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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, May 18, 2017 | 4 4 Kevin Nagel, Oakville Beaver Sports Editor, knagel@burlingtonpost.com Sports "Connected to your Community" 0 1 0 Oakville goaltender leads Mississauga Rebels to a bronze m edal a t Telus Cup tournam ent Christian Purboo looks to corral a rebound against Regina at theTelus Cup in Prince George, Ont. The Oakville netminder won a bronze medal w ith the Mississauga Rebels and was named the tournament's top goalie. | photo courtesy Matthew Murnaghan - Hockey Canada Images By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff The stage may have been big but Christian Purboo didn't mind the spotlight shining brightly. The Oakville goaltender helped the Mis sissauga Rebels earn a bronze medal at the Telus Cup, the national midget boys' hockey championship, in Prince George, B.C. And being the last line of defence at a national championship didn't faze the 16-year-old. "Through the years I've been playing, I've played in a lot of big games," said Purboo, who was in the OHL Cup last year with the Rebels. "I've kind of gotten used to it. I didn't mind it." Purboo posted a 1.68 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage in six games to earn the tournament's top goaltender award. That earned him a spot alongside former NHLers Kirk McLean, Marty Turco and Chris Mason as players to have won the award. The eventual champion Cape Breton West Islanders prevented Mississauga from play ing for gold. Purboo shut out Cape Breton in round-robin play but the Islanders held off Mississauga for a 2-1 win in the semifinals. Purboo, who also had a 34-save shutout against Seminaire Saint-Frangois, said de spite the high stakes he felt relaxed at the Telus Cup. "I felt really comfortable," said the Grade 11 Appleby College student. "I was really focused. I had really good warmups before every game and when the game started I felt like a brick wall." Purboo wasn't always so comfortable on the ice, which is what led him to the crease. "W hen I was a kid, probably seven or eight, I wasn't very good," he said. "I thought I'd try being a goalie, but my mom didn't want me to. A week before tryouts I got some pads and took a lesson and I made the AA team." He's continued to have success ever since. W ith good size, 6-foot-2 and 181 pounds, Purboo was selected in the 11th round of last year's Ontario Hockey League draft by the North Bay Battalion. This year he played a key role in helping the Rebels reach the Telus Cup. After going undefeated (7 -0 -2 ) in the first two rounds of the Greater Toronto Hockey League playoffs, the Rebels had their work cut out for them against the Toronto Young Nationals, the province's top-ranked team. Tied 4 -4 in the eight-point series, the Rebels won 2-0 and 3-2, handing the Young Nats their first back-to-back losses all season. Purboo said the GTHL title got the team, which also includes Oakville's Ryan O'Hara, believing it could go to nationals. They con tinued to roll at the Central Region tour nament, going 5-0-2 with Purboo capping things off with a 4 -0 shutout against W ind sor in the championship game. Though the Rebels came up short of the gold medal at the Telus Cup, the Purboo family will have another shot at a champion ship. Christian's brother Cole will be play ing in the Memorial Cup with the Windsor Spitfires. The 17-year-old had 11 goals and 17 points in his rookie season with W indsor and is ranked among the top 2 0 0 North American skaters for this summer's NHL draft. Oakville Titans score five shorthanded goals in OLA Sr. B victory over Ennismore Killing penalties was no trouble for the Oakville Titans last Sunday as they scored five shorthanded goals to down the Ennismore James Gang 14-6 in Ontario Lacrosse As sociation Sr. B action. Five Titans scored while Ennism ore was on the power play, including Brandon Slade, who paced the Titans with two goals and five assists. Brendan Muise also had one as a part of a sixpoint night. Oakville was up 4-1 in the sec ond period when Ennismore scored twice within 68 seconds to cut the lead to one. The Titans stormed back with five straight goals to build an 9 -3 advantage. Ennismore's last chance to get back in the game came in the third period when Oakville was handed a double minor while leading 11-5. Less than two minutes later Reed Board was dealt a checking-frombehind major. Despite Ennismore's two-man advantage, Titans' Slade and Muise scored to extend Oakville's lead to 13-5 before Ennismore finally capi talized on the power play. Cam Mancini had two goals and two assists and Jahmal Shears and Board also scored twice for the Titans. Anthony Smithman add ed one goal and set up two more while Tyler W oodman, Gage Board, Chris Lopes and Matt Pelkey had the other Oakville goals. Craig Wende earned the win in net. The Titans suffered their first loss of the season last Friday. W ith Oakville trailing Six Na tions 5-2, Muise scored his second goal of the game and Slade added a pair as Oakville battled back to tie the score at 5-5. However, the Rivermen gained the victory by con necting with 4 :3 4 remaining. W oodman netted Oakville's oth er goal and Mancini contributed a pair of assists. The Titans' next game is Satur day, May 2 7 in Waterloo.