1 9 |Friday, la n u a ry 2 7 , 2 0 1 7 | O A K V IL L E B E A V E R | www.insideHALTON.com Panthers best in Cambridge atom tourney A 1-0 win over the host team gave the Oakville Panthers the cham pionship trophy at the Cambridge Roadrunners New Years Chal lenge girls' hockey tournament. Forward Ella Wright scored the only goal of the game in the final against the Roadrunners Black team to give Oakville the atom house league title at the 23rd run ning of the tournament. The Panthers are part of the Oakville Hornets Girls Hockey Association. Other members of the Panthers include defencemen Avry Bailey, Cecelia Oldford, Victoria Stuart, Kate Saranchuk, Sophia Pencak HOME VISITORS Washington trades M atheson to Seattle Oakville' s Diana Matheson is heading west after being traded by the Washington Spirit. Matheson, one of only two original play ers from the Spirit's first season in 2 0 1 3 , was dealt to the Seattle Reign for Arielle Ship and a third-round pick in the National W om en' s Soccer League draft. The Canadian national team midfielder ranks ninth all-time in the league with 23 goals and is W ashington' s career leader in goals and assists (1 2 ). She played 6 7 games over four seasons with the Spirit, the last be ing this season's NWSL final where W ash ington was edged 3 -2 in penalty kicks by the Western New York Flash. "I'm proud of the people that I got to play and work with, and our push to improve on and off the field every season," Matheson said in an Instagram post. "It of course hurts that we didn't reach the pinnacle last season, but I'm excited to see the club continue to push for that championship. Most of all I'll miss my teammates and friends that play and live in the DMV (Washington district)." Matheson becomes the sixth player to leave last year's finalists, four through trades and two who signed contracts to play in Eu rope. "I want to thank Diana for all she has in vested in our club," said Washington gen eral manager and head coach Jim Gabarra. "She has been a true professional and con tributed in many ways to the growth, devel opment and success of our team ." Matheson was an NWSL first-team mid fielder in the league's first season despite Washington finishing in last place. The Spirit climbed to fourth the next two sea sons and then to second last year, reaching the league final for the first time. With the Canadian na tional team, the 32-yearold has played in four W om en' s World Cups and three Olympics, win ning bronze medals in both London and Rio. She ranks second in all time caps with 191. Diana Matheson "Diana has proven over the four seasons in the NWSL that she is a top talent. She will bring experience, leadership and proven ability to our squad," said Laura Harvey, Seattle Reign FC head coach and general manager. "We are really excited to bring Diana on board with our club and thankful she will scoring goals for us and not against us." Seattle finished fifth in the 10-team league with eight wins, six losses and six draws last season. "I'm looking ahead with excitem ent to 2 0 1 7 with the Seattle Reign. I am grateful as well to the Reign and to Laura for bringing me out west, and I can't wait to begin my time there," Matheson said. "I look forward to joining the great players, coaches, fans and people that make up the Reign." The Oakville Panthers defeated the Cambridge Roadrunners 1-0 in the champion ship game of the Roadrunners' New Year's Challenge tournament. | photo submitted and Colleen Blackwell, for wards Almira Dal, Avery Tran, Erin Morris, Jessica Richardson, Robyn Clark, Sarah Massey, Sofia Tullo and Sophie Sutherland and goalie Quinn Fieldhouse. Adam Bailey is the head coach, Scott Richardson and James Stuart are as sistant coaches, Andrew Sutherland and Julie Black well are trainers and Nancy Oldford is the manager. Three o f Georgetown Raiders' five losses have com e against the Oakville Blades F o r the third time this season, the Oakville Blades defeated the Georgetown Raiders. Wednesday's 3-2 victory by the visit ing Blades marked only the fifth time the Raiders, Ontario Junior Hockey League's top team, has lost a game. The Blades aren't bad either, lead ing the South Division with a 2 8 -1 2 0 -4 record for 60 points, but that' s 17 points behind the 3 8 -5 -1 -0 Raiders, who lead the West Division standings by 16 points over the Burlington Cougars. Tyler Hildebrandt was the hero for the Blades, breaking a 2 -2 tie with 11:02 remain ing in the third period, assists going to Ryan Foss and Christian Rajic. Two goals late in the first period by Jack son Bales, on a power play, and Matt Hayami put Oakville in front, an advantage the Blades enjoyed until Josh Dickinson and Keegan Blasby netted goals five minutes apart for Georgetown in the early stages of the third period. Brendan McGlynn earned the win in net for the Blades, stopping 28 shots, while his counterpart for the Raiders, Nicholas Latinovich, blocked 19 of 2 2 shots. Oakville finished the five-game regularseason series with Georgetown with three wins and two losses. The Blades were back in action last night (Thursday) against St. Mike's in Toronto, and are in Stouffville Saturday night. ADVENTURE ICKET UWQAKVILLE.ORG Follow Halton sports on Twitter: @ postbeaversport (Kevin Nagel, Burlington Post and Oakville Beaver sports editor) @miltononsports (Steve Leblanc, Milton Canadian Champion sports editor) @ herbgarbutt (Post, Beaver, Champion sports reporter) k First-step quickness * Reaction skills Puck control k Power & acceleration k Explosiveness k Puckwork implemented throughout the program ^ITH S J Y O f ^ ' JAN-MAR TIMESLOTS: A G E & LEVELS DAYS k An excellent studentto-instructor ratio T IM E S P R IC E 7-9 Rep k 10-13 Rep k 8 -1 2 H L 9-13 Rep k 10-12 Rep k 13-15 Rep k 10-13 Rep Thurs Thurs Fri Fri Sat Sat Sun 5:00pm 6:00pm 5:30pm 6:30pm 9:00am 10:00am 9:30am $ 3 2 0 +tax $ 3 2 0 +tax $ 2 8 8 +tax $ 2 8 8 +tax $ 2 5 6 +tax $ 2 5 6 +tax $ 2 5 6 +tax X; W W W .W A V E H 0 C K E Y .C A Register: 905-336-3434 x10 or programs@wavehockey.net YOU CAN WIN FLIGHTS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD + MORE! for tickets call: 905- 845-5571 Raffle Licence #M768588