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Wednesday, Decber 29, 1999 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER D1 SportslfaM m At O akville Beaver Feature Editor: NORM NELSON Injury will keep Oakville's Jason Hardabura from the first month of the new NCAA gymnastics season. When he rejoins his Nebraska Huskers team in com petition, Hardabura will have a tough act to follow -- namely his own. He won two NCAA championships last season and with just two years of university competition under his belt, the former Canadian national gymnast has already become one of the most accomplished gymnasts in school history. fftgjlimttEVfflTS Se*n Jsury Z3.2000 8:00 pn Town C e n tr e Dorval a QEW M it" Tyjeit M r rads 844-8703 "hito dma Lmi LmSaps! Utkaflni!*i tW rtn, Janry M ,2 0 0 0IK#pi W V ff " R o y a lR u m b le " P hone:845-3824, ext 255 F ax:337-5567 E-mail:nnelson@ haltonsearch.com An NCAA cham pion Oakville's Jason Hardabura, who is busy training for the NCAA gymnastics season which gets under way with a meet in Colorado Springs this weekend, has an extremely tough act to follow this year. Namely his own. Last season, in his sophomore year with the Nebraska Huskers, the Loyola grad won two NCAA championships -- in the all-around and in the floor exercise event. Not surprisingly, he picked up all-American honours as his Nebraska team finished third in the country. Nebraska is a gymnastics powerhouse with eight NCAA national team championships, one short of the record nine shared by Penn State and Illinois. Nebraska, however, had been shut out of the NCAA championships since its last national title in 1994. "I think that we are going to be one of the teams -- if not the team -- to beat in W mjk the country this season," said Nebraska S F head coach Francis Allan. "In Hardabura, we've got the guy that everyone wants to beat, and we've got a very experienced group that knows how to win." Already one of the most accomplished gymnasts in school history, Hardabura would certainly appear to be the man to beat in 2000. Besides his national titles, Hardabura set a school record for most all-around scores of 58 or better by an individual in a single season. Hardabura surpassed the 58 mark six times, including his national championship score o f 58.05 at the NCAA Championships hosted by Nebraska on April 22. Hardabura posted team-high marks for the season in the floor exercise (9.80), still rings (9.80), horizontal bar (9.90) and all-around (58.15) during the 1999 season. "Jason's the defending national champion, and we expect nothing less of him this year," Allen said. "He's the guy to beat in the nation." Hardabura told the Beaver, on Tuesday, that he has had a bit of a setback as a bicep tendon will keep him from com peting for the first month of the season. But he said it doesn't alter his goal, this year "to repeat as national champion and to be a part of the national championship team." Check a future edition of the Beaver for the full interview with Hardabura. File Photo by Peter J. Thompson Blades feel those O.T. blues By Matt Nimmo SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER A hard fought effort by the Oakville Blades was not enough as they lost 5-4 in overtime to the Bramalea Blues in Junior A hockey league play Sunday night. "We controlled the whole game," said Blades' coach Jay Anderson. "We were all over them." Despite the effort, the Blades could not find the net when they desperately needed a goal. "We couldn't score. We got no breaks," said Anderson. On the defensive side, Blades' goalie Matt Collaton played well again between the pipes. Collaton stayed solid in net, keeping his team in the game. Blues' goalie Paul Guthrie was also strong in net, as he kept the game in reach for his team. The Blues opened the scoring in the first period on the power-play. With under 20 sec onds left in the period, Mike Lukajic evened the score with a one-timer from Bob Jaggard. It was a tough period for the Blades as they could not capitalize on the big chances they had to score. The period featured both grittiness and fast paced play that gave both teams opportunities to score. Early in the second period, Oakville took a 2-1 lead when Mike Tarantino grabbed a rebound and beat Guthrie. Both Bramalea