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Looking for Work? 905-873-9816 www.vpihalton.com 235 Guelph St., Georgetown Employment Ontario programs are funded in part by the Government of Canada Focus on Skill Training programs Career Assessments Self Employment Benefit Program Job Searching Assistance AT NO COST TO YOU.... 14 Independent & Free Press, Wednesday, October 15, 2008 SPORTS & LEISURE Kyle Essery scored his fourth game-clinching goal of the season Saturday night to beat the visiting Milton IceHawks 3-2 in overtime and help extend the Georgetown Raiders win streak to 11 games in Ontario Junior Hockey League action. Contributions have come from throughout the lineup during the Raiders lengthy run of victories, which included a 7-4 dismantling of the defending league-champion Oakville Blades on their home ice Friday night. Goaltender Tony Capobianco, who has gone 10-1-0 since being acquired from the North York Rangers last month, faced 46 shots in the Georgetown net Friday. The Raiders jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first period and thror- oughly frustrated the 9-2-0 Blades, who suffered their first loss of the campaign at Joshuas Creek Arenas. Our guys do a great job of clearing the front of the net for me, but sometimes, yes, it did feel like 46 shots, said the 18-year-old Capobianco, a Mississauga resident who hasnt lost since making his Raider debut in a 6-2 loss to Vaughan on Sept. 13. I was a little shaky in that first game, but I feel a lot more com- fortable now. I didnt play for quite a while waiting for the trade to happen and now things are feeling like they should out there. The 12-2-0 Raiders have won all eight of their road games in 2008-09 and own first place in the OJHLs MacKinnon Division, four points up on Burlington and six ahead of the Blades, who have three games in hand. Georgetowns recent hot streak has also earned it a 13th-place ranking in this weeks Canadian Jr. A Hockey Leagues Top 15 list, one spot behind the Orangeville Crushers. Raider head coach and general manager James Richmond is appreciative of the national acco- lades, but warned against the com- placency that seemed to appear early on Saturday when the 5-6-2 IceHawks took a 2-0 lead. Essery notched his first of two on the night late in the opening period and leading scorer Andrew Marcoux struck for a shorthanded marker for the Raiders, who fired 37 shots at superb Milton netmin- der Dillon Branco. To be ranked 13th in the coun- try is great for the guys and if we can use it to keep motivated, thats wonderful, Richmond said. Its still October though. Teams like Burlington and Oakville and Milton are well-coached and theyll continue to win. Theyre not going to go away. As I told our guys, teams are going to be gunning for us now no matter where they are in the standings and this is what we have to be ready to expect. The clubs perfect road record will be tested twice this weekend, with trips to Milton Friday and last-place Mississauga Saturday. In the win over Oakville, defender Jordan Dewey scored twice, including an empty-netter, to pace the Raider attack. Mark McGowan, Jeremy Wick, Fred Gervasi, Marcus Pryde and Marcoux added single markers. Julian Cimadamore of the Oakville Blades gets knocked off the puck by Georgetown Raider Jeremy Wick during their OJHL contest Friday at the Joshuas Creek Arenas. Wicks shorthanded goal late in the first period gave the Raiders a 3-1 lead and they went on to win 7-3. Photo by Eamonn Maher Raiders push win streak to 11 EAMONN MAHER Staff Writer The Georgetown Raiders dished out a number of clean open-ice hits on Friday night against the Oakville Blades, including Marcus Prydes (black jersey) flattening of Brendan Taylor in the first peri- od. The Raiders established control early and skated away with a 7-4 triumph over the defending Ontario champion Blades, who have 14 returning players this season. Photo by Eamonn Maher Cross-country runners from Stewarttown Public School were again the dominant force this year at the Halton District School Boards North Halton meet in Burlington as the Stingers earned five of the six pennants for divi- sional team championships. Over 130 students from Stewarttown competed at the meet held at Sherwood Park and their top four runners for each age group had fast enough times to earn the Stingers team points titles in all but one of the six sen- ior level (grades 6-8) races, which involved 11 North Halton elementary schools. The nine best qualifying teams from the junior meet (grades 3- 6) are eligible to compete in the Amos Halton meet, to be held today Wednesday, also at Sherwood Park in Burlington. All senior schools are eligible to run and can bring their best five competitors to the Halton cham- pionships. Following are the results for Halton Hills runners in the indi- vidual and team categories from the North Halton meet. Team results also include the schools total points: Senior Age Groups Junior Girls 1. Anja Vesterback, Gardiner 2. Grace Watson, Centennial Stingers dominate at cross-country meet See NORTH, pg. 15