The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

r- The Canadian Champion, Friday, April 22, 2005-23 sleblancohaItonsearch .com 1-Nunes' championship-rich year ends with Ontario gold Young gymnast delivers fi erce finish'to secure titie Keanu Nunes' 2004/05 gymnastîcs season can be summed up xith just one word- golden. Punctuating the year in stellar fashion, the nine-year-old Miltonian upstaged 18 competitors in the Level 1, Under-lO boys division to secure Ontario championship honours in Burlington April 9. This complementa the -overall gold-medal efforta delivered at provincial qualifiera in Newmarket and Kitchener-Waterloo. A member of Missisauga Team Futures, Nunes would have made it a dlean sweep if flot for a nasty case of bronchitis that kept him out of the third and final qualifier early last month. The ill-timed ailmnent cost him thnre weeks of provincial prep turne, making his Ontario triumph ail the mote impressive. "I was a littie nervous going in, but 1 did a lot of visualization that 1 work on with my dad, who's a soccer coach," said the E.W. Foster student. "Thar helped and it feit realiy good to win." Added Team Futures coach Zhao Hui Huang, "We had to play catch-up with Keanu's training, but he works so hard and is very dedcated." Hopes for winning provincials didnt look ao, bot at firat, as the young Miltonian started with a miodest fourth-place finsh in the floor moutine. But a flerce finish - bigblighted by a victory on the parallel bars and second-place showing on the high bars - allowed Keanu to edge past Est York's Cameron Jang by a single point at the wire for ali-around gold. "1 ended strongly," sad thse champ. Keanu's immnediate success in gymnastica has certainly been impressive, though not entirely susprising to mother Jacqueline. "He's always been naturally flexible and agile. H1e was swinging from trees and other things from a very young age," ase recailed. MnoIX Dy UltAHAM 1AIrNt Keanu Nunes shows off hlm provinclil modal haul. --Bertoli's Titans sweep round 1 Move on toface Reading Royals Scott Bertoli and the Trenton Titans' red-hot streak continues. Pushing their win streak 10 seven gaines in Atlantic City Sunday atternoon, the 28 -year old Miltonian and his ECHL club punctu- ated a three-game sweep of the Boardwalk Bullies in the Northemn Division semnifinals -winning 4-3 with an overtime deposit. Bertoli factored into the golden goal, grabhing a loose puck off a turnover and setting up doorstep marksman Nick Deschenes. ý" '11 was a d-to-d pass and the puck some- how just came right to me, which surprised everyone including myscîf," recalled the Jw local lefi Winger. who also scored a second- period powerplay goal in the series clincher. '1 slid il in front t0 Nick, who was aIl alone and just slipped it home. Their goalie didn't have much of a chance." Scott Bertoli Sunday's sudden death victory -the second in as many gaines -capped the final hattle of New Jersey with the Bullies set to relocate to California this summer. Bertoli also stood out in gaine one's 4-2 decision with a couple of' assists. The senies svin was even sîveeter in that Atlantic City had swept Trenton in both 2002 and 2003. The Titans will look to kcep things going tonight. when they hegin another best-of-five series for the Northemn Division tille. Standing in their way are the Reading Royals. who finished with an identical 93 points but grabbed home-ice advantage by virtue of their one extra win. Trenton won the season series 7-3 and will host gamnes îhree and four. Meanwhile. fellow Miltonian Darren Haydar also kicked off the post-season in impressive fashion. Recently retumning from an ankle injury that sidelined him for about a month. the 25-year old AHL right Winger had three assists Wednesday night to help lead his Milwaukee AdmiraIs to a 4-2 decision over Cincinnati in game one of their first-round series. Finishing the regular season with 24 goals and 26 assists in 59 gaines. l-aydar's set-ups aIl came in the second pei-iod -the lait of which was on Ryan Suter's eventual gaine winner. The best-of-seven showdown continues tonight in Cincinnati. W. Dick boys prevail in wild North Halton Tir 2fia By STEVE LeBLANC The Champion Eric Cowan just kept playing the hero's role until it finally stuck. With North Halton Tier 2 championship hon- ours on the line Tuesday afternoon at E.C. Drury High School. WlI. Dick's eighth grade cager made three potential winning baskets in the final two-and-a-half m-inutes of regulation time. While each of those leads was wipcd out by the determined Brookville Bengals, Cowan sim- ply wouldn't be denied the spotlight. With just two-and-a-half seconds remaining in overtimne, he sank a couple of fouI shots to give his saw encouniter. points. Wildcats a 29-28 victory -capping the most Bengal Mike Sgarbossa stepped up his efforts Delivering a big second-half uprising, Cowan suspenseful title match in recent memory. whiîe teammate Sean Koopmans strug- enjoyed the lion's share of the scoring pie for the "It feels really good, but it wasn't just gled through the early going champs with 10 points. Todd Campbell and Cain me that won it.' stressed the modesi and led with a dozen points Freelen had eight and seven respectively. graduating player. "Everybody overaîl. including a lump shot in In a far less dramatic Tier 'final. the Sam came through. It was a real team the final minute of overtime that Sherratt girls dropped a 2-i10 decision to effort. " appeared to be enough for a Acton's M.S. Bennett Tuesday aflemnoon. Brookville led for most of the third Brookville win. The Shamrocks kept things compelitive quarter and established three separate Koopmans would eventually find through the early going, but just couldn't meas- leads in the extra session before finally his scoring touch and collect eight points, ure up in the second haîf. Vicki Kiriakopoulas being vanquished, while neither side led by more while Wes Lindinger was arnong the other scor- had six points, while Tori Pickering and Sarahs than four points at any one time during the see- ers in the deciding frame and finished with six Stockall sank one basket each. *SA & fun league soi fl ie wMmu m n I Provincial Championships in Nu#"* Internet stats e Teamn & Individual entry For more information please contact. (905) 875-5893 e www.haltonbhl.ca *Starting in May at Milton arenas