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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday April 26, 2008 - 37 Kent also serves as motivational speaker Continued from page 36 NEW FRIENDS: Robert Kent (center) gathers with a few friends he met during his recent endurance race through the Sahara Desert. Since his return, he has received several offers to perform at motivational speaking seminars. Coincidentally, one of those offers included speaking to a group of businesspeople regarding the relation to success in business and sport, and how the two can potentially overlap. While he may have found a new calling as a motivational speaker, Kent looks to the people around him for inspiration to complete new challenges. "It's pretty amazing when you see what other people have done and you go, wow, if he can do that, and we both just did this, than maybe I should try that," he said. It is that kind of reasoning that allows Rob Kent to walk the fine line between living dangerously -- perhaps, to some, even foolishly -- and experiencing some of the most wondrous sights the world has to offer. -- Adam Johnston is a Sheridan College student interning with the Beaver Greenham not a fan of NCAA rule Scott Greenham understands the NCAA's eligibility rules. He just doesn't like them. Thursday, the date of his 21st birthday, Greenham chose to stop playing goal for the Oakville Blades this season so that he could maintain his full NCAA hockey eligibility at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Under NCAA regulations, had Greenham continued to play with the Blades after turning 21, he would have forfeited a year of NCAA eligibility. That meant walking away from a group that he had helped lead to the Dudley Hewitt Cup Central Canada junior A hockey championships, a group that is now only a win away from advancing to the RBC Royal Bank Cup national tournament. "It was a tough decision but it wasn't," Greenham said Thursday night, following the Blades' 5-2 win over the Newmarket Hurricanes that earned Oakville a bye to Saturday's Dudley Hewitt final. "In the end, schooling is a big factor. You kind of need those four years (of eligibility) to get through them. "I understand (the rule), but at the same time you should be able to play until the end of your season, especially with hockey," he continued. "It doesn't interfere with NCAA hockey. To have a rule that means I have to sit out the final week and a half of the season is just tough to deal with." Teammate Oliver Wren, who backed up Greenham throughout the Provincial Junior A Hockey League playoffs, might make it a bit easier to deal with. Pressed into action after going nearly two months without seeing any meaningful action, Wren stopped 21 of 23 shots Thursday and earned Oakville player-of-the-game honours. He also earned a big post-game hug from Greenham, who watched the game in the stands with Wren's father, Karl. "I thought we'd win, but for Olie to be the number one star, that's great for him," said Greenham, still sporting his thick playoff beard. ""(Wren's) dad was just going crazy and couldn't handle himself. I'm ecstatic for Olie." Greenham and the Blades thought they had worked out a compromise that would have allowed him to finish the season with Oakville, but those plans ultimately fell through. He has writen an appeal essay to the NCAA, hoping to be allowed to rejoin the Blades if Oakville advances to the RBC Royal Bank Cup. "I had to give reasons why I should be able to play in the RBC and everything," said Greenham, whose main point in the essay was the value of national championship experience to a student-athlete. "I sent it in a couple of days ago and am waiting to hear back." -- Jon Kuiperij Tyke Rangers champs in Pickering The Oakville tyke AAA Rangers bounced back from an opening-game loss to win five straight and capture the championship at the recent Pickering A Hockey Tournament. The Rangers edged Ajax 4-3 in the championship game and Oakville's Curtis Douglas was named the tournament's most valuable player. Oakville blanked Newmarket 1-0 in the semifinal. It was Newmarket that handed the Rangers a 4-1 loss in the first game of the tournament. After that, the Rangers were unbeatable. They rolled over Barrie 10-3, doubled Peterborough 6-3 and topped Georgina 6-1 to set up the rematch with Newmarket. Team members are Patrick Maloney, Dominik Gombas, Vic Hadfield, Nolan James, Lukas Georgas, Conner Pickford, Aidan Child, Jason Blackburn, Will McAllister, Harrison Rees, Jack Mogus, Jared Rein, Curtis Douglas, Matt Hayami, Alex Pain, Davis Boulding and Will Barber. Oak-Land Ford Lincoln 2008 2008 Sparks busts out of slump with winner Lindsay Sparks might have been thinking about trying to break his thumb again. The Oakville Blades forward scored his first goal in more than a month Thursday in Newmarket, providing the game-winner in the Blades' 5-2 victory over the Dudley Hewitt Cup host Hurricanes. The last time Sparks had scored, twice in a 4-1 win over the Aurora Tigers March 22, he was playing with a broken thumb. He played three more games against Aurora before having surgery on the thumb, and returned to the Blades' lineup for Tuesday's Dudley Hewitt Cup opener. "I hurt it when I had two goals, and figured why not keep playing with it?" said the 17-year-old local resident. "But it is one of those things that if you keep playing with it, it will hurt you for life." Sparks, who was replaced in the lineup by Matt Ribeiro in the Provincial Junior A Hockey League final against Markham, said he benefitted from watching his teammates from the stands. "You can see what players do wrong and what players do right. Then you can come on the ice and actually put that into play," he said. "In some ways (the injury) was good, and in some ways it was bad. If we didn't win, it would have been a whole different story." Registration Now Open Senior Men's 35+ Recreational Soccer League Expanded For 2008 Season Limited number of spots available Volunteers Needed! 905-845-2571, Begins Late May only $ 150 ord Lincoln Contact Frank 416-807-3664 frank@soccerweb.ca Oakville Men's Soccer Club www.soccerweb.ca