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, i | 649 FOURTH LINE, OAKVIUi, ^ £ , " *1 " * 905-815-8444 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts See Ok Week-end paper t v more specials $ 4 "» s n% Editor: Norm Nelson Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: nnelson@haltonsearch.com W K D N K S D A Y . .11 I V <). 2 C X > 3 · Cl SPORTS Buzz ousted in five by Barrie OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Before the Oakville Buz/, began the 2003 cam paign. coach Derek Forbes made two promises to the organization and its fans. First, the Junior B squad would reach the Ontario Lacrosse Association postseason for the first time in its threeyear history. This promise w as fulfilled with a strong finish to the regular sea son. w ith the Buzz crack ing the Eastern Conference top-eisht. in seventh place (11-9). The second promise was a much more subjec tive one: Forbes pledged the Buzz executive would be proud of its club. Oakville's season came to an end Sunday night w ith an 11-8 loss in Barrie, giving the Tornado a 3-2 victory in the hard fought, best-of-five series. So. general manager Rob Bajak. did Forbes come through on both promises? "1 0 0 percent." said Bajak. "For Derek to make (promises) like that in the first interv iew we had with him, I thought either this guy is really good or he doesn't know what he's up against. "He pawed that he is really good. In my books he's one of the best." Forbes, who has coached lacrosse at differ ent levels for more than 20 years, was impressed with how his young club took a tough Barrie squad, who had lost only four games all year (15-4-1). to the limit. "For a team that had never been in playoffs before, it certainly responded well," he said. "Obviously they were disappointed but I know I was certainly proud of them and they should be proud of their performance this year." The Buzz actually held 1-0 and 2-1 series leads against the Tornado and had an opportunity to elim inate Barrie Saturday night in Oakv ille, but got off to a slow stiirt and lost 12-6. The road team won the first four games of the series before Barrie's expe rience and playoff savvy shone through in the decid ing contest. "It was a strange series, it certainly wasn't a home one." said Forbes. "The Barrie coach said he was By Jon Kuiperij Return to Hamilton is special for Aidoo, T.O. on tap Aug. 14 By Jon Kuiperij O.VKVIUH BEAVHR STAFF Harrison Smith · Oakville Beaver T he Buzz c o u ld n 't clinch at hom e in this S atu rd ay night gam e and were ousted in B arrie on Sunday. T O P PH O T O : B arrie T orn ad o player Kenny H am ilton shru g s off a check by the B uzz's Mike K night. BOTTOM PH O T O : Reid W estm acott is on the run. going to ask if we could have the final game in Oakville." Bajak had his own the ory on why his team won two g;unes on the road but was unable to pull one out at Maplegrove Arena. "We had a hard time at home this year, and 1 don't think it was the boys' nerves." he said. "Our crowds were real ly great this year, but it's Oakv ille - they're quiet. Our boys seem to perform in a noisy environment, whether it's for us or against us." With the loss to Barrie, the organization now looks ahead to next year. Bajak would welcome Forbes back with open arms next season, but the coach is still undecided whether he will return to build on Oakville's successful 2(X)3 campaign. "We've got a whole team with some playoff experience, and they know what it's like to see the same team five games straight," Bajak said. "There is a lot to build on for next year, too." The GM credited many people behind the scenes for contributing to the Buzz's success, notably game-day organizer Judy Kingston and team presi dent Al Farrer. OAKVILLE BUZZ: Jason LeGree (g). Adam Elias (g). Adam Hockaday. Josh Smyth. Morgan Thenhaus. Michael McLaughlin. Geoff Farrer, Chris Warren, Curtis Travis, Joel Leveille, Evan Bender. Jeff Butt. Brendan Thenhaus. Bryan Johnson, Reid Westmacott. Chris Butt. Andrew Kingston. Craig Henderson. Dave Brock, Trevor Colm. Mike Knight. Stephan LeBlanc and Thomas Metcalf. GM. Rob Bajak: head coach. Derek Forbes; assistant coaches Marc Leveille and Richie Jackson. Softball fundraiser has topped $300,000, and growing a group of dedicated softball biffs are out to put their skills to he test for a good cause -- the vlayor's Invitational YMCA eft Oakville Softball Tournament, losted by Mattamy Homes. On Thursday (July 10X more than 450 players on 30 teams, all drawn from the home building industry, plus Town o f Oakville and Region of Halton teams, play ball at four Oakville parks and then congregate at 3 p.m. for the play offs (championship game at 4:30 p.m.) and an awards dinner at Oakville Arena. Sports personality Dan Ferrone, VP Operations and Special Projects for the Toronto Argos, will be on hand for colour commentary and as Master of Ceremonies for the evening. Comedy Hypnotist `Fernandez' who dazzles audiences the world over with his spectacular brand of hypnosis w ill provide outstanding dinner entertainment. Bruce Ireland. CEO o f the YMCA of Oakville and Peter Gilgan. President and CEO of Mattamy Homes, will take part in the official part of the program. It takes more than 100 volun teers from the YMCA, Mattamy Homes, and the Oakville Girls Softball Association to make this winning