February Snapshots: A roundup of local athletes’ action

–By Ottawa Sportspage

OTTAWA TEAMS ON OPPOSITE TRAJECTORIES IN OSBA

The Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association season concludes in less then a month and one Ottawa team seems to be on track to finish top two in their division while the other is coming to the end of a disappointing season. Capital Courts Academy sits in 2nd place in the Women’s East Division with a 12-3 record. Louis Riel is currently last place in the division, with a record of 2-12. The season ends on Saturday, Feb 23, 2019 with Louis Riel facing Central Technical School.

LOCAL SQUADS IN PLAYOFF PURSUIT IN PWHL

The Provincial Women’s Hockey League is in it’s second-last week of regular season play. Both the Ottawa Lady Sens and the Nepean Wildcats are tied with 45 points and sit well within playoff contention. With 35 games under their belt, the Lady Sens sit comfortably in 5th place, with the Wildcats a spot behind them in 6th place, with 36 games in the book. The playoffs kick off on March 3 where both teams will look to finish first.

OTTAWA TEAMS HAVING VARIED SUCCESS IN CCHL

The Central Canada Hockey League is less then a month away from the playoffs, and the Ottawa Junior Senators sit 1st place in the Yzerman division and 2nd overall in the entire league. Both the Navan Grads and the Nepean Raiders are positioned at the bottom of the same division. The Kanata Lasers are in 3rd place in the Robinson division, but with seven more games played than the team below them, they will need a steady losing streak from the Smiths Falls Bears to stay there.

OTTAWA SOUTH UNITED TO ENTER LEAGUE1 ONTARIO

Three new teams in the women’s division will be heading into League1 Ontario. Ottawa South United, Oshawa FC and Alliance United FC will all get the chance to showcase their superb athletes in what looks to be an exciting sixth season for League1 Ontario. Both Alliance United FC and Ottawa South United already have teams in the men’s division, but with the addition of the women’s teams more players will have the chance for success. They will join West Ottawa F.C. in 2019 and will be looking to dominate the division.

OTTAWA PAIR RECOGNIZED AMONG COUNTRY’S TOP STUDENT-ATHLETES

Ottawa-native Ciera Disipio is one of eight students named Academic All Canadians for her success on and off the field. Disipio plays soccer at Cape Breton University and has been named AUS Rookie of the Year, has received back-to-back AUS MVP honors, was the AUS’ scoring leader, and was named a First Team All-Canadian two years in a row. Her efforts in the classroom, and in her time volunteering for multiple organizations and as a soccer coach, have cemented her as one of the leading student athletes in Canada.
Brookfield High School-grad Alina Dormann spent last summer with the Canadian Women’s Senior National Team, which propelled her to greater heights in the OUA, where she led the league in kills per set and placed top five nationally in points scored per set. A three-time winner of the OUA East Player of the Year Award, she helped lead Toronto to a 15-4 regular season where they advanced to their second-straight OUA Final Four. Throughout it all, she pursued a double major in Biology and Health Sciences at the UofT. In her spare time, she volunteers as a volleyball coach and gives back to the volleyball community.

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FIGURE SKATER COMPETES AT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2019 Canadian Tire National Figure Skating Championships were held from Jan.13 to Jan. 20. Ottawa-born Emmanuelle Proft represented the nation’s capital with an 18th place finish in the junior women’s competition.

HISTORIC RESULTS FOR PHOENIX TAEKWONDO ACADEMY AT NATIONALS

The best results in Ottawa Taekwondo history occurred at the National Taekwondo Championships in mid-January in Quebec City, Quebec. Ottawa’s Phoenix Taekwondo Academy took home the best coach of the year and MVP female athlete of the year. They also had more athletes earn spots on Team Canada than any other team in the country, according to a club executive.

OTTAWA-BORN FENCER BRINGS HOME BRONZE

Canadian fencers erupted at the Senior and Veterans north American Cup in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Canadians took home four medals. Kelleigh Ryan of Ottawa finished 3rd to take a bronze medal in the Division 1 Women’s Foil. Ottawa-native Zygmunt Jakubek finished 10th place in the Veteran 60+ Men’s Sabre event.

GEE CAPTURES MORE HARDWARE WITH CANADIAN MEN’S PURSUIT TEAM

The Canadian men’s pursuit team brought home silver at the cycling World Cup in New Zealand on January 18, 2019. Ottawa cyclist Derek Gee was part of the silver medal-winning team.

OTTAWA FURY FC JUMPSTART CLUB AFFILIATION PROGRAM

The Ottawa Fury FC club affiliation program is designed to help foster soccer development in the nation’s capital. It hopes to enable young athletes to better prepare for a potential career on the field through talent identification and better access to sporting facilities. Those who take part in this program will get discounted home game rates to watch the Fury play. There are nine clubs in the Ottawa-Gatineau region who are set to take part in the program.

OTTAWA WATER POLO PLAYERS SNAG MEDALS AT UANA CUP

Canada brought home a gold in the women’s competition at UANA Water Polo Cup in Sao Paulo, Brazil in late January. Ottawa goaltender Jessica Gaudreault finished off the final game against Cuba only surrendering four goals in a 18-9 drumming of Cuba. Dusan Aleksic, Bogdan Djerkovic, Aleksa Gardijan, and David Lapins helped secure a bronze medal win in a 10-6 win over Argentina.

REGION’S ATHLETES FIND SUCCESS AT PROVINCIAL LONG-TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS

Twenty-eight athletes from the Ottawa region took part in the Provincial Long-Track Championships on Jan. 12, 2019. Tremblay Cardinal Blanche of Ottawa took home 1st place in her division. Rachel Mallard and Daria Vogt finished 1st and 2nd place in their division, and Phoenix Bouma of Gloucester took home gold as well. Colin Syed finished 2nd place in the mixed eight and under division and Renata Kenzie and Ian Milne placed 1st and 2nd in the mixed gender 9-11 event.