The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

32 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012 CELEBRITY COACHES: Toronto Maple Leafs players (left photo, left to right) Tyler Bozak, Jonas Gustavsson, (right photo, left to right) Phil Kessel and Matthew Lombardi take in the action during a men's league hockey game last week at Canlan Ice Sports. PHOTOS BY STEVEN DER-GARABEDIAN / SPECIAL TO OAKVILLE BEAVER Local men's league teams ambushed by Maple Leafs pecting recreational teams have their games transformed into a Maple Leafs game experiBEAVER SPORTS EDITOR ence. Two teams in Etobicoke had their Shane Smallwood and his Da game crashed by Luke Schenn, Joffrey Draughtsmen teammates gave up their pro- Lupul, Carl Gunnarsson and Clarke fessional hockey dreams a long time ago. MacArthur in December. Last week, it was Last week, they at least got a taste of what Da Draughtsmen and Golden Gate's turn. they were missing. Smallwood said the experience was parMembers of Da Draughtsmen and their ticularly special for his squad, which was opponents last Wednesday, Golden Gate, devastated two months ago by the sudden were stunned when they arrived passing of long-time player and at Canlan Ice Sports for their "Everyone was captain Bill Nazar. Nazar, who Adult Safe Hockey League E astounded. They ran a chiropractic clinic in Division game. town, died in his sleep from an Their dressing room was couldn't believe it." undetected heart condition. outfitted like an NHL team's. "Bill was one of our four Name badges with the Toronto Da Draughtsmen original players. He was the Maple Leafs logo were above men's hockey player heart and soul of the squad," the hooks, Leafs jerseys were Shane Smallwood Smallwood said. hung with players' names on "Our team was almost going the backs, a large table in the middle of the to fold. No one knew what they were going room was stacked with plenty of tape, drinks to do. For (Canlan) to include us in this were provided and television cameras cap- game... God love them for picking us." tured the action. Bozak and Gustavsson stood behind the The real surprise came moments later, bench of Da Draughtsmen for that night's when Leafs players Phil Kessel, Matthew game, while Golden Gate was coached by Lombardi, Jonas Gustavsson and Tyler Bozak Kessel and Lombardi. And the teams even walked into the dressing rooms. provided some drama for their celebrity "Everyone was astounded," said the coaches, with Mike Woloschuk scoring on a 43-year-old Smallwood. "They couldn't penalty shot in overtime to give Da believe it." Draughtsmen a 3-2 victory. Da Draughtsmen and Golden Gate play"I think (our coaches) had a small wager ers had been ambushed as part of a Coca- on the game between them, because when Cola Zero-sponsored program, known as `a we scored in overtime, they jumped about See Leafs, page 35 Leafs ambush game', that sees two unsusBy Jon Kuiperij Offensive balance has Titans contending for girls hockey title By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLEBEAVERSTAFF he Holy Trinity Titans were among Halton's highest-scoring girls high school hockey teams last year, averaging just under four goals a game. However, the Titans' scoring touch abandoned them in the playoffs as they were upset 1-0 by Notre Dame in the opening round of the playoffs. This year, the Titans are back, and they're intent on not letting that happen again. "We have three lines. I think we're one of the deepest teams," said Titans coach Chris Chliszczyk. "All three of (the lines) can put the puck in the net. It's been pretty much across the board." Trinity lost just one player from last sea- T son's squad, but it was a significant loss -- Lindsay Grigg, who is now enjoying a solid freshman season with the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers, the NCAA's top-ranked Division III team. However, with 26 goals in seven games, Trinity is scoring at the same clip it did last season. The Titans have improved significantly defensively, though, dropping their goals-against average from 3.00 to 2.29. That has the Titans sitting atop the Richardson Division. In fact, they were the lone undefeated team in Tier 1 before dropping a 3-1 decision to the Volpe Divisionleading Nelson Lords Monday. Among Trinity's five victories is a 6-4 win over Loyola, a team that has played in each of the last three Halton finals. See Season, page 33