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C2 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday March 27, 2002 Five Olympic gold medalists battle it out in Oakville By Kathy Yanchus SPEC IAL TO TH E BEAVER The biggest difference between men's and women's hockey, according to one meticulous observer, is that "they (the women) don't go crashing into the boards and stuff, and get hurt." Straightforward analysis from a 10year-old fan during the Ice Bears/Beatrice Aeros National Women's Hockey League division final playoff game Friday night at Ice Sports. The metamorphosis of women's hockey, which burst out of obscurity a few short years ago, becoming one of the fastest growing sports among girls today, was no more evident than at Ice Sports Oakville where Bears' owner Bill Metcalfe chose to hold the crucial playoff match. Decked out in jerseys and baseball caps, Hornets of all ages were out in full force, accompanied by moms and dads, to cheer on their new heroes, the female kind this time. Sure they like their Toronto Maple Leafs, but the Ice Bears are women, and give younger versions of the gentler sex something to aspire to. And girls love their hockey. They, in their own words, "make friends", "have fun" and they want "to play hockey forever and ever." The Ice Bears didn't disappoint the capacity crowd putting on a great dis play of skill and speed not to mention winning the game 4-0 which kept them in the best of three series played at York University Monday night. (Alas, they lost Monday night's game 4-1 to lose the best-of-three divi sional final series 2-1). Okay, so the kids don't remember all Peter McCusker · Oakville Beaver t Therese Brisson of the Ice Bears, and a member of the Canadian Olympic champion hockey team, charges the net at Oakville Ice Sports as they took on the Beatrice Aeros. Five Olympic gold medalists played in Friday's tilt. the Bears' names. Just watching the women play hockey, especially those whom they saw on TV during the Olympics, was "cool." "I could be doing that someday," smiled Stephanie Hucko, one of a hand ful of Gwartz Orthodontics atom play ers including Laura Pinto, Stephanie Salema, Katherine Wallace and Kirsten Walker, sitting front row directly behind the glass. Their subdued cheer of `Go Ice Bears Go' was so refreshingly differ ent, civilized compared to some beerbellied bozos barking at the Leafs, hurl ing insults at the refs. At one point during the first period, a little pushing and shoving erupted in front of the Ice Bears net. "Yeah, fight," yelped a little boy in anticipation as he jumped from his seat and swung from the top of the glass. Tsk. Tsk. Much to his disappointment, emo tions cooled and nothing came of the moment. The beer-toting hockey `connois seurs' in the bar couldn't resist checking out the game and their analysis, no doubt contrary to their critiques of Leafs' games, was docile and compli mentary. No expletives attached to players' names. The general consensus was that the women have great moves out on the ice, they're just not as strong with the puck. One even commented that he enjoyed the women's style of hockey better than the junior version. The young fans were not disappoint ed and flocked to a table upstairs where Bears, including gold medalist Therese Brisson, Nathalie Rivard, Liz Duval, Kathy McCormack and Shannon Grimbly graciously signed whatever came their way. "I'm getting my jersey and my hat signed for good luck," beamed one little atom. MosUy jerseys were flung on the table, but occasionally a newspaper clipping or a single piece of wrinkled paper became a treasured memento. Flashes popped, seven year-old Alex had his photo taken with Brisson's gold medal hung around his neck. The gold medal itself, a weighty hunk of Olympic athletic triumph, proved almost as popular as the players themselves and Brisson was quite free and trusting as it was passed from youngster to youngster, not to mention from parent to parent. A stream of daz zled dads complimented Brisson on the play of the national women's team and congratulated her on the win for Canada. But unlike the dads who wanted (o talk about the scandalous refereeing in the Olympic gold medal match, kidshad more profound comments and I queries. I "Which side of the medal is the front? "Doesn't this hurt your neck? "Well, actually yes it does, " replied Brisson, who along with the other p a y ers enjoyed the autograph session, giv ing them a chance to meet their youngest fans. Added a smiling Duval: "for some of us older players, we would play in old dark arenas and there might be a boyfriend or a parent come out to watch us so this is great.". Nine-year-old Jamey Ball, Hornets jersey hanging past her knees, had a special reason for wanting to hold the gold medal. "I wanted to touch the medal just,in case I don't get one." Four gold medal Olympians suited up for the Beatrice Aeros, including Becky Kellar. Cheryl Pounder, Geraldine Heaney and Cherie Piper. Oakville Aquatic Club foursome competed at the Commonwealth trials (Continued from page C1) medal in the 50m freestyle event and third with a bronze in the 100m freestyle. Quite an accom plishment