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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, April 4, 2014 | 24 G Oakville's Rachel Marmen and Claire Merrick will be playing at the Esso Cup, the national midget girls' hockey championship. The pair play for the Stoney Creek Sabres, who will be hosting this year's tournament, which runs April 20-26. The sixteam tournament will have representatives from B.C., Alberta, Western Canada, Ontario, Atlantic Canada and the hosts. | photo by Herb Garbutt -- Oakville Beaver O L D F O R V E N O M Oakville duo looking forward to Esso Cup By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff Despite playing on a team that has scored five times as many goals as its opponents, lost just twice in 33 games and emerged from a field of 49 teams to win its league championship, Rachel Marmen and Claire Merrick still feel they have something to prove. The Oakville hockey players have known since the beginning of the season that they would be playing in the Esso Cup. Their Stoney Creek Sabres' team is hosting the national midget girls' hockey championship Apr. 20-26. But they don't want anyone thinking they got a free ride. "There is pressure to do well," said Merrick, a Grade 11 student at Oakville Trafalgar High School. So far, the Sabres have responded to that pressure. Stoney Creek finished first in the Lower Lakes Female Hockey League's midget AA Central Division with a record of 19-2-1. The Sabres followed that up with three series victories to advance to the league's championship weekend, where they went 4-0, blanking Clarington 3-0 in the final. Merrick, a winger who won a silver medal at the Ontario Winter Games two years ago, has averaged a point a game for the Sabres and has stepped it up in the playoffs with eight goals and 16 assists in 20 games. She's looking forward to challenge the Esso Cup presents. "I'm looking forward to playing at the top level," she said. Marmen, a defenceman and one of three 14-yearolds on the team, had 11 assists in 22 regular-season games and added four assists in 20 playoff games. She played at the Ontario Winter Games this year where she and her Team Bendus teammates missed out on the medals despite going undefeated (1-0-3). A former forward, she enjoys being able to initiate the attack. "I'm not much of a goal scorer but I like passing the puck up," she said. In addition to their success in league play, the Sabres have won some high-profile tournaments, including the NAHA Labour Day Showcase, the Thanksgiving University Showcase and the Aeros Midget Classic. That's not enough to satisfy Marmen, though. "We still want to win provincials," said the Grade 9 Loyola student. "It's important. A lot of teams don't think we deserve it. We want to prove them wrong." Should the Sabres win the Ontario title, the runnerup would also advance. Both see Clarington and their hometown Hornets as the biggest challengers. Oakville went 24-0-4 in Lower Lakes play and the Sabres edged the Hornets 1-0 in the championship tournament. The Oakville novice Venom won four straight games, capped by a 17-7 victory over Niagara Falls to win the Ontario Basketball Association Division 3 championship. Team members are: (back row, from left) Lilia Skumatova, coach Mike Neale, Kaitlyn Ruetz, Bree Robinson, Jada Upshaw, Jayden Johnson, (front row, from left) Emma Hatcher, Allison Preyra, Adelaide Howard, Sheyene Neale, Mia Sakota, Vida Kojovic. Missing from the photo was assistant coach Richard Robinson. | photo submitted Sagl named PSAC pitcher of week Oakville's Alex Sagl was named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference pitcher of the week for the second time this season. The sophomore at California University of Pennsylvania tossed a complete-game shutout in the opening game of a doubleheader against the Seton Hall Pirates. Seton Hall entered the game with a .377 team batting average but the Oakville Trafalgar H.S. graduate checked the Pirates on five hits and one walk over six innings. Last year's PSAC pitcher of the year is 6-2 this season and ranks seventh in the conference with a 1.79 ERA. Sagl, who represented Canada at the 2013 world junior championships, has 41 strikeouts in 47 innings while holding the opposition to a .195 batting average. Sagl earned the weekly honours in the opening week of the season after recording three wins and striking out 16 in 20 innings. HUGE INVENTORY BLOW OUT Novice Red Foxes down Aurora to take Leaside title UP TO $ ON BRAND NEW FURNACES & AIR CONDITIONERS CALL NOW, QUANTITIES ARE LIMITED! UP TO 95% IN HI-EFFICIENCY DC MOTOR GAS FURNACE 2,100 FACTORY & GOVERNMENT UP TO REBATES $ IN GOVERNMENT REBATE 50 OFF % Per HI-EFFICIENCY AIR CONDITIONERS CALL NOW, QUANTITIES ARE LIMITED! 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Oakville started the tournament with two wins before being edged 2-1 by Flamborough in its final round-robin game. Matched up against Flamborough in the quarter-finals, Oakville gained a measure of revenge with a convincing 6-0 victory. They followed that up with a 2-1 semifinal win over the previously undefeated hosts, the Leaside Wildcats. The Oakville Novice DS Red Foxes won the Leaside March Break Hockey Tournament. Team members are: (front row, from left) Kate Swatuk, Juliett Hewitt, Marissa Hamilton, Charlotte Payne, Grace Knight, Hadley Angove, Ashley Oswald, Simrit Grewal, (middle row, from left) Sinead McKay, Zoe Leonard, Sydney Pearce, Rachel Graham, Claire Sleeth, Julia McKee, Megan Stock and Camryn Harley, (back row, from left) trainer Robin Leonard, assistant coaches Randy Oswald and Steve McKee and head coach Jorden Sleeth. | photo submitted