HeartbeatThe Heartbeat of the Ottawa Sports Community SportsOttawa.com Vol. 4, #6 April 2015
The Nepean Ravens only placed 4th at their mid-March provincial fi-nals, but it turns out that provided the fire they needed en route to a perfect run and a national title in the Belle un-der-19 division at the March 29-April 4 Canadian Ringette Championships in Wood Buffalo, Alta.
âThe girls really came out strong from the first day, and were determ-ined to have a good showing here,â indicates Ravens coach Art Marcotte. âWe certainly werenât the favourite coming in, but we knew we were go-ing to be able to compete here. This was probably the tightest of competi-tion I have ever seen in a national tour-nament, so to have gone undefeated
was really something special.âNepean blanked Team Alberta
3-0 in the championship game, with Rianne Munro earning the shutout in goal. Earlier, the Ravens survived a 4-3 overtime semi-final against B.C. thanks to Cait Driscollâs OT winner and a regulation-time hat trick by Molly Lewis â part of the 2015 Canada Winter Games silver medallistâs tour-nament-high 41 points in nine games.
âI wouldnât have been able to get the points I did without the players around me,â signals Lewis, named a tournament all-star alongside team-mates Allie Marcotte, Amy Kolesnik and Natasha Hurtubise. âItâs just such a reward to have the gold after how hard we all worked this season.
âItâs just amazing. Words really
canât describe it.âAfter a near-perfect 19-0-1 season
playing in the Quebec Elite League and strong performances in tourna-ments, Nepeanâs pair of 6-5 defeats in the provincials medal round meant they wouldnât wear Team Ontario colours at nationals, but the group kept its sights on gold.
âWe grew a lot from that exper-ience,â Lewis underlines. âIt defin-itely motivated us to work harder here at nationals, and caused us to come in a lot hungrier.â
ICE 6TH, DEVILS 8TH IN NRL
The Ottawa Ice and Gloucester Devils were also part of the Cana-dian Championships in the National Ringette League category, placing
6th and 8th respectively with 3-4 and 1-6 records.
The Ice entered the event as de-fending champions, but were dealt a blow back in February when they found out starting goaltender Tori Goble wouldnât be able to particip-ate since sheâd been selected to begin training for her desired career in the Canadian Armed Forces.
âOur backups are still great goal-tenders, but they donât quite have the same experience as our starter,â notes Ice coach Al Bateman, whose top Ontario rivals from Cambridge won the crown. âBut regardless, we always strive to be the hardest team in the league to play against. The girls still went out there with that attitude, and I think they did themselves proud.â
By Mat LaBranche
photo provided
KRSG REACHES 40-YEAR MARK
P. 8
P. 12
2012 Ottawa Sports Awards female athlete of the year Courtnay Pilypaitis has decided to retire from basketball at age 27.
The Kanata Rhythmic Gymnastics Club hit 2 milestones, celebrating 40 years as a club and 25 years for its Kanata Cup event.
NON-STOP NAKKERTOK
P. 5The Nakkertok Nordic Ski Club earned its sixth consecutive national club title and will help host a local World Cup next year.
Ravens ringette
rally
After settling for silver with Team Ontario at the Canada Winter Games, Nepean captain Molly Lewis would not be denied a gold medal a second time this year, scoring a remarkable 41 points in her Ravensâ nine victories en route to the Canadian Belle U19 title.
Shut out of provincial medals, Nepean Ravens rebound with perfect run to gold at nationals
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Where the Dream Begins.
Local teams won medals in both the OFSAA provincial high school sports champi-onships hosted in town from March 9-12, with the Merivale Marauders earning bronze in the âAAâ boysâ basketball event and the Louis-Riel Rebelles taking antique-bronze for 4th place in âAAA/AAAAâ girlsâ hockey.
The Marauders ended their OFSAA run with a bang as Ali Sow hit a 3-point buzzer-beat-ing prayer from half court to complete his 28-point effort in Merivaleâs 72-69 bronze medal match victory.
The triumph provided a happy finish for Merivale after a difficult semi-final loss that knocked them out of champi-onship contention earlier the same day, but coach Sean Mc-Cann believes his team came away with lessons learned re-gardless of result.
âIt sounds stupid, but itâs not the winning or losing,â indicates McCann, who spoke to his team for an extended period of time after their lone defeat in five matches. âIf you lose and you do the things right youâve been working on, that feels a lot better afterwards.They might not realize it yet, but this is one more life exper-ience theyâll have.â
LOUIS-RIEL âBEST FRIENDSâ
Louis-Rielâs seniors just couldnât get enough of play-ing hockey with one another.
Seeded only 12th out of 20 teams, they played the max-imum number of games pos-sible â seven in four days â to close their careers with their fourth OFSAA hockey medal in as many years, including gold last year at the âA/AAâ Championships for schools with smaller populations.
The team was powered by Princeton-bound defender Kimiko Marinacci and Dart-mouth-bound forward Alyssa Baker, but also included a number of top provincial and national-level soccer players, who wanted to play Rebelles hockey despite heavy commit-ments to their main sport.
âIâve had a great four years playing with these girls,â
highlights Gloucester Hornets striker Kelsey Ellis. âI loved every single minute of it, and itâs provided me with a ton of memories.
âThereâs seven of us in Grade 12, and weâre all ex-tremely close. Most of us met when we were in Grade 9 and instantly became best friends.â
SACRED HEART BRONZE
Led by Ontario Bantam club champions Michael and Matthew Morra, the Sacred Heart Huskies boysâ curling team that also featured An-drew Morra and Sebastian Co-ort claimed the bronze medal at the March 9-12 OFSAA boysâ curling championships in Brighton.
Bball & hockey podiums at home OFSAAsBy Mat LaBranche
photo: dan plouffe
HIGH SCHOOLS
The Louis-Riel Rebelles took antique-bronze for
4th place at OFSAA.
UNIVERSITIESWay too good
photo provided
The Carleton Ravens demolished the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in their second consecutive Canadian Interuniversity Sport menâs basketball national championship game meeting on March 15 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto. Following 90-50 and 83-72 wins over Saskatchewan and Victoria, the Ravens pounded the Gee-Gees 93-46 in the final, with graduating star Philip Scrubb recording a game-high 28 points for Carletonâs 11th title in 13 years and fifth in a row.
There is a big buzz in Ottawaâs thriving ultimate community as the Ottawa Outlaws get set to bring pro ultimate to the capital for their April 25 home debut in the American Ul-timate Disc League at Carleton Uni-versityâs Keith Harris Stadium.
âWhen we announced the team back in August of last year and made a Facebook page, it got more than 1,000 likes in less than 10 hours,â notes Outlaws operations vice pres-ident Christiane Marceau. âAll of the comments were saying how itâs about time, and how everyone was looking forward to the season. So that was really eye-opening.â
The Outlaws are certain to also provide a shock to the system for any outsiders who havenât seen the sport played at a competitive level in recent years. Long gone is the image of hippies tossing around a frisbee and opponents singing to one another after games.
The existence the four-year-old AUDL is proof of that evolution. Self-officiated games are now toast in favour of referees in stripes with whistles. The circuitâs recent nine-team expansion that included the Outlaws brings the total to 25 fran-chises, split into four divisions.
Ottawa will play 14 regular sea-son games on weekends from April 18 (beginning on the road against D.C. Breeze) until July 19 against east division opponents from Phil-adelphia, Rochester, New York, D.C., Montreal and Toronto â the op-ponents for the 5 p.m. home opener.
Players receive a small amount of pay and have their expenses â from field rental to physiother-apy â covered by the team, which makes its money from partnerships, merchandise and ticket sales (a seven-game season ticket package starts at $64.99).
It was a âno-brainerâ for owners Levy Champagne, Patrick Bazinet and Karl Loiseau (also one of the
teamâs three captains) to setup a team in Ottawa, says Marceau, es-pecially after seeing the success of fellow Canadian clubs in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
âLast year, the three Canadian teams combined made up for 60% of the leagueâs attendance, so Canada is a success story, and itâs obvious we need more teams here,â indic-ates the former executive director for Ottawa-Carleton Ultimate Asso-ciation, one of the teamâs partners.
The sportâs strong tradition in Ottawa also made it a natural market, Marceau adds. OCUAâs membership numbers have reached as high as 5,000 and the Phoenix open team â 13th-place finishers at last yearâs club world championships in Italy â was ready to provide the core talent that now makes up the Outlaws.
âIâve played in Ottawa for a few years now, starting in high school and then at the university level at Carleton, so it feels like more of a transition to another competitive team, rather than playing in an in-augural season,â signals Mathew Berg, a 4th-place finisher with Canada at the March 8-13 Beach Ultimate World Championships in Dubai. âWe already have a few guys who have played in the AUDL be-fore, so itâs great to have that know-ledge and experience to hopefully guide us in the right direction.â
Nick Boucher is another Out-law with a fair bit of international
experience, having twice represen-ted Canada at both the under-19 and U23 levels, although his sports path began in hockey and basketball.
