HeartbeatThe Heartbeat of the Ottawa Sports Community SportsOttawa.com Vol. 4, #3 January 2015

From the broom closet to the big leagues, Erica Howe and Jamie Lee Rattray have been side-by-side every step of the way.

The Ottawa hockey stars’ first meeting wasn’t under the most desir-able circumstances. The lone female members of their respective Cumber-land Barons and Kanata Blazers com-petitive hockey clubs, Howe and Rat-tray would often come face-to-face in their makeshift changeroom before and after their teams went to battle.

“There wasn’t much space in there,” laughs Howe, who had the ad-ded challenge of finding her way into

goalie equipment.From those roots, they later

joined forces as members of the Ot-tawa Lady Sens Provincial Women’s Hockey League organization and are now in the midst of their seventh season together – a journey that took them to Clarkson University and now to the Brampton Thunder of the Ca-nadian Women’s Hockey League.

“We’ve been best friends for a long time,” notes Rattray, now Howe’s roommate for the first time at their apartment near Pearson air-port. “We’re pretty inseparable at this point.”

The “box” rule continued to ap-ply when the rising talents made their

debuts with the senior women’s na-tional team towards the end of 2014.

“Putting on that jersey any time, but especially at the senior level, is really special,” Rattray highlights. “It was pretty amazing, especially doing it together.”

The high-scoring forward and vet-eran linemates Haley Irwin and Rebecca Johnston all finished with three points – second-best in tournament scoring at the Four Nations Cup in Kamloops, B.C.

Howe didn’t see any game ac-tion as the #3 goaltender behind #1 Geneviève Lacasse, but she never-theless fully enjoyed watching her off-season training partner at the Car-leton University high-performance

centre stymy all three shooters to lift Canada to the championship game shootout victory over USA.

“She was one of our best friends during the summer,” Howe says of the Limoges resident. “We were so excited. We were all jumping around. But watching Lacasse in practice, you kind of feel she has the confidence and ability, so we weren’t surprised to see her do that.”

One week later, however, it was Howe’s turn to shine in the shootout. Back between the pipes for Bramp-ton, Howe outdueled Lacasse, turning aside each Boston shootout attempt.

FRIENDS continues on p.6

By Dan Plouffe

photo: dan plouffe

CAPITAL CUP CONQUERORS

BLONDIN BLOWS ’EM AWAY

P. 2

P. 5

Ottawa teams made it through to 16 of 18 Bell Capital Cup division championship games at the Canadian Tire Centre.

A spectacular fall World Cup season has launched Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin into third in the world’s all-around ranking.

SOCCER STARS SHINE BRIGHT

P. 4The FIFA Women’s World Cup draw and the Ottawa Fury’s league title put Ottawa on the soccer map in December.

Teammates since they were teenagers playing for the Lady Sens, then to Clarkson U., and now on to Brampton of the CWHL and the Canadian women’s national team, Ottawa’s Erica Howe and Jamie Lee Rattray have remained at each other’s side throughout their hockey journeys.

Forever friends, team- mates

2 Locations Superdome (Gloucester) & Ben Franklin Dome (Nepean)

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It was a big year for local teams at the 16th-annual Bell Capital Cup. Ott-awa was represented in the champion-ship games of 16 out of 18 divisions

at the Dec. 29-Jan. 2 tournament for Atom- and Peewee-aged players, held at rinks across the nation’s capital.

The two exceptions were the Atom House ‘C’ final (where South Stormont beat Fort Coulonge), and

the Minor Atom ‘AAA’ final between Burlington and the champion Whitby Wildcats, who gave the event glowing grades.

“It’s nice to be a part of some-thing as big and as prestigious as

this,” says Whitby coach Troy Murphy. “There’s lots of history, a lot of great teams and a draw from all of North America, which is great to see. Also some great, talented kids – you aren’t going to see better tal-ent than what you’re seeing here.”

A special highlight for his team, like the other final-ists, was getting to play their championship games on the Ottawa Senators’ home ice at the Canadian Tire Centre.

“We try to help (the players) take in the mo-ment,” Murphy indicates. “This will be the last time on an ice surface like this for most of them.”

While there are invari-ably numerous memorable moments created on the ice each year, the experience extends beyond the matches played between the 270 par-ticipating teams, signals Bell Capital Cup general man-ager Scott Lawryk.

“This is more than just a hockey tournament, it’s a hockey festival,” notes the fourth-year tourney GM, highlighting the pin trading tradition between players as a example of interactions that go beyond the game. “You get teams from Finland, Hong Kong

and Orange County (California) and everyone is trying to get these pins.”

ABUNDANT LOCAL CHAMPS

Ottawa clubs enjoyed a number of strong showings in the top ‘AAA’ divisions, with the Eastern Ontario Wild beating Outaouais 4-0 in Ma-jor Peewee, the Gloucester Rangers downing North Jersey 4-2 in Minor Peewee, and the Rangers also appear-ing in the Major Atom final.

The Ottawa Valley Silver Seven earned a hat trick of 4-1 victories in ‘AA’ championship contests, beating the Ottawa Sting in Major and Minor Peewee and the Nepean Raiders in Major Atom.

Gloucester won the Minor Atom

‘AA’ crown, while the Nepean Wild-cats were champions in Girls’ Atom ‘AA’ (beating the Ottawa Ice 4-3) and finalists in Girls’ Peewee ‘AA’.

The Sting won Minor Peewee ‘A’ by a 1-0 margin over the Raiders, who were also Minor Atom ‘A’ champions and Major Peewee ‘A’ finalists.

The Stittsville Rams won Major Atom ‘A’, Canterbury beat Stittsville 2-1 in Atom House ‘B’, the West End Wolverines overcame the Russell Warriors 1-0 in double-OT in Atom House ‘A’ and the South End Swarm were finalists in Peewee House ‘A’.

The Bell Capital Cup also featured a series of 7 sledge hockey showcase games, with an eye to add a full para-sport division in future editions.

