HeartbeatThe Heartbeat of the Ottawa Sports Community

There was one word to describe Alaine Chartrand’s reaction when she was crowned Canada’s female figure skating champion at the 2016 Cana-dian Tire National Skating Champi-onships in Halifax.

Shocked.When asked how it sounds to be

Canadian champion on live TV, the reality of the TSN interviewer’s ques-tion hit Chartrand like a ton of bricks, and her giggly reaction, with hands covering her face, was absolutely priceless.

“I didn’t actually even think about winning,” recalls the 19-year-old Nepean Skating Club athlete. “When I found out I was the Canadian cham-pion, I said “What, me, Canadian champion?” I couldn’t believe it.”

After finishing behind two-time Canadian champ Katelyn Osmond for 2nd place in the short program, Chartrand wowed judges and audi-ence members alike as she landed seven perfect triple jumps in the long program en route to her first-ever na-tional crown.

“It’s finally sinking in,” Chartrand says by phone the day after win. “I’m just over the moon excited and I just can’t believe I pulled it off.”

The Prescott resident was locked in a three-horse race for the two Ca-nadian berths at the upcoming ISU World Figure Skating Champion-ships March 28-April 3 in Boston. She came away with a 4-point victory over occasional training mate Gabri-elle Daleman and a new personal-best score of 201.99 points – well above her 184.24 silver-medal winning total from last year.

“My goal coming in this year was to qualify for Worlds,” under-lines Chartrand, who completed her

national medal collection with the gold to go alongside 2013 bronze and 2015 silver. “Winning nationals was the icing on the cake. When you are

#1 at something, it is pretty special.”Chartrand’s bewildering travel

and training schedule is well known in the skating community. There are

her longstanding twice-a-week trips in to Nepean.

By Anil Jhalli

7 triples, 1st gold

Alaine Chartrand landed 7 flawless triple jumps en route to a gold medal at the Cana-dian Tire National Skating Champi-onships on Jan. 23 in Halifax.

Nepean Skating Club athlete jumps her way to the first Canadian figure skating title of her career

photo: danielle earl

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LIFETIME OF COACHING LOVE

P. 4

P. 3

Stittsville native Erica Wiebe is one step closer to the Olympic Games thanks to her win at the Canadian team trials.

Retired Ottawa Gymnastics Centre coach Tobie Gorman was one of the Lifetime honourees at the Ottawa Sports Awards.

THE BOMBSHELL IN BRAMPTON

P. 8The Jenn Hanna Ottawa Curling Club rink shocked world #1 Team Homan to win the Ontario Scotties women’s championship.

WRESTLER ON ROAD TO RIO

CHARTRAND continues on p.4

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Tobie Gorman’s face lit up like the 4th of July.

Why? To be truthful, the uneven bars routine she just watched her athlete perform was solid, but not exactly exceptional – good enough for 6th place in the end. Certainly nothing she hadn’t seen a thousand times before in a coach-ing career that stretched over 40 years.

In that time, Gorman reached the pinnacle of sport, coaching Team Canada and two of her athletes from the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

This wasn’t the Olympic Games, it was a provincial qualifier meet, of which she’d atten-ded hundreds and hundreds – kind of old fiddle.

But when Gorman’s gymnast finished her routine cleanly in competition – after struggling endlessly in practice yet continuing to work hard at it – that was it. The signature giant Gorman grin came out and was as wide as ever. Because in that moment, the 12-year-old she was work-ing with had tried her best, and achieved her best performance.

“People always ask me if the Olympics was like the best thing I ever did in my life,” Gorman says. “I tell them the best thing I ever did in my

life was raise my two children, Julie and Chris, without a doubt.”

For the recently-retired OGC women’s pro-

gram director of 25 years, it wasn’t so much about teaching children gymnastics skills, it was about teaching life skills with gymnastics

serving as the medium.“That’s what I was really hoping they would

get to come out with,” explains Gorman, who composed a succinct account of her coaching philosophy: “I coach because I want to bring op-portunities to the girls that will enrich their lives. I want them to have a voice, respect their bodies, learn that it’s OK to struggle and make mistakes, and then to forgive themselves when they do.

“I want them to learn and to work and step outside the box, deal with their fears and uncer-tainties, and that they are responsible and ac-countable for their choices.”

Gorman’s impact on the lives of countless young gymnasts was set to be recognized at the Ottawa Sports Awards banquet, where she was to receive the Brian Kilrea Lifetime Achieve-ment Award for Coaching on Jan. 27 at Algon-quin College.

“When I got the call, I said, ‘Oh dear, I guess this means I’m old,’” quips the 60-year-old owner of two brand new (replacement) knees. “It’s a real treat. It just made my day. It’s quite exciting. I coached for almost 45 years, so it’s very nice to receive that type of recognition and appreciation.”

Day-to-day successes fuelled Olympic coach for 40+ yearsBy Dan Plouffe Ottawa Sports Awards

Brian Kilrea Lifetime Coaching Achievement Award winner Tobie Gorman with her last national champion, Sofia Baggio.

photo provided

Along with Tobie Gorman’s coaching honour, it was the first all-female cast selected for Life-time Achievement Awards in the event’s long history, as Agnes Laing received the Mayor’s Cup for Out-standing Contribution to Sport in Ot-tawa, Sheilagh McCaskill earned the Lifetime Volunteer/Administrator Award, and Karen Butcher received the Lifetime Official recognition.

CORONA FOUNDER HONOUREDLaing built the Nepean-Corona

School of Gymnastics from a 40-ath-lete club in 1972 into its current col-lection of almost 2,000 gymnasts and 40 coaches. In 40+ years of involve-ment in gymnastics, Laing coached a number of her athletes on to NCAA gymnastics scholarships, and helped organize many local, provincial and national meets, as well as fundraisers for CHEO and breast cancer re-search. Her main goal, says Corona assistant executive director Penny

Fyfe, is to help athletes build char-acter and citizenship alongside their gymnastics abilities.

“It gives Agnes much pleasure to see many former students now bring-ing their own children,” Fyfe high-lights. “Seeing generations of famil-ies participating is the realization of her dedication and determination.”

NEPEAN OFFICIAL SALUTED“When I was a teen, my dad

thought it would be a good idea for my sister and me to volunteer as am-ateur coaches,” Karen Butcher says of her innocuous start to a 39-year career that has seen her contribute to figure skating from the smallest stages to the brightest lights, includ-ing the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

A long-time Nepean Skating Club member, Butcher continues to serve an ISU championship judge, an international technical controller, an international referee and senior eval-

uator. Often, she’ll start her week giving feedback to young skaters learning to develop their skills at local clubs, and then by the end will work an international event.

WIDE IMPACT FOR COACH/ADMINVolunteering in many adminis-

trative capacities with Skate Canada and the Eastern Ontario section, Mc-Caskill has been a constant presence in local figure skating, serving as the Gloucester Skating Club’s CanSkate program director for the last 25 years.

After progressing through the skating levels herself growing up, McCaskill has since shared her love for skating with tons of local adults, teen and young children, notes GSC director of skating Darlene Joseph.

“Sheilagh has touched tens of thousands of individuals in our city by introducing them to the sport of skating, and then to figure skating,” states Joseph. “Her passion to share, enable and encourage skaters of all

ages and abilities has made a differ-ence in the lives of so many, includ-ing second and third generations of skaters.”

STRINGERS FOR SPIRIT OF SPORTThe Ottawa Sports Awards is

presenting a new award this year re-cognizing the Spirit of Sport, and the inaugural recipients will be Gordon and Kathleen Stringer. Their daugh-ter, Rowan, died following a high school rugby game in which she sus-tained a concussion shortly after get-ting another concussion a few days earlier.