âI think they translate very well with ultimate, especially basketball, because thereâs so much pivoting, jumping and catching involved,â highlights Boucher, who was re-cently selected to represent Canada in the open division at the July 12-18 U23 worlds in London, UK along with fellow Ottawa natives Kristina Cowan and Sarah Innes (womenâs team) and Hannah Dawson, Jeremy Hill and Kinley Gee (mixed).
âHockey has helped me a lot with lower core strength, which I definitely notice benefiting me out here now,â Boucher adds. âI think a lot of sports where conditioning is the main factor can easily translate onto the frisbee field.
âThe good thing about ultimate is the only things you really need to know to excel is how to run, catch and play defence.â
Boucher says he and his team-mates, who have held late-night practices out of the Louis-Riel Dome lately, are very excited to de-but as the inaugural generation of Ottawa Outlaws.
âWeâre going to be the ones known as being a part of the very first professional team here in Ottawa,â he underlines. âThat is something to be proud of, and something I will re-member for the rest of my life.â
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Ottawa Outlaws bring pro ultimate to townBy Mat LaBranche
ELITE
photo: mat labranche
OSU Force Academy ZoneOSU alumni spotlight: Jon Viscosiâs wild ride in English pro ranks
Itâs been a turbulent journey most of the way for OSU alum Jon Viscosi since he
began his quest to become a professional soccer player in England a season-and-a-half ago, but the 24-year-old Chester FC goalkeeper is nonetheless loving every mo-ment of the ride.
âYour whole life is dedicated to football,â indicates Viscosi, who treasures being a part of the English football culture. âThereâs noth-ing like it.â
Viscosiâs path to the pros included his teenage years at OSU, which provided an excellent launching pad towards higher levels, underlines the past Ontario Cup semi-finalist who was part of the early gener-ation of local teams that began to hold their own against Toronto-area rivals.
Attending Disney and many other show-case tournaments with OSU got him in front of university scouts and led to a four-year NCAA career with the SUNY University at Buffalo Bulls.
OSU General Manager Jim Lianos later linked up the former Bulls captain with his first Professional Development League club in Albany, and OSU helped sponsor him for his trip to the 2013 FISU World University Games in Russia, his last stop before setting up shop in England.
Grateful for the clubâs support along the way, Viscosi recalls with a certain fondness the brutal fitness sessions OSU Coach Rus-sell Shaw would put his team through.
âThere was no one who was ever com-plaining about it. Weâd always be competing with each other. We loved it,â recounts Vis-cosi, who always finishes in the top-2 dur-ing fitness tests with the English clubs heâs joined. âAny club I went to, they said what they liked most about me was my work ethic and my attitude.
âI think thatâs just ingrained in our culture.â
âKEEPING FAITHâ ON ROUGH ROADItâs most definitely been an up-and-down
experience in England for Viscosi, who started his climb to the full-time pro ranks in less-than-professional conditions with clubs
that played in the eighth tier of English foot-ball.
Viscosi wound up training and playing with a number of clubs at different levels â reach-ing a double-digit total in just over a season â including League 2, League 1 and Champi-onship (English second tier) sides.
He impressed enough people along the way that Scottish Premier League club St. Mirren offered him a contract, but then the Scottish FA denied the registration due to a rule that forbids players from signing if theyâd previously been the property of multiple Eng-lish clubs in the same season.
Viscosi was dealt a further blow when he dislocated his shoulder, sending him back to Ottawa with no contract and three months of rehab. Once healthy come January this year, Viscosi got a call from Chester offering him a trial, and after just a few sessions was signed by the Conference Premier (fifth-tier) club.
âIt took a lot longer than I thought it would, but the journey to get to where I am has been unbelievable,â reflects the All Saints Catholic High School grad. âYou definitely have a lot of road bumps. Keeping the faith and believ-ing itâs going to happen is so crucial.â
From arriving late and getting bloodied in his first starts with new clubs, to the thrill of playing soccer on Saturdays in England, read a more detailed account of Jon Vis-cosiâs life as a pro at osu.ca.
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ALIVE TO STRIVE 2015
photo: mat labranche
73 teams took part in the SHI Tournament.The Capital City Condors
hosted the largest Special Hockey International Tour-nament to date with 73 teams as special needs hockey play-ers lit up west-end areas with slapshots, slides and smiles from March 18-21.
Teams from Canada, the U.S. and even England atten-ded the event, held in Ottawa for the first time by the dedic-ated Condors organization that is home to players age 6 and up who are unable to play in traditional hockey leagues due to developmental disabilities.
âAfter attending previous (SHI) tournaments and see-ing how important it was to the kids, we felt that the host cities were giving us a gift,â recounts tournament organizer and Condors president Jim Perkins. âWe felt it was our turn to give that gift, so we put in the bid three years ago, and thankfully we were awarded the tournament.
âThere just seemed to be a certain level of excitement for this one.â
Each team played four games at the annual tour-nament that serves as âthe athletesâ own version of the Olympics,â with opening and closing ceremonies on top of the games where scores arenât
tracked.âI think thereâs a purity of
the sport, and sportsmanship, that starts to come out when these kids get together and play,â Perkins highlights. âThe interactions that happen on the ice are amazing; you can even see friendships forming on a single line shift. But at the same time they dream like everyone else, and want to im-prove like everyone else, so theyâre willing to work hard. But the social component of it is probably the largest factor.â
CONDORS CHANGING LIVESAfter growing up with a
father who was a tremendous athlete before succumbing to paralysis due to polio, Perkins recalls wishing sports could be modified to accommodate athletes with disabilities who couldnât play in traditional leagues.
This planted a seed, which
would later grow further when he worked with kids with special needs in college, and then witnessed a special needs hockey program operating in Cambridge, Ont.
After a lengthy conversa-tion with one of the athletes, the playerâs mother broke down in tears, later explaining to Perkins that before her son became involved with the pro-gram, he wouldnât talk to any-one or even make eye contact with them.
âShe went on to say how much his life has changed and how much their lives as a fam-ily had changed just because he belonged to something,â Perkins recalls. âThereâs a hockey story here, but thereâs something well beneath that. So we came back to Ottawa and decided we need to find a program for kids in Ottawa.â
Along with his wife Shana, Perkins led the efforts to cre-ate the Capital City Condors, beginning with one group and blossoming to over 100 players.
âThis is probably the most rewarding thing weâve ever been involved in,â signals Per-kins. âWe get the benefit every week of getting on the ice with some of the most incredible people in Ottawa, and inter-acting with their parents, who are some of the most heroic people I have ever met.â
By Mat LaBrancheCapital hosts worldâs largest special needs hockey tourney
Featuring four past Ottawa Titans players in its lineup, the Canadian menâs water polo team blasted off to a superb start at the March 30-April 4 FINA World League Intercon-tinental Tournament in Cali-fornia, but their run came to an abrupt end in the quarter-final round.
Driver Dusan Aleksic and hole set David Lapins of Gatineau, along with Ottawa wings Alex Taschereau and John Conway, occupied four of 14 national team positions at the event.
The Toronto 2015 hosts opened the event a pair of victories over their future Pan Am Games rivals for Olympic qualification.
Taking on the host Amer-icans shortly after their own opening ceremonies, the Cana-dians won their debut 10-9 and then blasted Argentina 15-6
on a three-goal performance from Conway with Taschereau adding another.
Taschereau, Conway and Lapins combined for 12 more tallies as they doubled up on Japan 20-10 to earn an unblem-ished record in pool play.
âIt can be initially diffi-cult to find our pace when we gather again as the national team, especially for guys who play (professionally) in Europe,â Lapins noted in a Water Polo Canada media re-lease. âObviously starting with the win against the USA eased that pressure somewhat and we were able to build on that mo-mentum.â
The round robin wound up being the highlight how-ever, as Canada couldnât over-come an early 6-1 deficit in the quarter-final round, losing an 11-10 squeaker to China, which kept them from qualify-ing for the World League finals later this season.
âIt was a crucial game,â La-pins added. âBoth teams knew each other well because we had trained together last year. The Chinese donât go down easy.â
Canada concluded the tour-nament with a loss to Japan and win over Argentina in the consolation round to finish the event in 7th.
The Capital Wave senior womenâs team experienced a similar fate in the quarter-final round at the March 27-29 Na-tional Championship League finals, dropping a 10-8 contest to Toronto.
The Wave won 11-10 and then lost 8-6 in matches against Saskatchewan to finish 6th.
4 water polo locals progress on TO2015 pathBy Alex Quevillon
file photo
ELITE / COMMUNITY CLUBS
John Conway.
