Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2007 41 Looking up Oakville curlers collide in international final By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Stephanie Leachman traveled more than 10,000 kilometres and across nine time zones for her first taste of international curling competition, only to find herself vying for the championship against a curler she sees every week. Leachman and rinkmates Julie Reddick of Oakville, Leigh Armstrong of Milton and Jo-Ann Rizzo of Brantford posted a 6-1 "The way they put it mark in the round-robin at last week's Karuizawa International Curling Championship in Japan. on with a flower They followed that up by knocking off the Japanese ceremony, the national team 11-6 in the semifinals to earn a medal presentations rematch with the United States, which handed the and then the flag Oakville rink its only round-robin loss. Patti Lank's went up, it definitely American rink included Oakville resident Erika Brown who, like Leachman, curls in the Oakville lights the fire to keep on going." Curling Club's Major League. "She married a Canadian (and) works in the U.S., but unfortunately can't play for Canada," Local curler Leachman said of Brown, the vice on the American Stephanie Leachman rink. It will be Leachman and Reddick who will have bragging rights when the Major League reconvenes, as Canada edged the U.S. for a 6-5 victory in Sunday's final. "It was a great experience," Leachman said. For a team with its sights set on qualifying for the Olympics in 2010, throwing rocks at the same rink where the 1998 Nagano Games were contested, defeating a team that has played in the Olympics and getting a taste of what it would be like to stand atop the podium only provided further inspiration. "The way they put it on with a flower ceremony, the medal presentations and then the (Canadian) flag went up, it definitely lights the fire to keep on going," Leachman said. Early lead holds up in final Canada jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in Sunday's final. It followed up a single point in the opening end with steals of one in the second and two more in the third. But the Canadian rink knew all too well it could not sit on that lead. The U.S. had overcome a 4-1 deficit in the round robin to win 9-5. True to form, the American rink chipped away at the lead, scoring single points in the fourth, fifth and seventh ends to narrow the gap to 4-3. Canada LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER CLOSE COVERAGE: Holy Trinity's Dave Ozimec (left) ponders how to get around the roadblock of King's Christian Collegiate player Tristan Sandhu during Wednesday's Halton high school senior boys' basketball contest at KCC. Trinity prevailed 76-49, finishing the regular season with a 10-0 mark. The playoffs begin next week. See Reddick page 45 MARCH 12-16, 2007 IN ASSOCIATION WITH: AND www.mindandbodytraining.ca www.proshooters.ca 16 Total Hours with Numerous Professional Instructors including: 4 Hours On-Ice Agility / Footspeed Training 4 Hours On-Ice Professional Shooting Instruction from 4 Hours Professional Hockey Specific Off-Ice instruction from 4 Hours On-Ice overspeed / tactics Lunch, Gym Shorts, T-shirt, and Jersey provided March 12 - 16, 2007 $295.00 +GST Atom and Peewee `AA' & 'AAA' Limited enrollment as we are only accepting 20 players total For more information, or to register today contact: 905-336-3434 ext. 22 or satkins@wavehockey.ca