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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, January 22, 2016 | 40 Kevin Nagel Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff "Connected to your Community" On right course Burloak Canoe Club's Perrone one of many paddlers excited women's canoe soon may be an Olympic sport It's a fact Jillian Perrone chooses to leave out of the conversation when discussion of her athletic pursuit comes up. It's nothing to be ashamed of; nothing to be embarrassed about. She simply knows where the conversation will go when she mentions that her sport is not a part of the Olympics. `Why do it?' she has too often been asked. Why? Because when she rst joined the Burloak Canoe Club, she tried both kayak and canoe. She didn't consider that women's kayak has been a part of the Olympics since 1948 while women's canoe has constantly battled for recognition. She simply enjoyed paddling a canoe, so that's what she did. "I started when I was eight years old," the Oakville native says. "I wasn't thinking about what I would be doing in 20 years." Now a member of Canada's development team, Perrone made the nal at last year's world juniors, nishing seventh in the C-1 200-metre race. The previous year she won two gold medals at the Pan American Sprint Canoe Championships in Mexico. And though the paddlers in all the other disciplines at Burloak can dream of making it to the Olympics, Perrone and her fellow female canoeists could only wonder if they would ever have that same opportunity. Perrone may no longer have to answer why she pursues the sport she loves. On Friday, the International Canoe Federation presented a race program to the International Olympic Committee that includes women's canoe. Should the IOC approve it, which is likely since it has been pushing for gender equality in sports, women's canoe could become an Olympic event as soon as 2020. Canada has always had a strong program in women's canoe, but other countries didn't put the resources into developing the sport. "It's one of those chicken-andegg things," said Perrone, now studying at the University of British Columbia. "(The IOC) de nitely wanted to see more competition and a higher level of competition. In Canada, we did a good job of keeping the level high, but other countries didn't want to pump money into a sport until it was in the Olympics. It was a deadend cycle." The addition of women's canoe events at the world championships in 2010 -- it was also part of the Pan Am Games for the rst time last summer -- has helped. Perrone said countries such as Belarus, Ukraine and Russia have invested in the program and the results are starting to show. Canada won the rst ve gold medals awarded at worlds, but has won only one of the last four. Burloak coach Adam Oldershaw said there was a time when making the Canadian team was the biggest obstacle for athletes and winning a medal was a given. "That's no longer the case, especially at the junior level," he said. "You've got deeper, more competitive elds." The Olympic designation would also have practical bene ts. While Perrone said she receives funding from the provincial government, Oldershaw said the change would help female canoeists by giving them access to national funding as well as training-camp opportunities. "It's really exciting. I think if it becomes part of the Olympics you're going to see it grow and progress at an exponential rate," Perrone said. "It's so encouraging for the sport in general, especially for the younger women paddlers." The IOC is expected to review the ICF's proposed race program after this summer's Olympics in Rio. Jillian Perrone of the Burloak Canoe Club trains on Sixteen Mile Creek last summer. | le photo by Graham Paine ­ Oakville Beaver West Division-leading Oakville Blades trounced by OJHL's top team, Trenton Golden Hawks Ian Blacker and Patrick Kudla scored rstperiod goals to give the Oakville Blades a 2-1 lead, but the league-leading Trenton Golden Hawks shut the door the remainder of the game. It resulted in a 5-2 win for the host Golden Hawks in Ontario Junior Hockey League action Wednesday night. The Golden Hawks, sailing along with a league-best .885 winning percentage, scored three goals in the second period, one shorthanded, and added another in the third frame. The Blades, rst in the West Division standings with a record of 28-11-3-1 and a .655 winning percentage, which is fth best in the OJHL. The loss followed a career night by the Blades' Ryan Garvey last Saturday. He scored four times and set up two more to lead Oakville to a 9-0 win over the woeful (5-35) Milton IceHawks last Saturday. Garvey had both of Oakville's goals in the opening period. He made it a natural hat trick with a goal 1:36 into the second period, and then got his fourth of the night to cap the Blades' six-goal period. Garvey's six-point output doubled his previous best, and the hat trick was his rst since Sept. 19, 2013, when he was playing just his fth junior game. The third-year Blade extended his point streak to 10 games, a stretch that has seen him score nine times and rack up 22 points. Michael Botiz started for the second straight night and made 26 saves to record his rst junior shutout. Josh Kosack scored twice and Brayden Sampson, Peyton Reeves and Eric Holland each had a goal for the Blades. Tyler Rollo and Christian Rajic each had three assists while Drew Worrad, Evan Brown and Michael Mannara had two apiece. Oakville plays Toronto Jr. Canadiens ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE West Division standings W 28 28 24 21 5 L 11 13 16 18 35 T 3 1 0 1 0 (after Jan. 20 games) Oakville Blades Buffalo Jr. Sabres Burlington Cougars Orangeville Flyers Milton IceHawks OTL 1 3 2 3 0 Pts 60 60 50 46 10 tonight (Friday) and the Toronto Patriots Saturday as part of the South-West Conference Showcase series in Toronto.