2

--By Colin Walker, SportsCan

Happy New Year!The beginning of a new year is a chance to

make a fresh start – a chance to start living a healthier, active lifestyle.

We all know we can do more to lead that type of lifestyle, but the question is always: how can I do it? Every year I say I am going to do it, but every year I fade and revert back to my old ways!

Here are Three Steps to Success…

STEP #1: SET A LONG-TERM GOALCreate a meaningful long-term goal to

explain why you need to lead a healthier, active lifestyle.

There is no easy fix, no small pill, to create that necessary change. The one key ingredi-ent I’ve seen in all situations where change has occurred was that the change began with a long-term goal in mind.

A goal that was significant to the individual, so that every day they worked towards it, and when times got tough – and there will always be tough times – the long-term goal was able to help the individual stay on track or get back on track.

Some examples of meaningful long-term goals are:

1. I want to be able to play with my grand-children.

2. I want to be able to walk my daughter down the aisle at her wedding.

3. I want to go to my 1st choice university on an athletic/ academic scholarship.

4. I want to win a gold medal at the Olympics.

All these goals have personal meaning to the individual and create a strong emotional state when they think about accomplishing their goal. This is what keeps them going.

STEP #2: EATING HABITSMake a simple change in your eating

habits.No diets, no pills, no tummy tucks, etc.

Your first step in creating a healthy lifestyle is to eat healthier, one apple at a time.

You cannot make a drastic change to your diet. It takes too much day-to-day effort.

The energy needed to completely change overnight is not sustainable. We don’t like change by nature, so we will find ways to sabotage our efforts.

However, if you simply say, “I will get sugar out of my coffee,” or, “I will not eat potato chips during the week,” you can make these subtle changes. It will not be easy still, but it will not disrupt your life completely.

Your taste buds will adapt over time. Some say it takes 21 days to adjust taste buds. I’m not positive that stat is entirely accurate, but I can definitely say your taste buds can and do change over time.

Keep it simple to start and gain your confid-ence that you can do it!

STEP #3: GET ACTIVEThere are many options available to you

to get active, but it can be overwhelming. You can join a gym, buy a bike, hire a per-sonal trainer, go for a walk, etc. The key is to make choices based on activities you like to do or you used to like when you were more active.

You can also try new ideas, expand your activity selection. The more activities you can do, the more choices you have and the less likely you will get bored!

As with nutrition, start slow, gain your con-fidence and build.

I recommend doing it with someone else as well. Being part of a group that has com-mon goals always helps with motivation.

If you are going to start a class or gym, make sure you get good instruction. Too many people try to go from the couch to the cover of a health magazine in a month. It takes time, and proper technique is so im-portant if you want to avoid injuries.

Remember: this is for life. Not for a week, not for a month, But for the rest of your life. It is a marathon, so start slow and build your confidence.

Let SportsCan help you with your goal of a more healthy, active lifestyle. Our wellness coaches will help you create the road map to success and work with you step by step, keeping you on course and motivated.

Contact us at info@sportscan.ca to start mapping your journey!

OTTAWA’S LTAD LEADERS FOR OVER 10 YEARSNUTRITION - STRENGTH & CONDITIONING - MENTAL TRAINING - VIDEO ANALYSIS

SPORTSCAN.CA

The 3 Big First Steps to Living a Healthier, Active Lifestyle, For Life.

2014

The Board of the Ottawa Sports Awards invites you to the 62nd annual Ottawa Sports Awards dinner, celebrating the city’s finest in amateur sport in over 60 different sports as well as the top Male and Female Athletes, Coaches and Teams for 2014. Join Mayor Jim Watson and the Ottawa Sports Awards Board as they make the following presentations:

MAYOR’S CUP LEE POWELL - RUGBY

LIFETIME COACHING AWARD PAUL APSIMON - FENCING

LIFETIME ADMINISTATOR AWARD RON PORT - ALGONQUIN COLLEGE

LIFETIME TECHNICAL OFFICIAL AWARD LAURA KNOWLES - RINGETTE

Wednesday, January 28, 2015 Algonquin College, Woodroffe Campus Doors and Cash Bar Open at 6:00 pm Dinner Starts at 7:00 pm Tickets are $55 or table of 8 for $425.

Tickets are now on sale on the website www.ottawasportsawards.ca Contact 613-795-8111 or dscorrar@sympatico.ca

CELEBRATING THE FINEST IN AMATEUR SPORT IN OTTAWA

Follow us on:

RACHEL HOMAN 2013 Female Athlete of the Year 2013 Curler of the Year Skip, Team Homan: 2013 Female Team of the Year

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Ottawa teams reach 16 of 18 Capital Cup finalsCOMMUNITY CLUBS

Bruno Lemire of the West End Wolverines celebrates the double- overtime winning goal in the final game of the 2015 Bell Capital Cup at Canadian Tire Centre.

photo: dan plouffe

By Michael Nellis

LEGACY OF A LIFETIMEVisit SportsOttawa.com

to read coverage on the 2014 recipients of Lifetime Achievement honours from the Ottawa Sports Awards – rugby’s Lee Powell, fencing’s Paul ApSimon, ringette’s Laura Knowles & Algon- quin’s Ron Port.

3

Forty of the province’s top gym-nasts will be heading to Las Vegas, but there probably isn’t anyone who feels luckier to be attending the Jan. 16-18 Lady Luck Invitational in Las Vegas than Catarina Musca.

One of four Ottawa Gymnastics Centre athletes to earn Team Ontario berths (a province-high number for

one club), Musca underwent knee surgery last season, so merely attend-ing the Tour Selection meet this past November was unexpected.

“It’s wonderful to be able to com-pete at all,” notes the 13-year-old Mother Teresa Catholic High School student who placed third all-around in the Level 7 competition. “Because I wasn’t supposed to compete this year, I’m going to keep a positive attitude

and try my best.”Emma Christie, a

Level 8 qualifier, also sought to keep a calm de-meanour throughout her meet, and was pleased to say she succeeded.

