2009 Titans Annual Awards Banquet

Don't miss getting your tickets for the June 4th Awards Banquet from your team manager! ($25 per person, cheques only please.)  The deadline to purchase tickets is Monday, May 25th.  No tickets will be available at the door.

Also, make sure you submit photos of your team so they will be part of the slideshow.  Photos should be sent to Tristan Tremblay (email: tremblay.pierre@rogers.com) in small batches, or contact Tristan directly to get an address so you can mail him a CD. It would be helpful if you could identify players, or more importantly TEAMS represented in the photos, so we can assure we have all teams covered.

Silent Auction items are most appreciated!  Please contact Jane Luh at janeluh@hotmail.com to indicate what you will be donating (and approximate value), or simply bring the item(s) to the event.

Banquet details:  The banquet will be held Thursday, June 4, at the Hilton Garden Inn Ottawa Airport (2400 Alert Road, Ottawa, ON K1V 1S1). Doors will open at 6pm and Opening Ceremonies start at 6:15pm sharp.  All Titans athletes and family members are welcome. It’s time to celebrate the accomplishments of our athletes, and to thank our dedicated coaches, team managers, and other volunteers.  Hot buffet dinner, dessert, coffee/ tea included.  Cash Bar.

Queries should be made to Banquet Chair Bev Davis, at Beverly.davis@gmail.com or 613-730-6357

14U AAA and Technical Foundation Provincial Championships, May 8-10 in Etobicoke

Congratulations to our three Titans teams who competed this past weekend at the 14U AAA and Technical Foundation Provincial Championships!  Official results can be found here: FINAL RESULTS 14U boys and girl and reports and photos from the teams follow.

Technical Foundation Team at 14U Provincial Championships
Submitted by Blake Christie

Everyone improved and it was fun to watch, the games against Scarborough and Lindsay were close, with the new team from Toronto starting in December.  Every game was a win but more importantly everyone looked to be having a good time, and more importantly than that I had a good time.  A lot of good things happened when the team went to open spaces and helped each other out, and in a tournament like this I believe it really sinks into each athlete the importance of team work.  This is a great group of kids and I look forward to coaching them next year.

Technical Foundation 14U Team

14U AAA Titans Girls Win Silver at Provincial Championships
Submitted by Jen Hampton 

We arrived on Friday and went for a quick supper after which coach Patti Massel and I sat through "Hannah Montana" and emerged in great spirits with the girls. I cannot think of a better bunch with which to watch that movie. After the movie, several of our waterpolo athletes had their pictures taken with Hannah/Miley and with Channing Tatum with the help of the posters in the lobby. Lucky for the movie stars the bus came to pick us up!

The next day we embarked on our provincial journey. It was the first game of the day and the girls played a strong game against the OWPA Unattached team, standing up strong to defend against some experienced outside shooters. This was the first of our one goal game losses.

The next game was against a weaker Hamilton team. We took advantage of their inexperience and trounced them by five goals. The game against Hamilton was physical and we came out a bit battered. Everyone played and emerged happy with the result.

Then, we had our game against York. It was my belief that this was a beatable team but we were unable to handle the ball well and missed out on some key offensive and defensive moments. We were disappointed with the one goal loss but determined to get back at them the next morning for the crossover.

Sunday morning we worked hard and pushed York to a sudden death tie break but were not able to stop a shot from #3 Nikolina (Provincial all star of the tournament). We all saw our dreams of gold dashed and it hurt.

Later that day we played a rough game against Hamilton. We ran out of gas and lost the game by two goals.

It was a tough weekend for us. It is the first time that the girls got to play as a team together as a group against other teams of girls. I feel that it was an experience that we will all grow from. Waterpolo is very much a team sport. Two of the many wonderful things about our team are our youth and optimism. I truly hope that this was part of the climb that you look back on and fondly remember.
 
PS - Tessa was voted to the ALL STAR team and I would like to give a very honourable mention to Stephanie who practically shut down the tournament all star from York. 
PPS- The team from Hamilton was disqualified from a medal because of having over age players. The unattached team was also disqualified for not belonging to a club organization.
PPS- Thanks to Andrea, Iouri, and Rob for all your organization. Thanks to Patti for helping us out. It really was a great weekend!

14U AAA Academy Girls Team

14U AAA Titans Boys Win Gold at Provincial Championships
Submitted by Blake Christie, Academy Head Coach

14U AAA Boys Team

14U AAA Titans Boys Games Report
Submitted by Iouri Tarnopolski

A photo gallery is available online by clicking here: pictures.

