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Oakville's Marni Oldershaw earned all-American honours after nishing eighth in the 200-yard individual medley at the NCAA swimming championships in Minnesota. Oldershaw earned a spot in the nal by taking almost a full second off her personal best, turning in a time of 1:56.18. Oldershaw's time in the nal, 1:56.88, helped the University of Michigan sophomore earn her best-ever nish at the NCAA championships. Oldershaw named all-American 19 | Wednesday, March 26, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com The Appleby College Blue Dogs edged St. Theresa 3-2 in the bronze-medal game the OFSAA A/AA girls hockey championships in Sudbury. Team members are (back, from left) assistant coach Kate Lane, Kaitlin Saxton, Amy Dobson, Julia Edgar, Jennifer Dumont, Amy Curlew, Maddie Sisokin, Jamie Bourbonnais, Savannah Newton, Hannah Gibson, Emelie Robertson, Sydney McCluskey, coach Kim Devereaux, (middle, from left) trainer Ali Stewart, Samantha McCluskey, Julia Fitzpatrick, Meagan Laviolette, Jessica Smith, Emma Thompson, Jennifer MacAskill, Ryan Shelby, Melanie Forbes and (front) Hailey Saxton. | photo by Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver Oakville Summer Hockey League 32nd SUMMER SEASON! Inspired Blue Dogs win OFSAA hockey bronze By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff The Appleby College Blue Dogs were preparing for their most important game of the season when they got a surprise message. Gathered around a TV linked to a laptop prior to their semi nal game at the provincial girls' high school hockey A/AA championships, the players were thrilled to see Brianne Jenner appear before them. The Olympic gold medallist and Appleby alumni, via Skype, relayed her experiences both with the national team and at Appleby. "She talked to us about how to handle games like that," said Appleby captain Jen MacAskill, "to play it like we've played a million times and how important it is to be positive in big games like that. It was a special moment. To know she was in our position six or seven years ago, it gave us a lot of motivation." "It was an unreal experience," said Amy Curlew, who had a tournament-leading nine goals for Appleby. "You look at her accomplishments, she's done so much. You want to follow in her footsteps and represent your school. You want to do the same things she's done." While Appleby wasn't able to repeat Canada's gold-medal performance at the Olympics, the Blue Dogs did take another message from Jenner -- battle until the end. That helped them bounce back from a heartbreaking 2-1 overtime semi nal loss to beat St. Theresa 3-2 to claim the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations bronze medal. "That was the test of a true team," said Appleby coach Kim Devereaux, "showing they can bounce back after a crushing loss. That showed their mental toughness and strength." Melanie Forbes' second goal of the game broke a 2-2 tie in the third period and Hailey Saxton stopped 25 shots to secure the victory. St. Theresa struck rst in the bronze medal game before MacAskill tied the game in the second. The teams then traded goals, sending it into the third tied. Appleby, the tournament's second seed, cruised through pool play, outscoring its opponents 17-1. In the quarter- nal, Curlew and Savannah Newton each had two goals while Jessica Smith and MacAskill also scored. Curlew put Appleby in front midway through the second period in the semi nal but St. Michael CSS tied it up in the opening minutes of the third. Appleby carried the play, outshooting St. Michael 24-15 at one point, but the Blue Dogs' penalty killers had to come up big to kill a 5-on-3 power play in the nal ve minutes. It would be St. Michael that would get the overtime goal, though, to win the gold-medal game. Four hours later, Appleby rebounded to win the bronze. "There wasn't a dry eye in the room," said MacAskill, who will attend Mercyhurst next year, "but from the moment those tears dried, everyone knew we had another game to play." "It was a hard game to lose," Curlew added. "We wanted to win gold, but we said, `We're not leaving here without a medal.'" Devereaux expected this would be a development year with 16 of the 20 players in Grade 9 or 10. But early in the season, they tied Nichols School, the rst-place team in the Conference of Independent Schools Athletic Association, and started to believe more was possible. "Because it was such a young team, they were hungry to learn," the Appleby coach said. "Our motto was `Better every day' and there was an incredible amount of growth through the year." And with all but MacAskill, Newton and Saxton returning, the Blue Dogs are excited about the future. "We're looking forward to next year," said Grade 10 defenceman Jaime Bourbonnais. "We want to win gold." R0012448869 1 hour Please turn OFF your lights on March 29th 8:30-9:30 pm (MJHPTZY\JJPQ^^JWX (MJHPTZY\JJPQ^^JWX Browse flyers from your and favourite national and local retailers Browse flyers from your favourite national local retailers Furnace Diagnostic AND SAVE! AND SAVE! Service only No additional charge for evenings and weekends $ 9 locations to serve you better Earth Hour www.aireone.com A+ RATING 905-849-4998 49 reg. $99 (MJHPTZY\JJPQ^^JWX (MJHPTZY\JJPQ^^JWX AND SAVE! AND SAVE! Browse flyers from your favourite national and local retailers (MJHPTZY\JJPQ^^JWX Browse flyers from your favourite national and local retailers AND SAVE! 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