considering Pomeroy missed an entire month o f training in December because o f illness. "As a sprinter, she didn't ju st swim the race once but three tim es," explained Oakville Aquatic Club head coach, Christy Yaremczuk. "She had to swim through preliminaries. She had to finish in the top 16 to make the sem i finals and then the top eight to go to the finals." "I think that as an athlete that says a great deal about her. W hen you make a commitment to make an international team you have to be com m itted through w hatever com es along. There are steps along the way and commitment can make or break the performance. In her mind, Laura is very focused." Coach and athlete will now sit down and discuss strengths, both physically and mentally. "We do a race analysis. Her race is broken down and we analyze her start speed, her fin ishing speed...if her stroke is efficient techni cally. And w e'll compare all that to what's going on at the world level." How does Pomeroy currently compare? Before returning from out west, she was hon ored with the Speedo Athlete Development Award for being ranked within the top 50 in the world; she currently sits at 35th. Personal goals for the Commonwealth Games will also be established. Does she want to medal, break a Canadian record or become the fastest female Canadian sprinter? "It will be a combination o f goals," said Yaremczuk. Pomeroy is in the water seven to eight times per week for up to two hours each practice, plus she endures a dryland training regimen two to three times per week and executes a spe cial exercise program with an athletic therapist. "She is very excited," said Yaremczuk. "The focus for the rest o f the training season will be preparation for the Commonwealth Games." Pomeroy won a national gold medal in the 50m free last summer and also earned her first World Cup medal in December -- a bronze. The Commonwealth Games will mark her biggest international competition, to date. `T h is is a good step for her, a step towards the Olympic Games o f 2004," said Yaremczuk. Pomeroy will swim not only the 50m and 100m freestyle events at the Commonwealth Games, but will be a part o f the 4x50 and 4x100 freestyle relay teams. "She may also be on the 4x100 medley relay team," said Yaremczuk Although she was not selected for the G am es' coaching staff, Yaremczuk will fly over to watch her swim m er compete. Three other OAC swimmers com peted in · Winnipeg. Fifteen-year-old Marco M onaco, the youngest male competing in the event, placed 16th in the 400m individual medley and 13th in the 200m breast stroke. "An excellent showing for him ," said Yaremczuk. Nikki Lakatos and Kimmi Labbett also had great meets. Both o f their highlights occurred in the 100m breast stroke where their tim es, both o f which were personal bests, placed them in the top 10 in Ontario. The two are "the future breast stroke sw im mers in the province o f O ntario," said Yaremczuk. "Ontario as a province stood out at the Games. O ntario swimmers swept many o f the races so there will be lots o f swimmers from our province on the Canadian team ." Finally, you can trast him to do the "Queens Avenue has everything I need!" By Paula Henriques ADVERTORIAL en Steen clearly loved his job - He worked until his 77th birthday. First, working in the armed forces for 34 yean as a mechanic, then in maintenance and supervision, he retired as chief warrant officer. Then on behalf o f the air force, he worked at Bombardier for seven years in quality control and administration. Instead of retiring he stayed in Montreal and continued working with Bombardier for another 23 years as a technical writer. He finally called it quits, but rather reluctandy at 77 years of age. "W ork has been my hobby," says Ken. "I was lucky enough to do exactly what I wanted to do, so it wasn't work for me." K opera favourites. M ilitajy artifacts line the suite. Vision impaired, Ken prefers listening to talking books over watching movies. The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) provides them, and he's also hoping for a bigger computer screen, since most of his free time is spent writing letters on it. 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Moving from Montreal to Oakville to be closer to his daughters and grandchildren (two o f his grandchildren live in British Colum bia), Ken did a lot o f searching for a place that catered to people's individual needs, yet, fostered their independence. His searching stopped at Q ueens Avenue Retirement Residence. His one bedroom , spacious suite has all the amenities o f home. A kitchen, appliances, and living room house all o f his knick knacks accumulated throughout the years. Sarah Brightman' s strong vocals can be heard through his antique record player, where he plays all o f his For more information, visit www.healthcheck.org or call the Heart and Stroke Foundation at 1-888-HSF-INFO E M t--»l Health Check*... tells you it's a healthy choice W May we j^Q uote You? CAA Members can enjoy great savings on Home & Auto Insurance - it is w orth the call1 nsuranee or phone 1-888-231-3423 B ro k ers Inc. visit u s online today at w w w .caascoinsurance.com