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Editor Norm Nelson Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: nnelson@haltonsearch.com FR ID A Y. J A M A K Y 11. 2 ( * ) 2 · P rt^ r 2 2 SPORTS Ritter looking to crack top 10 at nationals at Copps O akville is well represented at the C anadian national figure skating cham pionships under way this week at Copps C oliseum in Ham ilton. O akville native Eric R itter, in m en's singles, easily advanced out o f the A flight, finishing sixth out o f 17 skaters. Last year, Ritter finished 14th -- in the top half o f the draw -- and gave h im se lf the ch allen g e o f improving to top 10 this tim e around. Leading the A flight was Elvis S tojko w ho is no stran g er to Oakville. He can often be found on the ice at River Oaks where he has had his skates sharpened for m ore than a decade by Paul Fisher. The m en's short program was held last night. The m en's free pro gram is on tap Saturday night. It's nationally televised by CTV so check the television listings. O akville is also represented in the ju n io r ice dance by D eborah Allworth and M ichael Faw cett. They skated their final free dance program last night. In their first three events they did not contend but were well up in the top half o f the 27-m em ber field, fin ishing 9th in original dance, 10th in the second com pulsory and 8th in the first compulsory. For all the latest results, check out w w w .skatecanada.ca. Peter C McCusker · Oakville Beaver ACTION IN THE CREASE! the high school sports schedule resum ed from the Christm as Break. In this gam e, on Tuesday, the B lakelock Tigers woke up after falling behind 3-2 in the second period to the W hite Oaks W ildcats and netted four unanswered goals to reclaim the lead. H ere, the W ildcats (w hite jerseys) fend o ff a Tigers attack. Blades beat Derbys, begin final push for first place By Sarah Elliott S P E C IA L T O T H E BEAVER W ith ju st a month left in the regu lar season, it's crunch time for the Oakville Blades as they com pete in a tight race atop the western division o f the Ontario provincial junior A hockey league. The Blades are currently sitting in third place, just one point behind the H am ilton K ilty's, and three points behind the first place B ram pton Capitals, with one game in hand on Brampton. Hamilton was in Brampton last night, with the game going beyond our press deadlines. With first place close in sight, every game becomes crucial for the Blades. They haven't lost a game since Decem ber 11 with six wins and two ties since then, including Tuesday night's 5-2 win in Streetsville over the D erby's. Oakville broke open a 2-2 tie with three unanswered third-period goals. SILVER MEDALISTS! see story on H ornets Peewee A, page 24. Actually, the Blades had blazed out to a 2-0 lead before allowing the Derbys to tie it up. "We had a fast start, with two quick goals, but then we relaxed," comm ented coach Jay Anderson. "I think the boys may have started to believe that this was going to be an easy night. "We became com placent and let Streetsville tie up the gam e." But the Blades managed to come back strong, pulling away from the Derbys, and coming out on top. The Blades aggressive style of play does land them in the box often; fortunately their penalty killing was strong on Tuesday night, as it has been all season. "O ur penalty killing was up to its best as we were dow n two men twice," said Anderson. "Our penalty killing is around 87 per cent." Evan McGrath and Mike Ruberto had particularly strong games, with two goals each. M cGrath also had an assist. Steve Pinizzotto had the first goal for the Blades. Tonight the Blades play host to the seventh place M ississauga Chargers. On Monday, they play an important game in Hamilton -- their last show down o f the regulaf season. Evan McGrath (left) and Mike Ruberto (right) each fired a pair against the Derbys. SCORING SUMMARY O akville 5, Streetsville 2 (Jan. 6) PERIOD (1:42) (6:21) PERIOD (0:25) PERIOD (2:51) (5:09) (10:24) (17:51) 1 OAK O AK 2 STR 3 STR OAK OAK O AK Steve Pinizzotto (Rob Tarantino, Evan M cGrath) Evan McGrath C hris Sutton (Ben Kemp, David Friel) PP Mike Mike Mike Evan Howes (Joel Petkoff) Ruberto (M arc Pinizzotto, C hris Knighton) Ruberto (Chris Knighton, TJ Manastersky) M cGrath (Steve Pinizzotto. Rob Tarantino) PROVINCIAL JUNIOR A - west conference GP W L t o t l g f GA Pts GAA PIM HAMILTON BRAM PTON 39 26 10 2 1 38 26 II 1 0 178 195 122 124 55 53 26.44 3.13 3 .2 6 - 17.33 OAKVILLE 38 24 10 3 I 187 140 52 3.68 3.79 4.13 4.05 3.27 4.97 4.87 5.50 28J9 20.86 21.20 20.38 25.19 22.49 21.39 19.41 BRAM ALEA 144 49 38 22 II 4 1 171 MILTON 39 21 15 2 1 156 161 45 GEO RGETOW N 40 19 16 4 1 176 162 43 M ISSISSAUGA 37 13 17 3 4 131 121 33 STREETSV ILLE 37 13 23 1 0 140 184 27 BURLINGTON 38 11 24 3 0 130 185 25 BUFFALO 38 86 209 10 3 31 3 1 * O T losses are worth one point; * does not include Thursday night's game: H amilton at Brampton