Instead of reacting with what would have been justifiable anger, the Stringers displayed remarkable clear-headed thinking through such a traumatic experience to bring about positive change and leave a lasting legacy for Rowan.

They have been ever-present in the public push to have Rowan’s Law approved by the Ontario gov-

ernment, which will legislate the implementation of 49 recommenda-tions to support enhanced concussion awareness, education and treatment.

“Gordon and Kathleen have showed tremendous courage and vis-ion despite such a devastating loss,” Ottawa Sports Awards board member Bob Wilson noted in a media release. “To be able to create this positive de-velopment in sport safety for future generations is a great demonstration of Rowan’s spirit, and the spirit of sport.”

On top of the major awards, the Ottawa Sports Awards honour the city’s top athlete in over 60 indi-vidual sports, as well as local teams that won a championship at the pro-vincial level or higher. The Male and Female Athlete, Team and Coach of the Year winners were to be unveiled at the banquet.

For a detailed list of Ott-awa Sports Awards winners, see: ottawasportsawards.ca/node/1767

LIFETIME AWARDS continues on p.5

4 ELITE

Wrestler Erica Wiebe is one of Canada’s brightest hopes for a medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She only needs to qualify first.

The Stittsville native won the women’s 75 kg division at the Dec. 4-6 Canadian Olympic team trials in Sherwood Park, Alta., and has earned the right to represent Canada at the March 4-6 Pan American Olympic Qualifier in Texas.

“I really made a big step forward in my wrestling going into the trials,” reflects Wiebe. “I dug deep and really thought about how I wanted to put my best performance forward.”

The former world #1 was cool and in control in all of her matches. Wiebe downed Montreal’s Veronica Keefe by technical superiority (10-0) to advance to the best-of-3 final stage of the event against B.C.’s Justina Di Stasio, the rival who beat her out for Canada’s Pan Am Games and World Championships entries last year.

Wiebe comfortably won the series in two straight with scores of 6-0 and 10-2.

“The past couple of times we wrestled I really hadn’t wrestled my best,” explains Wiebe. “So it was a great exercise for me to look deep within and figure out why I wasn’t able to wrestle my best.”

Exhausted and having fallen to their knees

– the two modern-day gladiators stared at one another for several long seconds following the match.

“I think we kind of looked at each other and both knew – without the other person we wouldn’t be where we were that day,” signals 26-year-old University of Calgary-based athlete.

Wiebe described the moment as one of deep respect and admiration. Despite having lost to

Di Stasio at the 2015 national team trials, Wiebe acknowledged the contributions of Di Stasio and other Canadian wrestlers in advancing the sport of women’s wrestling on the international scene.

“It’s just an expectation,” notes Wiebe. “As a Canadian female wrestler, when you step on the mat, you’re going to be a dominating force.”

For Paul Ragusa – the high-performance

wrestling coach at the Canadian Sport Institute in Calgary – the victory at Olympic trials was not a surprise.

“I just knew Erica’s capabilities,” says Ragusa. “For me the highlight was watching her prepare for the trials. She did everything she could, and I really couldn’t have asked for more.”

CANADIAN WOMEN CARRY PODIUM PROWESS

Wiebe and the rest of her national team train-ing partners will compete at a late-January test-event in Rio. The competition will feature most of the world’s top female wrestlers, and will be an excellent opportunity for Canada’s Olympic hopefuls to compete against the very best before heading to Texas and the Olympic qualifier.

Looking forward, Ragusa believes Wiebe’s chances of earning a place at the Rio Games are “very good.”

“If she wrestles at her capability, those girls won’t be able to beat her,” he indicates, in as humble a manner possible.

And while making the Olympic Games is a great enough accomplishment for most, Ragusa insists that his expectations for Wiebe and all of Canada’s athletes are significantly higher.

“I always tell people ‘if you wanted the tracksuit, you could just go to The Bay and buy one,’” he cracks. “We’re in this to medal – and Erica is vying for an Olympic medal.”

Redemption: Wiebe defeats closest rival to win Olympic team trialsBy Brian Hill Erica Wiebe is back wearing

Canadian colours.

“Before heading over there, I re-member thinking I have no idea what is going to happen,” Sarah-Lynne Be-gin said of the 2016 World Ringette Championship in Helsinki.

She certainly had no club that in the 66th minute of the championship game against Finland’s junior na-tional team that she would score the tournament-winning overtime goal.

“It was incredible,” Begin recalls. “When I got the ring going to the net, I was so exhausted and kind of on a mini-breakaway. I saw the opening right when I got the ring. I just kind of shot, I didn’t even really see the shot go past the goalie, but I saw it in the net.

“It was an incredible feeling. It was the end of my shift, I was so tired and I just wanted to get off. But then I scored the winning goal and it was just such a relief.”

The Team Canada under-21 group went 6-0 at the event, outscor-ing their opponents by a margin of 126-6 in the development pool of the combined junior/senior worlds. For her efforts, Begin was honoured as the MVP for Canada, and the tourna-ment’s top centre.

“There are no words to explain it,” says the Ottawa Ice National Ringette League player. “Going into the tournament, you always expect that you want to perform at your best but you never know if you’ll be able

to because there’s always obstacles in the way.

“Going out there and being able to give 100% and perform at my best for all the games that I played throughout the tournament and then especially in the final game, I got so lucky.”

Begin says that she felt nervous before the second game of the tourna-ment, but it was quick to pass.

“When I looked around the dressing room, I knew that I could

trust every single one of them,” the 20-year-old details. “It just made me feel that if I made a mistake they were going to be there to stick up for me.”

It also helps that Begin had an ex-teammate from her days as a Nepean Raven with her in Finland, Molly Lewis.

“It’s really cool to see us come from the same organization when we were young and work our way up to the national team,” Begin adds. “It’s definitely a crazy journey.”

FINNS THUMP CANUCK SENIORSThe Canadian senior team didn’t

get to get a similar fate at the event, losing two straight in their best-of-3 series with Finland, including a 13-0 drubbing in the second game.

Ottawa was well represented on the team, with Jennifer Hartley of the Ottawa Ice and Gloucester Devils players Jasmine Leblanc and sisters Kelsey and Kaitlyn Youldon. This was the Youldons’ second tour with the team after taking 2013 silver in

North Bay.“It was definitely bittersweet,”

Kelsey Youldon indicates. “We didn’t get the outcome that we wanted. Put-ting in all of that time and effort to not get the result that you hoped for is definitely bitter.

“But they did put on a great event. They had all of the fire and smoke coming in, they had great visuals of the game and then seeing the juniors play, they did great and they won. So it was really fun to see them have success.”

There are a number of differences between the Canadian and Finnish national teams that made a huge dif-ference in the end, she notes.

“Mainly their body positioning and the way that they make contact,” explains the 24-year-old Nepean product, noting the Finns were ex-cellent at pinning the ring when the Canadians had possession to create turnovers. “Finland definitely has a different style than we play in the NRL or just in Canada.”

While it was mostly a business trip, the team did enjoy the chance to see some of Finland while they were there, and their hosts were fantastic, Kelsey Youldon underlines.

“The food was a little bit differ-ent, and of course the time change,” she notes. “But, there was a lot of English so it wasn’t hard to commu-nicate or find where to go. And their public transit is amazing so we were able to go and explore pretty freely.”

Nepean ringette player lifts Canada to world jr. title in OTBy Josh Bell The Canadian junior ringette team beat Finland’s

juniors in overtime to win the 2016 world title.

photo provided

photo: steve kingsman

5

Ottawa centre-back Alexis Martel-Lamothe and the Canadian women’s under-20 national soccer team did not allow a single goal during a dominant showing in the group stage of the Dec. 3-13 CON-CACAF continental championships in Honduras, but it all came down to penalty kicks against Mexico with a berth in next November’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup hanging in the balance.

