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Wednesday, December 6, 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER D3 Aquinas led by national team m em ber Katie Donovan (Continued from page D1) Conference (G-HAC) championship. After the heartbreaking loss, Raiders coach Mike Johnston said he told his troops "to bring it in for one last cheer, and for all of them to turn around with sm iles on their face and their heads held high. "We're the second best team in the province and we lost to a fantastic team. "And it was so close." Aquinas wavered ever so slightly down the stretch with a num ber o f crucial turnovers and it proved to be ju st enough of an opening for St. M ary's to sneak in for the win. It w&sn't by much, but as Gore and Bush are finding out in Florida, the slimmest of margins can sometimes win you top prize just as effec tively as a landslide. St. M ary's had gone in to the game favoured to win their third straight provincial title and St. Thomas Aquinas was pegged to be their greatest opposition, as evidenced by their top billing (ranked first and second, respectively). And the two teams made geniuses out o f tour nam ent officials by each sailing sm oothly through their respective draws to meet up in the championship game. Sometimes when two powerful objects meet, there are fireworks. This was more like one very long, tentative tug o f war. St. M ary's charged out o f the gate at 5-0 which is significant in that it would mark their biggest lead o f the game. Aquinas then rallied and a few minutes later had their own 5-point lead at 12-7. It would also mark their biggest lead of the game. In all such close games, hindsight is not only 20/20 but includes a lot more in its harsh glare. One such play would be a St. M ary's buzzer beating three-pointer at the end of the first quar ter which cut the 12-7 deficit down to a more palatable 12-10, Rather than loosening up, the second quarter was even more stifling. It ended with Aquinas up 16-15. Things opened up a bit more in the third quar ter, but again it was all but equal, ending at 2828. The fourth quarter was back to stifling with St. M ary's needing those clutch foul shots with four seconds left to outscore Aquinas a paltry 64 (for the final winning margin of 34-32). The Raiders' last turnover with more than a minute left and the score tied at 32-32 allowed St. M ary's to set up their end play, calmly wait ing for the seconds to tick down to single digits before making their final gambit. And it worked Photo by Peter C. McCusker Kim Salem's shot is blocked by St. Mary's Ashleigh Cuncjc. to perfection as they drew the foul -- and then sank both of them. The scoring summary tells a large part of the story. Aquinas boasted the most potent weapon in transfer student Katie Donovan, a national team member, who had a fantastic game with 18 points. That was more than the rest of her team mates combined and exactly twice the number of her St. M ary's counterpart, Ashleigh Cuncic who had nine. But Aquinas had no other real threats with only' four other players hitting the board -- Cailin Miziolek (5), Kim Salem (4), Kara Lang (3) and Alana Juzenas (2). St. M ary's second guns didn't fare much bet ter, but -- and this is key -- there were more of them, including Julie Lamparski (6), Rachel Hart (5), Julia Critchley (3), Krysten Adams (3), Cari TeBoekhurst (2), Jessie Lamparski (2), Mandy Bateman (2), Andrea Benvenito (2) and Heather Agus (1). "Our goal was to use her (Katie Donovan) as best as we can," said coach Johnston. "We would have liked to have got the ball to Kim Salem inside a little more but they did an excellent job. "They're a great defensive team and my hats are off to them." His own defence can certainly take pride in all but shutting down the undisputed best team in the province, three years running. "Absolutely. That's our trademark, and they went out and did a heck of a job. I mean to hold a team with firepower like that to 34 points is an impressive feat. I'm very pleased with that." Another key factor was foul trouble for provincial team guard Alana Juzenas that forced her to sit for most of the third quarter. She had been cruising along with two fouls but two quick ones in the first two minutes of the second half forced the hand of coach Johnston. The Raiders, much to their credit, didn't buckle, but neither were they able to surge for ward without her. "I think when Alana went out in foul trouble that really hurt us," agreed coach Johnston. "When you lose a player of her calibre it's extremely difficult to pick up the slack. "I think we did a good job, we did an admirable job in her absence. "I would like to think we could have built the lead with her still in the game. Aquinas must now hope this proves to be an invaluable learning experience, much in the same way that Wayne Gretzky likes to remind people that the Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup dynasty did start out with a character building loss to the New York Islanders, actually a sweep. For Aquinas, there should be a tomorrow. Two o f their key players, including one starter, after all, are still in Grade Nine. It was amazing to see two Grade Nine players sharing the floor for extended minutes in the title match for girls high school basketball in Ontario. And while neither Kara Lang (who started) and Karen Zmirak were able to put their mark on the game, neither did they look out of place. Lang had some real good slashes to the basket w hile Zm irak show ed flashes o f Damon Stoudamire with her ball control at the point, although she couldn't get her outside shot to drop. "It's a great experience," said coach Johnston. "For them to play in a game like this for the