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O'Neill gets second shot at U.S. when U18 worlds begin Jan. 8 the Jan. 11 Canada-U.S. showdown, which begins at 7:30 p.m. Metroland Media Group As she prepares to begin her time with Team Kristin O'Neill has Jan. 11 circled on her calendar. Canada, O'Neill is still playing as captain of the JuThat's the date the Stoney Creek Junior Sabres nior Sabres, who are now challenging for secondcentre and her Team Canada teammates will have place in the 20-team Provincial Women's Hockey the first crack at their American rivals. League. O'Neill, 17, is making her second straight apUnlike 20 other players who aren't back with the pearance with Team Canada's women's under-18 U18 team this year, O'Neill has a rare chance at squad, with a shot at redemption on the line. redemption. Last year, in Buffalo, Canada lost a 3-2 overtime And she's not taking it lightly. heartbreaker to the Americans in the gold-medal "It was was a pretty awesome feeling (to be chogame. sen). I was on the team last year, but each year is The 2016 IIHF U18 Women's World Champiits own year and it's special," she said. onship will be held at the Meridian Centre in St. A two-way player who loves to score, O'Neill Catharines Jan. 8-15. is solid on faceoffs and often plays on the penalty O'Neill, one of just three returning players from kill. that silver-medal team, is determined to erase O'Neill was drawn to Stoney Creek by its coachthose bitter memories. ing staff and the organization's success in landing "Our coach reminds the three of us who were NCAA scholarships for its players. on the team last year to tell our teammates how it "I've heard from a lot of my friends how great Oakville's Kristin O'Neill (foreground), seen here in exhibition action with Canada's under-18 team in the coaching staff is and how the organization is felt and how awful it felt to lose to the States," said December 2014, is one of three returning players on this year's squad. Canada is hoping to avenge a like a family," she said. O'Neill, an Oakville native. loss to the U.S. in the 2015 final when the 2016 world championships are held in St. Catharines Jan. While only three players remain from last year's O'Neill has committed to play for Cornell this 8-15. | File photo by Michael Ivanin ­ special to Burlington Post fall. squad, Team Canada has 18 returnees from a threegame series in August against the Americans. Team After completing her final year of U18 eligibility, she said. Canada won the three-game series, held in Lake Placid, N.Y., 2-1. While Canada will also face the Czech Republic and Rus- O'Neill hopes to make Canada's U22 team and, eventually, With recent experiences under her belt, O'Neill will be sia, women's hockey is traditionally known as a two-horse the Canadian national team. among the leaders of this year's squad. Earlier this year, O'Neill won gold with Ontario Red at the race between Canada and the U.S. But she knows the pressure to win will be intense. 2015 Canadian women's U18 championship in Huntsville. "The Canada-U.S. game is always a battle," said O'Neill. "I'm for sure less nervous going to worlds this year than If all goes as planned for Team Canada and Team U.S.A. in O'Neill and many of her Team Canada teammates will last year, but I feel like just being on home soil, there's a lot have scores of family and friends cheering them on in the the preliminary round, the two favourites will square off for of pressure for Canada to win, so I'm still pretty nervous," stands. The entire Stoney Creek team is expected to attend gold on Friday, Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m. By Mike Pearson 41 | Thursday, December 31, 2015 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Speedsters win six medals at regional meet Oakville Speedsters took home six medals from the third Western Regional Speed Skating meet of the season held recently in London. Manu Kadalayil won gold for finishing first in his age division while Daniel Giannotti, Michael Borca and Nate Thompson earned silver with second-place finishes. Izabella Zakatsiolo and Marcelo Giansante won bronze medals. Other team members to finish among the top six included Ison Yin Chen, Helios He, Lee Deluca, Philip Szymborski and Hudson Strople. Earlier, Oakville speed skaters competed at the Provincial Series No. 2 meet in Clarington, with the top performance coming from Andrew Liou, who earned a silver medal. Alex Giannotti and Ian Welsby each had bronze-medal placements. Nicole Vrazinovski, Erin Stewart, Frank Feng, Andrew Xu and Mathew Samuel all finished among the top six for the Oakville club. Follow Halton sports on Twitter: @postbeaversport (Kevin Nagel, Oakville Beaver, Burlington Post) @herbgarbutt (Post, Beaver, Champion) @miltononsports (Steve Leblanc, Milton Canadian Champion) LACROSSE: CANADA'S NATIONAL SUMMER SPORT The Oakville Minor Lacrosse Association offers both representative and House League lacrosse programs for both boys and girls, ages 3-16. The rep programs run from April to August, while the House League programs run until the end of June, which is perfect for families that want to be involved in the game, but still want to enjoy time at the cottage! To register, visit the website below (registration for girls' field opens in January 2016 registration for box and for boys' field is open now). FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT: W W W.OA K V I L L E L AC ROS S E .C O M