“I felt more relaxed,” details the Nepean High School student who will make her second Tour appearance for Team Ontario following a trip to Florida two years ago. “I thought of it more as a

practice run.”Madisson Kelleher-Radley,

who edged out alternate Christina Sartzetakis from Nepean-Corona for the final Level 7 position, wanted to receive consistent scores and gain experience at Tour Selec-tion, while Level 10/National Open athlete Sofia Baggio got her wish with a clean all-around meet featuring a number of new tricks that she hadn’t previously performed in competition.

“It takes a few months to be able to add a new skill to a routine depending on the level of difficulty,” signals Bag-gio, a balance beam bronze medalist at last year’s Canadian Championships. “I also hope to add a new skill on floor and am definitely adding one on beam for the Lady Luck tour.”

TUMBLER GETS VEGAS TRIP BY .075

One other local athlete will also make the trip with Team Ontario. Sophie Paquin from Tumblers Gym-nastics Centre had to be thanking her

The Ottawa Ice have quickly discovered that there is a giant target on their backs this National Ringette League season. That comes with the territory when you’re the defending national champs.

“You just set the bar really, really, really high for yourself,” Ice star Jayme Simzer says of the im-pact of winning the first title in club history. “Every game, you’re sort of defending that title. People want to take that title away from you.”

Just ask the Gloucester Devils about that. Not that they’ve ever rolled over against their local coun-terparts, but the Devils raised their game for matches against the Ice, managing one upset win and then dropping their last tight contest 6-5.

“Ottawa’s obviously one of the top teams in the league,” underlines Gloucester coach Paul Youldon. “They won the championship last year, so when you’re within one goal, you’re doing well.”

The Devils are no pushovers either, ranked seventh national with an 11-9-1 record before the holi-day break and owning three top-12 league scorers in Allison Biewald and Kelsey and Kaitlyn Youldon. Ottawa’s Katie Lugg and Simzer, are all within the top-12 of NRL scoring with over 50 points in 21 games apiece. That type of talent and a strong friendly rivalry between the players who have known one another for a dozen-or-so years in many cases helps push both squads.

“You don’t really have any sneaky plays because everyone knows each other. It really just comes down to hard work,” indic-

ates Simzer, a Team Canada player. “It benefits us both to play at that in-tense level. It gets us ready to play against the other top teams.”

Ranked third in the country, Ot-tawa is 14-4, which was a “good” first half, says coach Al Bateman.

“We’ve still got a ways to go to get where we were last year,” sig-nals Bateman, noting the Ice have often relinquished control of games they lead. “But the goal is just to get ready for playoffs, and hopefully na-tionals after.”

A “really good core group of veterans” is a key recipe to the Ice’s success, Bateman adds, but even though the club lost three important players from last year, there always seems to be a younger player ready to step up. This season and last, the Ice have added Sarah-Lynne Bégin and Brittany MacDonald to their lineup – both lights-out scorers for Nepean as Belle players who have kept their scoring touch intact at the NRL level.

“When somebody steps out,

somebody else can step in,” Bate-man explains. “It’s really good to see these kids come along.”

NEPEAN & OTTAWA TOURNEYS

The pipeline of local talent shows no signs of slowing any time soon either, as evidenced by the perform-ance of the host teams at the Nepean and Ottawa youth tournaments in November, which featured a com-bined total of over 2,400 players.

Ottawa won both ‘AA’ competi-tions at its event in the U16 and U14 levels, while the Nepean Ravens were ‘AA’ finalists in the U19 and U14 categories at their home event.

Other division champions at the Ottawa tourney included: West Ott-awa (U19 ‘A’), Gloucester-Cumber-land (U16 ‘A’, U14 ‘A’, U14 ‘B’ & U9), and Ottawa (U16 ‘B’ 2, U14 ‘C’ & U12 ‘PP’ Teal).

Winners at the Nepean event were: Gloucester-Cumberland (U19 ‘B’, U12 ‘PP’ Blue & U9), Ottawa (U16 ‘B’ & U10), Nepean (U14 ‘B’), and University of Ottawa (18+ ‘A’).

Ottawa Ice find life at the top a little toughBy Dan Plouffe

COMMUNITY CLUBS

Elsa Fougère.

photo: dan plouffe

Gymnasts hit the jackpot & qualify for Vegas tourBy Phoebe Berkeley

Avery Rosales (left) & Juliette Chapman.

file photo

OSU Force Academy Zone2014 was

the year of foreign foot-ball travel for Ronan Kratt. The 11-year-old Ottawa

South United Soccer Club player has toured England, been to Barcelona twice, and capped the year with a trip to Florida for the Disney Jr. Soccer Showcase.

“It’s been really awesome and exciting,” summarizes Kratt.

Thanks to a strong performance at a local summertime camp run by coaches from FC Barcelona’s academy, Kratt secured an op-portunity to train at the famed Spanish club for a week in October. In the shadow of Camp Nou, Kratt joined Barça’s academy groups for daily training and a weekend game.

“I learned what the players in Spain are like and how the Barcelona coaches teach their kids how to play,” notes the dual-footed striker who went through many drills focused on encouraging possession, mirroring the style of play employed by the 12-time win-ners of UEFA competitions. “I took that in and tried to bring it back home to play like that.”

The October visit was Kratt’s second to Barcelona in 2014, on the heels of a pre-season appearance at the club’s Escola Tournament around Easter. He’s now been invited back for another chance to play in the 2015 edition of the Escola event.

“I’ve been there enough times to feel com-fortable, and next time I’ll be one of the older kids playing,” says the 2003-born athlete who was with the 2002-2003 group last time.

Kratt’s October visit coincided with a pair of Barça home contests in La Liga and Champions League against Eibar and Ajax.

“I saw Messi and Neymar and Zavi score,” recounts Kratt, who’d only previously seen the superstars on TV. “I really enjoyed that.”

It was the second set of big-league games Kratt witnessed this year, following the trip to England, which featured a Crystal Palace vs Southampton EPL match. Alongside his OSU teammates, Kratt also trained at Premi-ership clubs Chelsea, Fulham, Liverpool and Man City, and played games against Ever-ton, Fulham and Wrexham academy sides.

