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The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday October 31, 2001 - D1 G A trra rom c S f w r t f f l e d n e s d a y SM a Z 4 oirary v . 0 NAVY STREET © A K V tllt ONTARIO An Oakville Beaver Feature Editor: NORM NELSON Phone:845-3824, ext 255 Fax:337-5567 E-mail:nnelson@ haltonsearch.com Photos by Graham Paine CROSS COUNTRY CHECK-UP: the combined Halton/G-HAC (Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference) high school cross country meet was held at Kelso last Wednesday. Check a future issue for top 50 results in each divi sion. One of the names that will be there will be OFSAA veteran Kyle Jones (right photo) who won the G-HAC jun ior division. He can also be seen front and centre in the top photo, showing the start of the junior race. Cru take advantage of second chance, advance to McCormick Cup semifinals The Oakville C rusaders' drive to repeat as M cCorm ick Cup champs is back on track after an 18-0 quarterfinal win Saturday in Ottaw a against the Ottaw a Irish. It marked the fourth straight playoff road game for the Crusaders, this despite winning their second consecutive regular season title. The C ru's only home game was their playoff opener, which they won. The Cru, however, w eren't com plaining too loudly about the quirks o f the playoff system after benefiting from one of them last week when they were shocked 15-8 by Brantford. Instead of elim inating them, it ju st saddled them with another road game -- in Ottawa. And this time, the Cru managed to work out the kinks in their game plan and shore up the bench to ensure they were well prepared and ready for everything the home side had to throw at them. Solid play by the Cru saw them hold their own in the tight phases with the backs equal to the task on attack and defence as they recorded the shutout victory to end the Irish' season. In the process, they set up a dream semifinal match up, which will be held this Saturday, 3 p.m., at their home field on Ninth Line, north o f U pper M iddle Road. Their opponents will be none other than the underdog Brantford squad, who far from resting on the laurels of their upset win over the Cru, went out last Saturday to also win their quarterfinal game against Balmy Beach in extra time. The winner o f the game will advance to the M cCormick Cup finals on Saturday, Nov. 11. There, they will m eet the winner o f this w eekend's other semifinal match-up between last year's finalist Yeomen and Toronto Irish. SECOND TEAM Despite their first-place regular season finish, the Cru second squad barely made it out o f their round robin play off, squeaking into the fourth and final playoff spot with a 1-2 record. The good news, though, is they're still in the playoff hunt; the bad news is that their semifinal match-up could n 't get any tougher. They are on the road this Saturday against defending playoff champion Balmy Beach who were 3-0 in the pre liminary round. The Cru lost 38-8 to Toronto Irish last Saturday to fall to 1-2. The game, however, was meaningless in that the Cru were virtually assured of a playoff berth. They actually had some o f their key players up in Ottawa with the first team. With the wind at their back, the Cru led 8-0 at the half, but the Irish, obviously, did even better with the wind, rhyming off 38 straight second half points. The Cru won the previous Saturday (Oct. 20) 54-5 over Saracens (in what turned out to be the key game) and lost their playoff opener (Oct. 13) 13-7 to Balmy Beach. THIRD TEAM The Cru third team, who, in turn, had players covering for the shortchanged second team, dropped their final pre liminary round playoff game 13-10 to Aurora. But with a bonus point (for being within seven points of Aurora) combined with their first two wins (22-17 over Saracens and 33-17 over Balmy Beach), the Cru third team still captured top seed. As a result they'll again host Aurora this Saturday in the semifinal match. Roller hockey registration on tap Oakville-based Halton Roller Hockey is holding registration this week for next year's spring/summer season. Registration will be held at Oakville Arena Thursday and Friday nights, 7-9 p.m., on Saturday, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. and on Sunday, 1-3 p.m. Co-ed programs are available from five years old to adult. Adult is by individual or team with three divisions available -- elite, com petitive and recreational. Registration is also available through their website at www.rollerhockey.net. Phone (905) 332-1234. Annual ski and snowboard sale Photo by Ron Kuzyk Oakville's national stream skaters. BACK ROW: Heather Stewart, Chris Stewart, Denise Fung, Jennifer Court, Devin Harris, Sarah Yundt, Lisa Telebar, Adam Dawson and Stephanie Van Veen. FRONT ROW: Courtney Andison, Katie Bonar, Lauren Burke, Kaylen Shimoda, Kimberley Richards, Kristina DiClemente and Lauren Sule. K icking o ff th e road to nationals The Oakville Skating Club has a talented group of skaters representing the club in singles and dance events at the sub sectionals and sectionals this year. The sub sectionals were held last weekend (Oct. 26-28) and the sectionals will follow on Nov. 11 (some competitors have a bye into the sectionals). See future issue for results. They are qualifying events for both the Canadian nation al championships which will be held, once again, in Hamilton, Jan. 9-13, as well as the junior nationals which are being held in St. John's, Newfoundland, Jan. 24-27. The M ilton Heights Ski and Snowboard racing team's annual ski swap and sale will be held this coming weekend (Nov. 2-4). The racing club with a large youth contingent, but also including adults, attracts members from a wide area, including Oakville. Based out of the Glen Eden ski area, ju st outside M ilton, they compete throughout southern Ontario. This annual event has grown over the years and for the first time will leave behind the ski chalet at Glen Eden in favour o f larger Country Heritage Park just a short distance away at 8560 Tremaine Rd. "This is a beautiful heated bam with two stories for sales and promotional displays," commented volunteer event co-ordinator Steve Titus. "We sell both new and used ski and snow board equipment. We will have an excellent selection o f children's ski and snow board equipment. "New this year because we have so much space we have added some nice attractions not seen at our swap before, such as dealer booths, selling new win ter clothing, and other related products, travel companies with some of the best ski trip prices. "We have a BBQ running all week end." The club is also accepting regis tration. See page D3