“It was exciting, but also very stressful,” recounts Mar-tel-Lamothe. “I feel like everyone was very nervous, but at the same time it really brought us closer and made us stronger as a team, because we were all in it together.”

Canada wound up on the happy side of the semi-final shootout, win-ning 5-4 to advance the tournament final, which they ultimately lost to USA 1-0 to take home the silver medal.

“Obviously it’s never a fun ex-perience losing in a final,” notes Martel-Lamothe. “But overall we achieved so many things throughout the tournament and learned so much within a short period of time playing together. For us to be able to play well and make the final, while also developing some of our younger tal-ent, was very rewarding.”

A sprained ankle from a prepar-ation game limited the action Mar-tel-Lamothe saw in the tournament, but she did start and finish Canada’s final game of the group stage, a 2-0 victory over host Honduras.

BOUNCES BACK FROM U17 CUT

An ankle injury was far from the only challenge Martel-Lamothe faced on the road to her Team Canada debut. She’d attended na-tional team camps at the U-17 level previously in 2013 and 2014, but was never selected to the final roster for competitions.

“It helped me to work even

harder than I already was, while learning many different things that I hadn’t in my previous environ-ment,” says the well-traveled player who wore the colours of many local clubs over the years. “So it really gave me an opportunity to grow and develop into a better player, while bettering myself at the same time.”

The result was different this time around, with the 17-year-old claim-ing her spot as one of the younger players on the U-20 team.

“It was a combination of the different coaching styles I played under in the past and hard work that allowed me to make the jump,” Martel-Lamothe signals. “It’s a lot like a roller coaster. You don’t suc-ceed all of the time.

“There are difficult times as well, which I feel are not spoken about as often, because young play-ers come in and forget that there will be rougher times. So I feel like me not making the under-17 squads were a way for me to learn how to do things differently and mature more.”

CHASING ELITE ENVIRONMENT

There was no shortage of ded-

ication or sacrifices along the way for Martel-Lamothe, and her family. The first step to taking her game to the next level was traveling to and from Toronto every single weekend to be part of the provincial program, eventually moving there for a short period of time.

When all the Ontario-based clubs folded their W-League teams, it was off to Laval and the Comètes program in search of the closest elite competition.

Martel-Lamothe now finds her-self traveling to and from Laval, from a Tremblant home base during the week, while taking online classes to make her schedule feasible.

DEDICATION IMPRESSES COACH

“Being a high-performance ath-lete, competing at the international level requires dedication and focus,” underlines Audra Sherman, Mar-tel-Lamothe’s former coach with the Ottawa Fury. “Alexis set her goal, to make the Canadian national team, and that is what drives her.”

Sherman salutes Martel- Lamothe for having the character to go outside her comfort zone and make the difficult decisions required to excel.

“I’m very proud of her for hav-ing this experience,” Sherman adds. “She has worked very hard and made many sacrifices to represent Canada. It’s important that other young fe-males see the reality of what it takes to make it as a high-performance athlete.”

Martel-Lamothe will soon be graduating from Samuel-Genest high school, and has made a verbal commitment to attend and play soc-cer at the University of Notre Dame in the fall. But she remains driven by one other major goal.

“For the long-term, I want to achieve my dream from when I was young girl,” smiles Martel-Lamothe, “to be on the national senior team, but to also become the best soccer player I can in every possible way.”

The (long) road less traveled leads to Team CanadaBy Mat LaBranche

Alexis Martel-

Lamothe

ELITE

photo provided

OSU Force Academy ZoneO t t a w a

South United Soccer Club continues to earn more and more respect from

Canadian Major League Soccer clubs as its players perform well in their next-level envir-onments.

Recently, a pair of OSU Force Academy players, Ryan Massoud and Antonio Carlini, went to Vancouver for a week-long trial with the Whitecaps’ youth residency program. This came on the heels of OSU hosting a Whitecaps combine locally in the fall.

“We were delighted to see those results from the event,” indicated OSU Club Head Coach Paul Harris. “It just shows the work that we do here in terms of hosting the event, and obviously that work we’re doing intern-ally to develop players, is paying off.”

With OSU as the lead organizer, the fall combine was the second time this year that the Whitecaps came to scout talent from the area. A number of local players have setup shop out west in recent years with the Van-couver academy, including OSU products Vana Markarian, Zoom Langwa and Dario Conte.

“I was impressed with the standard and the quality,” said Whitecaps Residency Re-cruiting Officer Frank Ciaccia, commending OSU for extending combine invitations to other clubs in the region. “Full credit to Ot-tawa South for taking on this initiative and opening the doors. We look forward to our continued relationship with them.”

New to his role as of this summer, Ciaccia noted that the Whitecaps residency program is really “unrivaled in North America” as a full-time, fully funded operation for its devel-oping players. Take the existence of his own job and that of a colleague devoted to aca-demics and securing scholarship opportunit-ies for Whitecaps prospects as further proof of that standing, he added.

“The amount of money that’s invested in the young players there is quite extraordin-ary,” Ciaccia underlined. “We are truly blessed to have ownership that believes in the development of the community player.”

While in town for the combine, Ciaccia spoke at OSU’s end-of-year banquet and

saluted the leadership of Harris and General Manager Jim Lianos in his remarks at the banquet.

They’re right on the money. They’re steer-ing you in the right direction,” he said. “You are in wonderful surroundings in this club.”

SUCCESS WITH ALL 3 MLS SIDESAlso speaking at the banquet was OSU

product Abdou Samake, who recently signed with his first professional contract with the Montreal Impact. In the weeks following the banquet, OSU was the only non-MLS team initially invited to a tournament run by Toronto FC – another sign of the strong con-nections the club is building with Canada’s elite pro franchises.

“They recognize the work that’s gone on in the club,” Harris explained. “They recog-nize what we do, and they also know we’re going to go and give them meaningful com-petition. They wouldn’t invite us if that wasn’t the case.”

The Vancouver-based players are far from alone in terms of OSU-brewed talent on the path to the pros. Czech junior national team member and English soccer pro Kris Twardek of Millwall FC is perhaps the biggest name, while Luka Vujicic is the most recent player to join an academy with the Impact.

“We are very proud of these boys, along with many others from our club who are be-ing identified, monitored and tracked by the national program and the MLS professional academies,” Harris added. “Our close work-ing relationship with the Vancouver White-caps, Toronto FC and Montreal Impact will continue to provide motivation for our Force Academy players to progress into these environments.”

OSU’s relationships with Canadian MLS clubs continue to growFrank

Ciaccia, Vancouver Whitecaps

A number of local teams won division titles as the Ottawa Fut-sal Club welcomed over 70 teams for its annual Bob Rathwell Tour-nament, held Jan. 23-24 at vari-ous gymnasiums in the Nepean/Barrhaven/Riverside South area.

The Ottawa-Nepean Storm downed the West Ottawa Warriors in the final of both the U16 boys’ (5-2 score) and girls’ (2-1) divi-sions.

OFC league participants Tiki Taka topped the men’s div. 2 event, winning all six of their matches, including a penalty kicks semi-fi-nal victory over Sudbury. Michael Samson led the way offensively with seven goals.

OFC’s Squad beat the Minions 4-0 for the women’s div. 1 crown, while the champion Tighty Whiteys wedged out a 3-2 win over Happy Hour in div. 2, and the Sweetballs won div. 3.

FUTSAL FRENZY

photo: dan plouffe

From 2002 to 2004, Gor-man experienced the biggest stages in sport, attending the Commonwealth, Pan Amer-ican and Olympic Games in Greece along with two of her homegrown talents, Heather Purnell and Melanie Banville.

