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32 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012 Getting ready Hornets earn six medals at LLFHL championships The Oakville atom AA Hornets won their Lower Lakes Female Hockey League (LLFHL) division championship last weekend, one of six medals claimed by Hornets squads at the LLFHL's Final Four weekend. The atom AA Hornets concluded an unbeaten showing at the championships by defeating the Waterloo Ravens 3-1 in the final. Earlier in the tournament, Oakville defeated the Aurora Panthers 3-1 and Waterloo 3-0 before tying the Belleville Bearcats 2-2. The peewee A and midget AA Hornets added silver medals with second-place finishes. The peewees advanced to the finals with a 2-1 win over the Whitby Wolves, but were denied gold with a 2-1 overtime loss to the Stratford Aces. The midgets went 1-1-1 in their first three games before dropping a 5-2 decision to the Toronto Aeros in the title game. Bronze medals went to the novice A, bantam AA and midget A Hornets. The novices edged the Aurora Panthers 2-1 in their bronze-medal game; the bantams downed the Saugeen-Maitland Lightning 4-3 in their third-place contest; and the midgets blanked the Orangeville Tigers 3-0 to clinch third. Oakville was also represented at the Final Four by the peewee AA and peewee B Hornets. The peewee AA team reached the bronze-medal game before falling 3-0 to the Whitby Wolves, while the peewee B squad was eliminated before the playoff round began. Many Hornets teams will also participate in the Ontario Women's Hockey Association championships later this month. GRAHAM PAINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER / @HALTON_PHOTOG STAYING SHARP: Oakville Soccer Club under-13 A boys' team members Jack Grant (left) and Josh Aloe contest each other for the ball during practice Tuesday at the club's indoor facility on Third Line. The outdoor season begins next month. Appleby girls show commitment to earn OFSAA silver By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF A year after winning the school's first provincial high school title, the Appleby College Blue Dogs returned to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations girls hockey tournament with a roster that had little resemblance to the one that claimed gold the year before. Just six players who were on the ice for last year's gold-medal victory suited up for Appleby this year -- and one of them wasn't eligible for OFSAA. But despite some growing pains early in the season, Appleby came together at the provincial tournament. It won six games to reach the final, where they once again met the St. Theresa Titans. This time it was the Belleville school that claimed the title with a 5-1 victory. Considering Appleby has just four graduating players -- Dominique Hanson, Delaney Cox, Catherine Berghuis and Ashley Monture -- it's quite possible they could be back in the final again a year from now. Almost half the roster is in either Grade 9 or 10. While that makes for a promising future, it didn't exactly have expectations soaring for this year. "I was kind of an up and down year," said Appleby coach Margot Page. "There was a lot of adjusting. We had players coming in from various hockey programs." Appleby finished third in the Conference of Independent Schools Athletic Association with a 6-4-1 record. The players, though, had not forgotten a pledge they made to their coach at the beginning of the season. The OFSAA tournament is held during the second week of Appleby's March break. That left the Blue Dogs with just 10 players for the tournament last year. This year, the players committed to returning for the tournament. When they qualified for OFSAA, they delivered on their promise. For many players, it meant sacrificing vacations. For six players, that meant cutting their break short returning from the Maritimes. "They all committed to this, if they had the opportunity," Page said. "It shows a lot of character for these kids. It was huge to ask them to do that." The Blue Dogs held a mini training camp prior to the tournament where Page and her assistant Kim Devereaux stressed having fun. "It was more getting their legs and hands back before OFSAA," Page said. "And because they were giving up a week of their March break we wanted them to enjoy it, so we did things like laser tag and picnic lunches." The team bonding helped bring together a team that had increasingly improved its ability to play as a unit on the ice. That continued at OFSAA. Appleby was without one of its best players -- Kristyn Capizzano, who wasn't eligible because she played for Canada's under-18 team. Then goalie Daniela Paniccia was felled by the flu, but Hailey Saxton stepped up and posted a shutout in the opening game, a 5-0 win over O'Gorman. Appleby continued its winnings ways, downing ESP Louis Riel 5-4, Omira 4-0 and St. Thomas 6-1. Saxton, a Grade 10 student, turned in another big performance in the Blue Dogs' 3-1 quarter-final win over St. Christopher. Appleby then beat St. Stephen's 5-2 in the semis to advance to the final for the second year in a row. "Every game we had to be on," Page said. "We had to fight and battle for every inch." Other members of Appleby's silver medalist team are Savannah Newton, Sophia Krystek, Sarah Steele, Lindsay Stenason, Connor Garagan, Jacqueline Hymers, Carly Duffy, Morgan Kidney, Breeann Gallagher, Jennifer MacAskill and Michelle Baillargeon.