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www.insidehalton.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, November 9, 2017 | 38 Kevin Nagel, Oakville Beaver Sports Editor, knagel@burlingtonpost.com Sports "Connected to your Community " Oakville skaters take first step in goal of m aking nationals in B.C. By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff Blakelock goalie Steckel is Team East MVP in Halton all-star field hockey O akville p u blic h igh sch o o ls d id n 't qualify for the all-Ontar io field h ock ey ch am p ion sh ip s held la st w eek en d in B urlington, b u t they m ad e their presence felt in the an n ual H alton all-star gam es that follow ed the O FSA A gold -m edal gam e at Dr. F r a n k J. H ayden H igh Sch ool last Satur day. T hree team s played a roundrobin series in the all-star form at, w ith Team E ast, N orth an d W est all fin ish in g w ith 1-1 records. T. A. B lak elo ck goalie A dri an a Steckel earned team MVP h on ou rs for Team E ast, w hich blan k ed Team N orth 1-0 and lost 2-0 to Team W est. In the other roun d-robin gam e, Team N orth blan k ed Team W est 2-0. O akville players on the E ast team also in clu d ed forw ard K im W atada and m idfielder M egan Zalzal o f Iroq u ois R idge, m id fielder K ayla C orry from A bbey P ark, defender Tess A lk sn is and m idfielders A lex K in kartz and G illian G roth from O akville Tra falgar, T.A. B lak elock m idfielder M arlie T siapalis, forw ard Sydney M o rriso n from G arth W ebb and defender N icole R oot, forw ard E m ik o A rai and m idfielder N ata lie P ach eco from W hite O aks. T here w ere O akville players on the H alton W est team as w ell, w ith forw ard Claire Ja m ie so n from A bbey P a rk an d m idfielder K risten Sm ith from G arth W ebb. F ou rteen H alton pu blic sc h o o ls w ere represen ted in the three all-star gam es, w h ich fea ture 38 players. O ther team M VP aw ards w ent to L.B. P earso n 's defender Tonia O sei-B on su (N orth ) an d N elson forw ard A n n a M atthew (W est). H alton team s fared w ell at the O n tario F ed eration o f Sch ool A thletic A ssociatio n s ch am pi o n sh ip s w ith H ayden earn in g a silver m edal and M ilton 's C raig K ielburger fin ish in g fourth in the 16-team event. M addie Sch izas h as already com peted in Brit ish C o lu m b ia on ce this se aso n and sh e h o p es to so o n be m ak in g a return trip. T h e O a k v ille sk a te r to o k the first ste p to w ard q u a lify in g for h er first n a tio n a l c h a m p io n s h ip s , to be h e ld in V an co u v e r in J a n u ary, w ith a se c o n d - p la c e fin ish in the n o v ic e w o m e n 's d iv isio n at th e S k a te O n ta rio S e c tio n a ls S a tu rd a y at S ix te e n M ile S p o rts C o m p lex . Sch izas w as third after F rid a y 's sh ort p ro gram , th ou gh ju s t a fraction o f a p o in t behind M ilton Sk atin g C lu b team m ate L au ra D aw son. She delivered a stro n g free sk ate Saturday, scor in g 7 1 .0 6 p oin ts, to secu re the silver m edal b e h in d York R egion 's A m elia Orzel. Sch izas h as ad d ed a triple lo o p to the triple Salch ow and triple toe sh e already h ad in her repertoire. She h as also in creased the n u m ber o f triples in her free sk ate to four. M ore im p or tantly, th ou gh , h as been her consistency. "I k n o w I can sk ate a pretty go o d p ro g ram ," sh e said. "I k n o w I can lan d m y d ou b le A xels and triple toes every tim e." T h at h a s tran slated in to a stro n g se a so n for the S ch izas, w h o earn ed her first trip o u t w est as p art o f an O n tario team that com peted at B .C . S u m m er Sk ate in B u rn ab y in A u gu st. T he G rade 9 W hite O ak s stu d en t also w on the section al qualifying com petition , w hich gave her confidence h ead in g in to the w eekend. "T here w ere on ly a cou p le o f p eop le d oin g the sam e n u m ber o f ju m p s as m e, so I th ou gh t I cou ld do w ell," sh e said. W ith her seco n d -p lace fin ish , S ch iza s ad v an ces to the Sk ate C an a d a C h allen ge in Pierrefon d s, Q ue. Nov. 29-D ec. 3, the final step in q u alify