“I was so proud to repres-ent Canada, you have no idea,” Gorman recalls. “Being at the Olympic Games is obviously an experience so few people get to share. I was so fortunate to do it. But really, it was more about the journey to get there.”

The list of provincial or na-

tional champions Gorman has coached literally fills a wall at the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre. One of those is Sofia Baggio, although, like her coach, she takes pride in more than win-ning titles.

“I’ve improved as a gym-nast but also as a person, by her side,” underlines the 2015 Canadian Championships floor gold medallist. “She was a good coach, and also just when you needed to talk to somebody, she was there. She’s very easy to talk with, and she never thinks any differently of you if you tell her something. You can confide in her. She was almost like a

second mother to me.”Gorman stays in touch

with many of the gymnasts she coached, and now calls friends. More than any medals or Olympic rings, Gorman feels most proud to see how her ath-letes turn out once their gym-nastics career is complete.

“I really always wanted to give them the opportunity to learn, and learn about them-selves,” Gorman underlines. “Olympics – for sure that was a huge shining moment. But I really think it’s the day-to-day work that I was the proudest of, and watching these kids grow.

“What a privilege.”

LIFETIME cont’d from p.3

6

L’École secondaire publique Louis-Riel vient de lancer une Académie Internationale de hockey, un projet in-novateur qui deviendra un programme phare d’une école déjà bien reconnue pour son excellence en sports-études.

Prêt à débuter en septembre prochain, l’Académie plaira surtout aux élèves et familles qui tiennent le succès académique à coeur, et qui désirent en même temps accéder à des opportun-ités en hockey post-secondaire.

« Seuls quelques-uns parviennent au niveau des ligues professionnelles, note Ken Levesque, le coordonnateur du programme sports-études. On veut que ces élèves puissent continuer à jouer au hockey au niveau universitaire ou collé-giale et poursuivre leurs rêves. »

Souvent les élèves de 11e ou 12e

année sont découragés lorsqu’ils ne réussissent pas à jouer pour une équipe de haut niveau, mais l’Académie offrira la chance de renouveler la passion pour le hockey et de continuer leurs aspirations de haute performance.

Sur la glace pour quatre pratiques par semaine avec un calendrier d’en-viron 60-75 matchs par année, c’est une meilleure option qu’une ligue qui joue une ou deux fois par semaine, ou d’être sur le troisième ou quatrième trio d’un club junior A qui met le succès de l’équipe en premier, et ce souvent au détriment du joueur, affirme Levesque.

« Avec l’Académie, c’est vraiment le développement de chaque joueur qui est mis de l’avant, explique-t-il.

Même si on ne fait pas une carrière en hockey, c’est quand même ex-

cellent si on obtient un diplôme uni-versitaire après avoir joué au hockey avec une bourse athlétique ou académique, souligne Levesque.

« Il y a beaucoup d’installations où l’académique passe peut-être en deuxième lieu, il rajoute. Ici, on a un programme déjà sur pied où les ensei-gnants sont vraiment chevronnés, et où l’académique passe en premier. »

FORMULE INNOVATRICEL’horaire typique d’un élève de

l’Académie Internationale de hockey à Louis-Riel débutera en matinée avec trois cours scolaires traditionnels. En-suite, ils seront sur la patinoire pour une heure et demie du lundi au jeudi. Après, c’est une heure d’étude supervisée par les enseignants, suivie par une période d’entraînement physique au Dôme de Louis-Riel, une installation sportive de première classe située à même l’école.

Étant donné que les membres de l’Académie joueront uniquement pour les Rebelles de Louis-Riel, leur journée

se terminera vers 18h.« Ils ne sont pas obligés de jouer un

match à l’extérieur et de revenir tard le soir, indique Levesque. Ils peuvent se concentrer sur la vie familiale ou faire leurs devoirs. C’est ça la grosse différence. »

L’équipe de l’Académie jouera contre d’autres académies semblables dans une association qui s’appelle Prep School Hockey Federation. À chaque deux fins de semaine, l’équipe parti-cipera à des tournois showcase ou vis-itera des universités soit au Canada ou aux États-Unis.

Le programme est sous la direction de Shawn Anderson, un ancien joueur de la LNH avec les Sabres de Buffalo et l’ancien entraîneur-chef et directeur général du club junior A à Hawkes-bury. Il engagera l’entraîneur principal bientôt.

« On est vraiment excités, et on a déjà reçu beaucoup de demandes, con-clut Levesque. C’est un grand plus pour la communauté de hockey à Ottawa. »

Louis-Riel high school r e c e n t l y launched an International H o c k e y Academy –

a signature program that will further elevate the unique offerings in the French public board institution’s pop-ular sports-study program.

Set to begin this coming September, the Academy will be particularly ap-pealing to students and families com-mitted to academic success while also shooting for opportunities in post-sec-ondary hockey.

“It’s a pretty small handful that make it to the big leagues,” notes Ken Levesque, Louis-Riel’s sports-study program coordinator. “We want our players to be able to continue on into university or college hockey, and still follow their dreams.”

Often Grade 11 or 12 students get discouraged when they aren’t playing at the highest level, but the Academy will offer the chance to regain their passion for hockey while keeping their high-performance aspirations alive.

On the ice four times a week with

around 60-75 games per season, the Academy would likely provide a better option than a league that only plays once or twice a week, or for a third or fourth-liner on a Jr. ‘A’ club that puts team success first to the detriment of underused players, Levesque notes.

“With the Academy, each player’s individual development comes first,” he explains.

Even if graduates don’t become pros, playing hockey on a scholarship – athletic or academic thanks to the emphasis on school – and coming out with a university diploma remains an excellent result, Levesque signals.

“There are a lot of other programs where school really takes a back seat to hockey,” Levesque underlines. “Here we have an established program where the teachers are really committed to working with the students, and where academic success comes first.”

INNOVATIVE FORMULAA typical day for a student in Louis-

Riel’s International Hockey Academy would begin with three regular school classes. Then comes an hour-and-a-half practice on Mondays through Thursdays. Next is a one-hour study

period supervised by teachers, fol-lowed by a physical conditioning ses-sion at the Dome @ Louis-Riel – the first-class sports facility next door to the school in Blackburn Hamlet. Given that Academy players dress only for the Louis-Riel Rebelles, their day fin-ishes around 6 p.m.

“They won’t have to go evening game and then get home late at night,” Levesque indicates. “They can focus on family life, or studying. That’s the big difference.”

Academy members will play in the Prep School Hockey League against other similar academies and attend showcase tournaments or visit univer-sity programs in Canada or the U.S. every second weekend.

Shawn Anderson, a former NHLer with the Buffalo Sabres and past head coach and GM for the Jr. ‘A’ Hawkes-bury Hawks, is the Academy director and will soon hire a coach to lead the program.

“We’re really excited, and we’ve already received lots of inquiries,” notes Levesque, who would like to add a similar girls’ program in the near fu-ture. “This is a big plus for the hockey community in Ottawa.”

International Hockey Academy program coming to Louis-Riel sports-études

L’Académie Internationale de hockey à Louis-Riel est prête à accueillir des joueurs

Champions d’un tournoi à Kingston en décembre, le pro-gramme de hockey à Louis-Riel s’amé- liora encore plus avec son Académie.

Rebelles WrapOttawa’s holiday hockey

tradition, the Bell Capital Cup, draws hockey clubs from far and wide, but the tournament provides an op-portunity for the top local Atom and Peewee-aged teams to make their mark stacked up against some of the best out-of-town talent.