Jamie Lee Rattray (above) and GeneviĂšve Lacasse had to make due with a silver medal following a 7-5 de-feat to USA in the final of the March 28-April 4 IIHF Womenâs World Ice Hockey Championships in Sweden.
Kingstonâs Amanda Leveille, who played her junior hockey for the Ottawa Lady Sens, backstopped the University of Minnesota to the NCAA womenâs hockey championship, stopping 19 of 20 shots in her teamâs 4-1 victory over Harvard in the March 22 final.
The third-year Gopher posted a 1.16 goals-against-average and .946 save percentage in 31 games this season.
Check SportsOttawa.com for a more detailed story.
file photo
Local pair win IIHF silver Clean sweep for ONDC divers
The Ottawa National Diving Clubâs dynamic Group D duo was is fine form once again at Dive Ontarioâs March 20-22 Spring Provincials in Thunder Bay.
At last summerâs provincials, Timothy Lewis (left) and Kathryn Grant both earned their 11 & under age categoryâs outstanding diver awards.
In Thunder Bay, they provided another clean sweep, winning each of the boysâ and girlsâ 1-metre, 3 m and platform events. Their performances qualified them (and their coach, Brennan Villemaire) to represent Ontario at an international competition in Cuba, as well as easily satisfying the qualification criteria for Julyâs Junior National Championships.
Henry McKay of the Nepean-Ottawa Diving Club hit the podium in all of his events at Spring Provincials, winning gold in the Group B (age 14-15) 1 m and plat-form and silver on platform, and also placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd in Open tower, 1 m and 3 m respectively.
ONDCâs Emma Corrigan and NODCâs Brielle John-ston were also medallists at provincials.
file photo
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Spring and Summer registration is now on for all our programs. Enroll NOW and donât miss your opportun-ity to become a triathlete! Bytown Storm is Ottawaâs only triathlon club with programs for all ages and skill levels. Register for our Spring/Summer programs and get ready for:
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Triathlon is comprised of three very different sports and as such our program is designed to work within the frame work of swimming, cycling and athletics while at the same time recognizing that we need to allow for a longer term development. The Storm Troopers program encourages athletes to achieve specific âskillâ outcomes before moving on and aligning events we target with those skill sets.
Program runs from March/April to SeptemberVisit www.bytowntriathlon.com for more information.
STORM DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM > AGE 12-15The Bytown Storm Development Program prepares
youth triathletes for the competitive stream in triathlon. Draft legal racing is the style of racing that includes World Cups, World Championships and major games competition like the Pan-Am and Olympic Games.
The Development program is designed to introduce young multi-sport athletes to the processes and skills for success in sport and life. Improvements in sports like triathlon is largely based not only on sport specific skills but also many external skills sets that contribute to overall success. As part of The Bytown Storm De-velopment Team, athletes are coached and supported in developing:
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âą time management skillsâą tracking and reporting skillsâą human physiology skillsâą mental skills (distraction control, focus)Unlike many team sports, success in endurance
sports requires the athlete to develop sport specific skills in three sports, dedication to improving skill sets requires more training than playing, triathletes can spend over 100 hours of training for every hour of ra-cing (or more). This dedication and commitment is more likely to compliment other areas of their life such as school and work.
Program runs from March/April to SeptemberVisit www.bytowntriathlon.com for more information.
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High Performance programs are not pieced together with different coaches and clubs, but are an integrated unit of professionals who share an ethos of winning and a philosophy of long term success in the sport.
Our High Performance program is simply one of the best. The program is led by Professional Coaches â in-cluding Provincial Development Coach and 2010 Triath-lon Canada Elite Coach of the Year Greg Kealey â and an Integrated Support Team (IST) that is accessible to our high performance athletes 7 days a week.
Our IST Team includes:âą Sport Medical Doctor - Dr. Renata Frankovich, Sport Med Ottawaâą Physiotherapists - Alan Hicks, Francine Eastwood and Matt Mckinnell - Evolution Physio Therapyâą Nutritionist - Sheila Kealeyâą Massage Therapist - Adam Smartâą Bike Fit & Bike Mechanics - BUSHTUKAH Outdoor Gear
We are the most successful High Performance pro-gram in Eastern Ontario with the support and services available to our athletes that is on par with Nationally funded programs. If you want to compete in Draft Legal triathlons, you need to be in our program.
(Please note for registration in this program, you must contact Storm Coach Greg Kealey at 613-323-5255.)Visit www.bytowntriathlon.com for more information.
BYTOWNTRIATHLON.COM
Just as no snowflake ever looks the same, no national club championship ever feels the same for Nakkertok Nordic â not even after six in a row.
âIt got a little tense there when the athletes realized that we were leading by only 56 points going into the final race,â recounts coach Kieran Jones, whose Nakkertok bunch had become accustomed to a lar-ger margin of victory in recent years but wound up prevailing with 2,531 ahead of Skibecâs 2,387. âIt is great to win the banner. The athletes had that as a goal, and the coaches and waxers and other volunteers tried to support this goal.â
Out of the 46 Nakkertok competitors, the performance of the clubâs junior girls sticks out in particular for Jones.
âI canât say enough about the commitment of our junior girls,â underlines Jones, noting that Nakkertok had the greatest number of representatives, with eight, in the 17- and 18-year-old girlsâ category â the age group where all sports tend to get hit by drop-outs.
âIt is tough to watch,â adds Jones, tipping his hat to the dedicated volunteers and depth of coaching responsible for the clubâs continued success. âAt Nakkertok, we have been able to keep them engaged. And their results were pivotal to our success with the club banner.â
Team sprint silver medal-lists Alison Pouw (3rd overall out of 1998-born girls) and Zoe Williams (4th out of 1997s, and 10 km skate gold and classic sprint silver medal winner) led the way for the junior girls.
Katherine Stewart-Jones (3rd 1995 women) was the other Nakkertok skier to hit
the overall podium in junior competition, while Julian Alex-ander-Cook, Aidan Kirkham, Nelson Allan, Avery Vreugden-hil-Beaucler, Katherine Denis, Pierre GrallâJohnson and Tove Halvorsen were the clubâs top performers in other age-group categories.
Perianne Jones got to raise her arms one final time as a national champion, earning the senior womenâs crown on the strength of her victory in the classic sprint and 2nd-place finishes in the 5 km free and 10 km classic events. The 30-year-old Olympian recently announced her retirement from competitive skiing after a career highlighted by two Olympic appearances and two World Cup medals.
WORLD CUP COMING TO TOWN
While a half-dozen consec-utive national crowns is quite the performance, Nakkertok will endeavour to put on an even bigger show next sea-son featuring the worldâs best cross-country skiers.
The club will be a driving force behind a FIS World Cup event set for March 1, 2016 â the opening race of an 8-stage Canadian tour that will then head to Montreal, Quebec City and Alberta.
With no World Champion-ships or Olympics on the slate for 2016, the local competition will figure prominently in the quest for the seasonâs biggest prize: the Crystal Globes that go to the overall World Cup champions (to be awarded after the March 12 conclusion of the Canadian events).
Dirk van Wjik, who pre-viously groomed the 2010 Olympic course in Whistler, has been charged with the role of course preparation chief.
The man who envisioned and brought to life the Nak-kertok South race facilities in Cantley is dreaming big again, set to create a World Cup course at Jacques Cartier Park with Parliament Hill as a back-drop.
Bringing the concept of recycling to a new level, the 30,000 cubic metres of man-made snow from the Snowflake Kingdom will be used to create an 800 m long sprint course once Winterlude is complete.
A test run took place one year out. Once the snow park had been cleared of Winterlude signs and kiosks, bulldozers took the tops off of slides, some of them 56 m tall. Thirty hours of grooming using Camp Fortuneâs Piston Bully 400 and Nakkertokâs Piston Bully 100 followed.
It was a complicated and labour-intensive 7-day effort that will require 2-3 times as much work next year for the big show, van Wijk estimates.
âThis year I did the bare minimum to put in the course,â he says. âNext year, it will also include cosmetic details.â
Two tunnels will be part of the operation then â one for the racers and officials to access the back of the starts, and one for use by spectators.
World Cup events always have fencing lining the course, so 1.6 km of fencing will have to be erected along both sides, and a warm-up loop for the athletes will be created in front of the nearby Museum of His-tory. The marina parking lot be taken over by athlete and wax-ing services.
âTelevision production is going to be present including those huge (video screens),â van Wijk adds. âEverythingâs got to be perfect.â
Nakkertok national title streak hits 6
By Anne Dugganphoto: bernard pigeon
COMMUNITY CLUBS
With a course made from leftover Winterlude snow, Jacques Cartier Park will host a FIS World Cup cross-coun-try ski race next year.
6 COMMUNITY CLUBS
Young players from the Nepean Hotspurs Soccer Club took centrestage for the kickoff to the FIFA Womenâs World Cup trophy tour, which launched its cross-Canada voyage at Ot-tawa City Hall.
