Hockey teams deliver strong showing

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Ontario squads once again captured some hardware at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships.

Just like they did a year ago at the inaugural Canadian tournament, which was also held in Akwesasne, Ontario teams ended up winning two medals.

This year's national event was staged April 27 through May 3. Six girls' teams and eight boys' squads took part.

The Ontario South girls' club successfully managed to defend its title. It defeated Eastern Door and the North (EDN being the acronym for the Quebec-based team) 6-3 in its gold-medal contest.

The Ontario South/EDN gold-medal battle was a repeat of last year's championship final, which Ontario South won 4-0.

The Ontario North girls' side also went home with a medal this time around. It defeated Manitoba 4-1 in the bronze-medal match.

As for the Ontario South and Ontario North boys' clubs, they placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

Early on during this year's nationals, it appeared that a new girls' champion would be crowned. That's because the Ontario South club was winless after its first three round-robin matches. The team had one loss and two ties to show for its efforts.

But Ontario South coach Rhonda Peters wasn't surprised to see her club celebrating once again at the conclusion of the tournament.

"It was our goal from day one," she said.

Peters explained her team's slow start could be attributed to the fact the club did not have any practices together before the tourney started. It only managed to squeeze in a practice after its third round-robin game. Ontario South didn't lose again after that practice.

"We just needed to fix some things," Peters said. "And the girls were nervous in their first few games as they didn't know their teammates."

Several team-bonding experiences, including a trip to a local bowling alley, brought the Ontario South players closer together as the tournament went along.

"I guess in the end we wanted it more," said Valen Timmons, an Ontario South centre who scored two goals and added two assists in the championship final.

Valen Timmons, who ended up with nine points (six goals, three assists) in seven games, was also chosen as the tournament's most valuable player.

Though his charges ended up with a bronze medal, Ontario North bench boss Steve Lindsay was upset his side didn't get to vie for the gold.

Ontario North dominated early on, convincingly winning its first five matches. But it was upset 6-4 by EDN in a semi-final game, thus relegating Ontario North to the battle for third place.

"I think it was just overconfidence because we had walked through our other games so easily," Lindsay said of his team's semi-final loss.

Ontario North's victories included a 7-1 thumping of EDN, the eventual silver medallists. Ontario North also beat the champion Ontario South club 4-1 in round-robin play.

In boys' action, the host Ontario South side was hoping to capture a medal, if not the gold.

Things looked promising early on in the tourney as the team won two out of its three round-robin matches. Ontario South then defeated New Brunswick 5-1 in their quarter-final match.

But the club's gold-medal aspirations were dashed as it was downed 4-2 by Manitoba in their semi-final outing. Ontario South was also doubled 6-3 by EDN in the bronze-medal match.

"I think everybody just stepped it up a bit," Ontario South coach Blair Martin said of his team's opponents. "We played well (in the semi-final and bronze-medal games) but we just failed to score on our opportunities."

The Ontario South team had also placed fourth at last year's inaugural tourney.

"Well, at least we didn't blow a lead this time," added Martin, who was an assistant coach with last year's team.

At the 2002 nationals, Ontario South had sizeable leads in both their semi-final and bronze-medal games against EDN and Ontario North, respectively. But the hosts ended up losing both of those contests.

The Ontario North boys' team, bronze medallists last year, couldn't dupicate their successes this season.

The club had a 2-1 round-robin mark but was then upset 5-4 in overtime by EDN in a quarter-final battle. Ontario North rebounded from that setback to defeat New Brunswick 6-4 in a game which decided fifth and sixth place.

Seven female players from Ontario were also honored by being named to the tournament all-star team. The all-star teams, both girls and boys, included 17 players each. All of the all-stars earned an invitation to a free Aboriginal high performance camp that will be staged in Ottawa from July 14 to 20.

Those chosen from the Ontario South girls' team were goaltender Kari Bonaparte, defender Gillian Pash-Smoke and forwards Danielle Grosbeck and Valen Timmons.

Ontario North's all-stars were defenders Lindsay Bennett and Larissa McWatch and forward Laura Lindsay.

The boys' all-star team included five Ontario South players. They were goaltender Taylor Smoke, defencemen Joel White and Jonathon Fisher, and forwards Ian Boots-Thomas and Eric Hill.