Competing in the highest level for their age group, the Gloucester Rangers Major Atom ‘AA’ team was one opponent visiting teams made sure to be ready for. The squad has drawn atten-tion from the American-run website MyHockeyRank-ings, hovering around the top-10 for their age group all season long.

The statistics for their leading scorers also jump off the page. At the top of the scoring chart is Owen Out-water. Averaging 3.3 points per game, the 10-year-old broke the 50-goal mark in

his 26th game of the season.“I usually practice about

two or three hours a day,” Outwater notes. “I enjoy the fun of it and just the thrill of

playing the game and learn-ing.”

Heading into the Cap-ital Cup, Outwater led his Ontario East Minor Hockey League division with more than double the number of points and nearly four times as many goals as anyone else in the league – with the notable exception of his linemates in the #2 and #3 positions, Justin Cloutier and Christopher Barlas. To-gether, the trio has combined for 189 points in 26 games.

“We know where each other are going to be on the ice,” Outwater identifies as a major key to his line’s dom-inance. “We push each other to be the best we can.”

While the offensive stars are certainly quite impress-ive, Rangers coach Mike Paron emphasizes that his club’s dazzling OEMHL record (22-2-2) is due to a full team effort, including a strong defence that has sur-rendered the fewest goals in the league.

“We’ve been happy with them,” highlights Paron, a St. Mark Catholic High School phys ed teacher, sa-luting his players for bring-ing the right, positive atti-tude to the rink.

“Just an example is one of our defencemen who won a player of the game award,” Paron explains. “He didn’t think he deserved it, so after the game he gave it to his goaltender.”

Local teams love Capital Cup stageBy Michael Nellis

COMMUNITY CLUBS

Owen Outwater

Local teams earned a pile of hardware from this year’s Capital Cup, which included four all-Ottawa finals in competitive divi-sions.

The Ottawa Valley Silver Seven claimed the Minor Peewee ‘AA’ title with a 5-2 victory over the Nepean Raiders.

In Major Peewee ‘AA’, Ottawa Valley downed Gloucester 4-1, while the Rangers turned the tables on the Sil-ver Seven in the Minor Peewee ‘AAA’ final, scoring a 7-4 win on the strength of a Christian Berini hat trick.

The Ottawa Sting won back-to-back triple-overtime games over the Cumberland Jr. Grads and Kanata Blazers to win the Major Peewee ‘A’ crown. Ryan Barnes assisted on Jace Peters’ equalizer with the goalie pulled and one second left in regulation in the semi-final and then scored the OT tournament-winner – his first goal of the event – in the final.

Hayden McIn-rue pulled off a similar feat, scoring the tourna-ment-winner and his first goal of the event with 25 seconds left in the 3rd

period to lift his Raid-ers to a 3-2 triumph over New York state’s Ramapo Saints in the tightly-con-test Minor Atom ‘AAA’ division.

The Cumberland Jr. Grads were the class of the Minor Atom ‘A’ field, winning each game by at least three goals, including the 6-0 final over Whitby.

The Nepean Wildcats allowed just one goal in five games to walk away with the Girls’ Peewee ‘AA’ crown. Cameron Thomas recorded four shutouts including the final 3-0 victory over Stoney Creek.

In House League play involving local teams, the Ottawa Centre Lum-berjacks beat the Canter-bury Cyclones 5-3 for the Atom House ‘A’ title, the West Carleton Warriors fell 2-1 to the Aylmer Gla-diators in the Atom House ‘B’ final, and the Cum-berland Dukes downed the West End Savages 4-1 in Peewee House ‘A’.

Reaching other di-vision finals were the Eastern Ontario Wild (Major Peewee ‘AAA’), Gloucester (Major Atom ‘AA’ & Minor Atom ‘AA’) and Nepean (Major Atom ‘A’).

CUP CHAMPS FROM THE CAPITAL

photo: dan plouffe

CUP continues next page

7

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After 3-2 and 3-1 wins over New Jersey and Connecticut, a 2-1 loss to Kitchener and a 1-1 tie with Syracuse to advance to the playoff round, the Rangers ran into the Don Mills Flyers in the quarter-final and were knocked out with a 6-4 loss.

Don Mills went on to win the division with a 6-1 blowout over Kitchener in the final.

“It was a bit of a sloppy game,” indicates Flyers head coach Anthony Hollyoak. “Both teams were tired and both teams were nervous.”

Recognizing that it was a special moment in his players’

careers to play in the champion-ship game on the Ottawa Senat-ors’ home rink at Canadian Tire Centre, Hollyoak says he di-alled down how hard he pushed his team compared to usual.

“I wanted them to have fun,” underlines the ‘AAA’ coach. “It’s a big game and we wanted to win, but the truth is, I didn’t want to win at the expense of ruining the experience.”

Hollyoak says his team “had a blast” at the tournament, enjoying the extra little things that happen at the event such as player of the game and hardest worker awards, and that thee eventual win was the icing on the cake.

CUP: Rangers downed in 1/4s by eventual champscont’d from previous page

COMMUNITY CLUBS

When the Canadian Gymnastics Champion-ships came to town two years ago, they were the eager helpers running clipboards from the judges to the scoring station – in awe of the point totals the athletes on the mats were put-ting up and wondering how could they ever get to that level themselves.

Now, Haley Miller, Emma Yau, Erika Lin and Cynthia Tong of the Kanata Rhythmic Gymnastics Club are set to debut on a similar national stage as they prepare for their first Elite Canada competition Feb. 11-14 in Richmond, B.C.

“It’s very surreal,” Miller indicates. “We’ve been in the crowd, or helping out behind the judges’ table, but it’s going to be a different point of view for this one. It’s exciting.”

Performing at those 2014 nationals was Kanata product Lucinda Nowell, who has since

gone on to win a pair of bronze medals with the Canadian group rhythmic gymnastics team at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games.

KRSG didn’t have a national-level program at that time, so Nowell would drive to Montreal most nights of the week to get in the additional training time required to make her way onto the national team.

“She was definitely part of the psyche” that inspired the club to put the national program in place, notes KRSG head coach Dasa Lelli. “Lucinda is the perfect example. Over the years we’ve always come across talented, committed gymnasts, and families, who were definitely destined to go to high-performance levels, but we didn’t have that.

“For us, it was very sad to bring the gym-nasts to a certain level and then say, ‘here, take that package and please go on to the next level.’

“It’s been happening more and more. The quality of the program is very high, and we

see the potential here, so we thought it is high time to open that door.”

A number of pieces had to be put in place to allow KRSG to jump from its place as a strong club at the provincial level into one that offers the top national stream.

First, it was finding space for additional training – espe-cially challenging when rent-ing gym time from schools since the club doesn’t have its home facility.

They also needed a dedic-ated group of blooming gym-nasts ready to take the next step up.

And the club needed to be able to fund a high-perform-

ance coach position, and then find the right coach who fits for the club.

Enter Yuliana Korolyova, an experienced Russian-born coach and national level judge

who worked with many clubs in the Toronto area.

4 gymnasts set to make history for 40-yr-old Kanata clubBy Dan Plouffe

photo: dan plouffe

KANATA RHYTHMIC continues on p. 10

8 BYTOWN STORM BULLETINTriathlon is a family affair with the ‘truly special’ Bytown Storm club

Family Day is coming up on Feb. 15, but if you ask members of the Bytown Storm Triathlon Club, “family day” is

an occurrence that comes a lot more than once a year.

It’s hard to find a sport that caters to families more than triathlon.

“The family aspect is really different from other sports. You can have a soccer tournament, but usually it’s not mixed up with participants of all ages,” explains Storm head coach Greg Kealey. “But swimming, cycling and running are probably activities that parents do with their kids already, so it’s a really easy sport to get into, and to have everyone in the family participate. It’s really about having an active lifestyle.”