The full under-14 Ontario Player Develop-ment League girlsâ team lineup as well as three other Nepean club members were invited to come smile for the cameras at the April 1 event â an easy task that required no fake grins at all.
âIt was overwhelming. The girls were just smiling ear to ear. Not too many words were coming out of them â which is a rare occur-rence,â laughs Hotspurs coach Adam Knight. âFor a young female athlete, you canât think of anything better for them in terms of inspiration and motivation.â
Team Canada coach John Herdman pumped up the crowd â and the Nepean girls â with a tingling speech to set the stage for the tour and the June 6-July 5 World Cup.
âTheyâre all sitting in there with that dream that one they might actually get to play for coach Herdman or touch that trophy on their own,â Knight adds. âIt was just fantastic.â
FURY GRAD JULIEN TO PLAY AT WORLD CUP?
Ottawa Fury youth academy grad Christina Julien of Cornwall was back in Canadian col-ours for the womenâs national teamâs final tour-nament before the big show from March 4-11
in Cyprus.Julien saw limited field action, playing
the final five minutes of Canadaâs opening 2-0 win over Scotland and the last 12 minutes of Canadaâs third pool game â a 1-0 victory over Italy that booked a place in the Cyprus Cup final won by England 1-0.
After playing a starring role alongside Christine Sinclair in Canadaâs last Olympic qualifying run, the 26-year-old striker was made an alternate for the London 2012 Games and has seen minimal action since those early days un-der Herdmanâs direction.
Canadaâs World Cup roster will be unveiled April 27 in Vancouver.
REX PROGRAM SHUTTERED
While the spotlight shone on the top level of the sport, womenâs soccer in Ontario took an-other blow the next level down.
On the heels of the four Ontario-based W-League (North American Tier 2) clubs fold-ing before the 2015 campaign â including the 2013-champion Ottawa Fury â the Ontario Soccer Association cancelled its main program designed to move players into the Canadian wo-menâs national team program.
The OSA issued a very brief statement in mid-March announcing that Regional Exceler-ation (REX) Training Centre operations were being suspended for 2015.
âPlayers can train and compete in age ap-propriate environments such as the OPDL, League1, OYSL and OWSL,â the post said. âThey will continue to be scouted and their pro-gress monitored.â
Louis-Riel high school senior Adrienne Li, a past youth national team program member, was in Toronto on March 8 â like every other weekend â when she got the news at the end of her session that REX would shut down due to finances.
âIt was really weird,â recounts the Univer-sity of Central Florida-bound player who trains under Sanjeev Parmar, but had no other present team outside of REX group. âI donât know (whatâs next). Iâm going to have to find some-thing else to do.â
Ottawa South United head coach Paul Har-ris received the news from his players â four of whom involved with REX program.
âItâs frustrating for our players,â he indic-ates. âI hoped it was going to be the future and would move the game forward. Letâs hope that they find a solution soon so that it doesnât set these girls back too much.â
Although the travel commitments to Toronto on most weekends was always daunting for the out-of-towners, Harris notes, and strong devel-opment programs and coaching are available locally, the quality of players assembled canât be substituted.
âThe environment was the best challenging the best when they were there,â he explains. âYouâve got 20 girls who are hungry and want to play at the national level. Within the groups here, you havenât got that depth of talent.â
SEATTLE W-LEAGUE SCOURS OTTAWA
OSUâs 1998-born girls offered up the oppos-ition for a group of largely local players audi-tioning for the Seattle Sounders W-League team at a combine OSU helped to organize at the RA Centre Dome.
Seattle may seem like an unlikely franchise to be scouting in these woods, but the clubâs leadership has two strong connections to the capital â former Ottawa Wizards (Canadian Soccer League) coach Hubert Busby Jr. (the Soundersâ head coach/general manager) and Seattle director of scouting/technical consultant Dom Oliveri, the former long-time coach of the Fury W-League team.
âIt was a good weekend,â signals Oliveri, who chose the Sounders job over several other opportunities because it allows him to stay with his family in Ottawa the bulk of the time. âI think Ottawa players showed a good account of the talent thatâs here in the city. Iâm sure weâll look at a couple to move on to main camp in Seattle in May and hopefully someone from Ot-tawa will make the Sounders.â
Several past Fury players have already signed on to play for the Sounders, while Car-leton Ravens midfielder Veronica Mazzella, a Fury player the last two summers, was one of 20 from as far as Boston looking to pursue a path to Seattle.
âIt was really unfortunate (that Ottawa fol-ded). We had no idea this was going to happen,â recounts Mazzella, who got a call from Oliveri the moment the combine was confirmed. âHeâs really good like that. He has your back.â
FURY FC GAMES FREE FOR 14 & UNDER
Ottawa Fury FC unveiled its Fury Fanatics program in March that will allow all of the re-gionâs registered soccer players age 14 and un-der to attend the pro teamâs games at TD Place for free.
A half-dozen local clubs had committed to taking part in the program prior to the official launch at the North American Soccer League franchiseâs fan fest, and the number has now ballooned to over 20.
âItâs snowballing. Itâs been a great success,â says Fury president John Pugh. âNow itâs a chal-lenge to get our lanyards out to the kids.â
Each participating club will distribute lan-yards to its young players with passes that will allow them to obtain free tickets to a given match online (where they can also buy another ticket or two for their parents or coaches, the Fury note). In all, over 20,000 of the regionâs players are expected to receive access to games throughout the teamâs 16-game home schedule.
Soccer snippets: FIFA trophy tour, REX shutdown, local Seattle W-League combine, Fury FC youth ticket promo & new West Ottawa GM all part of busy local soccer pre-season
By Dan Plouffe
photo: steve kingsman
Nepean Hotspurs players Angela Van Veldhuizen (left) and Sarah Said.
SOCCER continues on p.9
Hubert Busby Jr. & Dom Oliveri of the Seattle Sounders.
photo: dan plouffe
Growing up, Jody Mitic played soccer, baseball and volleyball, raced in track-and-field, on BMX bicycles and later motorbikes. As an adult, he got swept into adventure racing and the eco-challenge craze. When he joined the mil-itary, he was exposed to com-bat training, shooting, a bit of boxing and of course, running.
His kids are involved in soccer, gymnastics, swimming and dance, and heâs a fan of countless other sports. But the City of Ottawaâs first sports commissioner maybe gained his greatest appreciation for sport after being injured in a land mine explosion
âOnce I was wounded, sports became part of my re-covery,â recounts Mitic, who lost both his legs below the knee while serving in Afgh-anistan.
Mitic was introduced to sledge hockey, and since it was such a fixture in military training, he became driven to learn to run again on pros-thetic blades, completing his first half-marathon at the 2009 Canada Army Run.
Since being elected as a
City Councillor this past fall, itâs been harder for the Innes Ward representative to find as much time as heâd like to play-ing sports himself.
âI still try to participate as much as I can and stay active,â says the man who keeps a set of weights next to his desk at City Hall.
Bodybuilding is the pas-sion thatâs stuck with him throughout life.
âIâm 38 now, so crash-
ing and bashing as much as I used to (would be difficult),â indicates Mitic, who found he was always getting injured â from ankles to shoulders and everything in between â be-fore the explosion forced him to drop many of his rougher activities.
âGetting blown up I think added 10 or 20 years to my body,â cracks the down-to-earth rookie councillor who contrasts the typical image of a politician.
CITY FOCUS ON SPORTS
Mitic was selected to lead the newly-created office of the sports commissioner, which heâd talked about with Mayor Jim Watson several times while on the campaign trails.
âWhen I first heard about it, I thought it was a great idea for Ottawa,â Mitic recalls. âIt only makes sense that a city of a million people should have someone in that position.â
So what exactly is the sports commissionerâs job?
âFrankly, itâs whatever we want it to be,â Mitic says, noting that the newly-created position could serve many different functions. âI want it to be successful so that when Iâm not sports commissioner, the next councillor that takes the job is stepping into an hon-oured and respected role.â
Itâs not that the sports com-missioner has no defined du-ties, however.
âThe core mandate of the sports commissioner, when you get down to it, is to attract sports tourism,â Mitic adds, and having an office with an elected official devoted to the
file shows sports event de-cision-makers âthat the City is that much more serious.â
The sports commissioner could also connect a sports organization interested in host-ing a major event with the ap-propriate city staff, or those in charge of venues like the Ott-awa Senators or Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group. He could present groupsâ wishes to council, and seek funding where appropriate.
âMaybe thereâs a venue the City could put a few bucks into and make it world compet-ition-ready,â highlights Mitic, using the World Canoe-Kayak Championships as an example. âWeâre at the level now where we could host the nationals, but to host the worlds, weâd need a few other pieces of infrastruc-ture on the river. (...) Then we become a destination for the sport from around the world.â
Sports facilities could be-come a key area of focus for the commissioner, notes Mitic, who expects to receive a report of their state in Ottawa soon.