The Ottawa Titans 14U boys ‘AAA’ team together with their coaches Blake and Evan had an exciting and successful tournament in Toronto. The competitors at the tournament included Ottawa Titans, York Red, York Black and teams from Hamilton, Guelph, Scarborough (Shadow) and Montreal (CAEM) which played the exhibition games. The tournament used a round robin format. The first two teams of the round robin tournament played a gold medal game. Here is a game by game reportage from the event.

May 8, 2009,
6:15 pm Ottawa Titans – Hamilton  5 : 1
Period 1. It’s the first time the Titans play with this roster, so Blake has to try different players on various positions. All the players are a little nervous. They make unnecessary mistakes and can not interact with each other very well. Andrew plays hole-set. He takes four shots on goal but doesn’t score. At the end of the period Kevin makes a good shot from 8 meters out and scores! Titans lead 1:0.
Period 2: Blake sends Duncan to play hole-set and Victor to play hole-check. Our defense is really good but offense is just terrible. Even Aleks shoots wide.
Period 3: Titans start playing faster and get a man up. Aleks shoots sharp - 2:0! Everybody feels some relief. The guys relax and allow a goal - 2:1. Blake expresses his emotions and players start moving again. Alexei intercepts the ball, Titans make a fast counterattack and Aleks scores his second goal – 3:1. Soon after that they create another counterattack and Duncan scores – 4:1.
Period 4: Titans control the game but cannot score. At the end Andrew does a hole-set goal 5:1. Titans win but Blake is not happy with their performance at all.

8:30 pm Ottawa Titans – Shadow  11: 1
Period 1: Yorek is in the net. Titans are off to a good start. Dusan, Victor and Aleks score three nice goals during the first 2 minutes – 3:0. After that players relax and get a man down but Yorek makes a save.
Period 2: Blake feels that Titans control the game and gives everybody a chance to play. He changes five players. Dusan creates a man up and scores – 4:0. Alexei makes a nice pass and Dusan scores second time – 5:0. At the end of the period Aleks scores – 6:0.
Period 3: Titans get a man down and allow one goal – 6:1. Kevin creates another man up opportunity, Shadow’s goalie is kicked off and Boris scores – 7:1. Filip takes a good shoot and scores at the end of the period 8:1.
Period 4: Titans looks much fresher than Shadow. They swim faster, pass faster and it seems they think faster in this game. Titans create several really nice counterattacks and Vincent, Duncan twice and Aleks twice make it 13:1. Dusan and Alexei have two assists each. Good game at the end of the day.

May 9, 2009
2:15 pm Ottawa Titans – Guelph  7: 2
Period 1: Blake knows that in spite of their loss, Guelph was able to score four times against CAEM and they won against Shadow 11:3. It means Titans should be very careful. Blake puts Yorek in the net and he makes a very good save at the very beginning of the game. After that Duncan and Vincent scores one goal after another – 2:0. The game does not go easy. Guelph works really hard. Finally Alexei creates power play and Aleks scores - 3:0.
Period 2: Blake changes five players except Dusan. He creates 5 meter penalty shot and scores – 4:0. Then Titans has to play man down and York makes a save.
Period 3: Blake again changes five player including Dusan this time. It’s scary because Dusan is the best defensive player in our team. Guelph creates power play and scores 4:1. Soon after that they scores another goal – 4:2. Titans make too many mistakes and lose this period.
Period 4: Dusan is back. Kevin creates power play and Duncan scores – 5:2. A little relieve. Guelph has man up but Titans do not allow them to shoot. It seems Titans play defense better, and at the end Guelph gives up. Duncan and Aleks make the final score 7:2. But Blake is very unhappy.

5:15 pm Ottawa Titans  - CAEM  5: 8
Period 1: CAEM is from Montreal, they play exhibition games and the results are not counted in Ontario Championship. But it is a real challenge for Titans. They are eager to win. Boris is in the net. The starters are Dusan, Aleks, Duncan, Kevin, Vincent and Alexei. The first 2 minutes is a disaster. Three CAEM’s counterattacks, then one Titans man down and score is 4:0 to them. It seems Titans have never played games with such a level of intensity. But they manage to focus on defense and do not allow more goals by the end of the period.
Period 2: Titans get a man up and Dusan scores – 1:4. CAEM responds quickly 1:5 and soon after that 1:6. Then Titans concentrate on defense again and at the end of the period Kevin shoots from outside – 2:6.
Period 3: Titans keep playing a very solid defense. Aleks is the best offensive player in our team. He creates power play and scores 3:6. Another man up is created by Dusan but Titans do not score. Titans definitely need to practice power play. No goals by the end of the period.
Period 4: Alexei makes a good pass and Dusan scores 4:6! Titans are close. But they make two mistakes and it is 8:4 to CAEM. At the end of the game Aleks scores power play goal 5:8. Blake says it is the best Titans performance so far during the tournament.

