The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 2, 2008 - 25www.oakvillebeaver.com

BRONTETENNIS CLUB

REGISTRATIONSaturday, April 5th

8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

AT THE CLUBHOUSE2310 Bridge Rd. (between 3rd Line & Bronte Rd.)

We Encourage New Members

Active membership, ladder,leagues, lessons, social events,

excellent teaching pro.

For more information, callthe clubhouse at

905-847-8033www.brontetennis.com

RATESJunior …$50.00Adult …$100.00Couple …$150.00Family …$175.00

DENTURES$349COMPLETE DENTURE

ea.

L I M I T E D T I M E O F F E R

905-842-8209

25th SUMMER SEASON!

SUMMER NON-CONTACT

HALTON MEN’S HOCKEY LEAGUE

• Non-contact• Prime time games

at River Oaks Arena• Trophies• Individual entries

• Balanced teams• Excellent offi ciating• Sweaters/socks provided• 19 game schedule,

no weekends or Fridays

ADULTHOCKEYLEAGUE

INFORMATION AND/OR REGISTRATION BY PHONE

(905) 849-9712www.hmhl.bizland.com

■ By Herb GarbuttOAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF

Having lost their first exhibitiongame 9-1, it was time for the St. ThomasAquinas Raiders girls’ hockey team tosink or swim.

So they went to the pool. It was there that the team found the

missing piece to what has become a his-toric season. Rachel Sousa, a midgethouse league goalie with the OakvilleHornets, had spent the previous twowinters competing for the Aquinasswim team — and doing quite well. Shewon the Golden Horseshoe title in thejunior girls’ 100-metre individual med-ley two years ago and last year made hersecond straight trip to the provincialchampionships.

Although the Raiders had their bestturnout since reviving the girls’ hockeyteam four years ago, there wasn’t a sin-gle goalie among the group. Facingwhat could be a very long season, cap-tain Jaclyn Peluso resorted to drasticmeasures.

“Jaclyn said they were going to can-cel the team if they didn’t have a goalie,”

Sousa said, “which was a lie.”It was not an easy decision. Knowing she could very well

be passing up a return trip to the Ontario Federation ofSchool Athletic Associations (OFSAA) swimming champi-onships, Sousa opted to strap on the pads for the hockey team.

“She came to bail us out, not knowing how we would do,”said coach Beth Robertson.

Sousa has no regrets abouther decision and is glad herteammate stretched the truth alittle. And as it turns out, she’llbe going to OFSAA anyway, afterhelping the Raiders qualify forthe provincial AA hockey cham-pionships for the first time inthe school’s history.

“It’s completely different,”Sousa said. “In swimming, it’s allyou. Here, girls are getting goalsand it’s not just me letting down the team if I let in a goal. Ithink it’s more of an accomplishment (to qualify for OFSAA inhockey), because 18 of us are going, rather than just one. Andwe’re the first(Aquinas) team ever, so that’s huge.”

“Honestly, it’s like a dream come true,” Peluso said. “It’salways been a dream to make it to OFSAA.”

Aquinas goes into the 20-team tournament that openstoday in Pembroke as the 12th seed. The Raiders know theywill face some stiff competition, but they already consider thisseason a success.

“Our school is not known for hockey,so it’s already an accomplishment tomake it this far,” said Peluso.

Not being a hockey school has madeicing a team a bit of a challenge for theRaiders. Not only does the team have tocompete with the school’s successfulvolleyball program for the best ath-letes, it has also had trouble findingcoaches.

The team folded while Robertson’sdaughter, Lindsay, was attendingAquinas. After graduating, Lindsayheard the team was again in jeopardyand urged her mom, who had served asa trainer on several Hornets’ teams, toget involved. Robertson signed on, butthere was one problem: she’s doesn’tskate.

In came former Minor Oaks HockeyAssociation coach Norm Kerr to handlethe on-ice practices, and Robertson’sson Barry, a Grade 10 Aquinas student,joined the staff this year.

The team finished the year in sixthplace in the Halton tier II standingswith a 4-4-1 record and won its firsttournament, taking the gold medal atthe DD Delight at York University.

“The team really bonded together,”Peluso said. “Winning that tourna-ment — it was two days and five games— helped us blend together.”

In the AA playoffs, the Raiders beatActon 3-1 on the strength of a hat trickby Ellen Zurawell, who had been forcedto play net for the Raiders the previousyear. That set up a game with the

Lester B. Pearson Patriots, who hadended the Raiders’ season the previousthree years, for the OFSAA berth. Ifthat wasn’t enough to inspire theRaiders, the team then found outPearson had already booked its hotelrooms in Pembroke.

“That pumped us up even more,”Peluso said.

Pearson had won the regular seasonmeeting, 4-3, but Aquinas’ rally from a4-0 deficit had helped build the team’sconfidence. Grade 9 defender AshleyStarcevic opened the scoring forAquinas and Cassy Russo and LaurenKadet each scored a pair of goals as theRaiders won 5-3.

Though the Raiders likely won’treturn from OFSAA with a medal, theyare a young team —more than halftheir players are in Grades 9 and 10 —that will benefit from the experience.

They will have to replace the leader-ship of their captains (Peluso and alter-nates Elisa Martone and Allie McInnes),Russo, the team’s leading scorer each ofthe last four years, and, of course,Sousa.

But with this season’s success,maybe the team won’t have to look toother sports to find its players.

Other members of the AquinasOFSAA-bound team are Kelsey Kerr,Karin Morais-Salk, Guilia Martone,Brittany Russo Kelly Burns, MeghanUrquhart, Renata Martone, Hilary Farr,Nicole Wirkowski, Samantha Morneauand Cassandra Triska.

Aquinas girls make the most of their pick in the pool

Good start for peewee AAA RangersThe Oakville Rangers got off to a

strong start at the all-Ontario peeweeAAA championships in Thunder Bay,winning two of their first three games.

Oakville defeated the Ottawa Sting 3-1 and lost to the Toronto Red Wings 3-2in Monday’s opening-day action. TheRangers then started yesterday (Tuesday)with a 4-2 victory over the SudburyWolves.

Oakville was scheduled to face thehost Thunder Bay Kings yesterday at 5p.m., a game that began after theBeaver’s deadline. The Rangers will playthe London Knights today at 3 p.m.,then close out the round-robin scheduletomorrow with a 1 p.m. clash with theNorthwestern Ontario All-Stars.

Semifinal games are slated for Friday,with the gold- and bronze-medal gamesscheduled for Saturday.

Ryan Burns scored twice and Brandon Clark added a singlein the win over Ottawa. Cole Morrison had two assists, withDanny Beaver and Kristyn Capizzano also earning helpers.

Kamil Tkaczuk and Conor McGlynn had the Oakville goalsagainst Toronto, with Scott Goodman and Sean Perichak pick-ing up assists.

Ryan Burns led the Rangers against Sudbury, notching twogoals and an assist. Capizzano and Perichak had the otherOakville markers. Tyler Burns and Morrison had two helperseach, with Jackson Hulbert and Austin Kosack also drawingassists.

Goaltenders Braydon Banitsiotis and Jacob Smith eachearned a win in the first three games.

“I think it’s more ofan accomplishment(to qualify for OFSAAin hockey instead ofswimming) because18 of us are going,rather than just one.”

■ St. Thomas Aquinasgoalie Rachel Sousa