provincial title against a team as good as this, it's going to help tremendously for the future. "We've got both the kids for three more years and the future looks bright so w e're excited about it." Not to mention that the Raiders junior team won the Halton cham pionship (and that was obviously without Lang and Zmirak in the line up). TOURNEY RUN DOW N Aquinas won their semifinal game 40-31 over Our Lady of Lourdes from Guelph. The Guelph team was the only other team, other than St. M ary's- to have beaten Aquinas this year. But Aquinas then went on to avenge the defeat, win ning the next two meetings. Katie Donovan was game high scorer with 17 points. Aquinas their quarterfinal game 68-49 over Waterloo. Katie Donovan was game high scorer with 23 points. In their second game, in which sudden death kicked in, Aquinas posted their biggest margin o f the tournament, 71-30 over Campbell (from Toronto). Katie Donovan was game high scorer with 16 points. The Oakville team opened the tournament with a 53-35 win over LaSalle from Sudbury. Katie Donovan was game high scorer with 14 points. G-HAC CHAM PIONSHIP Aquinas, ironically, were the only team to have beaten St. M ary's this season, and they did it with a surprise 44-43 win in the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference (G-HAC) cham pionship at Sheridan College. Since G-HAC was hosting this year's provin cial AAA OFSAA championships, however, it was known beforehand that both G-HAC quali fiers would move on to the OFSAA playdowns. That's not the way it was last year when an exciting 43-39 St. M ary's win at G-HAC elim i nated Aquinas. A n o th er show dow n w ith a Toronto pow erhouse The Oakville Rangers minor bantam triple-A rep team , the defending OMHA champions and OHA finalists, were ousted from the prestigious Silver Stick Championship in Whitby over the Nov. 26-28 weekend in another exciting encounter with a Toronto powerhouse. After winning all three of their preliminary round games and their quarterfinal game, the high flying Rangers, who remain undefeated in league play with 20 wins and a tie, were edged in the semifinals in overtime, 2-1, by the Toronto Marlies. Justin Donati neatly deflected a Ben Heersink slapshot from the point late in the first period to give the Rangers the lead, a goal that nearly stood up to be the winner. It wasn't until midway through the third period that the M arlies were able to get one by Oakville goaltender Chris Rowan while Oakville was short-handed. The teams played out the final seven minutes of regula tion time and a full 14 minutes and 35 seconds of suddendeath overtime before Toronto scored and moved on to the final. The Rangers had advanced from the quarterfinals with another come-from-behind 4-2 win over Windsor. With 16 top teams in the tourney, the Rangers were learning that there were no easy victories to be had and a full 45 minutes of hockey (and sometimes more) was needed to advance. Top notch goaltending prevailed at both ends of the rink before Oakville scored three times in the third period, including the final one into an empty net, to secure the win. Goals were scored by Nick Davis, Nick Dodge, Daniel Hannigan-Daley and Charlie Giffin. Assists went to Victor Oreskovich, Nick Prescott, Dodge and Tyler Donati. The Rangers undefeated record in the preliminary round, combined with a goals for and against percentage, earned them a tie for second place in the re-pooling draw but they secured the second best seed for their quarterfinal match by virtue o f a meagre 12 minutes in penalty time over the three games. H ere's the preliminary round action: Nick Davis and Charlie Giffin scored in a 2-1 opening win over Sun County. Assists went to Victor Oreskovich (2) and Tyler Donati. In the second game Oakville scored two unanswered third period goals for a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Team Illinois in what turned out to be a fast paced specta tor extravaganza. Parents behind both benches agreed that the game was played with terrific intensity with the play going end to end on numerous occasions, forcing both goalies to make tough saves. A total o f three minor penal ties were called in the game, further evidence of a topnotch hockey game decided on the ice. Scoring for Oakville were Brad M cKenzie, Tyler Donati and Nick Prescott. Assists went to M cKenzie, Nick Prescott, Victor Oreskovich, Graham Tough and Nick Dodge. The Rangers secured their undefeated status with a 4-3 win over Cambridge. Oakville actually blasted out to a 4-0 lead and, in Toronto Maple Leaf style, stopped to admire their lead. Fortunately, for Oakville they were still able to secure the win along with the all-important lesson as Cambridge scored their third goal on the buzzer. Goals were scored by Nick Prescott (2), Brad McKenzie and Tyler Donati. Assists went to Daniel Hannigan-Daley, Nick Dodge, Nick Davis and Graham Tough. LEAGUE PLAY RECAP The minor bantams AAA home games are usually Friday evenings at River Oaks B at 8.15pm. With 21 games of their 32-game regular season sched ule completed the Rangers continue to keep the loss col umn at zero (20 wins and a tie). But each team the Rangers face puts on their best effort resulting in high-intensity hockey and nervous times for the Oakville parents. In recent matches Oakville have entered the third period trailing on three occasions; coming back to score the equal izer and the game winner in the dying minutes of play. Here are the recent results: Oakville 4 Niagara Falls 2; Oakville 8 Burlington 0; Oakville 4 Halton 4; Oakville 5 Halton 0; Oakville 5 Halton 1; Oakville 4 Niagara Falls 3; Oakville 2 GreyBruce 1. sock-free holiday! 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