Editor: Norm Nelson Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: nnelson@haltonsearch.com Wi ll >Ni :si >AY. At ( il 1 ST < ». 2<x).i · l>ag< - I )l SPORTS By Steve Dominey s p ec :ia l Former Oakville Blades' star helps San Diego to WCHL title Bryan Vines counts Oilers pre-season try-out as career highlight r< >t h e b e a v e r *w hole life, but it w asn 't until the sport becam e secondary to a jo u r nalism career that he ful filled his dream o f w inning a cham pionship. The 24-year-old O akville native won his first title at any level this past season when his San D iego G ulls w on the West C oast H ockey L eague's Taylor Cup. Vines only jo in ed tlie team two m onths before the victory, but it was a satisfying end ing to a topsy-turvy year. T he victory could also m ark the end o f V ines' playing career, as he has until S eptem ber to decide w hether to return to the G ulls or pursue a life outside hockey. The 6 ' 2". 200-pound defencem an excelled in local m inor hockey before jo in in g the O akville Blades ju n io r A club at the early age o f 15. He was drafted by the O ntario H ockey L eague's K itchener Rangers, but rather than play m ajor ju n io r hockey he stayed with the Blades for three seasons and attracted a full scholar- B ryan Vines has played hockey his pow er-play," he says. "O nce I found my ow n role I started getting along with my team m ates and coach and really began to help the team ." A fter blow ing out his shoulder in his second year. Vines w orked hard to find his niche. He stayed in D enver after his sopho m ore season to work on his strength and conditioning. N ot only did he up his com m itm ent level, but he O akville's B ryan Vines started playing the sim ple, may have a little bit m ore reliable defensive gam e hockey left in him before that signatures his play he pursues journalism . today. By his fifth season, in w hich he w as only eligible because of ship to the U niversity o f Denver. the sophom ore injury. Vines was Vines im m ediately enjoyed the nam ed the sq u ad 's captain. He led sm all, private sch o o l's cam pus and D enver to a 32-8-1 record during the jo u rn alism program , but struggled 2()01-2(X)2 season and the team fin with his gam e. He says he had a diffi ished the y ear ranked num ber one in cult adjustm ent to college hockey. the nation. "I struggled a lot in my first two T he school won their first regular years," he says. "1 w as in and out o f season title since 1986 and captured the line-up and fighting with my the league playoff cham pionship, the coach non-stop." Final Five tournam ent, by defeating He attributes many o f his struggles the U niversity o f M innesota in their to his attitude at the time. hom e rink. "E very kid was the star o f their team back hom e and it took me a long (See 'Vines' page 03) lim e to realize I sh o u ld n 't be on the Cindy Bower: life in the fast lane Growing up in a hockey environment helped her as a skating coach By Jon Kuiperij OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Stephanie van Veen and Adam Dawson of the Oakville Skating Club have received an invitation to com pete in the N orth A m erican Challenge Skate which runs next week in Thornhill. Oakville Skating Club duo invited to Challenge Skate Stephanie van Veen and A dam D aw son o f the O akville Skating Club have been invited to com pete in the novice dance event o f the North A m erican Challenge Skate. A ugust 14-17, in Thornhill. Skate Canada, the governing body for the sport o f figure skating in C anada, invited van Veen and D aw son to com pete in the elite event. The North A m erican C hallenge Skate was created by Skate C anada and the United States Figure Skating A ssociation as a developm ental international meet for up and com ing talent. van Veen and D aw son's hom e base is R iver O aks arena in O akville, how ever, in the sum m er they skate at Iceland A rena in M ississauga. Debbie Lee and Bernard Ford M .B.E. coach the team. Lee is an international level coach, and as a skater she w as novice and ju n io r dance cham pion o f Canada, senior Canadian bronze m edallist and an interna tional com petitor. Ford is a form er four-tim e British. E uropean and W orld C ham pion. He has coached skaters to the Canadian national title, w orld podium and O lym pic Games. Ford was appointed a M em ber o f the British Em pire by Q ueen Elizabeth and is a m em ber o f the World Figure Skating Hall o f Fame. Thursday decision for U-18 team C a n ad a's national week-long U-18 devel opm ent cam p and team selection co n c lu d e s Thursday in Calgary. Forty o f C anada's top young hockey players, in clu d in g O akviU e's Evan M cGrath, will find out if they are am ong the lucky 22 w ho will com pete for C anada in the U18 World Junior Cup in the Czech R epublic from A ugust 11-15. T hirty-five o f the 40 players in cam p, includ ing M cG rath, will be eli gible for 2004 N H L Entry Draft, with many expected to be high NHL draft picks next June. M cG rath, in his rook ie year, help ed the K itchener R angers to a M em orial Cup. T h ere w as a tim e w hen C in d y B ow er d id n 't understand w hy goalten d ers stru g g led w ith her skating drills. T hat quickly changed w hen her father, form er T oronto M aple Leafs netm inder Johnny Bower, suggested she lace on the pads and go for a skate. "T hat w as one o f the m ost fun m om ents with ray dad on the ice." says Cindy, w ho. along w ith partner Peggy Ward, has run a skating school out o f O akville for 15 years. Cindy is also a form er resident o f O ak v ille, alth o u g h now liv in g in G eorgetow n. "I tried to struggle w ith the pads and now I understand... crossovers, distance, how high you need to lift your hip, the technical things. It was one o f the best things my father ever m ade m e do, for sure." B ow er and W ard are both form er figure skaters and believe th eir tech n i cal k n o w led g e is u n p a ra lle le d by oth er schools. B ow er also feels grow ing up in a hockey en vironm ent has proved advantageous for h er as a skat ing coach. " My background has alw ays been in hockey, so I understand w hat a defencem an is supposed to do and w hat a w in g er is supposed to d o ." she says. "T h e defencem an w ill do the sam e type o f drills as every b o d y else, but there are different drills he needs to w ork on that a forw ard d o e s n 't and vice versa." O v er the years. B o w e r's clients have included N H L stars Je ff O 'N eill, R ick T occhet. A lexei Yashin. Sim on G agne and Joe T hornton. B ow er and W ard are currently in H alifax, N .S.. w orking w ith players from the Q u eb e c M a jo r Ju n io r H ockey L eague, but w ill return to O akville to hold classes beginning next w eek. (See Bower' page D2) · Harrison Smith Oakville Beaver Evan M cG rath Cindy Bower, along with Peggy W ard (left in bottom photo), have been running skating clin ics in Oakville for more than a decade, including this one earlier this sum m er at River Oaks. Canadian Tire's Athlete of the Week Canadian Tire |-- -- & - and Oakville-- A Winning Combination! DUNDAS & TR A FALG AR ROAO 4 0 0 D u n d a s S t. E a s t · 2 5 7 -T IR E STORE HOURS: Mon. -Fri. 8:00am-9:00pm · Sat. 8:00am-6:00pm Sun. 10:00am-6:00pm Nam e Tanya Th om son Tanya T hom son, who will go into Grade 11 at Oakville Trafalgar High School this September, won both the solo and pairs Canadian junior m arathon (12 km ) kayak cham pionship in Halifax. She lias qualified tor the W orld' s. 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