“Being in Europe with my team was really awesome,” Kratt underlines. “We’d never

been on that big of a trip to-gether.”

During OSU’s trip to England, they were joined by a member of the Dallas Tex-ans – OSU’s U.S.-based af-filiate and the top-rated youth club south of the border. After OSU General Manager Jim Lianos and Texans Director of Coaching Hassan Naziri spoke several months later, Kratt wound up returning the favour, joining the Texans for the Nov. 28-30 Disney Jr. Soccer Showcase tournament.

“The player who was with us in England introduced me to the team and they were all really nice, so it really only took a day to feel comfortable there,” details Kratt, who wound up contributing to over half of his new team’s goals, scoring three himself and assisting on six others en route to the Disney U11 Boys’ Premier division championship.

“We weren’t expecting to win it after we lost the first game,” adds Kratt, whose team avenged their only loss of the event by top-ping Tampa Bay in the final, and also beat top MLS academy sides from Atlanta, Florida and Chicago. “We were all really excited. We ran out on the field and just jumped on each other.”

OSU’s Jaeden Mercure appeared for an-other division-finalist Texans team, while the OSU 2002 boys’ and girls’ Force Black teams were also part of the highly-regarded invitation-only competition.

“It’s pretty cool that we’re one of the only ones representing Canada there,” highlights Kratt, who will return to the Disney Showcase event next year with his OSU side. “I’m sure our team will do really great when we go.”

Kratt continues to train four times per week indoors throughout the winter, including ses-sions at OSU’s Centre of Excellence under Club Head Coach Paul Harris, in anticipation of his next big opportunity.

“Ronan is a prime example for our players of what can be achieved through hard work and dedication,” Lianos says. “The club has worked hard to ensure these pathways are available to our players, and it’s great to see him take full advantage of these types of opportunities.”

OSU player trains with FC Barcelona & wins Disney Showcase

lucky stars to be headed to the Lady Luck after a tight race in the Level 9 competition.

Paquin’s uneven bars routine could have spelled disaster, but her bronze medal on floor and victory on beam meant that once numbers were all ad-ded up, she’d earned the eighth and fi-nal team place by a margin of .075-of-a-point with a total score of 35.025.

Tumblers’ Beth Webster was on the other side of the equation, taking alternate status for the National Open team by .1-of-a-point.

Another pair of Tumblers have also earned spots in a major com-petition. National novice gymnasts Juliette Chapman and Avery Ros-ales surpassed Gymnastics Canada’s

screening standards in their first events of the season to qualify for Elite Canada Jan. 29-31 in Trois-Rivières. The 11-year-olds will now have an op-portunity to compete for places in the May 26-31 Canadian Championships, to be held at the Branchaud-Brière Complex in Gatineau.

“Our program always strives for excellence. Success is no accident,” says Tumblers women’s artistic coach Alina Florea. “It is perseverance, hard work, sacrifice, and most of all, the will of being better and better.”

A national champion for five years in a row in high-performance competi-tion, National Capital’s Sam Zakutney qualified for Ontario’s Canada Winter Games team in December.

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Fury win first, and last, Super-Y boys’ title

photo provided

In the club’s last-ever shot at claiming a USL Super-Y League boys’ title at December’s league finals in Florida, the Ottawa Fury FC U15s became the first local male team to be crowned champions of the continent-wide league in 12 years of trying.

“To be the first boys team to win it, it’s a pretty big deal and I’m proud to say I was part of that team,” says Fury co-captain Sam Laviolette, who remembers when the team could barely win a game when he first joined them four years ago. “We have come so far. This is right at the top of everything I have accomplished.”

Ottawa opened the Dec. 5-9 event with a 2-2 draw against a

Michigan-based club and wound up beating those same rivals 3-1 in the championship game. In between were victories over teams from New Jersey and At-lanta and an extra-time win over New York in the semi-finals.

“I’ve coached some pretty great teams, and this team is right up there,” highlights Steve Hill, the coach of three tournament all-stars – Noah Campagna, Ab-dullah Juma and Federico Leal. “This team brought a battling spirit with them and they just showed great mental toughness and resilience. They just kept battling back from any adversity that came their way. They would never be denied.”

At last season’s Super-Y Finals, the team went 2-1 in the

preliminary round and missed the playoff round by tiebreaker.

“We had a really good team last year, it just didn’t work out for us,” signals co-captain Noah Stanford. “This year, we kept out heads up and just stayed positive because we knew we had a solid chance of winning it all. It was a really exciting moment for everyone when it was all over.”

The Fury won a girls’ Su-per-Y title in 2010, but boys’ teams had never won the big prize despite appearing in the past two finals. The remaining two teams in the Fury boys’ academy will leave the Super-Y League in favour of the Quebec senior league starting next year.

See SportsOttawa.com for additional details.

By Anil Jhalli

Ottawa took its place in the international soccer spotlight in December, and Talia Laroche of the West Ottawa Soccer Club was right at the centre of it. The 15-year-old carried the official game ball out on stage when the nation’s capital hosted the official draw for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

“It felt as though I had all the attention in the world, which I don’t normally like, but I still felt honored,” recounts Laroche, who’s more accus-tomed to deflecting pressure off the back line as a fullback. “When I stepped out with the ball, I could only hear myself thinking, ‘Don’t drop the ball, don’t drop it, don’t drop it, don’t freak out, smile, you aren’t smiling… OK, keep going. And don’t forget to breathe.’”

Laroche was chosen for the duty thanks to her team’s efforts to fundraise for the SchoolBox charity and build a school in Nicaragua.

“Soccer Canada is hoping to promote their slogan of ‘To a Greater Goal’ and I guess I stood out for that reason,” ex-plains Laroche, who traveled to the second poorest country

in the western hemisphere two summers ago. “That was a really great experience to help out others and make a differ-ence in this way.”

