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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, April 16, 2015 | 36 HALTON TRANSMISSION 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 905-842-0725 www.haltontransmission.com Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "Connected to your Community" The Oakville Hornets won the first intermediate AA provincial championship in their association's history Sunday, defeating the Stoney Creek Sabres 3-2 in triple overtime in the final of the Ontario Women's Hockey Association championships in Toronto. Oakville also won an OWHA title in the peewee A division. | photo submitted Oakville forward goes fifth overall in OHL draft by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Staff Intermediates, peewees win OWHA titles by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor Unsatisfied with their result in the Provincial Women's Hockey League playoffs, the Oakville Hornets got exactly what they wanted at the Ontario Women's Hockey Association championships. Appleby College student Amy Curlew, a native of Goose Bay, Nfld., scored in triple overtime Sunday in Toronto, giving the Hornets a 3-2 victory over the Stoney Creek Sabres and the Oakville Hornets Girls Hockey Association its first intermediate AA provincial title since taking control of the squad five years ago. "It's phenomenal," said Hornets head coach Bradi Cochrane. "We did a great job this year of retaining kids and bringing in top players. Hopefully, that helps us continue to build. A lot of credit goes to our association, the president (Mike Turcyzniak) who has backed us up, and the kids who played the previous four years to help pave the way for the success we've had." Oakville was the PWHL regular-season champion, going 31-3-4, but settled for bronze in the league playoffs after losing to Stoney Creek in the semifinals. Cochrane credited her players for quickly putting any disappointment behind them and focusing on another chance in the OWHA championships, which featured the same field as the PWHL. "Any team that has went on to win a championship has faced adversity at some point. That was huge adversity we faced right at the end of the season, but we knew we still had something to play for," she said. "Winning the provincial championship was one of our goals at the start of the year. We used the Final 4 weekend to help make us stronger as individuals and as a team." Loren Gabel and Emma Maltais also scored for Oakville in Sunday's final, Maltais' marker tying the game 2-2 with 2:37 left in regulation. Jess Brown and Oakville resident Taylor McMahon were the only Sabres players to beat Hornets netminder Nikki Cece. The Hornets also needed overtime to down the Whitby Wolves 2-1 in the semifinals, when Gabel provided the winner. Olivia Atkinson had Oakville's other goal, and Daniela Paniccia recorded the win in net. Gabel (two), Madison Field and Cassidy see Both on p.37 Zach Gallant had never imagined being in this position. The Ontario Hockey League draft had barely begun when the Peterborough Petes' turn to select a promising young player arrived. Two weeks earlier, Petes' general manager Mike Oke and the team's head scout had come to Oakville to visit Gallant at his home. So Gallant knew they were interested. Still, the Petes held the fifth overall selection. Would they use it on a player who until a few months ago didn't even see himself as a firstround selection? Oke and the Petes' scouting staff had no doubts. They selected the 6-foot-2, 175-pound centre Saturday, putting Gallant among the likes of Jordan Staal, Zach Bogosian, Zack Kassian and Ryan Spooner as recent Peterborough first-rounders. It wasn't until Gallant made Team Ontario for the Canada Winter Games that the thought of going in the first round entered his mind. "You start thinking, `OK, I'm in the top 12 forwards in (the) province, so there's a chance,'" he said. "But gosee Gallant on p.38