KITCHENER, Ont. (October 29, 2013) – The Sir John A. MacDonald Highlanders (Waterloo) have earned top seed heading into the 2013 OFSAA Field Hockey Championship which will kickoff play on Thursday at various facilities across the Kitchener-Waterloo region.
The Highlanders were announced as the top seed after beating the three-time defending OFSAA champion and cross-town rival Resurrection Phoenix (Kitchener) in a 1-0 thriller at the CWOSSA championship over the weekend. Resurrection will be the second ranked seed.
Sir John A. MacDonald (SJAM) heads into the championship with a perfect 23-0 record including an 18-0 record in WCSSAA league play this season. The Highlanders are aiming for their first ever provincial championship crown having finished the last three seasons as runner-up to the Phoenix.
For their part, host Resurrection, is aiming for its fourth consecutive OFSAA championship and is looking to tie St. John’s Kilmarnock (Breslau, Ont.), Notre Dame CHS (Burlington, Ont.) and South Huron DHS (Exeter, Ont.) as the only four-time champions in OFSAA field hockey history. If they succeed they will also be the second school in history to have won four championships consecutively joining St. John’s Kilmarnock as the only other team to do so. St. John’s Kilmarnock accomplished this feat from 2006-2009 just prior to Resurrection’s reign.
Oakville Trafalgar High School (Oakville) heads into the competition as the No. 3 seed while Merivale High School (Ottawa) will be No. 4 and Goderich District Collegiate Institute (Goderich, Ont.) has earned the No. 5 seed. Other seeds include Pickering HS (Pickering) as No. 6, Nelson High School (Burlington, Ont.) as No. 7 and Clarkson Secondary School (Mississauga, Ont.) as No. 8.
Oakville Trafalgar will be a team to watch having been untested against either Sir John A. MacDonald or Resurrection in tournament play this season. They have amassed a perfect 24-0 record including an 11-0 record in league play. They have scored victories over No. 5 ranked Goderich and No. 6 Nelson HS.
No. 4 Merivale holds a 31-1 record with its only loss coming against Nepean High School (Ottawa) earlier this season when they fielded a more junior development roster in exhibition play. They have tournament wins over Clarkson, Pickering, Goderich and North Hastings and Regiopolis-Notre Dame.
Play for the 2013 OFSAA Field Hockey championship will get underway on Thursday, October 31 with pool play starting at 9:30am. Venue’s hosting events include St. David’s Catholic Secondary School, Warrior Field at University of Waterloo and RIM Park. Game starts at all four venues will be 9:30am, 11am, 1pm and 2:30pm.
Pool play will continue on Friday morning (Nov. 1) at all four venues with game times of 9:30 and 11am. Quarterfinal action will go at St. David’s and Warrior Field at 1pm and 2:30pm.
Saturday (Nov. 2) will see the semifinals, bronze medal and championship games played. St. David’s and Warrior Field will host a 9:30am semifinal game each before all the action moves over to St. David’s Field for the Bronze and Gold medal games. Bronze medal game goes at 12pm with the final set for 1:30pm.
The bronze medal and gold medal game will be shown on tape delay by Rogers TV on November 2 and 9th at 8:00pm
The 2013 OFSAA Field Hockey Championship is jointly hosted by District 8 Athletic Association and Resurrection Catholic Secondary School in Kitchener – Waterloo.
This is the sixth time since 1979 that region has hosted this event with the last coming in 2009. The region also hosted in 2005 (Kitchener-Waterloo), 2004 (Breslau), 1999 (Breslau) and 1988 (Waterloo). It also marks the first time in District 8 Athletic Association’s 23-year history that the district or a school within its association has hosted an OFSAA level event.
For full schedule and more information visit the 2013 OFSAA Field Hockey website at http://www.ofsaa.on.ca/field-hockey/
OFSAA Seeding’s
No. 1 Sir John A. MacDonald SS (Kitchener, Ont.)
No. 2 Resurrection CSS (Kitchener, Ont.)
No. 3 Oakville Trafalgar HS (Oakville, Ont.)
No. 4 Merivale HS (Ottawa, Ont.)
No. 5 Goderich DCI (Goderich, Ont)
No. 6 Pickering HS (Pickering, Ont.)
No. 7 Nelson HS (Burlington, Ont.)
No. 8 Clarkson SS (Mississauga, Ont.)
Remaining teams competing:
Ajax HS (Ajax, Ont.)
Bill Crothers SS (Unionville, Ont.)
Havergal College (Toronto)
Malvern CI (Toronto)
Michael Power-St. Joseph HS (Etobicoke, Ont.)
North Hastings HS (Bancroft, Ont.)
Regiopolis-Notre Dame CHS (Kingston, Ont.)
Saltfleet DHS (Stoney Creek, Ont.)