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Sports Oakville Beaver By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF www.aplushomes.ca Adam Campbell 905-844-4444 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 Broker of Record B R O K E R A G E SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2009 17 OFSAA bronze caps drastic turnaround for STA hockey B rad Gillies skated on to the ice at the first tryout hoping it would not be another year like the previous season. Expectations might not have been high, but at least it couldn't get much worse. The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders boys' hockey team was coming off a season in which it had won only a single game. As the Raiders prepared for the season, there was a feeling things would be different, but none of them expected what would unfold in the coming months. Aquinas completed one of the most remarkable one-year turnarounds in Halton high school sports when it won the bronze medal in its first-ever trip to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) A/AA championships last weekend in Peterborough. "It's not that last year wasn't fun," said Gillies, one of eight returning players on the team. "But it definitely wasn't as enjoyable as this year." Aquinas went 5-2 at the OFSAA tournament, with only a 4-1 semifinal loss to Holy Cross preventing the Raiders playing for the provincial title. But the Raiders would bounce back to "We made Tier 1 and we kind of thought, down Norwood -- the same team that beat Aquinas' in its tournament opener --to claim `Where did that come from?'" said Ruys after the team went into the break at 6-2-1. "All our eyes the bronze. "The guys didn't know how good they could were opened by that." Gillies added, "We were feeling like we could be," said Aquinas assistant coach Bryon Hickey. Josh Ruys capped a remarkable tournament, play with every team in our division, and beat scoring both Aquinas goals in the Raiders' 2-1 them." The Raiders would prove that win in the bronze-medal game. "It's not that last with a two-game sweep of the Ruys played Jr. A with the first-place T.A. Blakelock Tigers Brampton Capitals last season year wasn't fun. that led them to the Halton but, unsure of the direction of the But it definitely final, where they were edged 9-8 team, decided to focus on school wasn't as enjoyable in overtime by Notre Dame. and Aquinas' coaches encouraged as this year." Following a two-week layoff him to come out for the high after their OFSAA qualifier, the school team. The 18-year-old Aquinas hockey player tournament got off to a rough scored in each of Aquinas' seven Brad Gillies start when the second-seeded games at OFSAA, finishing the Raiders lost 6-5 to the 14th seed, Norwood. tournament with 17 goals and 22 points. "Obviously Josh Ruys helped a lot," Gillies Aquinas shook off the rust to win its next three said when asked what accounted for the team's games -- 5-2 over E.S. Garneau (Orleans), 10-3 turnaround, "but there was also a different deter- over Lakeshore Collegiate (Toronto) and 3-1 over Denis O'Connor (Ajax) -- and advance to mination this year." Though the Raiders had tripled the previous the playoff round. In the quarter-finals against Father year's win total in the first two weeks of the season, Ruys said it wasn't until Christmas when Redmond, Aquinas' season was on the line in the Halton league was split into two tiers that the double overtime when Ruys took a cross-ice pass Raiders began to realize they were a legitimate from brother Zack, broke into the zone and ripped a slapshot over the shoulder of the contender. Redmond goalie, allowing the Aquinas players to breathe a sigh of relief. "There was a bitter taste after losing to Notre Dame (in overtime)," said Gillies, a Grade 12 student who had a goal and seven assists in the tournament. "We didn't want the same thing to happen again." Though Holy Cross would deny the Raiders the chance to play for gold, the Raiders would not leave without a medal. This time it was goalie Justin Bailey's turn to shine. The Raiders netminder came within 15 seconds of posting a shutout as Aquinas won 2-1, despite being shorthanded nine times in the game. "It seemed like every big game he saved his best," Hickey said. "He would shut them down and create that separation for us to win." Paterson Farrell finished the tournament with four goals while Zack Ruys and Calvin Reynolds each scored three times. Matthew Oliveira, Tyler Vadacchino and Samuel White had the other Aquinas goals. Other members of the OFSAA bronze medalists are Eric Sapiano, Colin Barrett, Eric Crepinsek, Christopher Lancia, Nicholas Testani, Dylan Pascos, Barry Robertson, Ryan McHugh, Matt Romkema and Stephen Franchetto. OAKVILLE SOCCER CLUB www.oakvillesoccer.ca Spring is Here ... and So is Soccer Season! SPACE STILL AVAILABLE IN MAJORITY OF AGE DIVISIONS FOR THE UPCOMING OUTDOOR SEASON! www.oakvillesoccer.ca for information on days of play & registration details!! SIGN UP FOR THE UPCOMING OUTDOOR SOCCER SEASON BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE! LOOK FOR INFORMATION ON OUR OTHER PROGRAMS NOW AVAILABLE: · SUMMER CAMP PROGRAM · SMALL GROUP TRAINING PROGRAM · WOMEN'S SOCCER FIT PROGRAM · PICK UP SOCCER · MINI KICKERS PROGRAM · BIRTHDAY PARTY PACKAGE www.oakvillesoccer.ca SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES STILL AVAILABLE FOR THE UPCOMING SEASON! 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