The Halton Catholic Athletic Association (HCAA) varsity women’s hockey playoffs took place in the first round at River Oaks Arena on Monday afternoon. The No. 1 Holy Trinity Titans scored early and often and took a 4-1 locker room lead late in the first period against the Burlington Corpus Christi Longhorns.
Confidence must have been high considering the two teams met earlier in the season, with the Titans going 7-2 in December.
History would repeat itself with Trinity once again putting up a five-goal differential on the scoreboard against Corpus, as the girls in black and gold sealed a 6-1 victory with two more pucks entering the net of Longhorn at 3rd.
“We had to make sure all the girls were prepared for a good game,” said Trinity head coach Anita Paone, adding, “They have really strong players who are playing really high level hockey.
Holy Trinity played the whole match with two forwards in defense – due to player availability.
1st Period – Goal CC – Alex Ferguson
1st Period – Goal HT – Kristina Semren
1st Period – Goal HT – Victoria Pelley
1st Period – Goal HT – Sierra McDonald
1st Period – Goal HT – Georgia Ross
3rd Period – Goal HT – Breanna Lombardo
3rd Period – Goal HT – Tavia McLanahan
The Holy Trinity Girls will face Christ the King of Georgetown in the Varsity Girls Final next Monday, April 4, at 16 Mile Sports Complex. The puck drop is at 9:30 a.m.
Senior Boys Hockey
St. Thomas Aquinas (STA) (5-2-1) will host Holy Trinity (3-4-1) on Wednesday at Trafalgar Park. STA has been backed by incredible goaltenders throughout the season, with the team’s trio of goalies playing for Oakville Midget AA. Nico Marandola and Alex Pederson shared the load, while Jaxon Mersey played a supporting role while waiting to inherit the program.
“We can play a really attacking style knowing we have these guys backing us up there,” boasts Raiders head coach Chris Alderson, “we’ve got some really talented guys on our front two lines,” continued he, “they could score all the time there if the opportunity arises.
Puck drop is 3:30 p.m., Trafalgar Park Arena on Rebecca.
Senior Women’s Volleyball
In senior women’s volleyball action, Holy Trinity and St. Thomas Aquinas were eliminated from the playoffs by Assumption and Notre Dame, respectively.
Senior Boys Basketball
Sr. Boys Basketball will kick off Tuesday (3:00 p.m.) with Holy Trinity (10-1) and STA (6-5) finishing first and second in the East Division.
Holy Trinity finished top seed and will host Bishop Redding (5-7), whom they beat 59-47 on Thursday March 10.
Amare Hamilton and Wil Yamka will be looking to continue their attacking dominance, but HT have a very deep squad that ‘shares the load’, according to head coach Andrew Saulez, ‘that allows us to play at a pretty high pace’.
Saulez knows he can’t anticipate the upcoming game as BR are still a very decent team, despite their record. “It’s a good athletic team. they go up and down,” continuing, “We better be ready on Tuesday.
The STA’s Boys will be at home against Notre Dame (6-6) today (3:00 p.m.). The two teams met in the first game of the season, with Notre Dame winning that first intro by 4 points. For the Raiders, Mikal MacMaster and Mateo Canizalez have produced outstanding offensive performances throughout the season. “I think our defense has been a team effort; it’s one of the things we’ve been focusing on all year. according to Raiders head coach Joe Polizi.
Notre Dame is no pushover with a robust interior presence, “they definitely have some size inside,” exclaims Polizi, who says his team have been working on the rebound in recent weeks as they are a bit undersized compared to North Burlington opponents.