Laroche briefly met Olympic medalists Christine Sinclair, Catriona Le May Doan, Hayley Wickenheiser, John Herdman and Chantal Petitclerc, who assisted with the draw alongside other local participants such as the Step by Step School of Dance and the Nepean High School choir.

One of six host venues for the June 6-July 5 compet-ition, TD Place at Lansdowne will host Group B preliminary round action, including the new top-ranked team in the world, Germany, and Norway, Thail-and & Côte d’Ivoire, crossover matches with France and Mex-

ico, and South Korea vs Spain, plus two round of 16 matches and a quarter-final. Canada was drawn into a pool with China, New Zealand and Netherlands.

FUTSAL REF AMONG FIFA BEST

It may not have received quite the same spotlight, but an-other Ottawan was in exclusive FIFA company in December as well. Bob Tibbo, the head ref-eree for the Ottawa Futsal Club and the president of the Ottawa District Futsal League (amongst many other roles), was the lone Canadian representative at a four-day course for futsal ref-eree instructors in Costa Rica. The certified FIFA futsal referee instructor and assessor was one of 20 participants from 18 coun-tries at the FIFA referee assist-ance program event.

West Ottawa player on FIFA draw centrestageBy Ron Guillet

photo: steve kingsman

For Alaine Chartrand, the feeling is that her best is yet to come, and so far this season, it’s already been very good.

The Prescott resident who trains out of the Nepean Skating Club is riding high into the Jan. 19-25 Cana-dian Tire National Skating Champion-ships just down the road in Kingston. Chartrand earned the first ISU Grand Prix medal of her senior international career in her last competition before the Canadians Nov. 14-15 in Moscow.

The 18-year-old was the leader after the short program, scoring a sea-son-best 61.18 points, and also pro-duced a season-best in the long pro-gram for a 172-point total, although she a few jumps caused trouble, either un-der-rotated or with a two-foot landing.

“After being first in the short, I really wanted to stay on the podium,” Chartrand said in an ISU press release. “This is my first medal internationally. (The freeskate) wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but better than at Skate Canada

(where she placed 7th earlier this sea-son). An improvement is always good.”

Chatrand added that “there is def-initely room for improvement” yet, and with two more months of practice – not to mention the withdrawal of de-fending-champion Kaetlyn Osmond – the Grade 12 Thousand Islands Sec-ondary School student is set up nicely to improve on her fifth-place showing at last year’s nationals/Olympic trials in Ottawa and regain a spot on the po-dium after winning bronze in 2013.

Seven other local entries in the ju-nior and novice categories also earned their way to the nationals by qualify-ing through the Dec. 3-7 Skate Canada Challenge in Montreal.

At Challenge, Gloucester’s Chris-tian Reekie was 5th and Minto’s Cameron Hines 12th in novice men’s, Nepean’s Talia Rancourt & Alex Gunther were 12th in novice dance, Gloucester/Nepean’s Josh Allen placed ninth in junior men’s, Minto’s

Zoe Gong and Alexis Dion were 13th and 17th in junior women’s, Kanata natives Melinda & Andrew Meng took 7th in junior dance, while Minto’s Audrey Croteau-Villeneuve & Jeff Hough withdrew after the short dance in the same category.

Nepean’s Daniel Rousskikh earned the best local result out of pre-novice skaters (who do not compete at nation-als) by placing 7th in pre-novice men’s.

—Dan Plouffe

5

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Ivanie Blondin better get used to standing on the international podium. The 24-year-old from Ot-tawa finished the 2014 portion of the ISU World Cup Speed Skating calendar the same way she started: with a gold medal around her neck.

After nearly six weeks travel-ling the world with competitions in Japan, South Korea, Germany and the Netherlands, the former Gloucester Concorde returned to Canada with medals from all four

competitions – two gold, a sil-ver and a bronze from mass start races and another bronze from the 5,000 m.

The most surreal moment for Blondin was her bronze medal performance in

the 5,000m race in Seoul. It was there she shared the podium with speed skating legends Claudia Pechstein and Martina Sablikova, owners of a combined 14 Olympic medals.

“Right before the podium, I went up to Sablikova and said, ‘it’s an honour to be on this po-dium right next to you,’” recounts Blondin, who’d just won her first individual World Cup medal in a discipline other than the mass start. “It’s insane. Oh my gosh, I’m among these top athletes now.”

Owning a streak of eight con-secutives years honoured as the city’s top speed skater by the Ott-awa Sports Awards – dating back to her roots as a short-tracker – Blondin has become the queen of the 16-lap mass start, ranked #1 in the world in the discipline that the International Skating Union would like to see added to the next Olympic programme. But she’s also showed some snap in

the shorter 1,000 m and 1,500 m events and is currently the World Cup circuit’s third-ranked athlete across all disciplines.

“This season I think I’ve proven to everyone I can be a somewhat decent sprinter,” high-lights the Sochi 2014 14th and 24th-place finisher. “I couldn’t be happier right now. I always knew I was strong and I knew I had great time, but to be on the podium so many times it’s far more than I ever expected from myself.”

DE HAITRE SHINES, STRUGGLES

Vincent De Haitre started off his World Cup with a major bang, recording a fourth-place finish in the 1,000 m race in Obihiro, Japan.

“It started off very well,” says the fellow former Concorde. “I met most of my expectations I wanted to meet for the season, so I’m glad I could meet them at the start so that I can set new ones.”

The rest of De Haitre’s res-

ults were a little more in line with what’s expected from the youngest member of the Canadian World Cup team by four years. The 20-year-old placed 19th, 15th and 13th to rank 12th overall in his preferred 1,000 m discipline, and registered one top-10 out of 8 races in the ‘B’ division of the 500 m and 1,500 m.

“I was a little more stressed than I anticipated and it reflec-ted poorly on my performance,” De Haitre recounts. “I think it’s a learning experience right now. And I’m looking forward to being able to put together everything I’ve learned in a good race.”

Former Ottawa Pacer Lauren McGuire’s top finish was a sev-enth-place performance in the team pursuit and 14th in the 1,500 m ‘B’ division individually.

