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years has had them practice together. While that had advantages, like forcing the junior players to raise the level of their game, it also meant less time with the ball, with as many as 30 players on the court. Scheduling will not be difficult when the new double gym opens in February. It will be out with the old rubberized floor, in with new hardwood. It will mean bright lights, new equipment, more space around the court. Its going to have a great weight facility, an indoor track. To us, its going to be the best facility in Halton, Szpakowski said. The cost is saying goodbye to a large piece of the schools history. The Aquinas gym is like an indoor Fenway Park. You half expect to see someone manually changing placards on the scoreboard, which itself is running on borrowed time. It unexpectedly shut off with a minute left in the second quarter Monday not that you would know it was the sec- ond quarter because three of the four quarter lights have burned out. But like the decaying Boston baseball sta- dium, there are other problems. A water pipe burst last year, covering the gym floor with several inches of water. The gyms last days did provide some opportunities, though. Ron Szpakowski has coached both volleyball and basketball at Aquinas, but his best memories of the gym are the graduation and convocation cere- monies it has hosted and the plays that have been produced on the stage. This year for the production of The Unusual Suspects, know- ing the gym would soon be closed, two large openings were cut into the wall on either side of the stage, allowing performers with binoc- ulars to peer out over the audience at the seven sold-out shows. We kind of dismembered the gym, he said. For all its faults, there are ele- ments to the venue that will be missed. The big thing that makes Aquinas gym so unique is how small it is. You wont see anyone pulling a Norman Dale in The Dungeon. The coach of Hoosiers fame pulled out a tape measure to show his players that the court they were about to play on was no different than their court at home. Ive spent a lot of time in a lot of gyms. Im sure its smaller, said McGillicuddy, who never actually measured the Aquinas court. You look at the three-point line and how close it is to the sideline and Im sure its shorter. We always felt we had an advantage running a press there because there was so little room. The cramped feeling grew even more when the school let students out of class to attend games. Wed have three quarters of the school in there, said Peter Szpakowski. And being the only school in Halton with bleachers on both sides of the court, the claustrophobic feeling was enhanced. It gave it the illusion that it was even smaller, McGillicuddy said. We had an American team up from Philadelphia in 95 or 96 and the place was packed. The knees of the fans were against the backs of the players. It was a remark- able event to have so many peo- ple. The other home court advan- tage for the Raiders was the dim gas-powered lighting. Ron Szpakowski said McGillicuddy, who was principal at the school for four years, would not replace burnt out lights in order to bol- ster his teams advantage as visitors strug- gled to adjust. I dont recall not replacing them, McGillicuddy said with a chuckle. But if they were a little dim, I wasnt going to spend a lot of money to replace them. The lights also caused problems if a spec- tator leaned against the button on the wall. Once turned off, it took as long as 10 minutes for the lights to come back on and return to full power. Of course, in a few more weeks, it will be lights out for good and so long to the Raiders home court edge. It was an exciting place to play, McGillicuddy said, but Im not so sure the visitors enjoyed it so much. 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THE REGISTRATION FOR 2010 AGE GROUPS OUR REGISTRATION WILL BE SATURDAYS 11:30-2:00 ON THE FOLLOWING DATES: yJunior Varsit U17 .......................................... 1995 & 1996 Bantam U15 .................................................. 1997 & 1998 PeeWee U13 ................................................. 1999 & 2000 Flag Football .......................................................Ages 7-12 w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER Th ur sd ay , Ja nu ar y 13 , 2 01 1 2 6 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Tuesday, January 25, 2011 6:30 p.m. Town Hall, 1225 Trafalgar Road, Committee Room 2 In addition to recapping highlights from 2010 and discussing goals and objectives for 2011, Sport Oakville will elect five (5) Directors to its Board for 2011. If you have a keen interest in sport and are an Oakville citizen, Sport Oakville invites you to submit a nomination. Please forward your application to memberservices@sportoakville.ca by Tuesday, January 18. Experience in fundraising, sponsorship, event organization and/or marketing and promotions are assets. Your participation is needed to ensure that the voice for sport is heard throughout Oakville. For more information and nomination form, visit www.sportoakville.ca or contact Wayne at 905- memberservices@sportoakville.ca . 815-6160 or m mbers rvices@sportoakville.ca.905- New gym will be brighter, larger, better equipped I dont recall not replacing (the lights). But if they were a little dim, I wasnt going to spend a lot of money to replace them. Former Aquinas principal Colin McGillicuddy Continued from page 25 Scott Wilson recently signed a letter of intent to attend the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, where he will play men's hockey for the school beginning this fall. Wilson captains the Georgetown Raiders of the Ontario Junior Hockey League. The forward sits second on the Raiders in scor- ing this year with 52 points in 34 games. Wilson also played for Canada East at the World Junior A Challenge in November, notching six points in five games to help the team earn silver. Shepley finishes second in voting for top female pro award Jessica Shepley was the runner-up for the Canadian Golf Journalists Association of Canada's female professional of the year award. Shepley plays on the Futures Tour and has earned conditional status for the LPGA Tour next season. Cadogan qualifies for OUA meet Loyola grad Ashara Cadogan has quali- fied for next months Ontario University Athletics Track and Field Championships. The University of Toronto student fin- ished third in the 60-metre dash at a meet in Toronto last weekend after posting a person- al-best time of 8.03 seconds in the prelimi- naries. Wilson commits to U-Mass Lowell SPORTSBRIEFS