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•T he I FP • H al to n H ill s •T hu rs da y, M ay 2 , 2 01 3 40 15 MOUNTAINVIEW RD. N., GEORGETOWN 905-877-2296 www.georgetowntoyota.com THE ALL NEW 2013 VENZA Model #ZA3BBT-AA $29,460 + taxes Starting at 30,460 - 1,000 Rebate 0% financing up to 60 mos. OAC SPORTS 'My mental game wasn't totally there and my physical ability wasn't where it should've been.'--Golfer Robbie Johnson...see story page 43'Quoteunquote' Since winning the Founders Cup title in 2010, any- thing short of making the Jr. B national championship tournament is regarded as a disappointment by Halton Hills Bulldogs' head coach Blaine McCauley. The Bulldogs are set to begin their Ontario Jr. B La- crosse League regular season at home this Saturday for the fi rst time in several years, with their division foes, the Oakville Buzz, slated to square off at the Al- cott Arena beginning at 7:30 p.m. After fi nishing the regular season last summer with a 17-2-1 record, Halton Hills appeared to be in position for another run at supremacy in Ontario. But follow- ing a hard-fought fi rst-round playoff series with Kahn- awake, the Bulldogs were swept away convincingly by the perennial rival Green Gaels in the next series, with Clarington coach & GM Jason Crosbie saying after- ward that he'd "specifi cally" built his squad to match up with Halton Hills. "(The Gaels) beat us last year at our own game and we weren't happy about that," McCauley said. "We've got some tough decisions to make before the opener about some of the young kids because they've shown that they can play tough, hard-working lacrosse. There are certain expectations within this organization and yes, we had a nice regular season last year, but ev- erybody knows it's the playoffs where it counts most and we fell far short of our goals. We're going to make some changes to address that and thankfully we've got a lot of different options to look at." With the departure of mainstays such as Brendan MacDonald, Peter Laidlaw, Kody Lyons, Michael Li- cata, Chris Haynes, Matt Sargent and Justin Reid, the 'Dogs have looked to their Halton Hills Minor Lacrosse affi liates for some reinforcements. Among the returnees are Luke Laidlaw, who was third in OJBLL scoring in 2012 with 43 goals and 114 points, his cousin Seth Laidlaw, an 85-point scorer last year, and Princeton University star Mike MacDonald, who was second in Ivy League fi eld lacrosse scoring with 35 goals in 13 games this spring. Last year's starting netminder, Dustin Hanzelka, is on an internship in Sudbury this summer and likely won't be available often, leaving 20-year-old Gavin Lecky and youngster Drew Coleman with the goalten- ding duties. Seventeen-year-old Connor Brown, who had 37 goals in his rookie season, is back in the fold along with the versatile Jamie Batten. "We're happy with the mix of veterans and young guys from our minor system and we feel we've got more depth than we had last year," added McCauley, who's back for a seventh season as Bulldogs' bench boss. "We're fortunate in that we're able to draw from our midget team, which fi nished in the top six in the prov- ince last year, and our Jr. Cs, who were one win short of the Ontario championship. Put them together with a good core of older guys and there's going to be a lot of competition within the team for playing time." Last Saturday, the Bulldogs tuned up for the cam- paign by playing in the Buzz's pre-season tournament in Oakville, defeating Spartan of St. Catharines 7-3 before fi elding a mostly rookie lineup in a 9-4 loss to Windsor. The fi nale featured a matchup against the reigning national-champion Six Nations Rebels in which the 'Dogs led 3-1 at one point before eventually losing 5-4. OJBLL rule changes this year include a mandatory switch to a bubble-style facemask for all players and fi ghting majors will now result in an automatic game ejection. Although an injury kept George- town's Jason Dickinson on the side- lines during Team Canada's run to a gold medal during the World Un- der-18 Men's Hockey Championships in Russia, it didn't keep the 17-year- old centre from joining in the cel- ebration. Canada edged the four-time de- fending-champion U.S. 3-2 on Sun- day in the fi nal played at Sochi, Rus- sia. The 6-foot-2, 176-pound Dickinson was selected to represent Canada for the fi rst time in his budding career but suffered a high ankle sprain dur- ing an exhibition contest against the U.S. just prior to the tournament and was unable to play. A member of the Ontario Hockey League's Guelph Storm for the past two seasons, Dickinson had hoped to improve his stock for the National Hockey League Draft in June with a strong performance in Russia. He dropped from 16th in the Central Scouting Bureau's mid-season rank- ings to 30th amongst North Ameri- can skaters in the end-of-season rat- ings released last week. Georgetown's Jason Dickinson (right) and his Guelph Storm teammate Hunter Garlent from Welland embrace the champion- ship trophy won by Canada at the World Men's Under-18 Hockey Championship in Sochi, Russia last weekend, clinched with a 3-2 victory over the U.S. in the fi nal. Dickinson was unable to play in the tournament due to a high an- kle sprain. Now the waiting game begins for the 17-year-old centre leading up to the National Hockey League Entry Draft on June 30 in New Jersey. Submitted photo Dickinson revels in Canadian win Bulldogs face 'tough decisions' as new season dawns By EAMONN MAHER Staff Writer Halton Hills Bulldogs' goalkeeper Gavin Lecky was unable to stop this shot by a Six Nation Rebel but nonetheless had a strong outing in a 5-4 loss to the defending Canadian champs during a Jr. B lacrosse exhibition tournament last weekend in Oakville. The Bulldogs start the regular season at home Satur- day against the Oakville Buzz. Photo by Eamonn Maher