Bulldogs swept by Buzz

After his Halton Hills Bulldogs were eliminated from the Ontario Lacrosse Association Jr. B playoffs in Oakville on Saturday night, 15-year-old phenom Cameron Flint wasn't interested in talking about his superb regular season, in which he scored a team-high 31 goals. He felt the eighth-place Bulldogs were a better team than the one that was swept out of the best-of-five series by the top-ranked Buzz for the second straight post-season. Flint had a pair of goals in the closely contested opener of the series, but 22-1 Oakville dominated game two here Thursday 14-2 and was in control of the finale from the outset, cruising to a 9-4 triumph. "It's disappointing because I didn't score as much as I wanted to in the playoffs, but that will come with experience," said Flint. "Penalties again hurt us, and it just slipped away from there. (Oakville) just outplayed us all around. We'll just have to wait 'til next year."

Oakville will now face the Scarborough Saints in the second round of the OLA East Conference playoffs, with Mimico taking on Barrie in the other semi-final. Flint's lacrosse season isn't over just yet as he's a key offensive player for the Halton Hills midget field squad that will play in the national championships in Victoria, B.C. on the Labour Day weekend. At 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds, Flint will earn strong consideration for rookie-of-the-year honours at the Jr. B level and received special attention from Oakville defenders during the first-round matchup. Also a sixth-round draft pick of the Ontario Hockey League's Brampton Battalion in May, Flint made it clear that he'll attend Salisbury Prep School in Conneticut starting in September on a lacrosse and hockey scholarship. "My heart is with lacrosse and I'd like to get a scholarship to a Division One school," the Christ the King student said. "I'm really excited about going to Salisbury and I've got four more years of junior in lacrosse, so you look at it like there's an upside to everything." Saturday's loss marked the end of the junior careers of Bulldogs' captain Travis Bland and goalie Kyle Kennery. The season started promisingly enough at 3-0 for Halton Hills, but suspensions and a lack of consistency, along with a few one goal losses, left the club scrambling for the final playoff spot in the OLA's East Conference. No scoring information was available for the final two games.

Travis Bland of the Halton Hills Bulldogs (left) wasn't given much room by Oakville's Chris Downey and the regular-season champion Buzz in their Ontario Lacrosse Association Jr. B playoff contest at Maple Grove Arena in Oakville. The Buzz completed a three-game sweep of the Bulldogs in their first round series with a 9-4 triumph, bringing the 'Dogs' season and Brand's junior career to a close.