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Kevin Nagel Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports v i n g t h e g r e a t l a k e s 25 | Friday, November 25, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" s a Jovanovich makes tough choice of hockey over soccer By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff Loren King emerges from the lake as the sun reflects off a chilly Lake Ontario, ending a 24-hour relay at Coronation Park on Nov. 13. He and other swimmers involved with the Great Lakes Trust swam back and forth from the shoreline to a channel buoy (approximately 750 metres off shore) taking turns starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday and finishing 24 hours later. The water temperature was 6 C. The swimmers completed the swim three times in the 24 hours. The Great Lakes Trust is a community of swimmers, academics, artists and adventurers. The goal is to raise $25,000 to help individuals and organizations think and act through small grants to support scientific and historical research, artistic expression, public education, grassroots outreach and community engagement to defend the Great Lakes. | photo by Graham Paine ­ Oakville Beaver OJHL Blades within striking distance of South Division-leading St. Mike's The Oakville Blades, fighting for first place in the Ontario Junior Hockey League's South Division, host a pair of games this weekend. Tonight (Friday) Whitby is in town and tomorrow it's St. Michael's. Both games are at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex at 7:30 p.m. Last Saturday, Bryce Misley broke a 2-2 tie with nine minutes to play in the Blades' 3-2 win over the Mississauga Chargers. Blades' Jack Ricketts scored a shorthanded goal to tie the game at 1-1. Jack Jeffers gave Oakville the lead before the end of the opening period. Oakville native Joseph Rupoli scored for the Chargers with 2:38 left in the second period to tie the game. Misley scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season midway through the third. Netminder Chris Elliot stopped 28 shots to secure the win. The night before, Jackson Bales had three points and Brendan McGlynn made 22 saves to lead the Blades to a 5-1 win over North York. Oakville is currently 16-8-0-2 for 34 points, two behind division-leading St. Mike's but with a game in hand. The family vacation was planned -- a trip to England to watch Manchester United play Leicester City. For a former provincial team soccer player, it didn't get much better. Then came the invitation to a national-team training camp that threatened to spoil the trip. The chance to represent her country wasn't on the soccer pitch, but on the ice. Brooke Jovanovich looked at the schedules. It could work. The family would return on the Monday; training camp didn't start until Wednesday. In the end, Jovanovich decided against making the trip. She didn't want to be jet lagged. She wanted to be at her best for the Hockey Canada camp. The Premiership would have to wait. It wasn't the first time Jovanovich had chosen hockey over soccer. She played both sports since she was six. She had actually played soccer before that while figure skating in winter. Then one day she came home and asked her parents about playing hockey. Blessed with some athletic DNA -- her dad played in the CFL and her mom played university soccer at Guelph -- and a drive to compete, Jovanovich was playing both at a high level and attracting scholarship offers by the time she was 14. "There was one summer she was playing in soccer tournaments in Philadelphia and Windsor and playing hockey with the East Coast Selects," said her dad Mike. "Every weekend it was soccer, hockey, soccer, hockey." And as if her sporting ventures weren't enough, she told her parents she hoped to attend an Ivy League school when she graduated from Appleby College. Her parents cautioned that playing two sports at a high level while maintaining the required marks would be difficult. see Jovanovich on p. 26 OAKVILLE t your c e t o Pr ent! Investm 25 Years in Oakville ® with the optimum in vehicle rust control and much more! Complete Cars from $ 119.95 new cars, used cars, rusty cars... we do it all www.jwarchitect.com call open Saturdays 905.827.7878 For coupons and specials visit... Wallace rd www.krown.com 1490 Unit # 5 SpeerS road, oakville HOUSES OUR FIRST PASSION New · Additions · Cottages · Interiors · Landscape