Ontario South on a mission from the start

Erin Seymour has won yet another national hockey title, but this time for her work as a coach.
Seymour was an assistant coach for the Ontario South entry that captured the gold medal at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships (NAHC). This year's NAHC was staged April 30 through May 6 at Kahnawake First Nation in Quebec.

Ontario South blanked the Ontario North squad 5-0 in the girls' championship final.

Saskatchewan defeated Ontario South 4-2 in the boys' gold-medal contest.

This marked the fifth year the national tournament has been staged.

Seymour was a player for the Ontario South girls' teams that won the first three tournaments. She was an assistant coach for the Ontario South side that won the silver medal at the 2005 NAHC staged in Miramichi, N.B.

The Quebec-based club dubbed Eastern Door and the North (EDN) won the national girls' title last year. Seymour said recapturing the Canadian crown was the main goal of Ontario South.
"That's what we set out to do," she said.

Seymour believes her team was in top shape for the tournament. The club played seven games in seven days and convincingly won each outing.

"Being in shape helped a lot," Seymour said. "We said right from the beginning that we didn't want to take it as a joke and we didn't want to take anybody lightly."

Ontario South began its tournament with an 8-0 triumph over Manitoba. The team also had a pair of round-robin victories against Alberta, by scores of 8-1 and 5-0. Ontario South also blanked British Columbia 3-0 in its other round-robin contest.

Ontario South was not seriously challenged in its playoff matches either. It thumped the Northwest Territories entry 11-1 in a quarter-final game. And then it advanced to the gold-medal match by beating Manitoba 6-1 in their semi-final.

Despite winning handily in the final, Ontario South only took control of the match in the final 20 minutes.

After scoring once in the first period, Ontario South took that 1-0 lead into the third period.

"They just put it together in the third," Seymour said of her club, which scored four unanswered goals in the final period. "But that's how we were pretty much in the whole tournament. We didn't turn it on in our games until the end."

The Ontario South team included six rookies.

"It was the most rookies we've ever had on the team," Seymour said. "They jumped right into the team and played well. The rookies in the past though have been kind of shy."

Seymour said Ontario South officials were not necessarily looking just for talent but also seeking some good team players when they chose their roster.

Seymour also believes some off-ice activities while at the nationals brought her charges together. Team members participated in various trust games and also competed in a scavenger hunt around the arena.

As for the Saskatchewan boys' entry, it too came close to winning all of its games at the NAHC.
The lone blemish on its record was a 4-4 round-robin tie against Alberta. Saskatchewan won all six of its other games though en route to its gold medal.

Both the Manitoba's clubs managed to return home with medals.

The Manitoba girls' team defeated EDN 4-1 in its bronze-medal match. And the Manitoba boys' squad posted a 9-6 victory over EDN in its bronze-medal battle.