All three skaters and several others with local roots competed in the Jan. 2-5 Canadian Single Dis-tance Championships in Calgary in an attempt to secure international racing positions for Canada in the second half of the season.

Speed skater makes new home on podiumBy Jamie Shinkewski

ELITE

file photo

Ivanie Blondin.

Chartrand & 7 other locals set for nationals

file photo

Alaine Chartrand.

6

UPCOMING RAVENSVARSITY GAMES

RAVENS BASKETBALL @ THE RAVENS NEST

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT GORAVENS.CA

OR TICKETS@CARLETON.CA

Friday, January 16th vs GuelphWomen 6 pm – Men 8 pm

RAVENS HOCKEY @ THE ICE HOUSE

Saturday, January 17th vs LakeheadWomen 6 pm – Men 8 pm

Saturday, January 10th – 2 pmWomen vs McGill

Friday, January 16th – 7 pmWomen vs Ottawa

Saturday, January 17th – 7 pmMen vs Laurentian

Saturday, January 24th – 7 pmMen vs Nipissing

Friday, January 30th – 7 pmMen vs Ryerson

Saturday, January 31st – 7 pmMen vs Toronto

Saturday, February 7th – 2 pmWomen vs Montréal

CAPITAL HOOPS CLASSIC @ CANADIAN TIRE CENTRE

Friday, February 6th vs uOttawa Gee-GeesWomen’s Game 6 pm – Men’s Game 8 pm

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT CAPITALTICKETS.CA

EDITORIAL

FRANCO-CITÉ FAUCONS SENIOR BOYS’ VOLLEYBALL TEAMTeam Members: Paul-André Abou Zeid, Jérémie Baumeister, David Car-ranco, Alexandre Gandolfini, Kevin Gatavu, Cristopher Malekos, Ben-nett Mortimore, Eric Parker, Jordany Semajuste, Mathieu Utting, Se-bastien Zuniga, Coaches Thierry Lavigne & Rejean Godmaire.

About: The St. Matthew Tigers and Franco-Cité Faucons both made history at Nov. 20-22 OFSAA ‘AA’ Championships by winning their schools’ first-ever provincial title in girls’ basketball and boys’ volley-ball, respectively. The smallest school in the national capital league, the Tigers completed an undefeated season in Kingsville, winning their last 3 matches by 5, 8 and 5 points, including the 40-35 final over Lasalle. The majority of the players had played together since Grade 7 through to their senior years. With a 4-set win in the final in Dryden, the Faucons ended a run of 8 years in a row that Eden HS won ‘AA’ OFSAA, including 3 years ago when they beat Franco-Cité in the provincial final by 2 points in the deciding set.

VISIT SPORTSOTTAWA.COM FOR DETAILED COVERAGE ON BOTH TEAMS.

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 Athlete of the Month will receive a free one-week Family Pass to the Y, while each member of the Team of the Month will receive free one-visit passes.

YMCA-YMCA OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION

STARS OF THE MONTH

TEAMS OF THE MONTH:

ST. MATTHEW TIGERS SENIOR GIRLS’ BASKETBALL TEAMTeam Members: Megan Kardos, Brianna Arichara, Ciera Carey, Madeline Wakefield, Elizabeth Peters, Brooklynn McAlear-Fanus, Brianna Thompson, Alexis Yorke, Brittany Mason, Juwana Lako, Coaches Rick Despatie & Chris Wakefield.

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. We’re at The Heartbeat of the Ottawa Sports Community.

Contact:Editor: Dan Plouffe

613-261-5838Editor@SportsOttawa.com

Howe also stopped 52 of 53 shots before that to give Brampton a 2-1 win, while Rattray recorded the shootout winner.

“She basically won the game for us,” signals Brampton general man-ager and former Olympic gold medal-ist Lori Dupuis, whose team began 1-5-1 but has now won 3 of 4 since Howe’s heroics.

Dupuis was very pleased to add the Ottawa products to the fold on her team that features a number of other former Clarkson players.

“I think they’re coming along really great,” indicates the Cornwall native. “It’s difficult coming out of college where you’re so regimented in your bubble. Here, you’ve got to fig-ure it out for yourself, so it’s great that they can help each other out.”

The CWHL may be the top wo-men’s league in the world, but many players/staff still work “real world” jobs during the day, prior to evening practices and weekend games.

“It’s different for women coming out of college,” notes Rattray, who won the 2014 Patty Kazmaier Award as NCAA women’s hockey MVP, fol-lowing in the footsteps of greats such as Julie Chu, Angela Ruggiero and Jennifer Botterill. “Men get the oppor-tunity to play pro. They can kind of go anywhere and get paid.”

With national development card and provincial Quest for Gold fund-ing, Howe and Rattray are able to keep

employment to a part-time commit-ment. It can make for a busy schedule nonetheless. A recent example: their day begins with a workout at Hockey Canada’s Toronto home at the Master-Card Centre in Etobicoke, then both head to their admin jobs (Rattray at the Ontario Women’s Hockey Asso-ciation, Howe at a logistics company with an office at the airport), Rattray then instructs shooting at Cutting Edge hockey school in Oakville while Howe (who’s also a goalie coach with Canlan Ice Sports in Etobicoke) pre-pares a quick meal at home before their 8:30 p.m. practice in Brampton.

It’s not quite living the high life and making big bucks, but each player remains proud to be able to say their profession is “hockey player.”

“We want to keep it going as long as possible,” Howe pledges. “It’s such a privilege to play the game that we’ve played since we were kids.”

CHAMPION TRADITIONAlthough they’ve taken identical

paths since hockey began getting ser-ious, it’s not entirely by design that Rattray and Howe have remained teammates this long.

“Every time, we picked com-pletely separately,” Howe underlines, noting that they were ecstatic noneth-elles when they counted to 3 and said “Brampton!” simultaneously as their preferred CWHL destination. “It’s kind of funny that we chose on our own, and I guess fate brought us to-gether, again.”