and Oakville had very close chances to score, but both of their opportunities saw the puck narrowly slide by the post. Bramalea tied the game at 2-2 with anoth er power-play goal, with over a minute remaining in the period. Oakville then made it 3-2 with 3.7 seconds left in the frame as Jason Sajko banged a loose puck into the net. Matt Collaton kept the Blades in the game with great glove saves and maintaining a strong presence in net. Oakville got some breathing room as Tarantino scored a short-handed goal for a 42 lead. The Blades then went on to break down late in the period, as Bramalea scored twice, both goals with under four minutes left in reg- Back to nationals for Reddick Base wins zone Oakville skip Julie Reddick won the Teranet Junior Ladies Provincial championship last weekend and as a result she'll be returning to the national championships which, this year, are being held in M oncton, New Brunswick. Last year, they were held in Burnaby, B.C. and her Oakville Curling Club team (comprised o f third Karen Vachon of Burlington, second Leigh Armstrong o f Milton and lead Stephanie Leachman o f Oakville) finished with an 8-4 record, just one win shy of the playoff round. In the final game against Jenn Hanna o f the Ottawa Curling Club, Reddick was leading 3-2 after four ends. In the fifth end, which was the turning point in the game, Hanna had the shot rock fully buried. But Reddick made the perfect shot -- a 15-foot angle raise takeout -- to score two and stretch her lead to a more comfortable 5-2. Reddick then stole three in the sixth. The nationals get under way Feb. 5. The Teranet Jr. Ladies Provincial Championship game Julie Reddick 0 3 0 0 2 3 0 1 J. Hanna 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 Photo by Peter C. McCusker x x x x 9 3 ZONE CHAMPS Veteran skip John Base and his rink of Craig Kochan, Steve Small and Greg Balsdon from the Oakville Curling Club won the `A' side of the men's Nokia zone cham pi onships held at the Weston G olf and Country Club last weekend. All four games were fairly close. In the final game against the Bob Edmondson o f St. Georges, Base was ahead by two playing the 10th end with out the hammer. The `B ' final was slated to be played by Edmondson and former provincial, national and Olympic champion Wayne Middaugh. Base, the former world junior champion who has been to the provincials eight times, will now travel to the Richmond Hill Curling Club this weekend to compete in the regionals, the third leg in the long, arduous quest to compete in the national finals. Defending provincial champion Rich Moffatt, John Morris (world junior champion), Ed Werenich and Mike Harris have all advanced to their respective regionals. Oakville Blades leading scorer Mike Tarantino (white jersey) tries to keep a step ahead of the opposition. Complete Blades stats pack is included in today's edition. ulation time, to head into overtime at 4-4. In overtime, with each team already guar anteed a point in the standings, the Blues pulled their goalie twice, and the Blades walked into Bramalea's zone, but were not able to put the puck in the open cage. With under a minute left, Bramalea won the game when they scored during a scramble in front o f Collaton. The Blades were led by Blades top scorer Mike Tarantino who had two goals with sin gle markers to Mike Lukajic and Jason Sajko. Bob Jaggard had two assists with single helpers to Derek Klowak, Steve Kinnunen, Mike Porter, and Eugene Repa. The Blues' Sean Gilmore had two goals and an assist, and Andrew Martin had the game-winning goal and two helpers. Joe Petsalis and Derek Corner had the other goals for Bramalea. Matt Craig and Alex Ward each had two assists with Jesse Ryecroft adding another assist. The Blades managed to get a point for their overtime loss, but they know it should have been a victory. Coach Anderson hopes his team stays up and doesn't get down about the game. They have a tough schedule up ahead against the likes of Georgetown, Brampton and Milton. As for their strategy for these teams, Anderson hopes they "play like they did (See Blades' page D3) X gifes H N ext 1Friday, JAN. 21 · 7:30pm 'tE C iR G E lU W IX 1 R A ID ER o ""V' w ^ O A K V IL L E B LA D E S at Oakville l<e Sports Centre I r 's* 11 C M m < oor* esu « >