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McKibbon's goal gives Badgers WCHA hockey crown Oakville's Sydney McKibbon scored the game's only goal as the Wisconsin Badgers edged the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers 1-0 to win its second straight Western Collegiate Hockey Association championship Sunday. "It's huge for us," McKibbon said. "We've been 2-2 against them this year, so this was kind of for all the marbles. Championship Sunday is a big day, so we were pretty hyped up for this game. It's a confidence builder going into next weekend, whatever happens and wherever we end up." Wisconsin heads into the NCAA championship tournament as the No. 2 seed with its first game against Mercyhurst Saturday. Oakville's Sydney McKibbon scored the game's only goal as the Wisconsin BadMidway through the second period, gers edged the University of Minnesota 1-0 to win their second straight WCHA McKibbon drove to the net to and arrived women's hockey title.| photo courtesy David Stluka in time to knock in Rachel Jones' rebound. "The last two or three weekends, she's really stepped up her game," said Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson. "About halfway through the season, she was getting frustrated because she expects a lot for herself and goal production wasn't where she wanted. But, we kept working with her, all of a sudden a couple pucks went in and last 4-5 games she's played as well as she's ever played for us." The junior forward and alternate captain finished fourth in scoring for the Badgers with eight goals and 26 assists for 34 points. But whether or not she was producing points, Johnson said McKibbon was always contributing. "That's what you need this time of year -- for players to step up, make plays, block shots. She does a lot of little things that may not show up on the stat sheet." McKibbon leads the Badgers in playoff scoring with two goals and four assists, including an assist in Wisconsin's 5-0 semifinal win over Minnesota Duluth. Minnesota entered Sunday's conference championship with the best power play in the country, with a 43.5 per cent success rate, 10 per cent better than any other NCAA team. But Wisconsin's top ranked penalty kill (94.5 per cent) shut down the Gophers on all four of their opportunities. "Whoever comes out on top, the power play or the penalty kill, is going to have a lot of confidence going into the next shift," McKibbon said. "We're a gritty team and we really take a lot of pride in our penalty kill, so that was huge for us." McKibbon earned WCHA offensive player of the week and was named to the WCHA all-tournament team. 27 | Friday, March 11, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Speedskaters win nine medals at provincial A meet With the largest number of qualifiers of any competing club, the Oakville Speed Skating Club Speedsters earned nine medals at the provincial A championships in Kitchener-Waterloo on the weekend. Twenty-seven members of the Oakville club were among 127 who qualified for the meet. Andrew Liou and Alex Giannotti, in the 11- and 12-year-old male categories, respectively, won gold for the local club. Four Speedsters took home silver medals -- Nicole Vrazinoski (13-year-old female), Dania El Sammak (14 female), Erin Stewart (Jr. A female) and Ian Welsby (14 male). Alina Santos, 12, Megan Keenan, Jr. A, and Tiago Santos, 14, won bronze medals. Daniel Giannotti broke the 50-second barrier at the provincial meet, recording a time of 49.42 seconds in the 500 metres. Eleven skaters from the Oakville club, including five alternates, qualified for the Canada East championships in Charlottetown, P .E.I., March 25-26: Alex Giannotti, Nicole Vrazinoski, Dania El Sammak, Ian Welsby, Alina Santos and Daniel Giannotti; and alternates Ainsley Little, Tiago Santos, Nicholas Kothleitner, Electra Halushak and Jaden Lo. Seven more skaters recorded top-six finishes at provincials: · Ainsley Little, fifth in 11-year-old female division · Emma Borca, sixth in 11-year-old female division · Alexis Halushak, fourth in Jr. B female division · Kai Abdool, fifth in 11-year-old male division · Jaden Lo, fifth in 12-year-old male division · Adam DeVellis, fifth in 13-year-old male division · Tom Watson, sixth in the Jr. B male division Leonard spectacular as Cardinals seek third straight NCAA title who was named to the allECAC West second team and Oakville Beaver staff the all-tournament team. "The award is really a tribTo have success, goalies can't dwell ute to them," Leonard said. "I on the shots they don't stop. They get a lot of help from the dehave to be able to erase goals from fence and from the forwards." their memory as if they never hapTheir combined efpened. forts have been impressive. Try as she might, this season CaThough players have come mille Leonard can't forget them. and gone over the past few "Unfortunately, I remember most years, Plattsburgh keeps winof them," said the Plattsburgh State ning. Since the beginning of Cardinals' goalie. "I don't know if the 2013-14 season, the Carthat's a good thing." dinals have gone 80-4-3. If In most cases, probably not. But in they can add three more wins Leonard's case, the reason she can rethis season, they'll have their member them is because there have third straight NCAA title. been so few. Fifteen of them to be "That's what attracted me exact. to Plattsburgh, the chance to That's especially impressive given that she has played all but two of Goalie Camille Leonard has put together some outstanding numbers for the Plattsburgh State win a national championship. That's the dream," Leonard Plattsburgh's games; 15 goals in 27 Cardinals women's hockey team this season. She has allowed only 15 goals in 27 games. said. "I'm lucky enough to be games. | Photo by Gabe Dickens on a team that allows me to Leonard's numbers would be speccompete for one every year." tacular if she were a soccer goalie. defensive player of the year. But the T.A. And no matter how many national titles A goals-against average of 0.61. A .966 save per- Blakelock grad credits her defence, which centage. Sunday, in the Eastern College Athletic includes a pair of senior defenders she first Leonard has won by the end of her college Conference West Division championship game, played alongside with the Oakville Hornets career, you can bet she'll remember every Leonard made 17 saves to record her third straight ­ Caitlin Gilligan and Andrea Ziesmann, one of them. shutout ­ and 14th of the season. The 8-0 victory was a measure of payback for the Cardinals. Three weeks earlier, Utica had beaten Plattsburgh 4-2. Three of those 15 goals Leonard allowed this season came in a 13-minute span during the second period. That loss is the only one suffered by Plattsburgh this season. But it served as a good reminder for the Cardinals, especially as they head into the NCAA Division III tournament, where another loss could end their bid for a third straight national title. "The loss turned into a very positive loss for us," the 20-year-old said. "We don't want to experience that again. We got refocused after the Utica game. It was a good wake-up call for us." Since the loss, Plattsburgh has outscored its opponents 29-1. Leonard's current 225-minute shutout streak solidified her standing as the ECAC West Division By Herb Garbutt