PARENTS NOT LEFT ON THE SIDELINESCommunity triathlon races often feature youth

and adult races one after another as well, and fam-ily members can train together at other times.

For Gail Cameron, taking a spinning class and being stationed beside her teenaged daughter was a unique opportunity she enjoyed.

“I had to take her anyways,” Cameron recalls. “For that hour, rather than walk around or go to the store or get coffee, I wound up getting a little exercise in.”

The Storm club’s primary focus – and track re-cord of success up to the highest levels – is on the youth development side, but the club also offers popular age group programming run by a coach devoted to adult masters athletes, Adam Smart.

Cameron’s husband Kevin took part in the age group program and often joins the younger ath-letes on their long bike rides in the summer, also teaching them bike mechanic skills. Other parents paddle in a canoe alongside their kids during their open water swims.

“We get to spend time with her, that’s really what we enjoy most,” Cameron signals. “It’s volunteering a little to give that extra support, but at the same

time, it’s about being able to talk and keep the line of communication open about something you’re experiencing together.”

Even for those who aren’t athletically inclined, there are many ways to be involved with club. Many families volunteer to help run fundraising initiatives and plan wide-ranging social events such as pub painting nights, panic room or bubble soccer.

A SPORT THAT STICKS FOR TEENAGERS

“It helps me give back,” Cameron indicates. “Rachel has gained so much from her time in Storm. She has changed completely with her con-fidence, with her self-esteem. She’s really found her niche. Her social development has really come a long way. It gives her a lot of pride and self-re-spect.

“As a parent, you just want your child to be happy. That’s all you can really ask – that they’re happy and healthy. Storm has really given that.

“I think we tried every activity under the sun. You name it, she was in it as a kid. And this was the only thing that really, really stuck. There’s some-thing truly special about the way this club is setup.”

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The Jenn Hanna rink dropped a bombshell in Brampton that rocked the Ca-nadian curling scene as they upset their Ottawa Curling Club counterparts and world #1-ranked Rachel Homan to claim Ontario’s lone entry in the Feb. 20-28 Scotties Tour-nament of Hearts.

“Going into the week, everyone sort of thought we were playing for 2nd place,”

notes Team Hanna lead Karen Sagle. “That was the goal amongst all of the teams there because it was expected Ho-man would take it. They’re the best team in the world right now.”

The match started off on the wrong foot for Homan when she blew a routine blank attempt with her final stone in the first end to give up the hammer with just a single point.

The two-time Canadian

champ was up 5-4 at the mid-way point, but gave up a steal of two in the 7th end on a big miss and then came up light on a more challenging shot in the 8th to give up three more and fall into an insurmount-able 10-5 hole with two ends to play.

The game ended 10-8 and gave the world’s #75-ranked team an upset for the ages.

“It’s insane,” Sagle smiles.

Hanna humbles Homan in all-Ottawa Ontario Scotties curling final upset

ELITE

(From left) Steph Hanna, Brit O’Neill,

Jenn Hanna & Karen Sagle.

HANNA continues next page

photo provided

By Dan Plouffe

“We are so, so excited to play for Ontario. It’s a dream-come-true.”

Sagle and fellow 29-year-old Brit O’Neill joined forces this season with 36-year-old Jenn Hanna and 33-year-old sister Steph Hanna, who were Ontario champions and national silver medallists back in 2005 along with current fifth Pas-cale Letendre.

The first-year team entered the Ontario Scotties with hopes of earning a winning record and ideally a spot in the playoff round.

“When you come into a tournament like this with really high expectations, it puts so much extra pressure on you and your team,” Sagle highlights. “We had some losses early, but because we didn’t have that pressure on us, we were able to rebound really well.”

Sagle says the turning point in tour-nament came when they had a close 8-7 loss to Homan in the 5th draw of the round robin. Team Hanna was 2-3 at the time, but they didn’t lose again the rest of

the way, winning four in a row to reach the playoffs, and then three more in the playoffs, including a semi-final where they stole two in “the best 10th end of our lives” to oust Mississauga’s Jacqueline Harrison 6-5.

“We honestly didn’t expect to win (the first match vs. Homan),” Sagle re-counts. “When we were one shot away from winning it, and we played so well in that game and had a real good shot at it, I think it kind of drilled home the idea that we actually are in this, that we actually could win this thing.

“It gave us some confidence to realize that Homan is beatable potentially and it helped us peak for the rest of the week.”

FAMILY FIRST FOR HANNA SISTERS

With each player working full-time day jobs, “we’re doing our best with what we have,” says Sagle, a wedding and event planner. But one big advant-age they enjoy is having all four team members in the the same city – a rarity for many high-level curling rinks, their Ontario final opponents included, with Joanne Courtney now back at home in Edmonton and Homan joining her there to study at the University of Alberta.

“It makes such a huge difference,” indicates Sagle, whose team will often practice together during lunch breaks along with coach (and team dad) Bob Hanna. “We get to practice a lot together, but it also helps for that team dynamic. We actually get to spend time together, we have a drink after our game, we know know what’s going on in each other’s lives because we’re together so often.”

While the team strives to be as com-petitive as possible on the ice, they are also understanding towards each other’s family or work commitments.

“Jenn and Steph both have young kids at home, and I know it isn’t easy to be away from them for that long,” high-lights Sagle, who has no kids of her own although she and O’Neill have a dog named Phynlea. “Family is their #1 pri-ority, as it should be.”

It will be Sagle and O’Neill’s Scotties debut as Team Ontario, while the Hanna sisters will return for the first time since 2005.

“Jenn and Steph went to the Scotties 11 years ago,” Sagle underlines. “When you talk to them, they’re blown away by the fact they’re back. It’s so exciting for them, especially having such a different life than they did back then.

“They both have two or three kids, they both have full-time jobs and hus-bands and families. To be able to get back to the Scotties for them I know is a huge, huge accomplishment.”

Sagle has competed in junior nation-als before, and went to the mixed curling nationals last year with O’Neill.

“We’ve had some experience there, but to go to the Scotties is the dream,” indicates the curler of 23 years. “It’s what you’ve played for your entire life. It’s an incredible feeling. I really can’t even be-lieve it’s happening.”

continued from last page

9

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OTTAWA TRAMPOLINIST TAKES ON GLOBAL FIELD

WOODS OFF TO SUPERB START WITH NEW WORLD TOUR CYCLING TEAMOttawa native Mike Woods carried on his swift rise in the cycling world with a standout World Tour debut for his new Cannondale-Garmin pro cycling team at the six-stage Tour

Down Under Jan. 16-24 in Adelaide, Australia. The former Ottawa Lions runner placed 3rd in the king of the mountain standings for fastest hill climbs and 5th overall in the general classification.CANADA VOLLEYBALL DROPS CONTINENTAL OLYMPIC QUALIFIERRecovering from shoulder surgery, Adam Simac missed the Canadian men’s volleyball team’s Jan. 8-10 continental qualifier in Edmonton, but the Ottawa veteran now still has a chance to help Canada qualify for its first Olympics since 1992 due to the Canadians’ straight-sets loss to Cuba in the tournament final. Canada will now head to a last-chance qualifier May 14-June 5 in Japan.

Ottawa’s Benjamin Tyo of the Gatineau UniGym club placed 26th in the age 17-18 division at the Dec. 3-6 FIG Trampoline Gymnastics World Age Group Competition in Denmark.

Nepean-Ottawa Diving Club product Jamie Bissett earned a bronze medal in the men’s 3-metre springboard event at the Dec. 18-20 Winter Senior National Champi-onships in Saskatoon. NODC diver Henry McKay, a Grade 10 student at St. Joseph Catholic High School, also competed at the event against considerably older compet-

itors, placing 7th in the men’s platform competition.

