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Sports Oakville Beaver By Kevin Nagel METROLAND WEST MEDIA GROUP SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2010 35 Aquinas headed to OFSAA after win over Corpus Christi BURLINGTON -- With both the Halton title and an OFSAA berth on the line, the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders defeated the Corpus Christi Longhorns in a battle of undefeated senior boys' soccer teams in Burlington on Wednesday. Aquinas took advantage of its chances to record a 2-0 victory at Sherwood Forest Park, grabbing the Halton AA crown back from the Longhorns. Aquinas will head back to the all-Ontario AA championships in Windsor next week. The two teams played to a scoreless draw in the first week of the regular season, but the prospect of another 0-0 game on Wednesday ended less than three minutes in. Patterson Farrel took advantage of a defensive miscue by Corpus Christi to score the only goal Aquinas would need in the steamy conditions. "Cam (Cameron Galea-Andrews) put the pressure on the defence and they made a bad pass," said Farrel. "I was just there to clean up the garbage." Longhorns' netminder Julien John, who seconds earlier made an excellent save on a deflected shot, was in no position to stop Farrel on the goal. The score remained 1-0 until another Longhorns defensive breakdown led to the second goal with about nine minutes remaining in the match. After Anthony Ronca worked the ball down the right sideline, he fed Farrel the ball in the corner. Some fancy footwork enabled Farrel to earn some open turf, feeding Galea-Andrews, who beat the only Longhorn near him, goalie John, with a quick redirect about a yard from the goal line. Brandon Galea-Andrews, steady at the other end for the Raiders, earned the shutout. It was a disappointing finish to the season for Corpus Christi, which defeated Milton for the Halton title last year, and in addition to an undefeated regular season also won tournaments in Grimsby and Burlington. "Our goal was to win Halton with the bonus of an OFSAA berth," said Longhorns coach Rob Biturajac. "A defensive miscue put us back early but we couldn't bury anything." NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER St. Thomas Aquinas keeper Brandon Galea-Andrews (left) flies across the goal line to grab a shot from Corpus Christi's Jayden Daniels during Wednesday's Halton senior boys' AA soccer final in Burlington. Galea-Andrews and the Raiders blanked Corpus Christi 2-0. Warnings and yellows cards were regular occurances for both teams in the chippy game. "I think the heat came into play," said Biturajac, who will lose Jordan Kotsopolous and Michael Tait, two key contributors, to graduation. "and it was an emotional game with an OFSAA berth on the line." Co-coaches Gino DiMarcello and George Oliveira and their players are confident the Raiders will fare well at when they return to OFSAA June 3-5. Unlike this year, an OFSAA berth didn't depend on a Halton victory. "Our zone isn't highly ranked, so we're seeded near the bottom," said Oliveira. "Last year, we were 2-2 (at OFSAA) but we lost to the (overall) first and second-place finishers," added DiMarcello. "And we were pretty close with them," concluded Farrel. Blades new coach brings offensive approach to game By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Local junior hockey fans who love seeing plenty of goals should be in for a treat next season. Offensive-minded Mark Jooris has been hired to coach the Oakville Blades next season, replacing the recently-departed Jason Nobili. Nobili left the Blades for personal reasons after leading the team to the Ontario Junior Hockey League championship and an RBC Cup national championship tournament appearance in his only season with Oakville. The 46-year-old Jooris, who filled the net on a regular basis during his lengthy profes- sional playing career overseas, makes no secret of his preference for the offensive side of the game. Under Jooris' guidance last year, the Burlington Cougars scored 313 goals in 50 regular-season games -- 95 more goals than any other squad in the Central Canadian Hockey League. Jooris' son, Josh, won the league scoring title, while linemate Greg Carey set a league record with 72 goals. Oakville fans can expect to see a similar fast-paced style as the Blades move from Joshua's Creek Arenas to the Olympic-sized surface at the new Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. "People say you can't teach goal scoring. I disagree. You can teach goal-scoring chances," Jooris said. "I think you'll see an up-tempo kind of game. We're going to be exciting to watch." That style worked wonders for the Cougars -- in the regular season, at least. Burlington went 39-8-3 in the regular season to finish first overall in the standings, but was swept in the third round of the league playoffs by the Newmarket Hurricanes. While Jooris accepts the notion that defence wins championships, he says the offensive style can still be successful in the postseason. "We got up against a hot goalie (against Newmarket). We didn't win battles in front of the net... we would get one shot and didn't get a rebound," he said. "No one says you need to win 1-0, although that seems to be playoff hockey. "We needed to focus a little more on keeping the puck out of our net, especially if you're not scoring." Blades general manager Carlo Coccimiglio, busy these days filling holes left by the many graduating players from last year's squad, expects Jooris should be a good fit in the Oakville organization. "He's quite familiar with Olympic-sized ice (from his time overseas), and he's very strong in the skill development area," Coccimiglio said. "He's got an understanding of the game and reads the game very well. He'll fit in very well with the assistant coaches we have, and we've put a good team together again."