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Ottawa Titans Water Polo Weekly Newsletter
  April 1, 2009



Head Coach to Give Information Session on Elite Provincial and National Programs

Please join Head Coach, David Hart, on Monday, April 20, 2009 from 6:00 - 7:30 pm at Montpetit Hall (pool building at University of Ottawa) Room 103, for an information session for parents who would like to get more information about the elite provincial and national programs for their sons/daughters. This would be for Academy and 16U and 18U parents.  "Graduating" 14+U athletes born in 95 or 96 who would also like to attend, are welcome to do so.
 

Manta Rays and Marlins to Participate in 18&U AA Provincial Championships at NSP
Volunteers Needed

We will be hosting the OWP (Ontario Water Polo) Open Tournament from May 29-31, at the Nepean Sportsplex, for the Marlins and Manta Rays who will be participating in this 18U AA event.
 
We require volunteers to make this tournament a success. The roles that need to be filled are Tournament Chair, Minor Officials Co-ordinator, Hospitality Suite Co-ordinator and volunteers to do pool set-up and take-down. We have templates available to go with these positions and there is help and support from people who have done these roles before.
 
If you are able to help or would like more information, please contact Valerie Walker, Competitive Program Manager at titansmanager@gmail.com


Easter Brunch at Hilton Garden Inn Ottawa Airport

Alison Poirier (Titans Women’s Coach) and The Hilton Garden Inn Ottawa Airport will be hosting an Easter Brunch on Sunday April 12th at 11am in their ballroom.   The brunch will be very extensive including a prime rib and ham carving station.  Adults are $39.95, Children 6-12 are $12.95 and kids under 6 are free. There will also be an easter egg hunt for children.  For more information, including full menu or reservations, please contact Alison Poirier directly at 613-288-9010 or alison.poirier@hilton.com. The Hilton Garden Inn Ottawa Airport are strong supporters of the Titans- they have provided us with complimentary meeting room space for Board functions and AGM, and will be hosting our Titans banquet in June 2008. We encourage you to support them! 


22U Nationals Photo Gallery
Submitted by John Chinneck

Photos from the U22 championships are now up on the website at http://sites.google.com/site/u22waterpolo2009/

Titans at the 16&U Girls Provincials, Hamilton, March 27-29, 2009
Submitted by Greg Sidebottom

Don't miss the photo gallery!  There is a link from the club website home page or simply click here: pictures...  Special thanks go to Johanna's dad, Jonathan Lee, for his great action shots.  If anyone else has photos they would like to submit to add to the photo gallery, please email them to Sue at ssidebottom@gmail.com.

The Seals, Stingrays, coaches Celso and Adrian, and chaperons Greg and Sue set off on a nice sunny day for the 16 and under Ontario Women Water Polo Championships.  Other than a traffic jam causing the last 25km to the hotel to take 45 minutes, it was a smooth ride with some creative t-shirt painting helping pass the time.  We had lots of time to check in, grab some quick dinner at the Pita Pit and Subway, and make our way to the pool at McMaster University for our Friday night games. 

Also at the tournament were teams from York, Hamilton, and KW with the addition of some players from London.  The Seals consisted of one line of the younger girls from the 18U training group with Nancy and Sarah from the Marlins rounding out the team.  The Stingrays are the AAA girls from the 16U training group with our newest Stingray, Taylor, joining in goal.  The tournament format was a round robin among the five teams with first place getting a bye into the gold medal game and second and third fighting it out in a semi final. 

First up were the Stingrays against a Hamilton team with several inexperienced players, which resulted in a comfortable 15-1 victory for the Stingrays.  All Stingrays scored or had scoring chances, even goalie Taylor who swapped with Demi in the fourth quarter to satisfy her urge to play out. 

The late 9:25pm game pitted the Stingrays against the Seals.  The Stingrays held the Seals off for the first few minutes, but soon the Seals hit their stride and started building up a comfortable lead.  But the Stingrays played hard with Taylor making some big saves and Mira popping in the first Stingray goal.  In the end, it was 15-2 for the Seals. 

After this late game, it was straight back to the hotel to settle in for some much needed sleep to prepare for Saturday.  Wake up call was not too early, 7:45, and after a breakfast at the hotel, it was back to the pool for an action packed day- two games for the Stingrays and three for the Seals. 