There’s one other thing that’s fol-lowed Rattray and Howe each step of the way – championships.

They won the provincial league title in their final season with the Sens, a U18 national title with Team Ontario, a U18 world title with Team Canada, and then last year, they cap-tured Clarkson’s first NCAA title in school history.

“It was a really emotional exper-ience,” recounts Howe, whose team downed back-to-back champion Min-nesota 5-4 in the Frozen Four final. “Right now, we’ll still turn on the end of the game and watch it, and be like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe that happened.’”

Part of the attraction to play for Brampton was the prospect of creat-ing another champion team from a

fairly low starting point.“Freshman year, we actually set

a record for most losses in Clark-son history. It was a whole building period, it’s not like it was a one-year thing. Our class was always building towards that one big win,” explains Howe, whose CWHL club finished in the league basement last season. “We’re excited, with Brampton, to build something.”

Recently chosen for the CWHL All-Star Game in their rookie sea-sons, the pair don’t want their run of titles to stop any time soon.

“(CWHL) is kind of the only level we’re missing, and then eventually the World or Olympic level,” Rattray underlines. “That’s the next goal.”

—with files from Jamie Shinkewski

continued from p.1

FRIENDS: Challenging new path working and training for Team Canada

7

Ottawa Knights News

www.ottawaknightsbaseballclub.com

Club further augments efforts in players’ college ball recruitingOne of the

questions we hear over and over is that par-ents and play-ers simply don’t know what they need to do to get noticed by

schools in the U.S. and Canada.Gone are the days when you simply play

on a travel team, attend a “showcase” type of tournament, and magically a full scholarship appears!

There is so much more that is required. The truth is you need to be willing to invest a lot of time and effort.

Attending the various evaluations and camps throughout the region is of course a key ingredient, and one that we promote heavily at the Ottawa Knights Baseball Club.

Late in 2014, a group of Knights particip-ated in recruitment camps throughout vari-ous Universities in New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, as well as the Prep Baseball Report (PBR) Toronto Showcase and the Fall Showcase hosted by our close friends at Bulletproof Baseball Academy.

The feedback so far from the scouts has been very positive.

The Ottawa Knights are also very pleased to announce that we’ll be holding our first Spring Training College Prospect Showcase Day on March 15th in Ft. Pierce, Florida.

This event will take place on the first day of Knights Spring Training and it will provide local and visiting NCAA, NCJAA and NAIA coaches and scouts the opportunity to evalu-ate all of our Ottawa Knights in action.

The morning will feature tests such as:- 60 Yard Dash- Outfielders, Infielders & First Basemen

field & throw- Catchers Pop time & Blocking- Batting – Tee Exit Velo & Live ArmThe afternoon will feature an Inter-Squad

Game to provide further opportunities for pitching and in-game player evaluations.

TOP ONLINE RECRUITING TOOLIn addition to these on-field efforts, you

need a credible online presence for scouts and coaches to research. This isn’t for every player, but for those that are focused on con-tinuing to play baseball at the next level, you need an effective recruitment strategy.

To support our players in their goal of getting noticed and receiving offers from schools, the Knights will be launching their Lifetime Locker VIDEO.

Lifetime Locker is an online portal that coaches and scouts can visit to see base-ball stats, evaluations, videos, grades and other key player information. This platform is widely considered one of the best all-around online student athlete marketing tools avail-able.

Ottawa Knights and other tier one pro-grams in southern Ontario are providing this tool to their players as it becomes the “one-stop shop” for all relevant student & athletic information.

We feel so strongly about this tool that every Ottawa Knight player (14u,15u,16u,18u) will have their own Locker set up, thanks to the club’s newly-established relationship with Skillshow Inc. (www.skillshow.com).

“This partnership is another way we are able to assist our players to track their per-formance and take their game to the next level,” said Andrew Beattie, President and General Manager at Ottawa Knights Baseball Club. “There are many websites that offer bits and pieces of what our players need to mar-ket themselves effectively but we feel that the Lifetime locker platform offers our players the most comprehensive solution available.”

In support of the club’s new Satori Project that will see its athletes spend 2-4 weeks training and racing in Europe next summer, the Bytown Storm Triathlon Club has launched a number of fun-draising initiatives, including clothing and bottle drives, a February comedy night and a March silent auction. E-mail bytowntri@gmail.com for more details.

BYTOWN STORM TRIATHLON CLUB KICK OFF FUNDRAISERS TO SEND ATHLETES TO EUROPE

OTTAWA ALPINE SKIER POSTS 3 BIG WORLD CUP SUPER-G PERFORMANCES

LOCAL SOCCER PLAYER CHOSEN FOR NATIONAL JUNIOR PROGRAMFormer FC Capital United youth player Jordan Lundin was one of 20 players

selected to take part in the Canadian women’s U-18/U-20 national soccer team program. The Radford University defender attended a Dec. 14-19 camp in southern Ontario.

NEW $54M MINTO REC COMPLEX OPENS IN BARRHAVEN TO GREAT FANFAREWith an overflowing lobby bubbling with excitement, the new Minto Recreation Complex - Barrhaven was officially opened on Nov. 29 in south Barrhaven. Featuring two NHL-size ice pads, a 6-lane, 25-metre pool, a high school-size gymnasium and upper-level walking track and an outdoor artificial football field, the $54 million facility hosted a number of local sports organizations ‘ booths at the opening – from soccer and baseball clubs to BMX and pickleball – and will begin offering regular programming in early

January. See SportsOttawa.com for more detailed coverage.OTTAWA & CANADIAN WATER POLO LEGEND RETURNS TO COACHING FOR CAPITAL WAVE

Celebrated local water polo coach David Hart will be making a return to the pool deck this season, joining the Capital Wave Water Polo Club starting in January. “I am very honoured to be offered this opportunity to get back on deck with young athletes as I celebrate my 50th year in the sport,” the past Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Coaching Achievement Award recipient said in a club announcement. “As a result of some very interesting recent discussions with (Wave head coach) Celso (Rojas), I am hopeful we can launch an innovative and interesting

new concept in the near future, with the help and support of Capital Wave. This new project will benefit the greater Ottawa water polo community, the wider Ontario community and perhaps beyond.”

