Ontario clubs score

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Ontario teams collectively had their most successful year yet at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships.

All four Ontario clubs ended up winning medals at the tournament, staged April 18 to 24 in Prince George, B.C.

This marked the third year for the tournament. The first two editions were held in Akwesasne.

For the third straight year the Ontario South girls' entry ended up winning the championship in its division. It defeated the Quebec team, Eastern Door and The North, 5-2 in the gold-medal contest.

The Ontario North girls' team downed Saskatchewan 9-7 in the bronze-medal game.

Meanwhile, both of Ontario's representatives advanced to the final in the boys' division.

Ontario North downed Ontario South 5-3 in the gold-medal match.

A total of seven girls' and eight boys' teams participated at the tournament.

Ontario South girls' coach Rhonda Mitchell was not surprised to see all of Ontario's reps return with some hardware from the nationals.

"I think a lot of our kids play higher levels of hockey," she said. "Most of our kids don't play on the reserves anymore. They're going into the cities and playing for teams at an AA or A level."

Mitchell added opponents didn't need much motivation to get up for games against her team.

"Everyone wants to take us down," she said.

The Ontario South girls' entry played eight games at this year's tourney. It lost just one round-robin match, 6-5 against Eastern Door and The North.

The Ontario South team was almost the same one that captured the 2003 national tournament. "We added four new players," Mitchell said.

She believes this year's version might have been the best yet, and she wasn't surprised to see her side have success in Prince George.

"I find the girls are beginning to work much better together. I think we knew we could get to the finals based on those we brought with us," she said.

The Ontario South girls' team won five out of its six round-robin affairs. Its victories including a pair of lopsided shutouts, 12-0 over British Columbia and 10-0 over the squad representing the Atlantic provinces.

Ontario South also recorded wins over Saskatchewan (7-2), Ontario North (5-2) and Alberta (8-2).

Ontario South advanced to the gold-medal match by beating Ontario North 7-0 in their semi-final outing.

As for the Ontario North girls' entry, it had advanced to the semi-finals by posting a round-robin mark of 3-1-2.

The Ontario North boys' team certainly won the games it needed to win most. The club started off rather slow and was winless after its three round-robin games, sporting a record of 0-2-1.

That start prompted a players' only meeting. Then general manager Richard Restoule had a chat with team members.

"The coaching staff had directed them to do certain things and they weren't following the coach's instructions," Restoule said.

Restoule said he was not pleased with how the Ontario North side played in round-robin action.

"We were the most penalized team after the first three games," he said. "We also had the most shots after three games but we had nothing to show for it. I had high expectations for the team and I told them they were letting it slip away."

Ontario North responded by defeating a team representing the Atlantic provinces 9-4 in their quarter-final game. Ontario North then edged Eastern Door and The North 4-3 in their semi-final match, setting up an all-Ontario boys' final.

The Ontario North boys' team had won the bronze medal at the inaugural tournament in 2002 and had placed fifth at last year's event.

Meanwhile, this marked the first time the Ontario South boys won a medal. They had placed fourth at the first two editions of the tournament.

Ontario South coach Darryl Hill liked the fact his side was not playing at home this time around.

"I think the guys were more relaxed out there," Hill said. "They were more focused on playing the game."

Hill said he felt his charges miht be bringing home some hardware after beating Manitoba, last year's silver medallists, 8-5 in their second round-robin game, boosting their record to 2-0-0.

"After that game we thought we'd be in medal contention," Hill said.

With some more disciplined play in the final, Ontario South might have also won the gold. It was leading 1-0 after the first period but then ran into some penalty problems in the second and surrendered four goals in that period.

"We were killing penalties for a large part of the second period," Hill said.