distances he skated. In other club news, 28 members skated at the sixth Western Regional Meet in Barrie. Bianca Sodhi and Taylor Amos each claimed bronze medals, while Daniel Giannotti and Cassandra Boychuk narrowly missed the podium with fourth-place outings. Daniel Nelson and Graeme Tickner both finished fifth. Mathieu Masaro, Samuel Chin-Cheong, Conor McNamee, Jessica Silla, Ryan Quesnelle and Joshua Whibbs all reduced their previous-best times, and Kathleen Gildea managed to reduce her combined provincial times by more than 20 seconds. Peewees enjoy Quebec experience Playing hockey was only part of the experience for the Oakville peewee AAA Rangers at the International Quebec Peewee Tournament earlier this month. The Rangers managed a 3-2 record against teams from St. Louis, Bratislava, Prague, Los Angeles and New Jersey. The field also included squads coached by former NHLers, such as Mario Lemieux, Claude Lemieux and Mark Messier. Beyond the hockey, players also enjoyed the cultural experience of their visit to Quebec. Billeted with French families, the Rangers attended an evening and party at a country sugar shack as well as the world-famous Quebec Winter Carnival.