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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, April 4, 2013 | 24 HALTON TRANSMISSION 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 905-842-0725 www.haltontransmission.com Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports S I L E N C I N "Connected to your Community" G T H E S T O R M Two gold, four silver for Hornets at Lower Lakes championships Two Oakville Hornets rep teams won gold and four more collected silver at the Lower Lakes Female Hockey League championship weekend recently in Mississauga. The novice A Hornets posted a 4-3 shootout victory over the North York Storm in their division final, while the bantam BB1 Hornets edged the London Devilettes 2-1 in their gold-medal game. Earning silver medals were Oakville's atom AA, atom A, peewee B and bantam AA entries. The peewee AA and bantam A Hornets also represented Oakville at the championship weekend, each finishing fourth. the game with 28 seconds to go in regulation time, and the teams played a scoreless five-minute overtime session before a shootout decided the outcome. Oakville's victory avenged a 5-3 loss to North York in the opening game of the championship weekend. The Hornets rebounded with shutout wins over Cambridge (1-0) and Whitby (5-0) to earn a rematch in the final. Also contributing to Oakville's success this season were Alex Crich, Ava Walker, Breanna Lombardo, Cassidy Mallette, Ella Jackson, Olivia Hunt, Rachel Hamburg, Stephanie Stainton, Tatum Martino, Taya Balfour, Taylor Stanford and Sydney O'Leary. Brad Arsenault, Mike Kirchmair, Jeff Crich, Jordan Currie, Craig Balfour and Erin Arsenault coach the team, and Stephanie Oliver is the trainer. The Hornets will compete in this weekend's provincial championships in Ottawa. Novice A Paige Oliver stopped five of six shootout attempts and Kathryn Zuliani scored in the sixth round to lift the novice A Hornets to victory. Reichen Kirchmair also scored in the shootout for Oakville. Oliver allowed a goal on North York's first shot before stopping the next five. Reese Oliver, Avery Spence and Kirchmair scored the Hornets' goals in regulation time. The Storm tied Oakville resident and Kitchener Rangers defenceman Ben Fanelli (in blue) clears a Guelph Storm opponent from the Kitchener crease during Round 1 action of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.| Mathew McCarthy -- Metroland West Media Group Two local residents still standing in OHL playoffs Seven Oakville players see teams eliminated in opening round The opening round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs was not kind to teams with Oakville residents on their rosters. Ben Fanelli and Scott Laughton were the lone local players to escape the first round of postseason play, while seven others saw their seasons end. Fanelli and the Kitchener Rangers defeated the Guelph Storm 4-1 in their best-of-seven series. Fanelli, a defenceman, was plus-two in the five games after posting a plus23 rating and collecting 21 points in 64 regular-season contests. Kitchener will face the London Knights in the second round, beginning tomorrow (Friday) in London. Laughton, picked 20th overall in last year's NHL Entry Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers, led the Oshawa Generals to a 4-1 win over the Niagara Ice Dogs in Round 1. Laughton lit up Niagara for six goals and six assists in the series, well above the 1.14 points-per-game pace he produced during the regular season (56 points in 49 games). The Generals opened their second-round series with the Barrie Colts last night (Wednesday). Chris Festarini was one of the Ice Dogs victimized by Laughton's offensive outburst. Festarini was in net for all five games of the series, posting a 3.20 goals-against average and .907 save percentage. Festarini was 22-24-2-2 with a 3.27 goals-against average and .898 save percentage during the regular season. The Mississauga Steelheads and their Oakville trio -- Damian Bourne, Stuart Percy and Spencer Martin -- bowed out in six games to the Belleville Bulls. Bourne suited up in four of those contests, scoring once. Percy, a Toronto Maple Leafs defence prospect, had two assists in the series after notching a career high 45 points in regularseason play. Martin, who had a 17-21-0-4 record with a 3.02 goals-against average and .906 save percentage during the regular season, was 0-1 in two series appearances in net for Mississauga. Also bounced in the first round were Brampton Battalion goaltender Jake Smith, Kingston Frontenacs forward Slater Doggett and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds forward Brandon Alderson. Smith was saddled with two overtime losses despite limiting the Sudbury Wolves to three goals in 123 minutes played. Sudbury won the series in five games. Smith had a 2.57 goals-against average in 20 games as a rookie this season. Doggett was held pointless in Kingston's 4-0 loss at the hands of the Barrie Colts. Doggett collected 15 points in his first OHL season. Alderson, who recently signed an NHL contract with the Flyers, had one goal and three assists during the Soo's 4-2 loss to the Owen Sound Attack. The 21-year-old winger was making his first career OHL playoff appearance after racking up 157 points in four seasons with the Sarnia Sting and Greyhounds. Bantam BB Sophie Pace's third-period goal see Dramatic on p.25 Steve Mason traded to Flyers If Steve Mason needed a fresh start to turn his National Hockey League career around, he got his wish. The former Abbey Park High School student and 2009 NHL rookie of the year goaltender was traded yesterday (Wednesday) by the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Philadelphia Flyers. In exchange for Mason, Columbus received goalie Michael Leighton and a third-round draft choice. Mason started just two games last month for the Blue Jackets, who have ridden netminder Sergei Bobrovsky to earn points in 15 of their last 16 games and work their way back into the playoff picture. Mason is 3-6-1 this season with a 2.95 goals-against average and .899 save percentage. "I'm looking forward to a fresh opportunity with some new guys (in Philadelphia)," Mason told TSN.com. "Sergei Bobrovsky has really taken the ball and run with it, but every goalie wants a fresh start and no goalie likes to be sitting on the bench so I'm looking forward to this."