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Independent & Free Press, Wednesday, June 20, 2007 21 SPORTS & LEISURE Kosziwka takes his scoring touch south EAMONN MAHER Staff Writer His goal-producing prowess on the power play is one of the big reasons why Limehouse's Mike Kosziwka was recently able to land a hockey scholarship at an emerging NCAA Division I school, and the 18-year-old forward can also boast about a bizarre sort of hat trick. Perhaps it's not quite Trivial Pursuit material, but for the past three years, Kosziwka has scored the final goal of the season for three different teams, all of which either ceased operations or relocated afterwards. The Acton District High School graduate closed out the Orangeville Jr. B franchise two years ago with a goal, then became a footnote to the long-standing Wexford Raiders' organization in 2005-06. In February, Kosziwka missed the first three games of Streetsville's playoff matchup with Burlington due to a thigh injury, yet he was able to keep the streak alive by scoring for the Derbys as they were eliminated by the Cougars in four straight games. Now after nearly 40 years in Streetsville, the Derbys are moving to the Westwood Arenas in Rexdale but will apparently keep their nickname. "When we heard Streetsville was moving my dad (George) mentioned it to me and I guess it's a strange coincidence," said Kosziwka, who'll attend Clarkson College in Upstate New York. "It's cool in a way but you'd rather see the team stay at Vic Johnson Arena. (The Derbys) wanted four practices a week and they couldn't work it out. MIKE There still will be a Streetsville Derbys though." KOSZIWKA Kosziwka had initially planned to play another year of Tier II Jr. A and commit to attending Clarkson College beginning in Aug. 2008, but Golden Knights' leading scorer Shawn Weller signed with the NHL's Ottawa Senators, opening a roster spot on the forward lines. Kosziwka led the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League's (OPJHL) West Conference by scoring 17 times on the power play, finishing the campaign with 28 goals and 34 assists along with 72 penalty minutes. "Mike is a late developer who has a tremendous upside," said Clarkson head coach George Roll. "He skates really well for a big guy, has good hands and a great release. He scored a lot of goals this past year in the OPJHL. We feel very fortunate that Mike will be a part of the Clarkson program for the next four years." The 6-foot-3, 175-pound Kosziwka had been courted by a number of U.S. schools, but said he chose Clarkson partly because of its relatively smaller-size campus, which is located in Potsdam, N.Y., about an hour's drive from Ottawa. "It's fairly close to home and I've grown up going to small schools and I wanted to stick with that," added Kosziwka, who will take business administration courses in his first year. The Golden Knights, who have produced NHLers such as Craig Conroy, Todd Marchant and Erik Cole, were also ranked third in the country prior to the NCAA tournament this spring and were See KOSZIWKA, pg. 23 Special athlete Kenny Wittmann of St. Brigid School particpates in the long jump at the Halton Catholic elementary track meet at Notre Dame in Burlington Thursday. Photo By Liesa Kortmann At Catholic elementary meet St. Brigid athletes storm to top spot Several athletes from St. Brigid in Georgetown South made trips to the podium to help their team finish atop the overall standings at the Halton Catholic District School Board's track and field championships last week in Burlington. St. Brigid's Camilla Paluch boosted her school's point total with a double gold medal performance, winning the bantam girls' 100-metre dash and the long jump. Josh Kalbhenn of St. Joseph's in Acton nearly broke a Halton record on his way to first place in the tyke boys' 400m, with his finishing time falling just six one-hundredths of a second short of the standing mark. All five Halton Hills elementary Catholic schools sent representatives to the meet, having finished in the top two of the regional qualifying meet, which was also held last week. St. Catherine of Alexandria from Georgetown South finished fifth in the team standings. See HALTON, pg. 24 APPLE 905-873-1655 ·Truck Accessories ·Upholstery ·Heavy Equipment Glass Auto Glass 354 Guelph Street, Georgetown ® NOW FEATURING WINDSHIELD REPAIR SYSTEM novus ® MORE THAN JUST AUTO GLASS