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

www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, March 23, 2017 | 32 Mem orable season for OCAA rookie of year Pocrnic By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff Making the adjustment to college basketball was one thing. Trying to get up to speed after a year on the sidelines was quite another. So w hen Mohawk coach Kevin Duffy came to Sam Pocrnic mid-season and told her he wanted her to play point guard, well, she had her reser vations. Then again, he w asn't really asking. In the 12 years since she started playing bas ketball, Pocrnic had always been a shooting guard. Point guard w ould bring an entirely new level of responsibility And there was one other concern. "Our coach has a ton of plays, w hich is tough for me because m y memory is terrible," Pocrnic says. "And, uh, I forgot what I was going to say." Even she has to laugh at the timing of the last statement. You could forgive the Toyola grad for a little memory lapse after sitting out almost all of last season with a concussion. Except that she says her memory was terrible before the concussion. Even her former high school coach, in passing along Pocrnic' s contact information, warned, "I'll give her your (number), but she' s a little forgetful and w ould probably forget to call you ." There will be no forgetting the season she had for the Mohawk Mountaineers. She led Mohawk, averaging 16.7 points per game to finish among the top 10 in scoring in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association. She also contributed 2.6 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game on her way to being named the league' s rookie of the year. Pocrnic wondered if the season w ould hap pen at all. She joined the Mountaineers for the 2015-16 season, but in a pre-season practice she and a team mate reached for a rebound and hit their heads to gether. The next day in practice, she took a charge and as she fell, she hit her head on the floor. Pocrnic didn't think anything of it. W hen the season started the following week, Pocrnic showed no outward signs anything was wrong. She scored 20 points -- in just 14 min- Oakville's Sam Pocrnic was named the OCAA rookie of the year after sitting out most of last season with a concussion. Pocrnic led Mohawk with 16.7 points per game, ranking among the top 10 in the OCAA. | Photo by Barry Gray - Hamilton Spectator utes of playing time -- in the season opener and racked up 31 the following day against Sault College. She experienced headaches over the next couple of w eeks but figured she was just fighting off a cold. Then during a game against Humber she began to feel confused, dizzy and light-headed. She threw up after the game. Diagnosed with a concussion, she was told to take a couple of w eeks off, but the symptoms persisted. Bright lights and computer screens gave her headaches. She felt tired all of the time. In school, the police foundations student worked with partners w ho w ould do the neces sary computer work w hile she did what reading and writing she could. In January, she was told her season was over. She tried to cheer on her teammates, but the gym proved to be too loud and only made her headaches worse. It wasn't until May that Pocrnic returned to the court, but only to shoot. By late summer she was able to practise with her teammates again, but she was tentative, worried about hitting her head -- w hich she did w hen she again banged heads with a teammate. Luckily, it wasn't as bad, but she still didn't get clearance to play until two weeks before the season started. As it turned out, that m em ory of hers turned out to be a good thing. "She' s like a kid falling off a bike," Duffy said. "She has a short memory w hen things don't go well. There was no trepidation. She has such a passion to play and I know how horribly she m issed it. It really fueled her." She scored 16 points in the opener, followed by 21, 16 and 24 in the next three. Around the same time her season was being shut down a year earlier, she scored 36 points and added eight rebounds in a 95-88 win over Niagara. That was one of her first games at point guard, confirming Duffy' s belief that she w ould be a natural for the position. "W hen she has the ball, nobody can defend her," said the Mohawk coach, w ho had all three of his point guards graduate the previous year. "She can beat defenders off the dribble or with the en try pass and usually she would be open and get the ball back at the end of the possession." Mohawk finished the year 14-4, w inning eight of nine after Pocrnic made the move to point guard. Unfortunately, Pocrnic could once again only watch Mohawk' s playoff run, which again ended with a loss to Humber in the final. She left the Mountaineers' quarter-final game with a right knee injury. It was first suspected to be a torn ACL, but Pocrnic is off crutches after just two weeks, giving her hope that it' s not as serious. She w on' t know for sure though until she gets an MRI in May. Pocrnic hopes to be ready for the start of the 2017-18 season in November and she' s already set two goals. The first is obvious. "Try not to get injured," she says. And the second? "Hopefully, w e'll get gold," she says. That w ould be a season worth remembering. Hornets are back in PWHL final four after eliminating Stoney Creek Sarah Fillier scored twice as the Oakville Hornets beat Stoney Creek 4-1 last Saturday to advance to the Provincial W om en' s Hockey League' s final four for the second time in three years. Madison Oakes made 24 saves for the w in as the Hornets took the best-of-five series in four games. Fillier opened the scoring early in the second period and Emma Maltais made it 2-0 before the end of the period. Lexie Adzija and Fillier scored two m inutes apart in the third to extend the lead to 4-0. Oakville will host the PWHL final four at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex this weekend (March 24-26). Blades take lead with 3-2 OT win The Oakville Blades headed into last night' s (W ednesday' s ) fourth game of their Ontario Junior Hockey League playoff series with a 2-1 lead after edging the Burling ton Cougars 3-2 in overtime Mon day in Burlington. Jack Jeffers scored 11:04 into the extra frame after teammate Jackson Bales tied the score with the Blades net empty with 41 seconds remain ing in the third period. Game 5 of the best-of-seven set is in Burlington tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at the Appleby Ice Centre. YOUTH SOCCER0® ® 2 OUTDOOR HOUSE LEAGUES AT APPLEBY COLLEGE ft ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 2003-2013 LEAGUES: $207.96 2014/15 SOCCER TO! PROGRAM: $97.35 U FOR BOYS & GIRLS BORN 2003-2015 ADULT OUTDOOR 6v6 CO-ED LEAGUES 4* Season runs 16 weeks, Mid-late May through August Nights available: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Skill levels: Recreational to Super-competitive M f State-of-the-art outdoor beach courts with Hutcheson sand Maximum 24 teams per night to avoid late games Burloak Sports Centre - 952 Century Dr, Burlington Contact us @ 905-631-0000 ext. 200 or kristin@burloaksportscentre.ca LEAGUES AVAILABLE TUES-SAT 12 w ee ks o f gam es, starts M ay 30 S occer Tots program fo r players born 2014/2015 includes parents & kids in fun 30m in sessions Team m ate requests accom m odated Paid, certified coaches $625 Team Entry Individual E ntry Prices +HST $125 Team uniform included Each player receives a BSC ball Team photograph included & End o f Season A w ards B U R L O A K S P O R T S C E N T R E .C A 952 Century Drive, Burlington, ON LTL 5 P2 B t R L O A K S P O R T S C E N T R E .C A 9 05-631-0000 ext. 200 or kristin@ bu rloaksp ortscentre.ca