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Sports Oakville Beaver www.aplushomes.ca Adam Campbell Broker of Record 905-844-4444 B R O K E R A G E I N D E P E N D E N T LY O W N E D A N D O P E R AT E D SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2008 39 MICHAEL IVANIN / SPECIAL TO THE OAKVILLE BEAVER NUMBER ONE: Members of the Oakville Blades gather with team owner Gary Tune (left) Sunday to celebrate the club's first-ever Provincial Junior A Hockey League championship. CHAMPIONS By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Oakville Blades headed to Dudley Hewitt Cup victories), they always seemed in control of their opponents. Oakville won the opening contest in all four of its series, never lost consecutive games, never trailed in a series and never faced elimination. "People underestimated us a bit, I thought," said Blades netminder Scott Greenham, owner of a 16-5 record, 2.15 goals-against average and .933 save percentage in the playoffs. "Personally, I don't think there is a team we played that was better than us at all. We did not get lucky with these wins." Markham proved to be little more than a speed bump in the final, particularly in the games at Joshua's Creek Arenas. The Blades scored six goals in each of the three contests played in Oakville, chasing Waxers starting goaltender Kyle Rank in all of them. The fourth game of the series, played Friday in Markham, probably went the furthest in breaking the spirit of the Waxers. Markham peppered Greenham -- and backup Oliver Wren, who came in for the final 2:37 of regulation -- with 48 shots, but was s they steamrolled their way through the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League playoffs, it seemed at times as though the Oakville Blades were playing with too many men on the ice. Perhaps, from an emotional and motivational standpoint, they actually were. The Blades completed their impressive run to their first-ever league title Sunday at Joshua's Creek Arenas, blitzing the Markham Waxers 6-3 to claim the championship series in five games. Oakville will represent the OPJHL, along with the host Newmarket Hurricanes, at next week's Dudley Hewitt Cup, where the Blades will also compete with the Sudbury Junior Wolves and Dryden Ice Dogs for a berth in the RBC Royal Bank Cup national championship tournament. Oakville head coach Carlo Coccimiglio and his players dedicated their Frank R. Buckland Trophy win to former long-time assistant equipment manager Jean A Lachaine, who passed away suddenly earlier this season at the age of 78. "When he passed away, we lost a big part of our family. I think that brought us closer together as a team," Coccimiglio said. "We had (Jean) on our side." Blades captain Chris Corbeil's eyes welled up with tears several times as he recalled the contributions Lachaine made to the team over the years. "The number of hours and the amount Jean Lachaine of work he put in behind the scenes, people will never know. He was here before any of us showed up, and left later than any of us. Practices, games, everything. Washing our equipment, making sure the Gatorade was ready, making sure the board for practices was cleaned off... it's simple little stuff that makes a difference, stuff that lightens the load for myself and the coaching staff. It's great to be able to give it to him and do this for him," said Corbeil. "It's sad (the Blades couldn't win the league title while Lachaine was still alive), but I don't know if we would have been here if we didn't have that inspiration. He really inspired us, and with adversity comes motivation. I touch Jeanny's picture before we go out (on the ice) every time." Lachaine was the main motivating factor for the Blades this season, but he wasn't the only one. The team was also determined to go far this season for fallen teammate Domenic Monardo (story, page 40) and owner Gary Tune. "Gary has supported this organization for five or six years and treated these boys with a lot of respect," said Coccimiglio. "These boys are lucky to have what he's offered. The players wanted to give this to him for all his hard work, and he finally got rewarded." Always in control of opponents While the Blades didn't dominate every game in the playoffs (six of their 16 wins came by one goal, including two overtime See Blades page 40