GEORGETOWN TOYOTA SALES 15 MOUNTAINVIEW RD. N., GEORGETOWN 905-877-2296WEBSITE at www.georgetowntoyota.com PER MONTH FOR 48 MONTHS WITH $2350 DOWN OR TRADE EQUIVALENT. FREIGHT AND P.D.E. INCLUDED. LEASE FOR BU4ZEM-B $199 + TAXES$14,565 MSRP *Lease payments are plus taxes. All leases are 24,000 km per year with an excess mileage charge of .07 per km. See dealer for full details. Tota l Re l ie f Event 2009 COROLLA CE AC ?CD ?POWER LOCKS ?ABS Special pullout section Friday, June 27, 2008 16 Pages Circulation 22,500 www.independentfreepress.com Whats happening on Canada Day Pages 8, 9 Rampulla hosts martial arts event Page 3 SPORTS AND LEISURE Halton Hills Community Newspaper Despite posting one of their franchise-best reg- ular season records in 2008, the Halton Hills Bulldogs arent gloating about their chances head- ing into this weekends playoff opener against the Newmarket Saints. A 15-5-0 mark during the recently ended cam- paign was good enough for the Bulldogs to earn fourth place in the ultra-competitive Ontario Lacrosse Association Jr. B East Conference, although no fewer than six teams recorded at least 13 victories during the season. And despite having the home-floor edge in the best-of-5 quarterfinal matchup against the Saints, who relocated from Scarborough last off-season, Halton Hills need only look at the 2007 post-sea- son if overconfidence creeps into anyones mind. The Dogs finished fifth themselves in the con- ference and then rallied for their longest playoff run to date, upending rivals Oakville and Mimico before being eliminated by the undefeated Green Gaels of Clarington. As well, the Bulldogs suffered through a three- game losing streak this month that dropped them from second to fourth in the conference and allowed nemesis Oakville to grab first seed overall on a tiebreaker with the Green Gaels. Head coach Blaine McCauley said that those losses may not have been such a bad thing, point- ing last Saturdays thrashing of Mimico, in which the team turned in one of its better efforts all year. What weve mentioned to the guys is that the regular seasons over now. There isnt going to be an easy way if we want to go as far as we did last year, said the third-year Bulldogs bench boss, whose side potted 224 goals in 20 games this spring, tops in the entire 26-team league. We had a bit of a bump in the road late in the season, but I think that was actually good for us. It would have been nicer to have it earlier in the year though. What matters is that our kids showed up to play hard for all three periods against Mimico and I think a lot of our younger players are learning from the veterans who went through it last year what its going to take to be successful in the playoffs. At 14-6-0, the Saints have one of the more dangerous offensive players in the loop in Patty Lee, who put on a late-season charge to nearly catch Pat Saunders of Halton Hills, who finished up with a league-best 102 points. The Bulldogs, who beat Newmarket 9-7 in their regular-season meeting on May 3, are hope- ful that veteran defender Nik Matwijszyn will be back from injury in two weeks after sitting out all of the regular season. Game one of the series will take place Saturday at the Alcott Arena beginning at 7:30 p.m., with game two Wednesday in Newmarket. Better late than never Michelle Scanlan of the Halton Hills 1992 bantam Hawks puts a late tag on a Palmerston baserunner during the recent Kerr Machine Shop Group Fastpitch Tournament held at diamonds in Halton Hills earlier this month. The Hawks rebounded from an opening-game loss to Palmerston to beat the same Marlins team 16-9 for the bronze medal. Thirty-six teams from across the province took part in the Hawks annual tourna- ment, which featured four age groups. Photo by Eamonn Maher North Halton Golf & Country Club member Mary-Ann Lapointe won the stroke play segment of this weeks Toronto Star Womens Amateur Championship and was victorious in her opening match play round Thursday in pursuit of her third title at the event. Lapointe, 47, fired rounds of 68-74 to finish at even par through 36 holes, four shots better than Ashley Soler of Oakville, to earn the top seed amongst the 16 players in the championship flight for match play. On Thursday morning, Lapointe had a tough match against #16 Jeanne Beaith of the Dalewood Golf & Country Club but prevailed 2 & 1, which advanced her to the afternoon quarterfinals against Wasaga Beachs Kristy McLaughlin. The finals for the event are scheduled for this afternoon (Friday). Another Georgetown golfer, Julie Green, had rounds of 80-83 at the Star tourney and qualified for the first flight of match play. Lapointe won the Toronto Star Amateur in 2001 and 2006, while also finishing as runner-up in 2003 and 2004. OLA Jr. B East Conference best-of-five quarterfinal series Game 1 Sat., June 28 @ Georgetown, 7:30 p.m. Game 2 Wed., July 2 @ Newmarket, 8 p.m. Game 3 Sat., July 5 @ Georgetown, 7:30 p.m. x-Game 4 Sun., July 6 @ Newmarket, 7 p.m. x-Game 5 Tues., July 8 @ Georgetown, 8 p.m. x-if necessary vs. Dogs ready for playoffs EAMONN MAHER Staff Writer MARY ANN LAPOINTE Wins stroke play portion Lapointe rolling along at Star Amateur