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

Sports Oakville Beaver By Shaun Cayley METROLAND MEDIA GROUP 23 · Thursday, January 31, 2013 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-632-0588 (ext. 294) email sports@oakvillebeaver.com Laughton enjoyed The Show, but excited to go back to The O Scott Laughton got a taste of life in the National Hockey League, but will have to wait a while for a little more. After playing the first five games of the season with the Philadelphia Flyers, the Oakville native was sent back to the Ontario Hockey League's Oshawa Generals before the first full season of his three-year entry level contract kicked in. Laughton got the news on Sunday. "I was actually on a pre-game walk when I got the call," the rugged forward says, recalling how the news came from Flyers GM Paul Holmgren. "I went up to his room and we just kind of talked about my development as a player and that going back to Oshawa would be the best thing for me, just to get stronger and especially because we have such a great team in Oshawa. It'll be best for my development." And while the feeling of disappointment was natural for Laughton in the immediate moments following the decision, it didn't take him long to pull some positives from the experience and look forward to returning to Oshawa for what many feel could be a lengthy playoff run. "It's definitely tough. It's your dream to make the NHL and you always want to stick there, so it's tough. I know I am pretty young and they have a young group of forwards," he says. "Coming back to Oshawa, though, I am excited with the group we have. I'm really excited for what's to come." A big part of that comes from the fact that Oshawa, for the first time since early October, is close to icing a full complement of players for an OHL game. Injuries, suspensions and absences for world junior commitments, among other things, have made it nearly impossible for Oshawa to have any consistency in its lineup over the past three months. Laughton's return is essentially the last step in getting the band back together, and he's stoked about it. "That made it a lot easier for me coming back home, knowing the group we have here," he said. "I can't wait to get going this weekend. I am so excited. We haven't had a full lineup, so it's going to be definitely exciting with Boone (Jenner) back and all the guys back from injuries and things like that. I can't wait for this weekend to start." However, despite looking ahead GREGORY SHAMUS / COURTESY PHILADELPHIA FLYERS GREAT EXPERIENCE: Scott Laughton suited up for Philadelphia in the Flyers' first five games of the National Hockey League season before being sent back to the Ontario Hockey League's Oshawa Generals last weekend. in such a positive manner, Laughton can't help but look back on the experiences he enjoyed over the past two weeks, from a short camp with the Flyers to making the team and playing in his first National Hockey League game. And that game wasn't just any old game. Laughton was thrown right into the fire, centering the Flyers' third line against their most hated rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. While he was good to go once the puck dropped on the sold-out affair at home, Laughton admitted to being a little star struck during the pre-game. "In warm-up I was stretching and looked over to see Sidney Crosby and (Evgeni) Malkin and (James) Neal and those guys. It was a surreal feeling for sure," he recalls. Free throw contest local champs Four boys and four girls were crowned Oakville champions at the Knights of Columbus Basketball Free Throw Championships competition, held last weekend at Oakville Basketball Club. Division winners and the first runnerups qualified for the district competition of the championships, which will take place Saturday, Feb. 9 at Burlington's Notre Dame high school. The local competition, conducted by the Knights of Columbus Marian Council #3881, was open to all Oakville youngsters ages 10-14. Each contestant attempted 15 free throws, and all ties were settled by successive rounds of five free throws per contestant until a winner emerged. Following is a list of top-three finishers in each event: · 10-year-old boys: 1. Markian Klufas (St. Luke); 2. Zane Almeida (St. Luke); 3. Connor Stanton (St. Luke) · 11-year-old boys: 1. Joshua Medina (St. Dominic); 2. Kyle Ortiz (St. James); 3. Carlos Briones (St. Matthew) · 12-year-old boys: 1. Nicolai Gonzaga (St. James); 2. E.J. Perri (St. Dominic); 3. Jaidyn Landry (St. Bernadette) · 13-year-old boys: 1. Chris Carvalho (St. James); 2. Mauricio Timoteo (St. James); 3. David Bozor (St. Bernadette) · 10-year-old girls: 1. Joanna Pepa (St. Matthew); 2. Sara Toneguzzi (Mother Teresa); 3. Gabriella Pastor (St. Bernadette) · 11-year-old girls: 1. Brenna Richard (St. Matthew); 2. Natalie Jane Wragg (St. Matthew); 3. Michaela Silveria (St. James) · 12-year-old girls: 1. Vanessa Noia (St. Dominic); 2. Naureen Murray (St. James); 3. Angelika Delos Santos (St. James) · 13-year-old girls: 1. Alicia Krzwicki (St. Joan of Arc); 2. Megan Lesuita (St. Bernadette); 3. Sophie Ciardullo (St. Bernadette) ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER / @HALTON_PHOTOG Knights of Columbus Basketball Free Throw Championship Oakville competition Saturday at Oakville Basketball Club's Wyecroft Road location. FOCUS: Rayanna Rymes, 10, concentrates on the basket as she prepares to take a shot during the