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Editor: Norm Nelson Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: nnelson@haltonsearch.com SPORTS Draft day disappointment tempered by invite to Dallas Stars main camp By Jon Kuiperij OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF To Rob Hisey, not being selected in the recent NHL entry draft may not have been such a bad thing, after all. The Oakville native, who was passed over by NHL clubs at the draft in Nashville, Tennessee has since been invited to the Dallas Stars' main camp this September. The offer came days after Hisey received an invite to a Montreal Canadiens' rookie camp. "Now that I look at it. I'm glad I didn't get taken in the eighth or ninth round," Hisey said. "Those kids kind o f get lost sometimes." Ranked 118th among North American skaters before the draft by the Central Scouting Bureau, Hisey is now a free agent and able to sign with whichever club he wants. "Dallas is very keen on Rob," said Todd Reynolds, H isey's agent. "He's got a great opportu nity there to go to their main camp. Most times when you're a draft pick you go to the rookie camp, and unless you're the firstround pick ... you're not guaran teed to go to the pro camp. "In some cases there are kids drafted two years ago that still haven't been to a pro camp, so it's a great opportunity for him to play with the big boys for a cou ple weeks." Reynolds, who represents Hisey with Uptown Sports Management, said his client might attend both the Dallas and Montreal camps, but added the priority is to skate with the Stars. At 5-foot-9, the knock on Hisey has always been his size, despite scoring 74 points in 73 games to lead the OHL's Erie Otters in scoring last season. However, his agent suggested there might have been another reason the 18-year-old centre wasn't selected in the draft. "I think there's a couple fac tors -- one is his size, which holds true for any player his size. Some scouts this year said if he was 6 ' 1, 195 lbs., he would be a first-round pick," Reynolds said. "The other is ... the current Graham Paine · Oak\ille Beaver Diana Matheson is caught in action last season helping the Oakville senior wom en's team in an Ontario Cup game. The Oakville team went on to win the provincial and national club championships, and M atheson went on to play for the national team. She scored the winning goal in a recent friendly against Mexico. Peter McCusker · Oakville Beaver Rob Hisey o f the Erie Otters was caught in action this past season by Oakville photographer Peter McCusker when Erie played the Mississauga Ice Dogs. Hisey went on to lead Erie in scoring. collective bargaining agreement, and the leverage that is either on the player's side or the team's side. In this case some teams interpreted it as being on Rob Hisey's side, with a late birthday (Sept. 24, 1984). Normally a player can re-enter the draft but in Rob's case he wouldn't be able to. If he was drafted this year and a team didn't sign him within two years, he'd be an unrestricted free agent, which scared some teams off." Even if Dallas or Montreal offers him a contract, Hisey will likely return to Erie next year. Traded in midseason by Sault Ste. Marie, Hisey filled the top centre role with the Otters, an opportunity he didn't have with the Greyhounds. "With the Sault, we had three cenlremen that probably could be No. 1 centres on many teams in the league. Erie really had a need for it, since they lost a lot of scoring (with the departure of Cory Pecker and Brad Boyes). and it turned out to be a perfect fit for me," Hisey said. In the end. the disappointment o f not being drafted has been washed away by the interest expressed in Hisey by the NHL clubs. "It's like a roller coaster. One day 1 was down and didn't get drafted, but the next day you can be right back in there. The (Dallas) organization likes me a lot, and we will see what hap pens," said Hisey, who monitored the draft proceedings on the Internet from his Oakville home. "That's what these kids don't understand -- they really have to experience it, the highs and lows of the game. As much as you tell them, they really have to live it and experience it," added Reynolds. "To have the phone ring two days later and be offered this opportunity, all o f a sudden you're back up. As a player, if you want to be a pro, you have to be very even, nice and steady. Hopefully Robbie's learning that." Matheson's first international goal is a game