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www.insideHALTON.com |OAKVILLE BEAVER |Thursday, December 2 9 , 2 0 1 6 |42 Kevin Nagel Oakville Beaver Sports Editor knagel@burlingtonpost.com Sports G E R S T i E B E L L O P E N E R "Connected to your Community" R A N Hornets' DiGirolamo gains Syracuse U. hockey scholarship By Iain Colpitts Metroland West Media Group Streetsville Tigers goalie Logan Kennedy looks back to see a point shot from Oakville Rangers' Dylan Garner get buried in the back of the net, giving the Rangers a 2-0 lead in the second period of both teams' opening game of the Richard Bell Memorial Tournament at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex on Tuesday. Rangers in front of the net include Alex Lardis (18) and Aidan Taylor. Streetsville came back to tie the minor bantam AA contest 3-3. Tournament finals in all divisions are scheduled for today (Thursday) and tomorrow. | photo by Graham Paine - Burlington Post Youngest speed skaters shine a t Western Regionals The Oakville Speed Skating Club wrapped up the calendar year with three recent competitions. At the W estern Regional Series No. 2 m eet in London earlier this m onth, the club's 10-and-under com petitors dom i nated to the point it was one of the fin est perform ances in the history of the club. The younger Oakville skaters brought home 10 medals. Gold-medal winners included Ian Craig, Izabella Zakatsiolo, Nate Thomp son and Oliver Thompson. Silvers went to Mathys Marois and Adam Maynard while Charlie Cotton, Lee Deluca, Sam Deluca and Jasmine Kim earned bronze medals. OSSC members who reached the Su per Final (top six) included Zinnia Irwin in fourth, Sydney Little, Michael Borca and Aveline DeSousa in fifth and Siddharth Khanna in sixth. The provincial series No. 2 meet in Gloucester Dec. 3 -4 featured 16 OSSC members. Alex Giannotti finished first and Dania El Sammak was second to account for Oakville' s two medals. Top-six place ments were earned by Jaden Lo, Helios He and Connor Waters. A week earlier in Saguenay, Que. at the Canadian Open national qualifier, El Sammak, one of the youngest skaters compet ing, accomplished many personal bests competing against the top female skates in the country. Her ranking improved by 12 spots thanks to her performances. El Sammak also just missed qualifying for the final spot available for the upcom ing Canadian junior championships in Calgary. Jessica DiGirolamo had two major goals growing up: earn an NCAA Division 1 wom en's hockey scholarship and compete for Canada's wom en' s team in the Winter Olympics. One of those goals was recently achieved when the Oakville Hornets star signed her letter of intent with Syracuse University for next season. It may still take a while to achieve her second goal, but the 17-year-old defender hopes her time at Syracuse will put her in a position to eventually contend for a national team spot. "Hopefully through these four years, I excel with the sport and be selected for the training camp and hope fully make the team ," said DiGirolamo, who has also played for Ontario' s lacrosse team and excelled in bas ketball, softball and track and field at St. Marcellinus Secondary School. DiGirolamo signed her letter of intent shortly after winning gold with Ontario Red at the Under-18 Na tional Championships in Regina. The wom en' s hockey team at Syracuse was formed in 2 0 0 8 and DiGirolamo appreciates that it' s still young. "The coaches believe when I first get there, I'll be like ly to play right away and not have to sit on the bench and watch the older girls," she said. "The school itself, the campus is nice and cosy and made me feel right at home. The coaches made me feel welcome, that's for sure. That was one thing that really stood out." Growing up, DiGirolamo would play against boys up until her minor bantam season. It was then time to go back to playing with her peers, and she now excels in the Provincial W om en's Hockey League. DiGirolamo credits her older brother Matthew for in spiring her to go as far as she can in hockey. "I loved watching his games because he was a de fenceman as well, so I learned some things from him ," she said. "He always likes to say he' s the reason why I am where I am right now." OAKVILLE W 25 Y E A R S IN O A K V ILLE JP with the optimum in vehicle rust control and much more! C o m p lete C a r s from $ 11995 JOHN PALADINO LAW O FFICE NEW CARS, USED CARS, RUSTY CARS... WE DO IT ALL ^ 905.827.7878 McmCijOEmsani For coupons and specials visit... 1490 UNIT # 5 Sp EERS RoAD, oAKviLLE I · REAL ESTATE · WILLS & ESTATES C O M M E R C IA L LEASING · CORPORATE 447 Speers Road, Suite 200B, Oakville, ON L6K 3S7 PHONE: 905-842-3311 FAX: 905-842-7433 VISA