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36 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2009 Blades' title defence ends with loss in Kingston KINGSTON -- As difficult as it is to win a championship, it's even harder to repeat -- particularly in the 37-team Ontario Junior Hockey League. The Oakville Blades' quest to become only the third team in league history to win back-toback titles was ended Tuesday in Kingston with a 5-2 loss to the host Voyageurs, who claimed the best-ofseven league final 42. Oakville was expected to have an edge in experience because of its trip last year to the RBC Royal Bank Cup national championship tournament, but it was the Voyageurs who showed the early poise Tuesday. Kingston, soundly outplayed two nights earlier in a 5-2 loss to the Blades in Oakville, scored a minute into Tuesday's contest and built a 4-0 lead before the game was nine minutes old. Oakville managed third-period goals by Dustin Alcock and Braden Birch to pull within 4-2, but the Voyageurs' Jarrett Burton completed a hat-trick effort with 4:22 left in regulation to put the game on ice, thrilling the thousandplus fans that packed the Invista Centre. Kingston will advance to the Dudley Hewitt Cup, which will determine the Central Canada representative for the Royal Bank Cup. Oakville, Dudley Hewitt champs a year ago, is done. National dreams dashed three goals before the game started," Blades head coach Carlo Coccimiglio said. "Our goaltender (Matt Hache) was not sharp this series, and defensively we had some breakdowns. We battled hard, but at the end of the day you can't be three goals down in the first five minutes." Hache was pulled after Kingston's third goal Tuesday. Adrian Volpe, an affiliate player who saw his only action with the Blades in the playoffs, played the rest of the game. Birch, who turned down scholarship opportunities to return to the Blades this season, said no individual was to blame for Oakville's defensive struggles. "Hache played good games this series. Those goals (Tuesday) were whole team defensive breakdowns," said the Cornell University-bound blueliner. "I wouldn't single out any player on the team. That was everybody. It works from goalie out, defence, forwards. It's a team." There were a couple of excuses the Blades could have used for their season-ending performance Tuesday, though the Blades declined to use them. Oakville played Game 6 without one of its top defenceman, Taylor Farris, who was suspended after instigating a fight with Kingston's Mitch Latchford at the end of Game 5. Latchford, who somehow avoided suspension despite slashing the Blades' Jordan Smith with a two-handed chop that would have made Paul Bunyan proud, scored the Voyageurs' third goal Tuesday. "There's a process. Things didn't go in our favour this time," Coccimiglio said of the league rulings, "but we still had to play a hockey game. I felt for Taylor Ferris because he defended the situation. I don't think it was (a good call) and he finished off his career not playing a game." The Blades might also have been worn out, having gone seven games in their previous two series against the Georgetown Raiders and Wellington Dukes. "We went every other day there for 14 games, but I think our bodies kind of got used to it," said Welsh, who will attend Union College next season. "We hit a wall in the Georgetown series and battled through it. We worked hard and deserved to get where we got, but we just came out a little short here." Mike Turnbull rounds a gate during the recent national junior skiing championships in Whistler, where he won the overall championship. Skier glad he stayed grounded By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF A few years ago, Mike Turnbull considered giving up racing for the high-flying world of freestyle skiing. It took his coach to convince him to keep his skis a little closer to the ground and continue in the sport he had taken up when he was just three years old. Now, Turnbull's rivals probably wish he had made the switch. The Oakville Trafalgar Grade 11 student turned in a dominant performance at last month's Pontiac GMC Canadian Junior J1 Championships in Whistler, B.C. to take the overall title. Turnbull finished no worse than second in See First page 37 Learn to Pitch and Learn to Play Clinics Continue This Weekend Certified Softball Coaches / Pitching Coaches and Oakville Angels Players ready to teach Age groups, times and location directions available on our website. On-Site Registration available from 9am - 12pm Equipment Available TEAM SPONSORS ARE NEEDED NOW CALL 905-825-5848 OR VISIT WWW.OGSA.MYSPORTSITE.COM FOR MORE INFO Register now online - go to www.ogsa.mysportsite.com "We knew if we could win the league here, we could win the Dudley Hewitt and go to the (nationals) and be one of the top teams there," said the Blades' classy captain, Jeremy Welsh. "It's really disappointing. We're not just missing out on the (OJHL) championship, we're missing out on a national title. We knew we were probably the best team in Canada with depth." The Blades' poor start in Game 6 continued a series-long trend in games played at the Invista Centre. The Voyageurs outscored Oakville 8-1 in the three first periods played in Kingston. "Every time we played here, we were down