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w w w .in sid e h alto n .co m | O A K V IL L E B E A V E R | Friday, July 2 8 , 2 0 1 7 | 5 8 China calls on Rangers to help im prove hockey program s By Kevin Nagel Beaver s p o rts ed itor John Verdon says there are a num ber of reasons w hy there is a strong China-Oakville hockey connection. Verdon has been the president of the Oakville Rangers Hockey Club (formerly the Minor Oaks Hockey Association) for just over a year. He recently returned from a week-long trip to Beijing representing his club. The Oakville Rangers enjoy a cult-like status in China for a num ber of reasons, but m ostly because Andong (M isha) Song, says Verdon. He is referring to the first Chi nese-born player ever to be drafted by an NHL team, w ho was chosen by the N ew York Islanders in 2015. Song played for the Oakville Rang ers and his younger brother cur rently plays in Oakville as well. "Oakville Rangers have a 100 per cent brand awareness among those w ho play hockey in China, a country of 1.4 billion people," Verdon said. Oakville is also proving to be a popular destination for new Cana dians relocating from China, adds Verdon. Hui Song, no relation to Andong, is an Oakville mother house league/rep costs w ho writes a popular in Oakville, for ex blog for new Canadi ample. ans from China. She "Most quit by the shared her experience age of 12 to concen of having her son play trate on school," said house league hockey Verdon. "The m ost tal in Oakville and how ented ones w ould head m uch he enjoyed it. to other countries like Canada to play." After the Chinese Verdon said that governm ent an entrepreneurs are re nounced that it was warded w hen they mandating having 300 invest in government m illion kids playing initiatives, in this case winter sports in the upping the numbers next year, Song and in winter sports. Verdon were among a number of guests in "There are 20-odd vited to Beijing as part rinks in Beijing," he of China' s m ission to said. "By next year improve and expand they plan to have 82. An Oakville Rangers hat sits on the Great Wall of China during club president its hockey program. The determination John Verdon's trip last month to share his ideas on running a successful and single-m inded It is not a coinci hockey program. | photo submitted ness is impressive and dence Beijing is the borderline scary " site of the 2022 W in results. Verdon m et with nine hockey ter Olympics. "They w ould be better than There are already high-level m ost Toronto or Oakville kids at organizations in Beijing and six coaches from hockey-strong na the same age," Verdon said, de were not interested in the Oakville clubs' house-league system that tions teaching the game to young scribing hockey in China as the includes just one practice and one players in Beijing. The youngsters sport of kings. game per week. practise five to eight times a week, Families pay $50,000 to rarely playing games. It' s not that $100,000 a year for the privilege, "They want to win, w in, w in ," m uch fun for the player but it gets compared to $800-$5,000 for said Verdon. "In the early going there are three clubs that share our belief that players should look for ward to com ing to the rink." On one occasion during the trip, Verdon described Canada' s philos ophy to about 50-60 families and his talk was live-streamed to more than 500 other families. "(A good hockey program) should be fun, create character, (promote) teamwork and sacrifice w hile making m em ories," was his message, delivered in a hall decked out in Oakville Rangers banners. "It was quite surreal." Verdon cautioned there are many details to work out. "W e're in the early stages of put ting together a partnership to help them get their house-league pro grams off the ground," Verdon said. That w ould include provid ing IT, coaching and officiating support and could result in local coaches being sent to Beijing for the better part of a year. And the benefits for ORHC and Oakville? "It lifts the profile of the hockey club," he said. "We have the larg est club in Canada and w e want to act like it. It was an honour to be asked." Rock hold off Brooklin rally for 7 -6 win The Oakville Rock built a four-goal lead and then held off a late charge by the Brooklin Redmen for a 7-6 win W ednesday Despite the road victory in the final game of the regular season, Oakville finished one point behind Brooklin for third place in the Major Series Lacrosse standings with a record of 7-10-1. Dan Lomas' goal two m inutes into the third put Oakville up 5-1. The teams traded goals m idway through the period and the Rock lead looked safe until Brooklin scored three times in a span of 3:33 to cut Oakville' s advantage to one. It remained that way until Brett Ulbikas scored into an empty net for his second goal of the game. Brooklin scored with six seconds remaining to again cut the lead to one but could not get the equalizer. Connor Fields also scored twice for the Rock w hile Pat Walsh, Jeremy N o ble and Lomas added singles. Matt Lee had two assists. N ick Rose stopped 27 of 28 shots through two periods and finished the night w ith 32 saves for the win. Monday, Oakville tied the game with the extra attacker, but lost 10-8 to Brampton in overtime. Matt Kuchar watches his tee shot on the 10th hole as play began Thursday at the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey. Kuchar, coming off a runner-up finish at the British Open, is among the favourites this week. He has posted four straight top-10 finishes at the Canadian Open, including a second in 2013. | Graham Paine - Oakville Beaver YOUTH SOCCER0®®2 OUTDOOR HOUSE LEAGUES AT APPLEB Y COLLEGE ft ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 2003-2013 LEAGUES: $207.96 2014/15 SOCCER TO! PROGRAM: $97.35 U FO R BOYS & GIRLS BORN 2003-2015 LEAGUES AVAILABLE TUES-SAT 12 weeks of games, starts May 30 Soccer Tots program for players born 2014/2015 includes parents & kids in fun 30min sessions Teammate requests accommodated Paid, certified coaches Team uniform included Each player receives a BSC ball Team photograph included & End of Season Awards Only at S ta rt p la n n in g y o u r s u m m e r a d v e n tu r e s w it h tra v e l d e a ls o n h o te ls , v a c a t io n re n ta ls , t o u rs a n d m o re ! travelalertsxa V isit w w w .trave la lerts.ca /B a ckya rd 952 Century Drive, Burlington, ON L7L 5P2 905-631-0000 ext. 200 or kristin@burloaksportscentre.ca