BISSETT WINS BRONZE AT WINTER DIVING NATS

In the first Bytown basketball battle of the season on Jan. 16 at the Ravens Nest, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees struck first in both the men’s and women’s games, downing the Carleton Ravens 75-73 and 69-56 respectively. The 9-1 uOttawa men are currently ranked #2 in the country, with 8-2 Carleton just behind at #3. The 9-1 Gee-Gees women are ranked 9th nationally. The 9-4-1 uOttawa women’s hockey team also finds itself in the top-10 at #8, as do the Gee-Gees swimming men at #6, while the Ravens are #8 in men’s hockey.

GEE-GEES TOP RAVENS IN MEN’S & WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

LOCAL FIELD HOCKEY PLAYERS MAKE MARK FOR CANADA

RATTRAY STARS IN TEAM CANADA TRIUMPH

OTTAWA SPORTSPAGE SNAPSHOTS

Ottawa native Rowan Harris has been named to the Canadian field hockey junior women’s development squad. In the fall, the goalkeeper backstopped her Univer-sity of British Columbia Thunderbirds to a national university title with a shootout win over Victoria in the championship game. Rohan Chopra of the Nepean Nighthawks helped the Canadian junior men’s development squad top USA in a January four-game test series in Califor-nia. Brother and fellow Nighthawks product Marek Chopra has been named to the Canadian junior

indoor team that will play in a test series vs USA in Toronto this March.

Ottawa national sledge hockey team players Marc Dorion and Ben Delaney had to settle for a heartbreaking silver medal from the Jan. 17-23 Hockey Canada-organized World Sledge Hockey Challenge in Nova Scotia, falling 3-2 in overtime to USA in the tournament final. The Canadians were undefeated up to that point at the event, having beaten Russia 5-1, Korea 2-0 and USA 3-2 in the preliminary round and downing Korea again 10-0 in the semi-final. Delaney finished in the top-10 of tournament scoring with 3 goals and 2 assists

in the 5 games, while Dorion played in just two games – the first win over Korea and the championship game.

DORION & DELANEY TAKE SLEDGE CHALLENGE SILVER

Kanata native Jamie Lee Rattray played the hero’s role for the Canadian women’s national development team at the Jan. 4-7 Nations Cup tournament in Germany, scoring the overtime winner to beat Finland 4-3 in the final. With 5 goals and 2 assists, Rattray was the only player to collect more than 3 points in the 3 games of the competition. “It was amazing,” the Bramp-ton Thunder Canadian Women’s Hockey League forward said in a Hockey Canada media release. “It feels good to beat a team like that. They worked hard and played a good game, so to come back and stick with it and finish it at the end was a great feeling.” Ottawa Senators

Provincial Women’s Hockey League team alum Rebecca Leslie also played for Canada at the tournament.WEIDEMANN EARNS FIRST NATIONAL SPEED SKATING TITLES

Isabelle Weidemann beat Ivanie Blondin for the women’s 3,000 metres gold and then took the 5,000 m crown as well to earn the first two senior national titles of her speed skating career at the Jan. 3-6 Canadian Single Distance Long Track Championships in Calgary. Vincent De Haitre was also a double-winner at the nationals, winning the men’s 1,000 m and 1,500 m titles. At a pair of December World Cup events, Blondin won a pair of medals in the mass start – a silver in Germany and a bronze in the Netherlands – and placed 9th and 10th in women’s 3,000 m races. De Haitre finished 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th in 1,000 and 1,500 m World Cup competition, while Weidemann’s top results were 14th in the women’s 3,000 m in Germany and 6th in the 3,000 m ‘B’ division in Netherlands. The Gloucester Concordes-brewed women also helped Canada to a 5th-place finish in the team pursuit event in the Netherlands.

Athletes from the host club claimed the greatest number of gold medals at the National Capital Wrestling Festival on Jan. 9 at Maurice-Lapointe school in Kanata. Kathryn Robinson, Ruby Muhl, Cassie Storie, Andrea Pretty, Matthew Vecchio, Nathan Hoyte, Lakhani Moiz, Cole McKee and Devan Larkin all came out on top of their categories. A total of 131 athletes from various clubs in Ontario and Quebec attended the event.

NATIONAL CAPITAL WRESTLING CLUB EXCELS IN HOME MEET

WINTERLUDE ACTIVITIES WILL HAVE PLENTY OF SPORTS AVAILABLEMotivate Canada will lead a “Get in the Game” activity at this year’s Winterlude on Feb. 6 and 7 at Marion Dewar Plaza in front of City Hall. Featuring a variety of sports and games in the snow, participants will get the chance to test their funda-mental movement skills. Olympic, Paralympic and national team athletes will also be present at the event. See motivatecanada.ca & winterlude.ca for more details.

HANNA: New rink finding an excel-lent mesh between curling and life

HOMAN’S SEASON STILL SPARKLESThe provincials defeat does cer-

tainly take away some of the shine, but it’s otherwise been a truly spectacular season for the Rachel Homan Ottawa Curling Club rink. Team Homan won 7 of 8 events before Christmas, including 3 of 4 Grand Slams and the Canada Cup of Curling, which secured them the first berth available in the 2017 Roar of the Rings Canadian Olympic curling team trials, to be held in Ottawa.

This season’s World Curling Tour order of merit leaders (over #2 Jen-nifer Jones by an enormous 224-point margin, 584-360), Team Homan was in Banff for the Jan. 8-10 Skins Game event and then helped Team North America to victory at the Jan. 18-24 Continental Cup in Las Vegas before starting their 11-match Ontario Scotties tournament the next day.

SAVILL FIGHTING CANCERIn December, the curling world

learned that Ottawa’s Craig Savill was fighting cancer. The 37-year-old two-time world champion had to put aside his quest to qualify for this year’s Tim Hortons Brier in his hometown in order to fight another battle.

BRIER ON TAP IN O-TOWNThe field for the March 5-13 Brier

at TD Place will include at least one Ot-tawa native. Vancouver 2010 Olympic gold medallist John Morris, a World Ju-nior champion with Savill in 1998 and 1999, is guaranteed a spot as a member of the 2015-champion Pat Simmons rink.

NAVAN JRS. SWEEP ONTARIOThe Navan Curling Club team of

Curtis Easter, Matthew Hall, Jason Camm and skip Doug Kee won all eight of their matches at the Ontario Junior Curling Championships and are now competing in the Jan. 23-31 Canadian Junior Championships in Stratford.

EDITORIAL

Team of the Month: Nepean Raiders Minor Atom ‘A’ Hockey TeamTeam Members: Henry Mews, Thomas Dickey, William Nicholl, Miller Kay, Liam Monaghan, Hayden McIn-rue, Ethen Hopkins, Lucas DeBruyn, Tyler Bell, Robert Steenbakkers, Ashton Proulx, Jack Hawken, Lucas LeBlanc, Owen Pelletier, Jack Paquette, David Egorov & Alex Beaulne.

About: The Nepean Raiders Minor Atom ‘A’ team couldn’t have given their supporters a much more exciting and nail-biting ride at the 2016 Bell Capital Cup. Competing in the tightly-contested top-tier Minor Atom ‘AAA’ division, Nepean went 2-1-1 in the preliminary round and then knocked out Whitby 2-1 in the semi-final. The Raiders jumped out to a 2-0 lead facing the Ramapo Saints in the champion-ship game, but had their opponents from New York state tie the score 2-2 late in the third period. That set the stage for Hayden McInrue to score his first goal of the competition – the tournament-winner – with 25 seconds left.

