w w w .in s id e h a lto n .c o m | O AKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, D e ce m b e r 2 8 , 2 0 1 7 | 3 4 Oakville Blue Devils to add women's team for 2018 soccer season By Herb G arbutt Oakville Beaver staff After w in n in g the L eagu el Ontario cham pi o n ship in tw o o f its first three season s, the O akville Blue D evils are branching out. League 1 Ontario annou n ced W ednesday that the B lue D evils w ill enter a w o m e n ' s team in L eagu el Ontario n ex t season; the team is w astin g little tim e getting started w ith its first open tryout Saturday, D ec. 30. L eagu el Ontario is a develop m en t league for players currently playing college or u n i versity soccer or graduated players lo o k in g for professional soccer opportunities. O akville w ill be o n e o f four team s jo in in g the w o m e n ' s league n ex t season , bringing m em bership in the league to 15. "Our ow n ersh ip group and technical de partm ent is n o stranger to fielding w o m e n ' s soccer at the very h ig h est lev el," said Shen G oh, the Blue D ev ils' m anaging director. "M any years o f fielding very pow erful team s in the form er USL `W League during our Toronto Lady Lynx period, provides a strong platform for u s to build another very co m petitive roster for com p etition n e x t season in 2 0 1 8 ." D u n can W ild e, recently n am ed the L ea g u el Ontario coach o f the year after leadFirst-step quickness Reaction skills k Puck control k Power & acceleration k Explosiveness as & k Puckwork implemented $ throughout the program ^ th s n o S ^ k An excellent studentto-instructor ratio NOV - JAN TIMESLOTS: k k in g the Blue D evils to the league ch am p ion sh ip , w ill be assisting in the initial recruiting process. "W e always had a gender equal program in the Lynx days, bu t w e w an ted to establish the m en ' s team first. N ow, I th ink w e 've proven that w e k n o w w h at w e 're d o in g," h e said. "W e'll have a full fem ale academ y com e the spring w ith u n d er-18 and under-21 team s to support the League1 team ." W ilde said w ith the num ber of local players co m p etin g at the co l legiate level, h e en vision s a team m ade u p largely o f players from O akville and B urlington. H e said there are already a n u m ber o f players from the area already playing in the league w h o w ill be free agents for the co m in g season. Brett M osen w ill serve as the team ' s head coach. M osen has h eld previous head coach in g p osition s w ith K -W U nited and the Toronto Lady Lynx o f the W -League and M cM aster University. W ilde said M osen ' s n etw ork o f contacts in the sport w ill also be valuable in filling ou t the team ' s roster. T he w o m e n ' s leagu e plays an 18-gam e sch e d u le that w ill be co m p leted by the en d o f A ugust. T h e B lue D ev ils w ill play their h o m e gam es at Sheridan C ol le g e . T he Blue D evils w ill h ost op en tryouts at the O akville Soc cer C lub' s P ine G len facility Saturday, Dec. 30 and Jan. 6. Players interested in play in g for the League1 Ontario or the Ontario W o m en ' s Soccer League under-21 team are asked to com plete a tryout application at w w w oak villeb lu ed evilsfc.com . Richard Bell tourney coverage a t insidehalton.com Coverage of the annual Richard Bell hockey tour nament championship games will be included in the Thursday, Jan. 4 issue of the Beaver T he tournam ent started yesterday (W ednesday) and con tin u es through to Sat urday w ith ch am p ion sh ip gam es sch eduled for tom orrow and Saturday at Sixteen M ile Sports C om plex. Beaver sports editor K evin N agel and re porter Herb Garbutt, along w ith Beaver p h o tographers, are covering the tournam ent finals in volvin g O akville team s for the print edition and at the paper' s w ebsite at insidehalton.com . Sixteen team s w ill be crow ned Bell cham p ion s this season. Four cham pions each w ill be decided in the m inor atom , m inor p eew ee and m inor bantam d ivisions (AE, A, AA and AAA). Other d ivision ch am pionships up for grabs in clude p eew ee AA, bantam AA and m inor m idget A and AA. FALL/WINTER/SPRING 2017-18 30-minute classes! Session 2 timeslots: SAT: 9am, 9:30am, 10am, 10:45am, 11:15am, 11:45am SUN: 9am, 9:30am, 10am, 10:30am 11 w e e k s N o v 2 5 - F e b 10 $247.50 +tax ·k AGE & LEVELS DAYS TIMES PRICE 11 w e e k s N o v 1 9 - F e b 11 9 weeks $247.50 +tax $180.00 +tax MON: 1pm, 1:30pm w WED: 6pm, 6:30pm 27 - F e b 5 8-12 HL Fri 8-12 Rep Fri 10-12 HL& Rep Sat 13-15 Rep Sat 10-13 Rep Sun 5:30pm 6:30pm 9:00am 10:00am 9:30am $288 +tax $288 +tax $288 +tax $288+tax $288 +tax 11 w e e k s N o v 2 9 - F e b 14 $275.00 +tax R e g iste r: 9 0 5 -3 3 6 -3 4 3 4x10 or program s@ w avehockey.net W W W .W AVEH0CKEY.CA U S F R YOUTH HOCKEY LEAC l OPEN ICE. CREATIVITY.H/KTTu ^ GEWL.fi N CALL 905.845.6989 OR BAUER30N3.COM ALL GAMES PLAYED AT CANLAN OAKVILLE 2300 CORNWALL ROAD