The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

28 Sports Oakville Beaver www.aplushomes.ca from 2 .4% ·Full MLS ·Full Service Call ADAM CAMPBELL Broker 905-844-4444 SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2006 Mason, Dodge picked in NHL Entry Draft By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Knee injury forces Lang to sidelines By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF They took completely different routes, but Steve Mason and Nick Dodge ultimately arrived at the same destination. Both local residents had their names called at last weekend's NHL Entry Draft, held in Vancouver, with Mason picked in the third round by the Columbus Blue Jackets and Dodge selected in the sixth round by the Carolina Hurricanes. But while Dodge has always one of the more prominent players on his teams, dating back to his early days in the Minor Oaks Hockey Association, Mason has not. The 18year-old goaltender initially started out as a position player, opting to strap on the pads six years ago for his house league squad. "One year I approached my parents (Donna and Bill) and said `I want to be a goalie this year'. They said it was a lot of money," Mason recalled Monday from his family's home. "I pressured them into it and it worked out for the best." It certainly did. After two years as a house league goaltender, Mason earned his way into the lineup of the minor peewee A Rangers. The following season, he played peewee AA. The next, minor bantam AAA. After three years of rep hockey, the Abbey Park High School student was selected in the 11th round of the OHL draft by the London Knights. Now, he's the property of the Blue Jackets. "I started doing well moving up the rep ranks, and the NHL is always in the back of a hockey player's mind," said BARRIE ERSKINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER NEW JACKET: Minor Oaks Hockey Association product Steve Mason (above) was picked in the third round of last weekend's NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Former Oakville Blades captain Nick Dodge was also selected in the draft. For the first time since she was five years old, Kara Lang is about to find out what life is like without soccer. A veteran of 53 national team games at just 19 years of age, Lang will have to wait as long as eight months to add to that total after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee. The injury occurred in the final session of the women's national team training camp in Nanaimo, British Columbia last week, when Lang landed awkwardly after jumping for a ball. Lang immediately knew the injury was a serious one. "Me and pretty much everybody else on the field heard the pop," she said Sunday at Etobicoke's Centennial Stadium, following Canada's 2-1 win over Italy in a friendly. "It was definitely a little scary." Due to the amount of swelling, she had to wait a few days to get an MRI, which confirmed the bad news. The recovery from a mid-July surgery, which will be performed in Vancouver, will keep her off the soccer pitch for the rest of the year. That means Lang will See Dodge's page 30 See Lang page 30 ATTENTION: HOUSE LEAGUE COACHES MARK YOUR CALENDARS TO ATTEND OUR WEEKLY COACHING SESSIONS BEGINNING THIS WEEK!! U8/U9 COACHES: FRIDAYS ­ PINE GLEN #5 U10-U12 COACHES: SATURDAYS ­ ST. THOMAS AQUINAS HIGH SCHOOL Check Website for Complete Details! WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY COMES TO OAKVILLE! EVERTON FC LADIES vs. DEFENDING ONTARIO CUP CHAMPIONS - OAKVILLE STORM WHEN: JUNE 30, 2006 ­ PINE GLEN FIELD PLAY SOCCER INTERACTIVE ROAD SHOW: 3:00PM · GAME TIME: 7:00PM TICKETS AVAILABLE AT OAKVILLE SOCCER CLUB CELEBRATE CANADA DAY WEEKEND BY SUPPORTING YOUR OAKVILLE SENIOR LADIES TEAM! 504 Iroquois Shore Rd., Unit #11, Oakville, ON L6H 3K4 Tel: 905-849-4436 Fax: 905-849-3677 The Oakville Beaver A Proud Sponsor of Oakville Soccer Club