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Corbeil helpless as Western drops OUA hockey finalBut former Blades captain will rejoin Mustangs at CIS championships in FrederictonBy Ed Klajmanence might have made a difference.season schedule had lots of weekend contests, so he wasSPECIAL TO THE BEAVERIts like being injured, said Corbeil, an A student study-forced to miss more than a third of the teams games.ing business, who returned to London after the lacrosse But in the playoffs, a compressed schedule meant a lotIt was the most helpless feeling Chris Corbeil has evergame to get re-immersed in his schoolwork. Youre up in more weekday action, so he played in most of the teamshad.the press box watching. You wish you were out there with post-season games, notching four goals and two assists in sixThe Buffalo Bandits lacrosse player who also happensthe guys. Its tough to watch the team struggling out there games.to be one of the top forwards on the Western Mustangsand not being able to do anything about it.Singer, who won the divisions coach of the year award,hockey team was glued to his laptopThe good news for the former Oakville Blades captain is said after the McGill game that Chris, who is in his secondlast Saturday afternoon. He was watch-that the Mustangs will have a chance at redemption at the season with the team, was a major reason why the Mustangsing his hockey teammates when hedUniversity Cup tournament March 24-27 in Fredericton.won a division title and earned a berth at nationals.normally be getting focused on hisThats where the top eight teams in the country will He has always played really well in the playoffs. Hes firstupcoming lacrosse game that night.gather to determine the national championship. Both and foremost a hard-working, physical player. He does aCorbeil was used to missing a lot of Western and McGill will be there.great job playing left wing in that role but hes also found hisWesterns games this season because heAnd so will Corbeil.scoring touch. Hes in our top few in scoring right now inis a professional who is paid by theThe Bandits have a game in Minnesota on March 27. playoff scoring, so thats how valuable a guy he is. Hes oneBandits of the National LacrosseThats the date of the hockey tournaments championship of those guys you need in the playoffs to win. Hell grind.League, so they get the priority ingame. If Western loses in the quarterfinals or semis, Corbeil Hes a playoff-style performer.scheduling conflicts.will fly across the continent to play in the lacrosse game.Obviously, we missed him out there today.Chris CorbeilBut this was no ordinary hockeyBut if Western makes it to the final, he will stay in New By a scheduling fluke, there is neither a lacrosse nor agame. It was the 100th edition of theBrunswick and skip the lacrosse game.hockey game for Corbeil this coming weekend. It has beenQueens Cup the Ontario university championship gameLacrosse had to be my first priority and I explained that many months since that happened and with his workload atagainst the McGill Redmen and it was being played onto Clarke (Singer, Westerns head coach) heading into the school being particularly heavy these days, the free weekendhome ice in front of the largest and loudest crowd of theyear. But this would be the one circumstance where Id have couldnt come at a better time.season.to put lacrosse on the backburner and put the Western Were playing so much hockey and with lacrosse itsThe game started at 3:30 p.m. Corbeils Bandits werentMustangs ahead of them because its a once-in-a-lifetime tough to stay on top of school, Corbeil said.playing their home game against Boston until four hoursopportunity to play for a national championship, said the I knew it was going to be like this and I would have to belater, so there was at least time for the Holy Trinity grad to6-foot-2, 188-pounder, who has four goals and four assists in pretty dedicated to getting my schoolwork done when I can.watch the game via video stream.ten games so far this season playing defense for Buffalo.Itll be nice to have a catch-up weekend on school work. ButBut it was a frustrating experience to see Western quicklyCorbeils lacrosse commitment generally involves one right after Ill leave for nationals and miss class time and getfall behind 3-0, en route to a 6-2 loss, and know that his pres-weekend game plus a Tuesday practice. Westerns regular behind all over again.BEST IN BURLINGTON:The Oakville novice A Hornets won the championship at last week-end's Burlington Barracudas girls' hockey tournament.Novice Hornets golden in BurlingtonThe Oakville novice A Hornets gotPayton Merkley, Erin McPherson,their March Break off to a good start.Annabel Child, Jackie Murray, SarahOakville rattled off four straight victo-Campbell, Mattie Base, Rachelries to win the Burlington BarracudasD'Armiento, Francesca Monte, Quinntournament last weekend, locking up theKolwich, Gillian Miller, Paige Lester andgold with a 1-0 win over the WaterlooPaige Murray.Ravens in the final.Rod Damery, Richard Campbell, StevenMembers of the team are MorganMonte and Steve Lester coach the team,Damery, Paige Petcoff, Sophia Lombardo,Alison Child is the trainer and Jeff Mackenzie Seaver, Sophie Hamboyan,Kolwich is the manager.www.insideHALTON.com OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, March 18, 2011 38