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www.insidehalton.com |OAKVILLE BEAVER |Thursday, November 23, 2017 |54 Recently, the Halton Catholic Ath letic Association (HCAA) made a decision to split entirely from the Halton Secondary School Athletic Association (HSSAA). The reason for the move was to achieve equi ty across all sports and follow the guidelines suggested by the On tario Federation of School Athletic Associations. I fully support the decision. In m y opinion, it appears HSSAA wants to make its own rules and appears resistant to change. Banning rep hockey players from Halton high school team s makes no sense Letter to the editor Currently, the public high schools (HSSAA) have a rule in place that allows all rep players, re gardless of level, to also represent their school in that same sport. For example, rep baseball, rep soccer, rep lacrosse, rep football, rep rug by, rep volleyball and rep basket ball players can all play outside the school and also wear their school uniforms and compete in that same sport at the high school level. Play ing for their school always initiates opportunity for better engagement. Please help me to understand why this rule is not the same for rep hockey. In education we are always trying to create safe and eq uitable opportunities for students. How is this considered to be eq uitable? It seems that the sport of hockey is not being treated fairly. HSSAA is one of the only associa tions in the GTA that still has this rule in place. How does this make any sense? The only other board that adopts this rule is in Sudbury. I have been a curricular head n a t of physical and health education for five years and served on many team committees at the Region of Peel Secondary Schools Athletic Association. We often have discus sions about the rules and regula tions that were initiated years ago. The then-vs.-now lens needs to be used when assessing whether policies need to be updated. Some times it is difficult to effect change, u r a l h a t which results in the status quo continuing. This is not positive for students. W hen the status quo pre vails it can be upsetting. It is time to make a change in Halton. We need public support from parents and students. Contact your schools, trustees and superin tendents to let them know that you are not happy with this ridiculous ly outdated rule. Bonnie Adams, Oakville Alabama-Huntsville's Rajic earns WCHA honour Oakville's Christian Rajic scored his first collegiate hat trick to earn Western Col legiate Hockey Association rookie-of-theweek honours. The University of Alabama-Huntsville centre tipped in a pass in the first period to give the Chargers a 2 -0 lead over Lake Superior State last Saturday. In the second period, with his team' s lead cut to 3 -2 , Rajic scored goals 1:45 apart as his team went on to a 5-3 win. The hat trick was the first by a Uni versity of AlabamaHuntsville rookie since March 2002. The three goals doubled Rajic's sea son total to six, giving him the lead among W CHA freshmen. His nine points in 12 games ranks third on the Chargers. The Chargers are 4 -7 -1 this season, but improved to 3-2-1 in conference play with the win over Lake Superior State. Prior to joining Alabama-Huntsville, Rajic played three seasons with the Blades, racking up 4 8 goals and 148 points in 146 games. t r i c k b u iitk e r ^ Follow Halton sports on Twitter: @ postbeaversport (Kevin Nagel, Burlington Post and Oakville Beaver sports editor) @ m iltononsports (Steve Leblanc, Milton canadian champion sports editor) @ herbgarbutt (Post, Beaver, champion sports reporter) WINTER BREAK Andrew McIntyre recorded a natural hat trick in the Oakville Blades' 7-1 win over StoulfVille last Saturday in Ontario Junior Hockey League action. | photo by Ryan McCullough - OJHL Images ^ T-- » H CAN LAN M cIntyre's hattrick, Kellenberger's five assists help OJHL Blades dampen Spirit Andrew McIntyre scored a natural hat trick and Matthew Kellenberger had five assists in the Oakville Blades' 7-1 Ontario Junior Hockey League win over the Stouffville Spirit last Saturday. Mcintyre had a shorthanded goal in the second period, scored at even strength mid way through the third and completed his hat trick with a power-play goal late in the third. Stouffville opened the scoring 6:21 into the game, but the Blades' Teth Burles tied it up with two minutes to play in the period. Oakville took the lead for good early in the second with power-play goals by Thomas Maia and Mack Graham 1:28 apart. Trevor LeDonne made it 4-1 midway through the second and McIntyre got his first of three be fore the end of the period. He added two more in the third, giving him 10 for the season. Zach Bramwell and Spencer Kersten each had two assists. The Blades held Stouffville to just 19 shots. Chris Elliot made 13 saves for the win before giving way to Jack McGovern, who stopped all five shots he faced in the third. The Toronto Patriots scored three times in the third period to edge Oakville 3 -2 last Fri day. Peyton Reeves and Kellenberger scored to give the Blades a 2-1 lead but the Patriots rallied for the win. Elliot made 2 7 saves. The first-place Blades, 19-6-2-1, host the last-place Mississauga Chargers tomorrow (Friday) at 7:30 p.m. at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex, then has a rem atch with the Patri ots on Saturday, Nov. 25 in Toronto. o c k T.-, CAM PS