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SPORTS 57 Healthy Hornets look to defend PWHL title Oakville hosts league's final four at Joshua's Creek Arenas this weekend HERB GARBUTT hgarbutt@burlingtonpost.com A year ago, the Oakville Hor­ nets entered the Provincial Wom­ en's Hockey League Final Four as the overwhelming favourites. The Hornets had lost just five times in 50 games to secure their place at the championship week­ end. This year the Hornets return as the defending champs, but af­ ter finishing third in the Provin­ cial Women's Hockey League (PWHL) standings, it's last year's runner-up that enter as the team to beat. The Toronto Aeros topped the league with a 31-3-4 mark - the exact same record Oakville had last season. But their opponents better be weary of the Hornets as well. Oakville was cruising along with a 17-5-3 record at Christmas before being put to the test in the second half. "We had a period where it was just injury after injury," said Hor­ nets associate coach Darcy Brea- key. "It taught the team a lot about working together." The Hornets had four players on the Canadian team that won a bronze medal at the women's world under-18 championships in Russia, but blueliner Emily Rick- wood was the only one who didn't miss significant time down the stretch. Captain Sarah Fillier missed seven weeks with a concussion before returning with back-to- back two-goal games in the final week of the regular season. The Princeton-bound forward added five more in the Hornets' six play­ off games. "We wanted to make sure she had time to get healthy before re­ turning," Breakey said. "She makes an impact every shift. And being our captain, she's a leader. Her coming back re-energized the girls." Goalie Maddy McArthur played just twice in two months after suffering a groin injury at the national under-18 champion­ ships where she and Hornet teammates Fillier, Laura Cote and Lexie Adzija helped Ontario Red claim gold. McArthur has gone 4-0-1 since returning. Adzija missed two months with a broken ankle but came back in the opening round of the playoffs and has scored in three of her four games. In their absence, several Hor­ nets filled the void. Madison Oakes took advantage of her in­ creased playing time to set a team record with eight shutouts and finished fifth in the league with a 1.31 goals-against average. Catherine Trevors scored a team-leading 19 goals in her rook­ ie season, including seven in a nine-game stretch while Fillier and Adzija were sidelined. She's continued to produce with five points in six playoff games, in­ cluding the game-winning goal and a shootout winner in the final two games of the Hornets' series with Ottawa. Cote and Brynn Koocher also hit double figures in goals. Rickwood and Stefanie Wal­ lace produced from the blueline, finishing tied for third among PWHL defenders with 23 points each. "The rest of our players really stepped up to carry the torch," Breakey said. "Losing those play­ ers wasn't easy, but they stayed the course and going through those hard times made us better." The playoffs demonstrated that with Oakville sweeping both Burlington and Ottawa to ad­ vance to the championship week­ end. Both Nepean and Cambridge had to rally from 2-0 series defi­ cits to advance while even first- place Toronto had to win its final two games to squeak by Etobi­ coke in five games. Oakville will open the champi­ onship weekend against Cam­ bridge at 11 a.m. Friday at Josh­ ua's Creek Arenas, the site of all the weekend's games. Oakville then plays Nepean at 6 p.m. Fri­ day and wraps up the round-rob­ in against Toronto at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The bronze-medal game is Sunday at 2:30 p.m. followed by the gold-medal game at 2 p.m. Sports • • 1) ^ • # • X) ft Get the latest information on your local teams and organizations. insidehalton.com/sports V Graham Paine/Metroland Lexie Adzija was one of several Oakville Hornets who was sidelined for an extended period in the second half of the season. She'll be looking to win her second straight PWHL title this weekend as the Hornets host the league's championship at Joshua's Creek Arenas. 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