SASKATCHEWAN TEAMS DEFEND TITLES

Saskatchewan teams managed to continue their recent dominance at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships. (For the second straight year both the Saskatchewan girls’ and boys’ entries captured gold medals at the tournament, which concluded on May 2 in Halifax. (The Saskatchewan girls’ club edged Ontario 3-2 in its gold-medal contest. And the Saskatchewan boys’ side registered a 4-3 triumph over Alberta in its championship final. (This year’s tournament featured a total of 16 clubs, eight in each division. (Manitoba took the bronze in the girls’ grouping, thanks to a 3-2 victory over Alberta. And in the boys’ bronze-medal battle, British Columbia defeated Manitoba 5-4. (The NAHC has been staged annually since 2002. This marked the first time, however, that the event was held in Nova Scotia. (Saskatchewan’s dominance has not been just in the past two years. (The boys’ team from the province won five consecutive NAHC titles from 2008 through 2012. And the Saskatchewan girls’ squad has now won either gold or silver medals at each of the past five tournaments. (Tournament officials have already announced the 2016 NAHC will be held in Mississauga, located just west of Toronto. The tourney was last in Ontario in 2010, when it was in Ottawa.