âWeâre not the worst, but
weâre definitely not the best â yet. Weâre working on it,â he signals. âIt is the will of coun-cil, I think, to become a destin-ation for sport.â
Mitic also mentions that the City would like to develop a space similar to Arts Court â except for sport â by 2018.
âItâd be a place where we could have a little bit of infra-structure to give â whether itâs the Sport Council or just any sport group that wants a place to gather and make connections and network,â he describes. âWeâre hoping to set some-thing up where we can really facilitate the growth of sports.â
The tourism/economic be-
nefits is the Cityâs key driver in seeking to attract major sports events, but the benefits go beyond that, Mitic indicates, noting that âkids learn through action and imitationâ and an initial spark from an event can lead to a lifetime of involve-ment in sport.
COMMISHâS DOOR OPEN
Mitic has become ac-quainted with a number of key players in the local sports community already, and wants to send the message that heâs looking forward to meeting many more.
7COMMUNITY CLUBSCity sports commissioner Jody Mitic revels in new role
By Dan Plouffe
photo: dan plouffe
City of Ottawa sports commissioner Jody Mitic keeps a set of weights handy in his office.
Craig Dalrymple Technical Director, Residency
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Vancouver Whitecaps Combine
Friday April 10th
Saturday April 11th
Sunday April 12th
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6:30am-8:30pm - TBD
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1pm-6pm - RA Dome
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Sessions at:
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Registration fee: $50 CAN
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Presented by OSU Force Academy
Come and be part of the Vancouver Whitecaps
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COMMISH continues p.10
Jody Mitic com-pleted his first half-maraton on running blades at the 2009 Canada Army Run.
file photo
After months of deliberating and consulting friends and family, Ottawaâs Courtnay Pilypaitis made the most difficult decision of her life â to retire from the sport that runs through her blood.
The 27-year-old is closing the door on her basketball playing career, leaving behind a re-sumĂ© that qualifies for her the title of Ottawaâs most successful basketball player internationally.
It was time to walk away, Pilypaitis notes, after battling through the effects of several con-cussions the last few years.
âI needed to do it and it was the right time to do it,â she explains. âThe past two summers I have just had some unlucky breaks and it was tough getting back into the groove. This was a health decision and I debated it for a very long time. Life throws you some curves and sends you signs that itâs time, so I knew then, it was time.â
Under the influence of her brother and the guidance of her father â who coached her from the second grade until high school â Pilypaitis began playing basketball for the social and competitive nature of the sport, and quickly set high goals as her skills and passion for the game elevated.
The back-to-back OFSAA medallist became a star guard at St. Peter Catholic High School and garnered the attention of several colleges and universities.
Pilypaitis chose a âperfect fitâ at the Univer-
sity of Vermont, becoming the first NCAA player to record over 1,900 points, 800 rebounds and 600 assists, and leading her school to back-to-back conference titles and its first ever win in the NCAA Tournament.
âI remember I was told I wasnât good enough and that I wouldnât make it,â recalls the 6â 1â sniper, chuckling at the thought. âI always had faith in what I can do, and it has been a nice feel-ing to really prove those people wrong.â
Pilypaitis represented her country numerous times on the international stage, most notably earning team MVP honours as she led Canada to its first Olympic basketball appearance since 2000, scoring a game-high 21 points in a win over Japan to secure the final ticket to London 2012 at the last-chance qualification tournament.
She helped Canada to a quarter-final appear-ance at the Games and was later recognized as the cityâs female athlete of the year by the Ott-awa Sports Awards. She again played for Canada in 2013 and 2014, including a limited role in Canadaâs fifth-place finish at the 2014 World Championships, having suffered a concussion in the lead-up to worlds.
Representing Canada at any level is an hon-our, underlines Pilypaitis, and wearing the maple leaf at the Olympics represented the culmination of years of hard work.
âI brag about Canada all the time,â she says proudly. âTo get a chance to play at the highest
level, it is truly special. As kids, you only dream about playing for your country on any stage, and I can say I am one of those kids who got that chance. And I am truly blessed to say that I got that chance.â
While Pilypaitisâ playing career has taken her all over the world, including a two-year stint playing professionally in Lithuania, it was her early years in Ottawa under the tutelage of her father and high school coach Mario Gaetano that developed her into the person she is off the court, and the player she became on the court.
âWith my dad, he coached me for so many years and it was something we could do to-
gether,â indicates the former Gloucester Wolver-ines club player. âAnd without Coach Gaetano, I really donât know where I would be. He helped me and guided me, and I couldnât be more thank-ful for that.â
COACHING AT ALMA MATER UVM
Pilypaitis has now become a coach herself, currently serving as an assistant with her former team at UVM in Burlington.
âItâs a nice way to give back to a program that really helped me,â signals the Catamountsâ career leader in assists, 3-pointers and games played. âI just want to help the young players develop and hopefully have an impact on their lives the way the coaches in my life helped me.â
While it was difficult to retire in advance of a season that includes the Pan Am Games in Toronto and the FIBA Americas Olympic quali-fier in Edmonton, Pilypaitis says she closes her playing career without any regrets.
âWhile it was a tough thing to do, Iâm do-ing it on my own terms and Iâm doing it because I have accomplished everything I have wanted to do as a basketball player,â she highlights. âI look back at everything and I am truly proud of everything I have done.
âI have played in NCAA Tournaments, I have played at the Olympics and I have played professionally in Europe. Honestly, what more could I ask for?â
8 ELITE
In his last opportunity of the sea-son, Cumberlandâs Vincent De Haitre joined in on the party podium fellow Gloucester Concordes mates Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann started in a breakthrough season for all three Ottawa speed skaters.
De Haitre captured bronze in the 1,000 metres at the March 21-22 ISU World Cup Final in Germany â his first career senior international medal.
âI really wasnât expecting much,â recalls De Haitre. âBut I hoped for the best and just tried to do everything Iâve been working on all year, and I managed to make it work when it counted the most.â
It was a season of highs and lows for the 20-year-old, beginning with a peak when he bested Olympic silver medallist Denny Morrison at the fall World Cup trials.
âLooking back, other than the World Cup medal, this was my proudest moment (of the year), be-cause I could officially call myself the Canadian champion in the 1,000m,â reflects De Haitre, who also holds the title of Canadian track cycling 1,000 m champion.
The Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games hopeful continued his blazing ways on the ice with a 4th-place finish at the first World Cup in Japan, but then dipped to 19th, 15th and 13th in his next races.
âI got really nervous and stressed
over my performances,â De Haitre notes. âThat built-up stress over more events, on top of a back injury, were not conducive to good performances.â
The 2014 Ottawa Sports Awards male athlete of the year had to miss the Feb. 1 World Cup in Norway due to his back ailment and began to ex-perience a severe migraine and an increased heart rate prior to the Feb. 12-15 World Single Distance Cham-pionships in the Netherlands.
âI managed to pull it together coming into world singles,â notes De Haitre. âDespite dealing with those issues, and I still managed to finish 12th, which was within range of what we deemed acceptable.â
In addition to extensive physio-therapy treatment, De HaĂźtre attrib-utes his comeback effort to coach Bart Schouten pushing him and improved training sessions.
âWhen things are going well in training, itâs easy to be motivated, and when things are going bad, itâs hard,â he explains. âBut things started going well and it really gave me the motiv-ation to finish the season strong, and make me excited to start the next one.â
Looking ahead to the next speed skating campaign, De Haitre has one thing on his mind.
âMore medals,â smiles the So-chi Olympian who was the youngest Canadian on the team by four years.
âOnce you get the taste of it, you donât want to let it go. And I think by winning a medal in the last compet-ition of the season, it really sets the stage for next season and what I ex-pect of myself.â
WORLD CUP SERIES CHAMP
Blondin missed the mass start World Cup podium for the first time this season in Germany, although it was somewhat by design. Winner of 2 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze 2014-15 World Cup medals (including one in the 5,000 m), Blondin wanted to en-sure she finished ahead of the Dutch skater who was second place in the seasonâs mass start standings, which
became a much easier task when her competitor wiped out midway through.
âI would have preferred to have a real competition with Irene Schouten, but it didnât happen because of her fall, which happened right in front of me,â Blondin, who also finished the season ranked 6th in the world out of all distances and won a mass start World Championships silver medal, said in a Speed Skating Canada media release. âAfter that, I told myself that I just needed to stay on my skates and not take any chances. I was going for the season title and I did it. I even was part of the last sprint at the end. Iâm quite happy about the result. This title is a big deal for me.â
CANADIAN JUNIOR RECORD
Coming off ankle surgery last summer, Weidemann capped her campaign that featured a Junior World Cup Final bronze medal and Junior World Championships 4th-place fin-ish by setting a new Canadian junior womenâs 5,000 m record at Marchâs Canada Cup #4 event in Calgary. Skating in front of her parents and Concordes coach Mike Rivet, the 19-year-old established a new na-tional benchmark of 7 minutes, 14.55 seconds.