Ottawa native Dustin Cook is quickly establishing himself as a consistent top-30 performer on the FIS World Cup circuit thanks to a number of strong performances to start the 2-14-2015 season. The 25-year-old Mont-Ste-Marie skier placed 12th twice at December World Cups in Italy and USA and 13th in in November in Lake Louise, Alta. in the super-G to climb to 40th in the world rankings. Cook is also ranked 34th in the giant slalom, with a top World Cup finish of 21st.

Three Ottawa indoor field hockey players helped Canada to a second-place per-formance at the Jan. 2-4 Indoor Mason Cup in Denmark. Gurtej Dhaliwal, Pardeep

Koonar and Shankar Premakanthan went 4-1 in the round robin portion of the tournament to ad-vance to the final against Sweden. Tied 6-6 after regulation, Sweden won 5-4 in penalty strokes. Meanwhile, Ottawa goalkeeper Rowan Harris has been named to Canada’s women’s national junior development team for a four-game series against the U.S. U21 team Feb. 9-17 in Pennsylvania.

4 FIELD HOCKEY PLAYERS CONNECTED TO OTTAWA PLAY FOR CANADA

Ottawa native Shaïnah Joseph stepped up in a big way to help her Florida Gators into the NCAA women’s volleyball Elite Eight round by scoring 3 of the Gators’ final 7 points in a tense 25-22, 21-25, 22-25, 25-17, 16-14 Sweet Sixteen victory over Illinois in Iowa. Florida lost its next match to top-seeded Stanford.

OTTAWA VOLLEYBALL PLAYER STEPS UP FOR FLORIDA GATORS IN NCAA TOURNEY

RAVENS MEN, GEE-GEES WOMEN CLAIM SILVER AT HOMETOWN OUA WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS

NEPEAN CITY SOCCER SPECIAL NEEDS PROGRAM TAKES TRUE SPORT PRIZEThe Nepean City Soccer Club (which recently merged with the Ottawa Royals) won the 2014 True Sport Give-Back Challenge and received a $3,000 prize to support a pair of club initiatives: a program for youth with developmental disabilities and a project to involve new Canadians from the Bayshore area in community soccer. The Ottawa Youth Curling League, Ottawa’s first formal inter-club league for youth, earned third prize in the contest and received $1,000.

Eagle Creek Golf Club’s Jake Bryson has been named to Team Ontario for the 2015 golf season, while Grace St-Germain of Ottawa has been elevated to the national development team.

GOLFERS ON PROVINCIAL & NATIONAL TEAMS

OTTAWA SPORTSPAGE SNAPSHOTS

Meaghan Lapierre, Emma-Marie Blackburn and Taylor Rushforth from the Gloucester Synchro Club have been selected for a Synchro Ontario program featuring monthly training sessions geared towards high-performance athlete development. “The program is an incredible opportunity not only for our 3 selected athletes but for our club as a whole,” Gloucester Synchro head coach Genna McBain says. “This is a wonderful de-velopment opportunity for our club to learn from experts and to continue to strive to enhance our learning.”

3 GLOUCESTER SYNCHRO CLUB SWIMMERS CHOSEN FOR PROVINCIAL PROGRAM

OTTAWA LION QUALIFIES FOR WORLD JUNIOR CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPSClaire Smith of the Ottawa Lions Track-and-Field Club has earned a trip to the continental cross-country running championships as well as March’s world juniors in China. The Stanford University-bound Glebe Collegiate Institute senior qualified thanks to her seventh-place perform-ance at the Nov. 29 Canadian juniors in Vancouver.

The Rachel Homan Ottawa Curling Club rink reached the final in back-to-back top-flight interna-tional events in December, finishing as runner-up at the Canadian Open in Saskatchewan and the Canada Cup in Alberta behind Eve Muirhead and Val Sweeting respectively. The Canadian Curling Association also unveiled Ottawa as the host of the 2016 Tim Hortons Brier, which will be held March 5-13 at TD Place.

TEAM HOMAN REACHES 2 BIG FINALS

The host Carleton Ravens won the silver medal at the Ontario University Athletics men’s water polo championships on Nov. 30, dropping a 7-6 contest to the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in the final Carleton’s Dusan Boskovic and Rodrigo Rojas were selected as OUA all-stars, as was the University of Ottawa’s Jovan Dabic, while uOttawa’s Almin Klino was named most valuable goalie in their team’s run to OUA bronze. The uOttawa Gee-Gees women were also silver medalists behind Toronto,

with Chantal Ouellette earning all-star honours along with Kaity Sennema from bronze-medalist Carleton.

Sam Cogan, Lindsay Eastwood and Josiane Pozzebon of the Nepean Wildcats have been selected to play for Team Canada at the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship Jan. 5-12 in Buffalo. Ottawa’s Chantale Lussier will serve as the team’s mental skills consultant.

3 WILDCATS GO FOR GOLD WITH TEAM CANADA U18 WOMEN

Ottawa softball player Joel Langford has been named to the 2015 men’s national team athlete pool. The Orleans player will attend a May selection camp to determine the roster that will compete in the June 26-July 5 Men’s World Softball Championship in Saskatoon and the July 12-18 Pan Am Games men’s softball competition. Lang-ford recently helped Canada to a bronze medal at the Pan Am Championship in Argentina.

OTTAWA SOFTBALL PLAYER ONE STEP CLOSER TO EARNING PAN AM GAMES BERTH Four local ultimate players were selected to compete in the July 12-18 World U23 Championships in London, England. Hannah Dawson, Kristina Cowan, Kinley Gee and Nick Boucher will attend a March training tournament in advance of Ultimate Canada finalizing which players will make up the open, women’s and mixed rosters.

SEE SPORTSOTTAWA.COM FOR MORE SNAPSHOTS.

4 LOCAL ULTIMATE PLAYERS MAKE CANADA GRADE

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