charitable event a reality. Funds raised to date exceed $300,000. with the announcement o f the total donation to the YMCA's Capital Campaign being made by Peter Gilgan, at the end of the evening. The partnership between the homebuilders and the YMCA is a natural, as together they work to build strong kids, strong families and strong commu nities. Oakville players to suit up for Canada A couple of Oakville residents w ill be in action close to home as Canada's national rugby team hosts New Zealand Maori at York University on Saturday, August 2. It's part of of a three-game tour, with other dates being Saturday. July 26 in Calgary and Wednesday, July 30 in Ottawa. Oakville residents are Mark Lawson and Philip Murphy, both also members o f the Oakville Crusaders. After qualifying for this year's World Cup in impressive style last year, the national team had a bit of a let down last month, bowing out of its own Churchill Cup with a 43-7 loss to England and an unchar acteristic 16-11 loss to the U.S. Kojo Aidoo is a profes sional running back who rarely, if ever, gets his hands on the pigskin -- and h e's loving it. The O akville native, selected in the second round o f this y ear's CFL draft by the Edmonton Eskim os, is enjoying each and every opportunity he has to step out on the grid iron. confident his time in the spotlight will come. So far this young sea son. Aidoo has served as a blocker several plays a game on offence and has also received regular spe cial team s work, helping the Eskimos to a 2-2 record after last Saturday's 37-20 thum ping o f the Tiger-Cats in Hamilton. The game at Ivor Wynne Stadium was an em otional one for the 24year-old as 30 family mem bers joined A idoo's friends and form er coach es in the stands. "The Hamilton game was big because I went to (M cM aster), and there were a lot o f guys involved with that football com m unity w ho cam e to the gam e," said Aidoo, adding the E skim os' visit to Toronto Aug. 14 will also be special for him. The 6-foot. 240-lb. graduate o f Loyola said he started slowly against the Ticats. feeling "a lot of eyes" w atching, but settled down in the second half to make several tackles on kick coverage and con tribute to the E skim os' win. Aidoo has been relegat ed to such special teams duties mostly because of the calibre of athletes ahead of him on Edm onton's depth chart, including six-time CFL rushing leader Mike Pringle and 10-year veter an Troy Mills. " It's a matter of waiting my turn. 1 am playing behind two phenomenal athletes... there isn't any com plaint right now because they are legiti mate players." Aidoo said. "It's a m atter o f me putting in my time and showing the coaches I can play on special teams. "(If) you can run down the field, make an effort, make tackles or take care o f assignm ents, th ey 'll be willing to give you an opportunity at the other end when the time com es." Not touching the foot ball with regularity might cause concern for most running backs who have NFL aspirations and want to be noticed. Although Aidoo still hopes for a chance south o f the border, he isn't con sumed by that dream and Kojo Aidoo believes things will take care of themselves. "If that opportunity (playing in the NFL) pres ents itself. I'm going to jum p on it like a dog on m eat," he laughed. "R ight now' I'm just trying to take care of the opportunity I have in the CFL." A former Hec Crighton Award winner, as the top university football player in Canada three years ago. and ow ner o f the Ontario University Association single-season touchdown record (35). Aidoo might well have been on the path to a jo b w ith an NFL team had he not broken his leg while Filming a movie two years ago. " I'm back like Freddy." he said when asked if he's recovered from the broken fibula. "I'm a better football player now than I was (before). "With the injury I was able to concentrate on the weight room, to work on my speed and other things in regard to my gam e." Aidoo credited Stephanie Freeman, his girlfriend who is studying kinesiology at the University of Waterloo, for designing a rehabilita tion program and helping with his training. Aidoo got his degree in geography and plans to some day obtain his teach ing certificate. One of the realities as a player in the CFL is the need for other career options, as salaries in the Canadian league fall far short of the NFL. "You c a n 't compare those two salaries. Som etim es you feel like yo u 're doing equal work but not getting equal pay. and it's significant -- it's not just dollars and cents, y o u 're talking about thou sands and even millions difference," he said. "If you play the game for money, yo u 'll be very, very upset. "If you take it a step at a time, I think things will com e your way." Tire d Oakville.** Combination! O A K T O W N S H O P P IN G P L A Z A 5 5 0 K e rr S tr e e t · 8 4 4 - 0 2 0 2 STORE HOURS: Mon. -Fri. 8:00am-9:00pm · Sat. 8:00am-6:00pm Sun. 10:00am-6:00p<n STORE HOURS: Mon. -Fri. 8:00am-9:00pm · Sat. 8:00am-7:00pm Sun. 9:00am-6:00pm Canadian Tire 's Athlete of the Week K irb y P a lk o vic Kirby Palkovic, a rhythmic gymnast, shared a provincial gold medal in duet and also an overall bronze medal in the individual category in her 9/10-year-old age group. Way to g o !!! Visit your local Canadian Tire Store to receive your Gift Certificate.