âIt was super awesome and a nice way to end the season,â Weidemann, who also made her senior World Cup debut in 2015, said via Speed Skating Canada.
Concordes trio win World Cup title, medal & set recordBy Mat LaBranche
photo: steve kingsman
While their top national team skaters were winning medals and breaking records elsewhere, the Gloucester Concordes hosted the Provincial âBâ and Masters Short-Track Championships on March 28-29 in Orleans. Kaelan Jolliffe finished 1st in her 500 m foxtrot race class.
Pilypaitis closes fulfilling basketball career at age 27By Anil Jhalli
file photo
Courtnay Pilypaitis
9
World Championships silver medallist Dustin Cook concluded his breakout interna-tional ski season with a World Cup bronze medal followed his first career victory at the World Cup Finals in France, beating the reigning Olympic super-g champion from Norway on March 19. âI wanted to win really bad,â the 26-year-old Mont Ste. Marie athlete said in an Alpine Canada media release, noting he also achieved his goal of a top-10 overall ranking in the super-g with the the win. âTo have it actually be
accomplished, itâs literally a dream come true, something I have dreamed about since I was a kid.â At the NCAA Ski Championships on March 14 in Lake Placid, Ottawa native Dom Garand won the first national title on his career for the University of Vermont Catamounts, claiming the menâs slalom victory.
LOCAL SKIER CAPTURES 1ST CAREER WORLD CUP VICTORY
MCEWEN TAKES SILVER, MORRIS BRONZE AT CURLING WORLDSOttawa natives Dawn McEwen and John Morris both collected medals at their respective World Curling Championships â McEwen a silver from the March 14-22 womenâs event in Japan and Morris a bronze from the March 28-April 5 menâs competition in Halifax. McEwen, the lead for the Jennifer Jones rink, curled a game-high 89% in her teamâs 5-3 defeat to Switzerland in the final. Team Canada went 9-2 in round robin play, lost the page playoff game 6-4 to the Swiss champs and then beat Russia 7-4 to earn their place in the championship match. Morris went 10-1 in the round robin playing third for Pat Simmonsâ rink before losing the page playoff to Norway and the semi-final to cham-pion Sweden and then beating Finland 8-4 to earn bronze. âWe were pretty down after (the 6-3 semi-final loss to Sweden),â Morris said in a Curling Canada media release. âIt feels good to go out on a note like that.â
NATIONAL TITLE FOR ONE OTTAWA WRESTLER, DEVASTATION FOR ANOTHEROttawa native Augusta Eve was the lone local champion from the March 20-22 Canadian Wrestling Championships in St. Catharines, Ont., claiming the gold medal in the junior wo-menâs 44 kg weight class. Erica Wiebe settled for a heartbreaking silver medal in the senior womenâs 75 kg category as she lost a 3-3 match to Burnaby Mountainâs Justina Distasio (her opponent earning the win by scoring last). The defeat means the 25-year-old who reached the #1 world ranking last year wonât get to represent Canada at home for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games. Ilya Abelev and Alex Brown-Theriault both claimed senior bronze medals in the menâs 74 and 86 kg competitions respectively, while Adam Macfadyen was 6th in senior menâs 61 kg.
Four University of Ottawa Gee-Gees products are on the path to representing Canada inter-nationally in rugby. Megan Copeland-Dinan, Irene Patrinos and Erin Van Gulik took part in Rugby Canadaâs March 31-April 3 east evaluation camp for the national womenâs 15s program in Kingston, while Gee-Gees grad Natasha Watcham-Roy has been added to the national sevens teamâs centralized training program that is preparing for this summerâs Pan Am Games in Toronto and next yearâs Olympics, where the sport will make its debut.
GEE-GEES EMERGE AS NATIONAL WOMENâS RUGBY TEAM CANDIDATES
OTTAWA SPORTSPAGE SNAPSHOTS
Ottawa Ice National Ringette League star Jayme Simzer left her skates at home and represented the CrossFit Closer Barbell Club at the March 27-28 Ontario Weightlifting Championships, winning the womenâs 75 kg competition in Scarborough. Local athletes from JustLift recorded several podium performances, including menâs 62 kg category champion Ian Haya, Esther Dalle and Valerie Hoang (gold and silver in womenâs 53 kg) and Nancy Kozorezova (bronze in womenâs 69 kg). Silver medallist Isabelle DesprĂ©sâ 181 kg total matched her provincial record and the winnerâs mark in the womenâs 63 kg division. The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth
Games participant from the Ottawa Elite Weightlifting Club was the top local athlete in the Sinclair rankings (which compares athletesâ performances in different weight categories against one another) in 5th overall for women. The provincials served as an official qualification competition for the Pan Am Games. The final final Pan Am qualifier will be the May 16-17 Canadian Championships in Mississauga.
RINGETTE PLAYER WINS ONTARIO WEIGHTLIFTING TITLE
CHELSEA NORDIQ BIATHLETE COLLECTS 3 SILVER AT JUNIOR NATIONALSTeam Ontario triple-medallist Leilani Tam von Burg replicated her three-medal haul from the Canada Winter Games with a trip of silver medals in the junior womenâs sprint, pursuit and mass start at the March 11-15 Canadian Biathlon Championships. Fellow Chelsea Nordiq teammates Jason Lawton, Jordyn Leighton and Alexandre Dupuis all recorded top-10 finishes in their divi-sions at nationals, with Leightonâs 5th in the senior girlsâ sprint standing as the top result.
âWe had a good year last year, but there are still a lot of people who have never been out to Lansdowne to watch us,â notes Pugh, whose club made a major splash by signing Canadian na-tional team captain Julian De Guzman just before the season. âWe need to con-nect with the local soccer community in every way that we possibly can.
âWhat better way to do that for young players who play the game than to go watch some pros play live and be inspired by them.â
NEW GM JOINS WEST OTTAWA
The West Ottawa Soccer Club has
a new general manager, with Steve MacNeil taking over from Bjorn Osieck, who recently began working in the newly-created director of business operations position at the OSA.
With a background in the sports medicine business as well as sports management, MacNeil was most re-cently the president of the Eastern Ontario Rugby Union.
âAfter three years of an unpreced-ented growth and expansion, WOSC is at a critical point in our development, and we believe Steveâs appointment will help us build on our successes, and support our growth to the next level,â WOSC president Brian Mason said in a club news release.
continued from p.6
The Ottawa Jr. Senators were headed to a deciding Game 7 with Pembroke Lumber Kings in the second round of the Central Canada Jr. âAâ Hockey
League playoffs. Ottawa overcame a 3-1 series deficit with 5-3 and 4-3 wins to force the win-ner-takes-all match on April 7 on home ice at Jim Durrell Recreation Complex.
JR. SENS HEAD TO GAME 7 SHOWDOWN
FENCER WITH OTTAWA TIES CLAIMS WORLD JUNIOR SILVERHamiltonâs Eleanor Harvey, who spends time training at the Ottawa Fencing Club under national team coach Paul ApSimon, won her second consecutive junior womenâs foil silver medal on April 5 at the FIE Junior World Fencing Championships in Uzbekistan.
Greater-Ottawa Kingfish swimmer Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson was officially nominated to Canadaâs Toronto 2015 Pan American Games team thanks to her performance at the April 1-4 national team trials event in Scarborough. The 19-year-old placed 3rd in her first event, the womenâs 400-metre individual medley, putting the pressure on for the 200 m IM, where she needed to be 1st
or 2nd to qualify for the Pan Ams. Seltenreich-Hodgson answered the call by placing 2nd, al-though her time of 2 minutes, 13.15 seconds wasnât quite fast enough to earn a spot the FINA World Aquatics Championships team later this summer.
OTTAWA SWIMMER MAKES PAN AM GRADE, MISSES WORLDS QUALIFICATION
Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games 4x400-metre relay competitor Mike Robertson of the Ottawa Lions has launched a âRoad to Rioâ fundraiser at makeachamp.com/michaelrobertson to help with his costs this season as he begins his quest to appear at the 2016 Olympic Games, with hopeful stops at the Penn and World Relays and Pan Am Games before then.
OTTAWA LION RUNNER BEGINS ROAD TO RIO WITH FUNDRAISER
SOCCER: Rugby Union president takes over WOSC
10 EDITORIAL
Team of the Month: Nepean Ravens U19 Belle Ringette TeamTeam Members: Players Rianne Munro, Amy Boileau, Amy Kolesnik, Ariana Mahaney, Maggie Sullivan, Emily Hogan, Sarah Lemkow, Allie Marcotte, Taylor Costello, Natasha Hurtubise, Samantha Banning, Cait Driscoll, Molly Lewis & Hanya Wyatt, and Staff John Sullivan, Art Marcotte, Jackie Banning, Kim Costello & Katherine Mulders.