May 10, 2009
7:15 am Ottawa Titans - York Black  21:0
The young York Black team lost all games but it was a very good experience for the guys and we’ll see many of them in coming tournaments. So, it is easy game for Titans and Filip’s dad suggests everybody who comes to watch this early morning game to bring coffee, cigars and enjoy☺. Blake keeps Aleks and Dusan on the bench to have them fresh for the last very important games against York Red. Yorek plays in the net. All other guys use this opportunity to score as many goals as possible. Sometimes it makes their play too individual and Blake doesn’t like it. Anyway, Titans score 21 goals: Vincent -3, Victor-3, Alexei – 3, Nick – 4, Andrew – 4, Filip – 1, Duncan – 1, Kevin – 1 plus one auto-goal by York player.
10:15 am Ottawa Titans – York Red  4:5 OT
Period 1: This is the last round-robin game for both teams. Titans and York Red won all games except games against CAEM which were not counted. So, regardless of the result they will play gold medal game in the afternoon. But both teams want to win now. Boris plays in the net. Our starters are Dusan, Alex, Duncan, Kevin, Alexei, Victor. Both teams play a very good defense and the game is very intense. After the first period it’s no score.
Period 2: Titans get one man up and Aleks scores – 1:0. Then Filip scores but referee says he was in 2 meter zone – no goal. Boris makes a great save. Titans are one man down – 1:1. It’s a very tight game.
Period 3: York’s player #3, Ivan gets a free shot in front of our net and beats Boris by nice lob - 1:2. That’s really painful. But Dusan creates one man up and Vincent scores – 2:2. A tight game continues after Titans play one man down and York scores - 2:3. All Titans work hard and Aleks plays an exceptional game. He manages to score a very important goal - 3:3. But after couple of Titans mistakes York takes a lead - 4:3.
Period 4: Both teams play defense better then offense. Boris is really good. The score is still 4:3 to them. Titans almost lose the game. But Aleks again takes initiative, makes one man up and scores - 4:4. Unfortunately in overtime York’s #3 Ivan scores winning goal – 4:5. OK, we’ll see you in the afternoon...

2:00 pm Ottawa Titans – York Red  4:3 OT     Gold Medal Game
It is the last game of the tournament. And it is a final game of the long season. Titans already get at least silver medals but they are hungry for gold. Boris, Dusan, Alex, Vincent, Duncan, Kevin and Alexei start for Titans. That is a real gold medal game - very intense, very tight, very emotional. Both teams are very careful in defense. No score after two periods. In third period Duncan takes a lead. He plays hard as a hole-set and finally scores – 1:0. But soon after that York’s player #3, Ivan gets a free shot in front of our net and beats Boris again by exactly the same lob as he did last game – 1:1. That is so hard, so
painful nobody can believe in it. In 4th period Titans are in attack from the beginning and Andrew scores from hole-set – 2:1. But York does not seem to give up. They work hard and score two times in a row – 2:3. Game is coming to the end. Titans fight hard and Duncan scores his second hole-set goal 3:3. The tension is so high. Boris makes great saves. Coaches take time-out several times. Fans make a noise.Game is tied at a final whistle. In overtime Titans get the ball but loose it. York gets the ball and loses it. After a minor skirmish in the middle, Duncan gets the ball and passes Alex. He moves closer to York’s net by the left side and passes the ball to hole-set, Dusan. Dusan fights and somehow manages to pass it back to Aleks. And Aleks makes an incredible lob – goal!! Titans are the champions!!

Titans won 5 games and lost one. They lost another game in overtime. They scored 59 times and allowed 20 goals. Dusan was named the all star team member.  Boris and Aleks were named MVP goalie and MVP player of the tournament.

Congratulations! And special thanks to Titans coach Blake and assistant coach Evan for all their dedication and hard work with the boys this weekend and during the whole season!