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

32 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2009 CATHOLIC FINALS: The Halton Catholic District School Board held its elementary system basketball championships Thursday at Burlington's Notre Dame Secondary School. In far left photo, Justin Saddlemyre of Burlington Sacred Heart of Jesus )in white) tries to pry the ball from the grasp of St. Andrew's Jamie Garcia. In right photo, St. Marguerite d'Youville student Sera Smith (24) chases down Milton Holy Rosary player Danielle Vis. Local boys, girls win hoops silver Local schools earned silver medals in both boys' and girls' competition at the Halton Catholic District School Board elementary system basketball finals Thursday in Burlington. The St. Andrew Avengers boys' team settled for silver after falling 41-38 to Burlington's Sacred Heart of Jesus, while the St. Marguerite d'Youville Magic dropped a 26-15 decision to Milton's Holy Rosary in the girls' final. The boys' final was tightly contested throughout, with neither team opening up a lead of more than six points, but St. Andrew came up just short in its first loss of the season. "We were a team that all year relied heavily on outside shooting, and it was pretty much non-existent (Thursday)," said St. Andrew coach Jason Tallevi. Jake Babic and Kristijan Petrovic were the Avengers' top scorers, while Jamie Garcia earned praise from the coach for his play Thursday. The girls' championship was much different, PHOTOS BY with Holy Rosary scoring all 10 of the first-quarMICHAEL IVANIN / ter points. St. Marguerite made a third-quarter OAKVILLE BEAVER surge to pull within 18-12 going into the final frame, but the Hawks pulled away again in the fourth. "We fell behind early and just couldn't get our offence working," said Magic co-coach Natalie Inch. teams, will limit each team to five 20-yearHolly Rowe (six points) and Marissa Wiebe By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF olds. But Blades coach and general manager (five) were St. Marguerite's top scorers. Carlo Coccimiglio said Central Division The Halton public elementary basketball The Oakville Blades' next run at a champi- teams involved in the pilot project didn't even finals will be played Tuesday at Abbey Park High onship will come in a vastly different-looking follow their own rules. The Central Division School. league. champion Wellington Dukes, who the Blades The Ontario Junior Hockey League will be met in the league semifinals, had eight 20split into two new conferences for next sea- year-olds on their roster, the same number as son, with each conference Oakville. KIDS CAP CAUSE WE CARE "The group of 15 teams operating under its own set While the teams in the Kids Cap is a company that cares about teaching your kids how to play sports, of rules. Fifteen teams, wanted to continue to new conference say the leanring the rules, having fun and meeting new friends. Targeted start date including the Blades, will play under the current... change was necessary to will be on Sunday, May 10, 2009. (Weather permitting) at Brookdale Park continue to operate under guidelines. We didn't focus more on developing starting at 10:30am. Call us for further info. the league's existing rules. see anything wrong players, Savoy said the Blades The other conference, which are doing just that under the with those rules." the neighbouring Burlington existing rules. Five players -- Cougars have joined, will folLindsay Sparks (Michigan), Oakville Blades low the model of last season's Kellan Lain (Luke Superior), official Marty Savoy Central Division pilot project Jeremy Walsh (Union), Ian and will limit the number of 20-year-old play- O'Brien (Mercyhurst) and Braden Birch ers each team can have on its roster. (Cornell) -- earned NCAA Division I scholar"The group of 15 teams wanted to contin- ships, while Julian Cimadamore joined the ue to play under the current Hockey Canada OHL's Kitchener Rangers during the season. guidelines," said the Blades' Marty Savoy, Coccimiglio rejects the notion that a team who is in charge of hockey business develop- cannot develop players and still contend for ment. "We didn't see anything wrong with league titles. He points to the recent examthose rules." ples of Matt Beca, Chase Langeraap, Scott The current rules allow each Jr. A team to Greenham and Welsh, who all earned carry nine 20-year-old players on its roster. Division 1 scholarships as 20-year-olds. Savoy The new conference, which will have 21 See Plenty page 33 New look for Jr. A hockey loop KIDS CAP www.kidscap.net