About: After a 4th-place finish at their provincial championships, the Nepean Ravens stormed through the Belle U19 division at the Canadian Ringette Championships, outscoring their opponents by a combined 18 goals in six preliminary round wins and then earning playoff triumphs over the Central Alberta Sting (6-4), B.C. (4-3 in OT) and Alberta (3-0) to finish the March 29-April 4 tournament in Wood Buffalo, Alta. with a perfect record and national gold.
Athlete of the Month: Noah Kirkwood
Sport: Basketball
Club: Ottawa Next Level
School/Grade: Grade 9 Ashbury College
About: Noah Kirkwood has been selected to represent Canada at the June 10-14 FIBA Americas U16 Menâs Basket-ball Championship in Argen-tina. The 6â 2â small forward was one of 12 players selected from a group of 18 at a selec-tion camp on Easter weekend in Toronto. The Cadet youth national team is coached by Ottawa Next Level/Kanata Cavaliers club president Dave DeAveiro along with assistant James Derouin of the Univer-sity of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
To nominate Stars of the Month, go to SportsOttawa.com and follow the link on the right-hand bar under the Stars of the Month feature. Courtesy of the Ottawa Sportspage and the YMCA-YWCA of the National Capital Region, the selected Stars of the Month will receive free one-week Family Passes to the Y.
YMCA-YMCA OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION
STARS OF THE MONTH
COMMISH continued from p.7âThe sports commissioner in
Ottawa, as long as Iâm in the role, is going to support all sport in Ottawa, at all levels as best I can and be part of the conversation when it comes to sports,â he pledges.
If his office gets behind a par-ticular sport, it doesnât mean they wonât support others, emphasizes Mitic, who was recently a guest of Ian Mendes and Shawn Simpson on TSN Radio.
âWe were talking about how Iâm a massive UFC fan, and somebody tweeted at us, âWell, what about curling?ââ Mitic recounts. âAnd I said, âWell, yes, absolutely.â I am the sports commissioner of Ottawa, not the UFC commissioner. I love curling. I love watching curling.
âNo sport should feel that the sports commissioner is above them. Iâll do my best to help everybody. Thereâs no favourites to be chosen.â
With its expanding selection of pro franchises, it shows that Ot-tawa is a âserious sports town and weâre going to get even more seri-ous over the next four years,â adds Mitic, whoâs also been especially impressed by the enthusiasm and dedication of the volunteers that drive the local amateur sports com-munity.
âThe biggest thing Iâve noticed is that theyâre all very passionate,â he underlines. âThe message I want to give is that sports commissioner is here to support them.
âIf they donât need my help, thatâs fine. If they want my help, thatâs great. We can figure this out together.â
Mailing address:902 Pinecrest Rd.
Ottawa, Ont. K2B 6B3
The Ottawa Sportspage is a volunteer-driven newspaper devoted to shining a spot-light on local amateur sport. The Ottawa Sportspage is printed on the first Tues-day of the month by Ottawa Sports Media, the locally- owned publisher of the Sportspage & SportsOttawa.com. Ottawa sports news from high schools, univer-sities, community clubs and elite amateur sport is the name of our game. Weâre at The Heartbeat of the Ottawa Sports Community.
Contact:Editor: Dan Plouffe
Ottawa is his hometown, Montreal is now his home base, but when Hugh Brabyn-Jones competes on the inter-national figure skating circuit, Great Britain is his country.
While the 18-year-old athlete was born and raised in Ottawa, both his parents are originally from London, England. Carrying dual citizenship, Brabyn-Jones first inquired about rep-resenting GB four years ago, eventu-ally completing the switch this season since he saw greater opportunities at the international level with Britain in-stead of Canada.
âGetting to the Olympics is my ultimate goal, and I have always felt that going this way, I can get there faster,â indicates the 6th-place fin-isher at last seasonâs Canadian junior menâs championships in Ottawa. âI gain international experience a lot quicker and get recognized earlier if I compete well, and get one step closer to getting to the Olympics.â
Brabyn-Jones feels that his de-cision has paid off already, with a strong 18th-place debut at a Septem-ber Junior Grand Prix competition
in Estonia and then a junior menâs bronze medal at Novemberâs British championships.
âI know I didnât take the normal route, but I do like that I did some-thing different and so far itâs been really good for me,â he says.
Brabyn-Jonesâ skating journey began at age 3, first enrolling in fig-ure at 5. It wasnât until a few years ago, when he started landing some pretty serious jumps, that he realized he wanted to pursue a career in figure skating.
âI never had a plan, and then I started making all these jumps and I said, âIâm going to get there one day,ââ recounts the Minto Skating Club-brewed athlete.
Brabyn-Jones recently moved to the Ste-Julie club on Montrealâs south shore in order to join a greater number of advanced skaters.
âIn Ottawa, there may have been 5 or 6 people doing the triples or the bigger jumps, whereas when I moved to Montreal it was like over 20 people doing those same jumps,â he explains. âOnce I started hitting the jumps, I just wanted to be around skaters who were hitting the jumps consistently.â
It wasnât an easy decision to make, and was initially tough leaving home.
âI knew if I wanted to reach my goals that I had to make sacrifices,â adds Brabyn-Jones, who boards with a family he knew while growing up in Ottawa.
A heavy financial commitment is also part of the equation. Brabyn-Jones is in the midst of a fundraising campaign (at gofundme.com/jedbhw ) for his upcoming competition in Slov-
enia â the April 14-19 Triglav Trophy & Narcisa Cup, where he needs to pay travel, means and hotel expenses for both himself and a coach.
Brabyn-Jonesâ demanding train-ing schedule means that school is a challenge as well, but Ontarioâs on-line Independent Learning Centre allows him to complete one course at a time in a maximum of 10 months from a distance.
âIâm basically teaching myself, and when I am home, my dad and I have a study period for two hours where we go over the work I have done,â details Brabyn-Jones, em-phasizing that the irregular moves are all in pursuit of one ultimate goal: âThe Olympics. One day, I am going to get there.â
CHARTRAND 11TH AT WORLDS
Making her World Champion-ships debut, Alaine Chartrand of the Nepean Skating Club finished in the crucial top-12 of the womenâs event at the March 23-29 competition in Shanghai. The 19-year-old finished as the top Canadian in 11th place, secur-ing two entries for her country in the womenâs division for next year.
Ottawa skater ready to wear British colours at Slovenia eventBy Anil Jhalli
file photo
Hugh Brabyn-Jones.
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Tumblers Gymnastics Creates New Daytime Program for Ages 1-4The program is even younger
than the participants them-selves, but the enthusiasm for Tumblers Gymnastics Centreâs recently-launched playgroup is quickly matching the energy of the 1-to-4-year-olds taking part.
âItâs going wild,â smiles Tum-blers general manager Christine Groleau. âItâs really great â bey-ond what we expected.â
The structured playgroup format has proven popular with parents, who are also keen to see their children receive an in-troduction to physical activity at a young age.
The 2-hour program begins with an activity like Play-Doh upon ar-rival. Theyâll then start their gym-nastics class that lasts for around an hour, moving from station to station on Tumblersâ kinder-sized equipment, bouncing on trampo-lines, crawling through tunnels, walking on balance beams or con-quering blocks by climbing up and over them, for example. And the foam pit is always a favourite.
Then comes a break for a snack (provided by parents), a craft ses-sion, a bit more free time in the gym, and then the session wraps up with storytime or a group activity.
The activities change to match each weekâs theme, such as beach week or mardi gras. The playgroup carries a fun, bright atmosphere, while also providing an environ-ment to ready the youngsters for
preschool and kindergarten.âIt prepares them to go into a
structured class,â notes playgroup program coordinator Lynne Ethier. âIt gives them a social atmosphere as well. They get to interact with other kids their age, from the same neighbourhood. And it builds con-fidence and gross motor skills. Gymnastics is the sport thatâs the foundation for every sport.â
The drop-in playgroup operates Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9:30-11:30 a.m. at a cost of $10 per visit ($5 per additional child).
Groleau observes that the biggest reason for the playgroupâs popularity may be that it offers the chance for parents, or grandpar-ents/caregivers, to meet others with young children.
âI really think itâs the social aspect,â she explains. âThe par-ents, they come, and they have a
coffee when theyâre here, they talk about their children, and their development. They can ask, âI have a problem, whatâs your idea?â
âItâs a good parenting network, and weâve found already that theyâre becoming friends and organizing other activities out-side of the playgroup.â
AFTERNOON DROP-OFF PROGRAM COMING
Following March Break, Tum-blers will begin an afternoon program for independent chil-dren from Age 3-5. It will follow
a similar activity lineup, except that parents will drop off their kids from 12:30-2:30 p.m.