The Seals started the day with a 9:55 game against York.  The Seals came out strong building up a 4-0 lead in minutes and an 11-1 lead by the half, coasting to a 13-3 win.  Next it was the Stingrays against KW.  This was the first close Titans game of the tournament, tied 4-4 at the end of the third quarter.  But the Stingrays took charge in the fourth quarter, building up a 3 goal lead at one point and winning 8-6.  The Stingrays played a good team game with excellent defense and five different girls getting in on the scoring. 

With the Titans teams the only undefeated ones so far in the tournament, we were happy heading off to lunch at a University food court.  Then it was back to the bus to rest up for the afternoon games.  But soon rest got boring, so it was on to recording hip-hop music videos staring Veronica and Jessica using Demi's ever present pink iPod player, climbing trees, and jumping off benches and railings.  You might see the results on Facebook and YouTube. 

The Seals were up next for an 18-1 win over Hamilton, with everybody getting in on the action and Danielle and Nancy leading the scoring with four goals each. 

The following game was the most exciting of the tournament, with the Stingrays matched up against York.  York had lost 12-9 against KW on Friday night with a bare 7 player roster and no subs to fall back on.  But 8 Mavericks were ready to play on Saturday, including national team member Emily Torrens and big and strong Nikolia Mihajlovik, an MVP from last year's 14U provincials. The Stingrays struck first but York had the edge for the rest of the first half of this very defensive game, leading 2-1 at the half.  But the tables turned in the second half, thanks to two kick outs Monique drew on Nikolina, resulting in Nikolina switching to goal.  Without Nikolina checking hole, the Stingrays were able to gather some momentum, always staying within one goal and fighting back to a 6-6 tie late in the third quarter.  But the intensity of the game took its toll on the Stingrays, and even with Demi switching to net to free up some fresh energy from Taylor, the Stingrays fell 8-6 in the end. 

The final game for the Seals was another routine 21-1 win over KW. 

So with the round robin complete, the Seals were undefeated with a amazing +/- of 60 in four games and clear gold medal favorites.  The Stingrays ended up in a three way tie for second.  And after much discussion on the subtleties of the tie breaking rules, it was determined that the Stingrays placed fourth in the round robin and out of the medals.

Saturday night consisted of a lively good meal at East Side Marios and then back to the hotel to relax watching a movie and rest up for the Sunday games. 

In the Sunday morning playoff game between KW and York, KW won earning the right to play the Seals for the gold and York placed in the Bronze medal position. 

The Stingrays had a rematch with Hamilton to decide fourth place.  We didn't expect much excitement in this game, but we were wrong.  The Stingrays scored first but Hamilton soon tied it up.  The Stingrays scored two more in the first quarter to build up a 3-1 lead, but Hamilton kept their strongest players out there and their hunger for their first win of the tournament allowed them to come back and take the lead in the second quarter, though the Stingrays tied it up by the half.  The Stingrays just couldn't get anything going in the third quarter and the score stayed tied 4-4.  Hamilton scored early in the fourth quarter to take a 5-4 lead and it it started to look like the Stingrays were going to lose this game.  But through Demi's leadership, the Stingrays finally started to score and this seem to deflate the strong Hamilton line that had played the whole game.  So as Hamilton started subbing in some of their less experienced players, the Stingrays continued to add more goals for a 9-5 win. 

The Seals-KW rematch for the gold was more of an exhibition game, as KW was out more to have fun than to seriously try to win the game.  In the end the score was 19-4. 

So in the end the Titans brought home the Ontario championship banner again and also took fourth place.  It was a little disappointing for the Stingrays to not earn a medal, but they were clearly capable of one and will be plenty motivated to practice hard and put it all together in the crunch next time.  Congratulations to Rebekka, Danielle and Tara for being selected to the Tournament All Star team and to Jessica for being awarded the Most Valuable Goalie award for the tournament.  As always, many thanks to our coaches Celso and Adrian for all their dedication and hard work with the girls this weekend!


Stingrays soaking up some sunshine


Seals – 16U Girls Provincial Champions



Newsletter Submissions

If you would like to contribute an item to the newsletter, please send your submission to Sue Sidebottom at news@titanswaterpolo.ca .  I depend on the readers to submit articles to keep club members up to date with water polo news!   Photos from tournaments or other club events are always welcome.  Any submissions received before noon on Wednesday will go out with that week's news.