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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Wednesday, March 12, 2014 | 10 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "Connected to your Community" Hornets eliminated from PWHL playoffs The Oakville Hornets were eliminated from the Provincial Women's Hockey League playoffs Sunday with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Durham West Lightning at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. Durham West scored a power-play goal 4:25 into the first extra period to complete a 3-1 win over Oakville in the best-of-five first-round series. The Hornets had prolonged the series with a 4-2 victory Friday at Joshua's Creek Arenas. Jamie Watson, Jordan Martin and Christina Putigna scored first-period goals Sunday for the Hornets, and Jennifer MacAskill had two assists. Daniela Paniccia made 23 saves in a losing cause. Friday, the Hornets got goals from Cassidy MacPherson, Olivia Atkinson, Kirsten Miller and Jazz Kennedy. Stephanie Louke earned the win in net, making 14 saves. The Hornets lost the first two games of the series the previous weekend in Ajax, falling 3-0 in the opener and 4-3 in Game 2. In the latter contest, the Lightning scored the winner with one second remaining in regulation time. Oakville was the 12th seed in the playoffs, posting a regular-season record of 15-17-5-1. Durham West was fifth with a 26-6-2-4 mark. The Lightning now advances to the PWHL 's Final 8 championships, which will be contested April 3-6 at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. The Hornets/Lightning series was one of two firstround matchups that did not result in sweeps. Brampton and Waterloo, the eighth and ninth seeds, were slated to play a fifth and deciding game last night (Tuesday) in Brampton. Oakville Hornets players (from left) Jordan Martin, Jamie Watson and Jennifer MacAskill celebrate their second goal of the game Sunday at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. Unfortunately for the Hornets, their Provincial Women's Hockey League season ended an hour later when the Durham West Lightning scored 4:25 into overtime to defeat Oakville 4-3 and claim a 3-1 win in the best-of-five first-round playoff series. | photo by Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_ Photog Canadian sledge hockey team into Paralympic semifinals Oakville resident Greg Westlake's second-period goal stood up as the winner as Canada defeated Czech Republic 1-0 in its final game of the Paralympic sledge hockey preliminary round yesterday (Tuesday) in Sochi, Russia. Canada finished pool play with a 3-0 record, also defeating Sweden 10-1 and Norway 4-0, and will face the United States tomorrow (Thursday) in the semifinals. Westlake, who captains the Canadian squad, had a goal and an assist in the win over Norway. Medal games are scheduled for Saturday, with the bronze game at 5 a.m. eastern and the gold contest at noon. Loyola ranked fifth at OFSAA girls' hockey The Loyola Hawks have been seeded fifth by organizers of next week's Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations girls' hockey AAA/AAAA championships in Sudbury. Loyola went 8-1 during the regular season, then won both of its playoff games to claim the Halton Tier 1 championship. The Hawks clinched their trip to OFSAA last week with a 2-1 upset of Hamilton's Bishop Tonnos Titans in the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference final. Loyola won OFSAA silver last year with many rep players on its roster. This is the first season the Halton girls' league has Sports Briefs not allowed rep players to participate. The Abbey Park Eagles are the seventh seed for the boys' AAA/AAAA tournament, which will take place next week in Oakville and Burlington. Abbey Park followed up a 7-3-1 regular season with five straight victories in the Halton playoffs -- including a 3-1 win over Holy Trinity in the Tier 1 championship -- and whipped Hamilton's St. Jean de Brebeuf 8-1 in the GHAC final. The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders, 4-3 in Tier 2 play this year, are the 20thranked team in the A/AA tournament, which will also be contested in Oakville and Burlington. L'Africain helps Gee-Gees to CIS final Mike L'Africain shared the team lead in assists in each of the University of Ottawa's three games at last weekend's Canadian Interuniversity Sport men's basketball championships, helping the Gee-Gees reach the final. The Loyola high school grad averaged six assists per game as Ottawa won its first two contests before falling 79-67 to Carleton in Sunday's national title game. L'Africain's top scoring output of the tournament came in the quarter-finals, when he scored 10 points in a 94-73 win over King's Christian disappointed by another OFSAA antique bronze The King's Christian Collegiate Cavaliers went into the senior boys' basketball season thinking another provincial silver wouldn't be good enough. Following the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations A championships in Timmins, however, the Cavaliers may find themselves with a greater appreciation for last year's second-place finish. "A lot of things have to fall into place (to reach the final)," King's coach Eric Bulthuis said after his team finished fourth at last week's OFSAA tournament. "I thought this year's team was stronger, but you can't just take for granted going to the gold-medal game. I guess it does make us appreciate last year a bit more." Despite winning their first three games by doubledigit margins, the Cavs were forced to settle for their third antique bronze in the last five years after dropping their final two contests. King's fell 66-47 to host O'Gorman in Wednesday morning's semifinals and 74-42 to top-seeded St. Basil's in the bronze-medal game seven hours later. "We played really well our first two days, but on the third day the shots were not falling at all," Bulthuis said. see Top on p.11 Saskatchewan. Abbey Park alumnus Chris McLaughlin finished eighth in tournament scoring after reaching double digits in each of Victoria's games. He had 16 points and 7 rebounds in a 63-54 quarter-final win over McGill; 19 points (on 9-of-15 shooting) and 10 rebounds in a 78-70 semifinal loss to Ottawa; and 13 points and five rebounds in a 61-53 loss to Alberta in the bronze-medal game. Regis Ivaniukas, a former Holy Trinity student, scored 17 points in 25 minutes in McGill's 76-59 loss to Saskatchewan in consolation play. Loyola grad Adam Presutti scored nine points in both of McMaster's games, an 82-64 quarter-final loss to Carleton and a 98-71 win over Saint Mary's in consolation action. Fellow Loyola grad Rohan Boney had seven points and seven rebounds against Carleton, adding seven points and four rebounds versus Saint Mary's. Holy Trinity product Trevon McNeil had seven points, three assists and three steals for the Marauders in consolation play, a game in which T.A. Blakelock grad Lazar Kojovic scored eight points in eight minutes. Aaron Redpath, who attended high school in Ajax before moving to Oakville, had 10 points for McMaster against Carleton.