With many stores and services close to the gym â located slightly west of Tenth Line Rd. off Innes â convenience is expected to be a pop-ular feature, while also serving to help the detachment learning process.
âSometimes itâs hard for the child, but itâs also hard for the par-ents too to let them go,â indicates Ethier. âThey want to help them, and for them, itâs a big step back.â
A familiarity with the facility and staff, grown out of prior attendance in the playgroup, will help make the transition easier, however.
âIt gets the kids used to the gym so that when they do come in on their own, itâs no problem,â Groleau adds. âThey think, âI grew up here. This is my playground.ââ
THIS IS MY PLAYGROUND, THIS IS MY PLAYGROUP!
Eric Gauthier has already won a number of medals in Muskoka, Burlington and now Calgary this season, but he wants nothing more than to have those experiences trans-late into some home hardware come the late-May Canadian Gymnastics Championships in his own backyard in Gatineau.
The Tumblers Gymnastics Centre athleteâs latest triumph came at the University of Cal-gary International Cup, where he topped the National Open all-around category to lead Ontarioâs tour team to victory at the March 27-30 event.
âI got to the competition and was just hoping to have fun,â recounts Gauthier. âWe won the team competition too, which was what meant the most. The individual all-around win was just a bonus, but still something Iâm very proud of.â
The pommel horse silver medallist and rings bronze medallist was a model of con-sistency in Calgary, finishing no lower than 5th on any of his six apparatuses in a field of 24 competitors.
âMost of it is just a lot of routine work,â Gauthier indic-ates. âDoing my routines over and over again throughout the years, and working on events I wasnât quite as good in more than the ones I was having success in. Itâs like with any-thing in life, if you work at something youâre not quite as good at, youâll eventually get better.â
Before he can think about nationals, Gauthier will need to qualify through the April 9-12 provincials (for both menâs and womenâs artistic gymnastics) in Windsor, where heâd after a top-3 all-
around finish.âIf I can win a couple of
events too, that would obvi-ously be a nice bonus,â he signals. âBut qualifying for nationals is the main goal.â
EXPERIENCE ON BIG STAGE
If Gauthier makes the grade, it will be his fourth consecutive appearance at the nationals. Despite having ef-ficacious seasons leading up to these past championships, he hasnât quite had the results to match come the big show.
In his debut, he unexpec-ted lost valuable points on composition mistakes, and the next year, he had to withdraw after hitting his head on one of the bars during warmup.
But Gauthierâs increased experience in big events now allows him to feel more at ease during those pressure-filled moments.
âI can definitely control myself better now,â he indic-ates. âThe first few times, it was a bit scary, with everyone
watching me. I got thinking that I couldnât mess up, but over time it has gotten better. Now I make sure I stay calm, have fun and do my best, be-cause thatâs really all I can do.â
Gauthier enjoyed the ex-citement of competing nearby at Carleton University for the past two nationals and having close teammates in his corner, which he hopes to live again this year come the May 26-31 event at the Complexe Bran-chaud-BriĂšre.
âWith nationals being so close to home, itâs definitely a different feeling,â highlights the Grade 12 BĂ©atrice-Des-loges high school student. âAlso, you get to be with the entire team, and in the Na-tional Open category, the competition is mostly based around the team. So this makes it more enjoyable, because if you mess up a routine, you may be out of the all-around, but you can still be there to support them in that run for the medal.â
TANG TOPS UCIC CATEGORY
There was one other local all-around champ and several more medallists at the UCIC tour meet.
National Capitalâs Nath-anael Tang won the Provincial Level 4, Age 13+ all-around event, with gold on high bar, parallel bars and floor.
Five athletes from the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre qualified to represent Ontario in Calgary, with Sebastian Baranyi Nichols earning floor, rings, high bar medals in L3, A13+, Arryn Jackle Spriggs hitting the podium in L4, A14+ parallel bars, high bar, rings, and Philopateer Faltas taking rings gold and vault sil-ver in L4, A13+.
Consistency key for Calgary tour champBy Mat LaBranche
file photo
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She is the mother of rhythmic gymnastics in Ot-tawa. And when Dasa Lelli holds the arms of one of her athletes before theyâre about to perform â like she has countless times over 40 years of coach-ing at the Kanata Rhythmic Gymnastics Club â it provides a sense of comfort that only a motherâs touch offers.
âIt definitely helps me,â says KRSG provincial com-petitor Julia Yang. âSome-times when youâre jumpy and all nervous, itâs good to have someone to keep you calm and remind you of whatâs import-ant and what you came to do.â
Having the support of a coach whoâs been there for innumerable hours of train-ing makes the connection that much stronger, adds the 15-year-old who started rhythmic gymnastics at age 4.
âI love working with Dasa. You can tell that she cares about all of us,â Yang indicates. âShe always has something good to say. She doesnât yell at us. She will work through stuff with us. Sheâs very supportive.â
Paula Preston has been a club volunteer for close to 20 years and has witnessed the special bond Lelli creates with her young athletes over and over again.
âTheyâre her daughters,â Preston underlines, noting Lelli raised 3 sons of her own, who now have 3 granddaugh-ters and 2 grandsons. âAll these generations of gymnasts, she feels like theyâre hers.â
When Lelli speaks about what keeps her driven after 40 years of coaching, thereâs an unmistakable motherly tone to her words.
âItâs the love of the sport,â she states simply. âI enjoy the challenge. And moulding the youngsters. Itâs such a re-sponsibility, and opportunity, not only to teach the sport, but really to touch the future in terms of values, sportsman-ship, behaviour, organization skills for school.â
Lelli has guided dozens and dozens of provincial champions along the way, including 2014 World Championships compet-itor Lucinda Nowell, who is set to represent Canada in group rhythmic at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games and possibly the 2016 Olympics later on.
âSheâs brought up an awful lot of athletes, but sheâs also brought up a lot of coaches as well,â notes Preston, high-lighting the life skills required and gained by taking on such a role. âYou see a generation of gymnasts sheâs brought up to be strong, powerful, balanced young women, and now they
bring their daughters back. Thatâs pretty amazing.â
U OF O DRAWS CZECH IN
Lelli grew up in the Czech Republic in a family that be-lieved strongly in the value of physical activity. She was drawn into modern gymnastics (later called rhythmic) like all the women in her town.
Lelli first came to Ott-awa to visit her older brother, whoâd emigrated when she was 4. She became a student in the University of Ottawaâs
physical education program and did an internship at a downtown organization called the Ottawa Gym Club.
Thatâs where rhythmic gymnastics began in Ottawa â only the second Canadian city, after Toronto, where it was practiced.
Ottawa Gym Club presid-ent Sandra McManus helped Lelli setup the club in 1975, and with the support of the City of Kanata, it later found its west-end home base at various community centres and at John
Young Elementary School.âSlowly and patiently, it
grew from a group of seven to over 400,â reflects Lelli, whose club was originally called Kanata Rhythmic Sportive Gymnastics (the word âsport-iveâ was later dropped from the sportâs name, but the club continues to use KRSG as its acronym in recognition of the lengthy history).
VOLUNTEER-DRIVEN EFFORT
The technical and coach-ing aspect always came natur-ally to Lelli, but the most chal-lenging part of building a club, she says, was understanding all the complex organizational components required.
KRSG has been blessed by strong parent support and com-mitted long-term volunteers, like Preston, whose daughter (now a top international wrest-ler) has been out of the club for a dozen years, Lelli notes.
âOur volunteers are second to none. Theyâre always here,â highlights Lelli, whose club was recently officially recog-nized by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sportâs club ex-cellence program. âItâs incred-ible that itâs 40 years, but it doesnât feel that way.â
KANATA CUP HITS 25 YEARS
KRSG celebrated a double milestone this season. Along
with its 40-year anniversary as a club, it was also the 25th-an-nual edition of the Kanata Cup.
Close to 200 athletes at-tended the March 10-11 invit-ational at Bridlewood Com-munity Elementary School, taking part in provincial, in-terclub and Special Olympics divisions.
The Kanata Cup also fea-tured a special performance from the group of almost 30 KRSG gymnasts who will take part in this summerâs World Gymnaestrada in Helsinki, a non-competitive event that cel-ebrates all forms of gymnastics and brings together roughly 20,000 gymnasts from around the globe. It also provided a dress rehearsal of sorts for the competitive gymnasts whose provincial-level season kicks into high gear in the coming months.
âI enjoy it a lot because you just go and perform,â un-derlines Yang, who finished on the podium for all three of her apparatuses at her first provin-cial championships qualifier in Cambridge.
That was a big career high-light for Yang, but the accom-plishment sheâs most proud of would be music to Lelliâs ears.
âI think my biggest achievement is just how much Iâve improved over the years,â she smiles.
Coach Dasa Lelli leads Kanata Rhythmic club to 40 yrsBy Dan Plouffe
photo: dan plouffe
12
Erika Lin (left) & Dasa Lelli.