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w w w .insidehalton.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, June 2 , 2 0 1 7 | 2 4 Kevin Nagel, Oakville Beaver Sports Editor, knagel@burlingtonpost.com Sports "W e teams." "Connected to your Community " up win By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff A s far as Ontario H ockey League debuts go, Cole Purboo's was pret ty impressive. The 17-year-old scored the gam e-winning goal against the Erie Otters in his first O H L game. The next night against Sault Ste. Marie, his third-period goal broke a 2 -2 tie as W in dsor w ent on to a 5 -2 vic tory. The 3following weekend, Purboo had W in d so r's only goal in a 1 loss, then sparked a three-goal outburst in the opening period of a 4 -1 win. Four games. Four shots. Four goals. But as extraordinary as the way his first O H L season began, the way it ended was even better. Playing the same Erie Otters they opened the season against, the Spitfires got a goal from Aaron Luchuk five minutes into the third period for a 46 ,5 1 9 . "That was nothing like I had ever experienced before," Purboo said. "The w hole town just erupt ed. It was nice to be able to win it at hom e and our fans were awesome all year." W h ile W indsor, as the tourna m ent host, knew it w ould be play ing in the Mem orial Cup, it had no guarantees o f being in the final. A n d the Spitfires' jo b seemed to get 3 victory in the Mem orial Cup final in front o f a hom e crowd of before their Mem orial C up opener. treated it like a training "I think it cam p," Purboo said. in his developm ent as Purboo has already show n the ability to score w hen given prime minutes. "I think I took a lot o f good steps," said Purboo, w h o will w ork on im proving his speed in the off season. "The coaching staff really helped m e and I think I improved as a player and a person. W e have so m any leaders on our team, it taught m e h ow to w in and h ow to carry m yself." P u rboo's play did n ot go u n n o ticed. H e 's ranked 189th am ong N orth A m erican skaters by N H L Central Scouting for this su m m er's NHL draft. Though that by no m eans m akes it a certainty h e'll hear his nam e called, Purboo w o n 't let that decide his hockey fate. "It w ould be nice to get drafted, but it doesn't really dictate your fu ture," said W in d so r's ninth-round pick in 2 0 1 5 . "There are a lot more free agents playing in the N H L and having success." Being a Mem orial C up cham pion certainly can't hurt his draft stock, though. A nd after getting to lay his hands on the trophy and get an up-close lo ok at it, Purboo cer tainly appreciates what he and his teammates accomplished. used his 6-fo o t-3, "It was nice to have all the hard w ork and sacrifice pay off," Purboo said. "It's really special. You lo ok at the names on the trophy and all the guys w h o have played in the N H L, it's really cool to join that elite company." ended up benefitting us. W e had a lot more energy than the other W in dsor show ed little rust, scor ing four minutes into the opening game o f the tournament, a 3 -2 win over the Saint John Seadogs. W in d sor then completed its sweep o f the Canadian H ockey League's three championship teams with a 7-1 win over Seattle and a 4 -2 victory over Erie to clinch its spot in the final. A s W in dsor geared up for the Mem orial C up, it added two sec ond-round N H L draft picks and a four-year O H L veteran up front, pushing Purboo dow n the depth chart. W h ile he wasn't able to maintain his early scoring pace, he finished the season with a respect able 11 goals and 17 points. Still, Purboo was the only rookie to suit up for W indsor in the Memorial Cup. "It was definitely awesome to play on those top lines (at the be ginning o f the season )," he said, "but as the team started getting better, I had to adapt to a different role." Purboo 21 5-p o u n d frame to his advantage, playing a physical game and w in ning pu ck battles along the boards. He also used the opportunity to w ork on his defensive game. That will be an important step Oakville's Cole Purboo lifts the Memorial Cup last Sunday after the Windsor Spitfires edged the Erie Otters 4-3. Purboo had 11 goals in his OHL rookie season.j photo by Tim Cornett - Windsor Spitfires a little harder after they were elimi nated in the opening round o f the O H F playoffs. W indsor, 4 1 -1 9 -8 during the regular season, built a 3-1 lead on Fondon, but the Knights rallied to take the next three games, winning 3 -2 in Game 7, to eliminate the Spitfires. That left W in dsor with six weeks Three Abbey Park Eagles qualify for OFSAA track and field m eet By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff After knocking almost three seconds off her time at the South Regional track and field meet, Abbey Park's Nicole Parsons headed to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic As sociations meet looking for her best result. After running a 1 :0 7 :6 0 to finish second in the senior girls' 400-m etre hurdles at the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference championships, Parsons took first at the re gional m eet with a time o f 1:0 4.67 . That ranked the Grade 11 student sixth for the O FSAA championships that started yes terday (Thursday) and conclude tomorrow. Parsons narrowly missed a second vic tory at regionals in a closely-contested 40 0m . W ith less than a 10th o f a second separating the top three, Parsons finished second to Brampton's Eden Senior at 5 8 .3 8 seconds. That still earned her a trip to O FSA A in the 4 0 0 m for the third straight year. Parsons had her best O FSA A finish in the event in 2 0 1 5 w hen she placed ninth. Parsons also placed fourth in the 8 0 0 m at regionals to advance. Oakville Trafalgar's M atthew Tint came agonizingly close to a pair of victories at regionals. Tint produced his best triple ju m p o f the m eet on his final attempt, 1 1 .9 1 m , but that came up one centimetre short o f Brampton's Kenneth W est. In the high ju m p , Tint was leading with ju st two faults through the 10 rounds it too k to clear 1 .8 3 m . H ow ever, St. Catha rines' N oah the victory. Both are medal contenders at O FSA A as the only two m idget boys in the province to clear the 1.80m -m ark this season. T.A. Blakelock's Cameron Madruga ju m ped from fourth to second with his final throw in the senior boys' shot put. Madruga added almost a full metre to his personal best, with a toss o f 1 4 .9 1 m , bettering the 13 .9 9 m he did in w inning the G H A C meet the previous week. D om m asch , who had four faults to that poin t, cleared 1 .8 5 m to earn G .D F B A A ONTARIO FEDERATION O f SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATIONS Loyola's Nic Legaspi finished second in the m idget boys' 3 0 0 m hurdles at regionals with a time o f 4 4 .1 7 seconds. Other O FSA A qualifiers from Oakville are: Thi A n n Hillyard, Garth W e b b , midget girls' 100m and 2 0 0 m ; Tamia N oel, Loyola, senior girls shot put and discus; N oah Far rell, King's Christian, junior boys 100m and 2 0 0 m ; Sandra Guga, W h ite Oaks, junior girls 1 ,5 0 0 m ; Em m a DeSouza, Blakelock, ju nior girls' shot put; King's Christian 4 x 1 0 0 m relay; Elena Colussi-Pelaez, Abbey Park, se nior girls' pole vault; April Estrada, Aquinas, girls intellectual disability 10 0m ; Sajeev M en on, Abbey Park, m idget boys' long ju m p; Chris Elliott, Oakville Trafalgar, senior boys' 4 0 0 m ; and Yihang Q in, Abbey Park, senior boys' triple ju m p.