16 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2009 Di Salvo making most of opportunity with Colts By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF G oalies are known for being creatures of habit, religiously following a gameday routine, as if tying up the left skate before the right will somehow alter the immediate future and their ability to stop pucks. For Peter Di Salvo, change proved to be just what he needed to continue to pursue his hockey dreams. Thirteen months ago, the Oakville netminder was rotting on the bench of the Ontario Hockey League's Sarnia Sting, not even getting the chance to show his own team what he could do. Now the 18-year-old, who became a goalie because he admired Patrick Roy growing up, is displaying his skills for NHL scouts. A second-round pick of the Sting in the 2006 OHL draft, Di Salvo expected, at the very least, to secure the back-up role, especially considering Sarnia had no returning goalies. Instead, he didn't see any action until after Christmas. He played three times in eight days at the end of January, but then played just parts of three games the rest of the way. "It was really tough," Di Salvo said. "With Sarnia, the only time I played was when the other goalie screwed up. When I would get into a game, I'd be so rusty." Hoping for a bigger share of the crease in his second season, Di Salvo again found himself parked on the bench. In mid-December 2007, in just his fifth start of the year and what would turn out to be his final game with the Sting, he made 27 saves to beat the Barrie Colts 3-2 in overtime. Two weeks later, Di Salvo would be back in Barrie, this time playing for the Colts, who acquired him as a part of a six-player deal that sent Barrie's top netminder to the Sting. Colts than he did in a year and a half in Sarnia. Not surprisingly, his play improved. Barrie coach Marty Williamson said the ability to persevere through tough times tells a lot about a player. Many players, used to being a star on their team, lose confidence or feel they're being mistreated. "This league is tough on young hockey players. Very few come in the first year and do great things," Williamson said. "A lot of it depends on the character of the person that when they get their opportunity, they make the best of it." Di Salvo continues to do just that. He started the current season with two shutouts in his first four games and entered this week's action ranked second in the OHL with a .924 save percentage and fifth with a 2.69 average. It has not gone unnoticed by the scouts. Di Salvo is listed 13th among North American goalies in the mid-season NHL Central Scouting rankings released last week. Though Di Salvo thinks about the draft away from the arena, he isn't letting it alter his focus once it's game time. He says he still has goals to achieve at this level. "When I got to Barrie, I got the chance to prove I can be a number one goalie," he said. "I'm still doing that." There were 18 North American goalies selected in the last year's draft so Di Salvo stands a good chance of being a mid-round to late-round pick. While that carries no guaranPHOTO COURTESY OF TERRY WILSON PHOTOGRAPHY / BARRIE COLTS tees, Di Salvo knows a thing or two about HOT COMMODITY: Peter Di Salvo, one of the Ontario Hockey League leaders in save percent- making the most of an opportunity. And his coach, in describing the netminder's biggest age and goals-against average this season, is NHL Central Scouting's 13th-ranked North American strength on the ice, could just as easily be goalie. describing his attitude off the ice as well. "It was a very positive step for me," Di Settling into a regular rotation with "He's a battler," Williamson said. "The Salvo said. "I knew I was going to a team that Michael Hutchinson, Di Salvo logged more great thing is he never gives up. He gives was going to give me a chance." OHL minutes in his first two months with the everything to make the save." Catholic boys' basketball qualifier should be interesting There are enough storylines to fill a book: top-ranked teams battling for bragging rights, squads with something to prove, the element of the unknown, players facing their former teams. No matter who prevails, you can be assured of some very entertaining basketball today (Saturday) at the Fred Scione Memorial Catholic Basketball Qualifier in Burlington. "There's potential for four really good basketball games," said Holy Trinity Titans coach Andrew Saulez. "I think everybody's looking forward to it." Three Oakville schools -- St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Ignatius of Loyola and Holy Trinity -- will be vying for the two spots up for grabs at next month's Ontario all-Catholic boys' Basketball Championships in St. Catharines. The most intriguing of those is the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders. Playing in Halton's A/AA league, few were surprised to see them cruise to an 8-0 record, winning by an average of 37 points. But the Raiders have not had an opportunity to match up against the region's other powerhouse teams in the AAA/AAAA division. Most assumed the Raiders, who won a silver medal at last year's provincial high school AA championships, were weakened this year by the loss of Trevor Williams and Charlie Alexander to Halton rivals, the Assumption Crusaders. That belief only gained momentum as Assumption shot to the top of the league with a 9-0 mark. "We lost those two players to Assumption," Aquinas coach Mark Maga said. "Trevor's a phenomenal talent and Charlie was a big player for us down the stretch, and I think people thought, `They're not going to be that good.'" But the Raiders threw a wrinkle into conventional thinking last weekend by winning a bronze medal at the Silver Fox Tournament in Hamilton, knocking off two teams -- Father Henry Carr and St. Marguerite d'Youville -- ranked among the top 10 in the Toronto Star's poll of GTA teams. "It was our first big tournament so the guys were a little unsure of how good they were," said Maga. "We hadn't played teams of that caliber yet." If nobody knew how good the Raiders are, they do now. Aquinas made its debut in the Star's poll at number five, vaulting past eighth-ranked Assumption, which has spent much of the season in the top 10. Still, Assumption -- the hosts of this weekend's tournament -- will go into the event as the top seed, which gives it a first-round bye. Throw in the fact that Aquinas beat Assumption in last year's qualifier for the provincial Catholic tournament and the added intrigue of Williams and Alexander meeting up against their former team, and an Assumption/Aquinas meeting has the makings of a classic. "I think people on the outside are looking forward to that matchup more than the teams are," Maga said. "Because we can't go in focused on Assumption. If we do that, we're going to lose because every team is a quality team." The two most likely to interfere with a rematch of last year's qualifier final are Holy Trinity and Loyola. Trinity has given Assumption its toughest test yet in league play, falling 65-59 to the Crusaders. Titans should be motivated The Titans should have plenty of motivation, looking to re-establish themselves as Halton contenders after a disappointing 66-64 loss to Loyola Tuesday. That win earned Loyola the third seed and dropped the defending Halton champion Titans to fourth, giving them the toughest opening-round opponent, Notre Dame. Loyola, a young team with a Grade 9 starter and two more in Grade 11, has just two losses in league play, both against the two remaining undefeated teams, Assumption and Nelson. The seven-team tournament opened last night (Friday) with Aquinas playing Milton's Bishop Reding, Loyola facing Georgetown's Christ the King and Trinity meeting Notre Dame. The championship game will be played today at 6 p.m., preceded by the bronze medal game at 4:30 p.m. Semifinal games will be played at 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.