www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, November 28, 2013 | 38 HALTON TRANSMISSION 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 905-842-0725 www.haltontransmission.com Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports T O M I S T E R B L A D E S "Connected to your Community" S A Y I N G T H A N K S Consolation for King's at OFSAA volleyball by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Staff Oakville Blades superfan Robert Blades (seated, centre) is presented with a signed jersey by the local Ontario Junior Hockey League team prior to its home game Friday against the Pickering Panthers. Mr. Blades, 87, has avidly followed the Blades for more than 40 years. | Photo by Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver @Halton_Photog Blades post win and loss at home, remain fourth in South The Oakville Blades split a pair of home games last weekend in Ontario Junior Hockey League play. The Blades edged the Mississauga Chargers 2-1 Friday before falling 4-2 to the Wellington Dukes Saturday. Both games were played at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. Kris Bennett and Ross Sloan scored Friday for Oakville, with Sloan's powerplay marker 1:45 Ross Sloan scored into the third in both games last period breaking a 1-1 deadlock. weekend for the Oakville The Blades suc- Blades. | Brian Watts / OJHL Images cessfully killed off six Mississauga powerplays on the night, and Evan Buitenhuis made 31 saves to record the victory. Saturday, Sloan once again scored to give the Blades a 2-1 lead, but Wellington responded with three third-period markers to prevail. Sean Perichak had Hockey Briefs Oakville's other goal, tying the game 1-1 in the first period. Buitenhuis made 43 saves as the Blades were outshot 47-31. The Blades (13-11) are currently fourth in the South Division, three points behind the third-place North York Rangers. Oakville has three games in hand on the Rangers. The Blades will play a home-andhome series with the Pickering Panthers this weekend, beginning tomorrow (7:30 p.m. Friday) at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. Oakville will pay a return visit to the Panthers Sunday. Hornets fall to PWHL leaders Oakville intermediate AA Hornets players Cassidy MacPherson and Jennifer MacAskill scored in a losing cause as the Hornets dropped a 4-2 decision to the Whitby Wolves Saturday in Whitby. MacPherson and MacAskill's markers tied the Provincial Women's Hockey League contest 2-2 in the second period, but league-leading Whitby -- which outshot the Hornets 39-18 on the afternoon -- scored twice in the third period for the two-goal victory. Stephanie Loukes made 35 saves for the Hornets, who fell to 5-4-3 on the campaign. Oakville will be home to the Nepean Wildcats tomorrow (Friday) for an 8:30 p.m. start at Joshua's Creek Arenas. Netminder commits to NCAA program Oakville's Katie Bidulka has committed to Minnesota State University. Bidulka, a goaltender for the Brampton Canadettes of the Provincial Women's Hockey League, will join Mavericks next season. Bidulka has enjoyed a strong rookie season with Brampton, posting a 1.76 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage in eight games. The Grade 12 student at Iroquois Ridge recorded her first PWHL win with a 36-save shutout in a 1-0 win over firstplace Whitby last month. She has a 3-50 record with two shutouts. Minnesota State is 5-9-0 this season, including 2-8-0 in conference play. The Mavericks play in the powerful Western Collegiate Hockey Association, which has produced the last 13 NCAA women's hockey champions. It took the King's Christian Collegiate Cavaliers a little time to get rolling but once they did, they were virtually unstoppable. The Cavaliers won 11 of the final 12 sets they played on their way to the consolation championship at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) single-A boys' volleyball championships in North Bay. King's Christian topped University of Toronto Schools 29-27, 29-27, 21-25, 25-16 in Saturday's consolation final, marking the school's best-ever finish at the tournament. "We had talked about playing a complete team game and they did it," said Cavaliers coach Jason Taekema. "They were using each other's strengths without getting discouraged if we gave up a few points in a row. They were competing for every point." The tournament did not start so well for King's. It opened the tournament against the eventual bronze medallist, Toronto District Christian, falling 25-14, 30-28. After another straight set loss to Manitouwadge, King's took the opening set 25-22 against Louis-Riel, but its rivals rallied to take the last two 25-11, 25-11. With a team that had four returning members from last year's team that went to OFSAA -- Jason Groot, Myles Medford, Zack Moll and Matt Zeyl -- the Cavaliers did not want to leave the tournament without a win. King's drew inspiration from a speech it had heard at the OFSAA banquet. The message the players took from it: lots of people have talent, but what type of team are you going to be? "Our captain, Myles Medford, really instilled a lot of that attitude in everyone," Taekema said. "He was asking, `Do we have a winning mentality?' And he really embodied that in his execution. He made some really smart plays." King's defeated St. Michael's 25-22, 25-8 to close the round-robin and carried the momentum into the playoff round. And it took a team effort to do it. "Volleyball isn't a sport where one person can carry you," Taekema said. "It's a skills and team game. You need passing, setting and hitting." Moll and Wesley Garrard provided strong passing in the back row and setter Carter Smith did an excellent job getting the ball to Medford and Philip Reinders, a Grade 11 student who earned MVP honours in the consolation semifinal. The Cavaliers swept Brampton Christian Academy 26-24, 25-21, 25-21 in that match, which came on the heels of a quarter-final sweep of Elliot Lake (25-18, 25-15, 25-23). "When (the players) got together and talked, they decided they didn't want to lose," Taekema said. "They started to communicate better. They were hustling for every ball and making sure no ball hit the ground."