All Ontario teams take home medals

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Ontario had its most successful year yet at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships. The province sent four teams to the tournament, held April 18 to 24 in Prince George, B.C., and all four clubs won medals.

The Ontario South girls' team won its third consecutive title. The squad defended its crown by downing the Quebec-based team Eastern Door and The North 5-2 in the gold-medal contest.

The Ontario North girls' side also won its final game, beating Saskatchewan 9-7 in the bronze-medal match.

An all-Ontario final materialized in the boys' division. Ontario North took home the gold beating Ontario South 5-3.

This year's nationals featured 15 teams, eight boys' teams and seven girls'. It was the third year the tournament was staged and the first time all four of Ontario's teams were in the medals.

Rhonda Mitchell was not surprised. She coached the Ontario South girls' entry.

"I think a lot of our kids play higher levels of hockey," she said. "Most of our kids don't play on the reserves anymore. They're going into the cities and playing for teams at a AA or A level."

Mitchell's team was almost the same one that captured last year's national title.

"We added four new players," she said.

Mitchell believes this year's version might have been the best yet.

"I find the girls are beginning to work much better together," she said.

Mitchell said opponents didn't need much motivation to get up for games against her team.

"Everyone wants to take us down," she said.

The Ontario South girls' entry played eight games, losing just once. Its lone setback was a 6-5 decision against Eastern Door and The North in round-robin action.

Eastern Door and The North squad are getting accustomed to being bridesmaids. This was the third straight year they had to settle for silver.

Ontario North boys' team got off to a shaky start. The club was winless after its three round-robin games, sporting a record of 0-2-1.

That prompted a players-only meeting. Then, the club's general manager, Richard Restoule, had a chat with team members.

"The coaching staff had directed them to do certain things and they weren't following the coach's instructions," Restoule said.

"We were the most penalized team after the first three games," he said. "We also had the most shots after three games but we had nothing to show for it. I had high expectations for the team and I told them they were letting it slip away."

Ontario North responded by defeating a team representing the Atlantic provinces 9-4 in their quarter-final game. Ontario North then edged Eastern Door and The North 4-3 in their semi-final match, setting up a battle with Ontario South in the final.

This marked the second time the Ontario North boys' team had captured a medal at the nationals. It had won the bronze at the inaugural tournament held in 2002 in Akwasasne, Ont. Ontario North had placed fifth at last year's event, also in Akwasasne.

Though it had played host to the first two national championships, the Ontario South boys' club had not previously won a medal. It placed fourth at both the '02 and '03 nationals.

Ontario South coach Darryl Hill liked the fact his side was not playing at home this time around.

"I think the guys were more relaxed out there," he said. "They were more focused on playing the game."

Hill said he felt his charges might be bringing home some hardware after beating Manitoba, last year's silver medallists, 8-5 in their second round-robin game, boosting their record to 2-0-0.

"After that game we thought we'd be in medal contention," Hill said.

With some more disciplined play in the final, Ontario South might have also won the gold. It was leading 1-0 after the first period but then ran into some penalty problems in the second and surrendered four goals in that period.

"We were killing penalties for a large part of the second period," Hill said.

Both the gold and silver medallists in the boys' diision from a year ago went home empty-handed this time.

The Saskatchewan entry, which was undefeated in six games last season, had a disappointing 1-3-1 record this year. Manitoba was 2-3-1 but was edged 4-3 by Eastern Door and The North in the bronze-medal game.

Though an official announcement has yet to be made, it is expected that the 2005 National Aboriginal Hockey Championships will be held in New Brunswick.