Sport: Wrestling

Club: National Capital Wrestling Club

School/Grade: Grade 11 Cairine Wilson SS

About: Devan Larkin is showing fine form early in his wrestling season. Having recovered nicely from a torn ACL knee ligament in 2014, Larkin won an invitational tournament in Montreal to kick off his year, and most recently won the junior boys’ 68.5 kg division at the Jan. 9 National Capital Wrestling Festival, which included a victory by technical su-periority (17-4) over a rival who’d beaten him pre-viously at the OFSAA high school provincials. Lar-kin will seek to repeat his dominant victory from the 2015 Ontario Championships – where he won every match by 8 points or more – come the junior provincials on Jan. 30 in St. Catharines. He is also targeting two more crowns at OFSAA and the Ca-nadian Championships, both coming up in March.

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-YWCA OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION

STARS OF THE MONTH

CHARTRAND cont’d from Cover

Mailing address:345 Meadowbreeze Dr.

Kanata, Ont. K2M 0K3

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.

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She now also commutes down to the GTA to work with coaches Michelle Leigh and Brian Orser on weekends.

While some would find that type of schedule overbearing, Chartrand says she’s become accustomed to it for years and is glad to be able to live at home with her family.

“I think it works to my advantage,” adds the Thousand Islands Secondary School senior. “I get to skate on differ-ent size rinks with different ice quality. I’m very adaptable.”

The Canadian title was most defin-

itely a major career milestone, but there won’t be much time for Chartrand to savour the sweet taste of victory. She’s right back into training for the worlds, as well as the Four Continents Cham-pionships Feb. 16-21 in Taiwan.

“Nationals was the first step,” high-lights the 2015 World Championships 11th-place finisher. “It was the best I ever skated, and now I have to keep that momentum going.”

10

Local skaters earned national medals in two other junior categories earlier in the week in Halifax. Christian Reekie of the Gloucester Skat-ing Club (in photo) won bronze in the junior men’s event, while the brother-sister tandem of Kanata natives An-drew and Melinda Meng earned a repeat bronze in junior ice dance. photo:

danielle earl

Athlete of the

Month: Devan Larkin

Korolyova, who’s now lived in Canada over half her life, ran Gym-nastics Ontario’s coaching education program before taking on the new challenge and moving to Ottawa.

“She’s a lot stricter and a lot higher level, which I expected,” Yau underlines.

“I think she pushes us a lot more than we used to be pushed,” Lin adds. “She brings a lot more intensity to our training, so it’s a lot more fast-paced and we work a lot harder now.”

The national group also works a lot longer. They’ve almost doubled their training time, which now stands at over 21 hours per week. The way they describe their schedule is wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, do homework, train, then go to bed.

“We have to make a lot of sac-rifices, like give up birthday parties, hanging out with our friends, but I think in the long-term, it will make a huge difference,” signals Miller, who made two gymnastics-related trips to Europe last summer. “When we look back, and say we’re on the podium, we’ll remember it’s all worth it.”

Most of the gymnasts began in the club’s recreational program, moving up the ranks to interclub, later provin-

cial, and now national.“To see the journey we’ve made

from the start is pretty unbelievable,” Lin reflects. “We have improved a lot. Not just physically, but mentally.”

As national-level rookies, Koro-lyova would simply like to see her athletes – all between Grades 5 and 8 in school – to show off what they’ve learned to do at Elite Canada without thinking about where they finish in the standings.

“Time will tell, but definitely they’ve put in the work,” Korolyova notes. “Coming into a new environ-ment, you don’t know how the girls will react to a different level of intens-ity in training, but the girls just swal-lowed it and they love it.”

SET FOR ELITE CANADA ARTISTIC

A number of artistic gymnastics competitors are also preparing for their Elite Canada meet Feb. 4-7 in Halifax. At last year’s event, Ju-liette Chapman earned the first Elite Canada medal in her Tumblers Gymnastics Centre club’s history. Chapman earned floor gold in the novice high-performance category at a December Gymnastics Ontario Elite Canada screening event, while clubmate Avery Rosales was 3rd all-around in the same division and fel-

low Tumbler Hanna Nixon topped the aspire 2 all-around standings.

OGC HAULS IN MEDALS AT HOME

Philopateer Faltas was the lone local all-around champion as his Ot-tawa Gymnastics Centre club hosted the first men’s artistic gymnastics pro-vincial championships qualifier from Dec. 11-13 in Westboro.

With victories on floor and pom-mel horse, the Level 4 athlete topped the age 10-12 category, with OGC teammate Micky Geller right behind in 2nd place.

Also winning all-around medals for the home club were Justin Khalil (silver, L4 A13+ B), William Khawam (bronze, L2 A10-11) and Carter Mc-Namee (bronze, L3 A14-17).

Other local medallists included Tumblers’ Damien Leroux (bronze, L1 A12-13) and National Capital’s Evan Reaume (silver, L2 A8-9).

TOUR GOLD & BRONZE

Competing at a tour meet in Ari-zona, three local gymnasts helped Team Ontario onto the podium in their competitions. Nepean-Corona’s Sophia Nizalik and Les Sittelles’ Jes-sica Reddin placed 1st with the Level 6 team, and OGC’s Sarah Hu was 3rd with the Level 9 group.

continued from p.7

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Young water polo players got the chance to get up close and per-sonal with legends in their sport – particularly as they crammed into one corner of the pool for a group photo – at the inaugural Capital Wave Water Polo Festival Jan. 22-24 at Nepean Sportsplex.

The weekend included a tourna-ment featuring clubs from Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto and Kitchen-er-Waterloo with 10-and-under, 12U and 14U girls and 14U boys divisions, but the highlight for most was the special Saturday visit from the Canadian women’s national team.

Montreal-based Team Canada held a practice and scrimmage of their own, followed by girls’ and then boys’ clinics for over 100 young players.

“They get a lot of experience and motivation from watching the national team here,” highlights Capital Wave club head coach Celso Rojas. “Everyone was so happy – parents, kids – everyone enjoyed that. It went really well.”

After their time in the water, the participants got autographs and took photos with the national team stars, including Ottawa native Jes-sica Gaudreault, who spent lots of her youth at the Nepean Sportsplex pool.

“This is my home,” smiles the 21-year-old goaltender. “I actually live like two minutes away from here.”

Gaudreault says seeing the youngsters’ enthusiasm was her fa-vourite part of the event.

“They love it. Forty-five of them with us in the water and they’re so

happy,” underlines Gaudreault, who never had a similar opportun-ity when she was a young player. “I love that it’s something that’s hap-pening more often.

“It was really nice to see all the clubs from Ontario. That was really cool.”

Abigail Gasparotto, a young Wave goalie, says it’s great to have a Team Canada player be part of their club, and help them out from time to time.

“When Celso calls her to come over, she teaches us and we can get better technique from it,” explains the Grade 8 student at Fisher Park Middle School, where another former national team goalie, Rachel Riddell, once attended.

LAST CHANCE AT OLYMPICS

Team Canada is currently pre-paring for their one and only op-portunity to win a berth in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. They’ll be after a top-4 finish out of the 12 teams taking part in the March 21-28 qualification tournament in the Netherlands.

Not long after a sound defeat to USA in the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games final, the team had a lead-ership change, with Justin Oliveira taking over as head coach from former national team player Jo-hanne Bégin.

“It was a good change for us. Everyone is happy,” indicates Gaudreault, set to take her first shot at competing on the grandest stage in sport. “I’m really, really excited. A little nervous because it will be my first time around, but we have vets here and they’ve given us nothing but positive feedback and encouragement.”

Capital Wave hosts women’s nat team

By Dan Plouffe

COMMUNITY CLUBS

Jessica Gaudreault

(centre).

photo: dan plouffe

11

Team Canada captain Krys-tina Alogbo.

photo: dan plouffe

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