winner, and set up by Lang 9 By ion Kuiperij OAKVILLE HEAVtiH STAFF ty"They gave her the opportunity (this year) and she grabbed it with both hands." Matheson. a 5 -fo o t-1 midfielder, said she has been receiving more play ing time recently, and scor ing a game-winner "doesn't hurt" her chances o f mak ing the World Cup team. "It's definitely my biggest goal ever," she said, ranking her game-tying goal for Oakville in last year's national women's championship match a close second. "I think Evan doesn't just look at my size, he looks at what I can do." Currently preparing for games with Brazil later this summer in Montreal and Ottawa, Matheson hopes to be one o f 18 players select ed to travel out west and train for the 2004 World Cup team. If she isn't invited, she certainly has other options, having been accepted to Princeton for this fall. Matheson is also com peting this summer with the Toronto Inferno, a women's league squad that plays elite teams in the United States. "A lot o f people have had a hand in her success, but 1 would say the person that deserves the most cred it for what Diana's done is Diana," McKenna said. "People have always told her she's too small, and she's proved she isn't too small." Russell brothers on national championship teams A couple o f Oakville brothers who both played hockey for local junior A teams will be suit ing up for their respective post secondary teams this fall. Both brothers are graduates of Loyola and o f the Oakville Rangers minor hockey system. Adam Russell, who will turn 21 at the end o f October, played his junior hockey with Mississauga and Georgetown. Scott Russell, who will turn 18 in early September, played two years for the Oakville Blades, switching over to Streetsville Derbys midway through last season. Adam Russell will be going into this third year at St. Clair College in Windsor, where he's taking the three year, golf-relat ed landscape design and turf management program. He will certainly find it hard to top the first two years, with his high powered college team, which is competitive with many Canadian university teams, win ning the Ontario C olleges Athletic Association (OCAA) provincial championships in Oakville brothers Scott (left) and Adam Russell rose through the Oakville Rangers minor hockey sys tem, played junior hockey on area teams and are now playing hockey with their respective post sec ondary schools -- both o f them championship teams. both years. And Scott Russell is going to Norwich University in Vermont. a division three NCAA school. And he will find expectations unusually high at Norwich as they are coming off the NCAA division 3 national champi onship. Diana Matheson is cer tainly making the most o f her opportunity. The 18-year-old Oakville resident, recently named to the national wom en's soccer team, scored her first internation al goal last month to lift Canada over Mexico 2-1 in friendly competition. "It was from the top of the 18-yard-box. Kara (Lang, also o f Oakville) put it along the ground, and I just turned and shot." Matheson said about her goal, which broke a 1-1 tie in the 90th minute: "it was just very exciting, especial ly so late in the game." Matheson. looked over by national coaches most of her life because o f her small stature, has been given the chance by Canadian coach Evan Pellerud to make the team that will compete in next year's World Cup. "Diana basically proves you don't have to be a giant to be a great soccer player." said Billy McKenna, who coached Matheson for sev eral years when she played for the Oakville Soccer Club. "She's got so many weapons in her arsenal -- she can beat you outside, inside, with speed, she can cross the ball ... "She was always the last or second-last cut (with national under-16, -17 and 18 teams) because they never recognized her abili f C anadian T ire and Oakville... A Winning Combination! 400 Dundas St. East · 25 7 -TIR E STORE HOURS: M on. -Fri. 8:00am-9:00pm · Sat. 8:00am-6:00pm Canadian Tire's Athlete of the Week Diana M atheson D iana M atheson's first ever international goal was the game winner as the Canadian national w o m e n 's so cc e r te a m e dge d Mexico 2-1. D U N D A S & T R A F A LG A R R O AD O A K T O W N S H O P P IN G P L A Z A 5 5 0 K e r r S tr e e t · 8 4 4 - 0 2 0 2 STORE HOURS: Mon. -Fri. 8:00am-9:00pm · Sat. 8:00am-7:00pm Sun. 9:00am-6:00pm Way to g o !!! Visit your local Canadian Tire Store to receive your Gift Certificate. Sun. 10:00am-6:00ptn