www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday January 5, 2008 - 17 Oakville Curling Club rink seeks provincial junior title this weekend By Tim Gall season to play in this and win it." The skip said missing the playoffs would be a disappointment, but admitted taking the COLDWATER -- A junior team from the title will not be easy. "There are a lot of highOakville Curling Club is in the hunt for level teams here and we will have to play well provincial supremacy this week at an event in every single game." Coldwater. All of the players on the team have been Matt Mapletoft and his rink of Scott curling for about 10 years. Mapletoft is an 18Howard, Jake Walker, and Jamie Parker were year-old student at Wilfrid Laurier University in the middle of the eight-team pack yester- who has competed previously in provincial day (Friday) at the Ontario Junior competitions. In 2006, he skipped "There are a lot Curling Championships. The team a bantam team to the Ontario had a record of two wins and two of high-level title. This is his first year to skip a losses heading into a game last teams here and team at the junior level, which is night. Two more games today will we will have to for curlers under the age of 19. conclude the seven-game round play well every The vice-skip on his team this robin portion of the event, which season is Scott Howard, the son of single game." began Wednesday. A top-three finreigning world champion Glenn ish would put Mapletoft's team Howard. Scott, at age 17, is a high Oakville skip into Sunday's playoff games. school student who competed at Matt Mapletoft At stake is the provincial chamseveral bantam events last season. pionship title, which includes a Walker, playing in the second position with trip to the Canadian championships next the Oakville team, is 18 and has a similar banmonth in Sault Ste. Marie. tam history as Howard. Eighteen-year-old Mapletoft says his team, in its first year Parker, the team's lead, is the only true together, has improved rapidly throughout Oakville resident in the group and he has been the season and has been playing very well for a finalist and medalist in several provincial or the past month. In that time, the Oakville high school championships since 2005. The team won the Zone 9 championships to team is coached by Parker's father Gord, a become one of 32 teams in the province to nationally-certified Level 3 curling instructor. compete for regional titles. By winning one The team opened the event with a win, folof two berths in Region 2, the team earned lowed by a loss, win, and another loss. Its 2the opportunity to compete for the provincial 2 record was only bested by three teams, and title this week. at press time the rink was only one game out "It's my first time skipping at a junior of at least a tie-breaking game to get into the provincials, and it's been a good experience playoffs. The team's remaining games in the so far," said Mapletoft. round robin are at 1 and 9 p.m. today. If the "We're trying to win it all, but playoffs are team reaches the playoffs, those games will the first goal," he added. "We've prepared all be played tomorrow. SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Speed skaters shine As the Oakville Speed Skating Club prepares to host its first-ever ability meet later this month, several of its skaters appear to be in peak form. Five members of the club won medals at a recent Ontario Cup competition in London, while nine others had top-five finishes. Samuel Chin-Cheong had Oakville's lone gold in London, with Christopher Gemmell and Will Malcolm adding silver medals. Robert Lowrey and Erin Heidecker earned bronze. Jeremy Lin, Anaka Will-Dryden, Zachary Lin, Ryan McAnuff and Antoine Parent had fourth-place showings, and Sara McNamara, Sean Stewart, Manon Garde and Stephen Van Gemert posted fifth-place finishes. Jeremy Lin met the Provincial top level Open A time standard at the meet, while Daniel Giannotti and Connor McNamee also achieved provincial time standards. Competing in an Ontario Cup meet for the first time were Ian Welsby, Gabriel Patron, Zubin Khan, Michael Lowrey, Robert Lowrey, Garde, Parent and Van Gemert. All eight skaters posted personal-best times at the meet. Another highlight for the local club in London was the fact that Gemmell and Will-Dryden each broke the 60second mark in their 500-metre races. Gemmell finished his race in 58.51 seconds, while Will-Dryden completed hers in 59.33. Meanwhile, the same weekend in Gloucester, local skater Patrick Duffy competed in the Canadian junior championships, a meet that attracted the top 32 junior-aged skaters in the country. Duffy's performance moved him up to 18th in the national junior rankings. Those skaters, and others, will get a chance to skate on their home ice next Sunday (Jan. 13) at River Oaks Recreation Centre, when the club hosts a one-day meet. Speed skaters from across the province are expected to attend, and admission is free. We're putting life-saving AED's in more public places in your community. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PUT YOUR HEART INTO IT.TM www.heartandstroke.ca SOLD SOLD SOLD Just Moved? SOLD Bride-To-Be? New Baby? Call 1-866-283-7584 today! www.welcomewagon.ca 11/06 FM 2047