Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports F R A N C O - O N T A R I A N HALTON TRANSMISSION "Connected to your Community" 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 905-842-0725 www.haltontransmission.com 31 | Thursday, April 2, 2015 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com T O U R N E Y Ste. Trinite Loups (Wolves) player Olivia Wallin unleashes a slapshot Tuesday at Canlan Ice Sports while a pair of Pembroke Jeanne Lajoie opponents look on. Ste. Trinite, a French Catholic high school in Oakville, is this year's host of the Franco-Ontarian high school girls' hockey championships, which feature 20 teams broken up into three divisions of varying school sizes. | photo by Eric Riehl -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog Hornets win PWHL bronze in overtime Six Oakville residents help Stoney Creek claim league championship Madison Field scored an unassisted goal 79 seconds into overtime to lift the Oakville Hornets to a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Aeros and a bronze medal at the Provincial Women's Hockey League's Final 4 championships Sunday in Stoney Creek. Field also scored with 6:27 remaining in regulation time to tie the game 2-2, less than three minutes after Taylor Baker's power-play goal gave the Aeros the lead. Jazz Kennedy scored the Hornets' other goal in the bronze-medal game, a second-period tally that tied the score 1-1. Nikki Cece and Daniela Paniccia split time in net for Oakville, with Paniccia recording the victory. The Hornets, making their first appearance at the PWHL Final 4, were the top seed after winning the league's regular-season championship with a 31-3-4 record. However, Oakville lost two of three roundrobin games at the Final 4, including a 2-1 loss to the eventual champion Stoney Creek Sabres, and was relegated to the bronze-medal game. Oakville residents Kristin O'Neill, Sarah McDonnell, Nicole Collier, Taylor McMahon, Laura Crowdis and Claire Merrick are members of the Sabres. O'Neill was one of four Stoney Creek players to score in a shootout as the Sabres downed the Whitby Wolves 2-1 in the gold-medal contest. McDonnell made 22 saves in the final and was named the league's top goaltender after allowing just one goal in three games at the Final 4. All 20 PWHL teams will play for another title next week when the Ontario Women's Hockey Association intermediate AA championships are held April 9-12 in Toronto. Lower Lakes midget AA champs hungry for more by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor They had just won the first Lower Lakes Female Hockey League midget AA championship in their association's history, but the Oakville Hornets weren't content. "Personally, I was happy and very relieved when we won Lower Lakes," said Oakville coach Jim Nyhuus, whose team blanked the Sarnia Lady Sting 4-0 in Sunday's LLFHL final in Oshawa. "But in the room, after the game, you could tell they were not satisfied. They had moved on from this championship victory. They wanted to know when we practise this week, and couldn't wait to get back on the ice together and prepare for provincials." Those provincials are the Ontario Women's Hockey Association championships, scheduled for April 9-12 in Toronto. Only one midget AA team -- the 2004-05 Toronto Aeros -- has ever won the LLFHL and OWHA titles in the same season. The Hornets, however, have two very strong connections to that squad. Former Aeros coach Darryl Giancola is a friend and `a coaching mentor' of Nyhuus. Courtney Birchard, who had two assists in the Aeros' 3-0 win over the Stoney Creek in the 2005 OWHA final and is now a member of the national women's team, is one of the Hornets' assistant coaches this season. "I like our chances going into provincials," Nyhuus said. "This team is made of players that don't ever settle. They want to compete, and losing is something they won't and can't accept. With a record of 63-7-9, they couldn't tell you about the 63 wins, but they could, to a player, tell you about the losses and to who and when they were." Oakville went 3-0-1 overall at the LLFHL championships, posting 4-1 wins over Sarnia and Toronto before tying the Aurora Panthers 2-2 in its final round-robin game. Members of the Hornets are Olivia White, Brooke Jovanovich, Aimee Raithby, Annie MacDonald, Megan Laviolette, Melissa Misztal, Ceili Randall, Jessica DiGirolamo, Maddie Sisokin, Taylor Scott, Taylor Davison, Sydney Davison, Jessica Smith, Jessica Nolevski, Amy Dobson and Nadia Rupoli. Ron Davison is the team's other assistant coach, Sarah Campanico and Chelsey Scowen are the trainers, and Mike Jovanovich and Lesley Rupoli are the managers. Peewee As allow three goals in four games The peewee A #1284 Hornets have dominated their opponents all season, and nothing changed at the LLFHL championships. Oakville allowed just three goals in four games at the league finals, clinching the gold with a 2-0 win over the Saugeen-Maitland Lightning. The Hornets will carry an overall record of 52-4-8 into next week's OWHA championships. "The girls worked extremely hard for the past seven months towards this goal (the LLFHL title)," Hornets coach Gerry Bouwman said. "It is a difficult championship to win, (requiring) three playoff series victories and a weekend of games against the top four teams in the Lower Lakes regions." Oakville's round-robin wins at the LLFHL tournament came over the Oshawa Lady Generals (3-0), Saugeen-Maitland (3-2) and Brampton Canadettes (2-1). Members of the team are Tia Glube, Kaitlyn McMahon, Sara Di Filippo, Athena Vasdani, Madison Cote, Alessia Cenedese, Quinn Dawson, Rianna Spanier, Rachel D'Armiento, Corsen Parker, Kyleise Rolf Von Den Baumen, Gabby Noorijk, Katie Bouwman, Amelia Smith, Alex Wasik, Tara Blackburn and Amanda Guedikian. Alyssa Baldin, Pino D'Armiento, Craig Spanier and Grant Dawson are assistant coaches, and Tina Cenedese and Elizabeth Glube are trainers. Peewee AA team claims silver The peewee AA Hornets also medalled at last weekend's LLFHL championships, earning silver. Oakville defeated the Brampton Canadettes 4-1 and Whitby Wolves 3-0 at the tournament but could not solve the Durham-West Lightning, falling 6-0 in the teams' round-robin meeting and 5-0 in the final. The midget A #1283 Hornets, Oakville's other entry at the LLFHL tourney, went 0-4. Gymnast earns bronze in Italy Oakville Gymnatics Club product Sabrina Gill won bronze on uneven bars Sunday at the Jesolo Trophy gymnastics meet in Venice, Italy. Cracking the podium at a major international event was a sign that Gill, who has struggled at times during the last two years, is getting her career back on track. "This is another step in the right direction," said Gill, a for- Sabrina Gill mer Canadian junior champion. "It felt good. With the Pan Am Games and world championships coming up this year, I'm just going to be taking things one day at a time and see what happens." Gill was one of five Canadian gymnasts to medal on the final day of the Jesolo Trophy competition. On Saturday, Gill helped Canada earn bronze in senior team competition.