in g for n ation als. T here sh e w ill h ave a ch ance to d o w h at sh e loves. "I love co m p etin g," Sch izas said. "I like bein g ab ou t to sh o w w h at I've been w ork in g on every day at the rin k ." W hile Schizas is looking for her first trip to na tionals, one veteran skater is looking to im prove his stan din g at the C anadian cham pionships. Skate O akville's B en net T om an finished eighth in the sen ior m en 's division at each o f the last tw o C an adian ch am pion sh ip s. T om an finished third at sectio n als, b u t given that he sw itched h is free sk ate p rogram ju s t tw o w eeks ago, he k n o w s there is still plen ty o f tim e to fine tune things before nation als. "I w asn 't getting the scores I w an ted, so I m ade Skate O akville's Kaitlyn C hubb and partner A lex G unther finished sixth injunior dance at the Skate O ntario Sectionals at Sixteen M ile Sports Com plex last weekend. They will advance to the Skate C anada Challenge in Q uebec at the end of the m onth, the final step in qualifyingfor the national championships inVancouver. | photo by Graham Paine - Oakville Beaver the sw itch to one o f m y old p ro g ram s," he said. "It w as the h igh est sco rin g p rogram I've h a d ." H e's u p d ated the p rogram to in clu d e elem ents su ch as a triple A xel, triple toe com bin ation. T om an is u se d to d ealin g w ith change. H is fam ily m oved from Q u eb ec to O n tario four years ago and last year he sw itched coach es, startin g to w o r k w ith M ichelle Leigh. T h at led to a change in clu b s as w ell as he jo in e d Skate O akville to continue h is w o rk w ith h is new coach. Sk atin g in O akville also op en ed u p m ore coach in g op p ortu n ities for him as w ell and af forded h im m ore tim e on the ice w hile giving him a m an ageab le com m u te from h is h om e in B ram pton. T he 20-year-old h as con tin u ed to earn inter n ation al assign m en ts like the U .S. Intern ational F igu re Sk atin g C lassic in Salt L ak e C ity in S ep tem ber, w here he finished 11th. T h o se exp eri en ces have helped him p o lish p erform an ce ele m ents. "T he technical p art h as alw ays been the stro n g sid e for m e, b u t I'm really developin g other p erform an ce com p o n en ts, like m y facial e x p re ssio n s" he said. T om an will u se Skate C an a d a C h allen ge to re fine h is p ro gram s as he aim s for a top-five finish at nationals. A lso com petin g in the sen ior ran k s is Skate O akville's H elene Carle. L ike Tom an, sh e 's a n ew com er to the club, h av in g previou sly sk ated ou t o f M ilton. C arle finished sixth in the sen ior w o m en 's div ision at sectionals. "It co u ld have been a lo t better," sh e said o f her perform an ce. "I'm g o in g to w o rk h ard for the n e x t three w eek s an d I'm h o p in g for im p rovem en t (a t Sk ate C an a d a C h a lle n g e )." After fin ish in g seven th in ju n io r at last y ear's n ation als, C arle said the tran sition to sen ior h as been sm ooth . L ike an y other seaso n , sh e 's sim ply fo cu sed on im p rovin g and ad d in g elem ents, in clu d in g a triple L u tz an d a d ou ble A xel, triple toe com bin ation , to her program . It w as a b u sy w eeken d for the C arle family. Sister C atherine w ill also advance to Skate C h al lenge C an a d a after fin ish in g third in the ju n io r w o m en 's d ivision as w ill A u drey C arle, w h o w as eighth in the pre-novice w o m en 's division. A lso ad van cin g are Skate O akville's D aniel N azd ry n au (fourth , pre-novice m en 's ); Kaitlyn C h u bb an d partner A lex G unther, w h o were sixth in ju n io r dance; Ja im e G abbard (nin th, novice w o m en 's ); E m m a G o o d stad t and Jo se p h Perrier (nin th, pre-novice d an ce); N icole Bolender an d C h ristian N ainer (1 2 th , per-novice d an ce); C h ristian N ainer (1 3 th , pre-novice m en 's ) ; M ad ison Shaw, (16th , ju n io r w o m en 's ) as w ell as O akville sk ate rs N atalie W alker (sev enth, ju n io r w o m en 's ) and A bigail Leinw eber (1 6 th , novice w o m en 's ), w h o com pete ou t o f the M ilton Sk atin g C lub.