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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, November 4, 2 0 1 6 | 26 Rapid City Rush's Sparks ECHL player o f the w eek Oakville's Lindsay Sparks had three straight multi-point gam es to earn EC H L player-of-the-week honours. The 26-year-old Rapid City Rush forward took over the lead in the league scoring race with four goals and nine points in four games. Sparks began the week with a goal and an assist in a 7-5 loss to Colorado on Wednesday and followed that up with two goals and an assist in a 6-3 loss to the Alaska Aces on Friday. The former Oakville Blade had a goal and two assists to lead the Rush to its first win of the season Saturday, 5-1 in a rematch with the Aces. Sparks picked up an assist in a 5-4 overtime loss to Alaska Sunday, extending his point streak to eight games, but snapping his goal-scoring streak at six. Though Rapid City is last in the West Conference with a 1-6-1 re cord, Sparks leads the league in goals (seven), points (1 4 ) and pow er-play goals (three). Sparks played three seasons with the Blades before going to the Uni versity of Michigan for four years. He turned pro in 2013 and is now in his fourth season in the ECHL. He had a career best 22 goals and 57 points with the Missouri Mavericks in 2014-15. Sparks was acquired by the South Dakota-based Rush last season. He had 14 points in 33 games with the Orlando Solar Bears but took off with 28 points in 31 games with Rapid City; Sparks has 52 goals and 136 points in 181 career E C H L gam es. All-star Emma Wingave leads Blues to OUA title O akville's Em m a W ingrave scored and rookie goalie E liza beth O 'H ara picked up the win as the U niversity of Toronto Varsity B lues w on their third straight Ontario U niversity A thletics field hockey title last w eekend. Wingrave opened the scoring in Toronto's 3-2 win over the University of Guelph Gryphons, but it took ju st four m inutes for Guelph to reply. Toronto regained the lead two m inutes before the half. Guelph again tied the game midway through the second half on a short corner. Toronto w ould get the game winner with ju st three m inutes to play. W ingrave, a fourth-year m idfielder, w as an OUA all-star this season. O 'H ara, a m em ber of the C anadian ju n io r devel opm ent team , w ent 7-1 with three sh u tou ts for the Blues. The University of Toronto team also includes Oakville's Nicole Spring, who finished sec ond on the team and fourth in the league with nine goals, and Nicole Hicks, a first-year de fender who played nine games. From Burlington are Lauren Sudac, a fourth-year forward who w as fourth on the team and eighth in the league with five goals, plus another in To ronto's 5-1 semifinal win over W aterloo, second-year goalie Sara Fredo, who recorded six shutouts and wins in Toronto's 3-0 quarter-final win over McMaster and semifinal vs. Water loo, and second-year defender Ju lia Costanzo, who played nine gam es, starting six of them. Toronto went 11-1 during the regular season with its only loss to Guelph, 4-3 on Sept. 24. The Blues are seeded second at the U Sports cham pionship, which began yesterday (Thurs day) and concludes on Sunday, Nov. 6. Guelph also qualified for the national cham pionships and is seeded fourth. The Guelph team includes Oakville's Em ily Hong and Rebecca Plouffe. -- Tournament wins responsible for OT teams' provincial berths continued from p. 25 their bid for a perfect season ended with a 38-12 loss to Mowat. Because Halton doesn't have a rug by sevens league, both teams had to rely on their performances at tourna ments to gain a wild-card berth into the provincials. Both teams claimed tournament victories in Streetsville and at Mentor College. OT started the team last year, but didn't apply to participate in provincials. David Schaffler, who coaches both teams, said it wasn't surprising to see the teams succeed in sevens. Because each half is only seven minutes long and there are half as many players on the field, rug by sevens is played at a very high tempo. "We play a pretty open style in the spring (high school season), which lik ens itself to sevens. It' s a little bit more about finesse," he said. "We've got some kids who are pretty serious about it." Engelbrecht, along with Andrew Easson, Phil Lom bard and Callum Tam, play for U pright Rugby Rogues, which finished am ong the top five team s in North America at the Las Vegas Invitational the past two years. "It's so immersive. The game is al ways around you," Engelbrecht said. "In 15s, you run, hit and then you can take a bit of a break. In sevens, you ju st keep going. You're run ning forever. Sevens really focuses on passing. Your passes are longer, there's more open-field tackling and you have to constantly be talking." Engelbrecht said sevens also al lows players more freedom as any player can pick up a ball. "It's more of a free-for-all," he said. Because there is not a Halton league, the sevens teams operate as a club. Players get together three times a week before school to play touch rugby. Schaffler said the sevens experi ence will benefit his players in the spring 15-aside high school season. "Any time you can increase the am ount of touches you get on the ball -- the repetition, the continuity -- it's going to help," he said. Herb Garbutt CHOOSE YOUR ADVENTURE UWOAKVILLE.ORG #CYAUWO United Way O a k v ille Grand Prize: Your Adventure! 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