HOMETOWN BREAKDOWN: HEFFORD DELIVERS ANOTHER WINNER

Let the record show that Kingston's Jayna Hefford got the winning goal in another gold medal game last night. She had Canada'ss second of the night in a 5-1 walkover against the U.S. in the final of the Women's World Hockey Championship in Winnipeg, which gives her another game-winner to go along with the one she scored five years ago at the Salt Lake Olympics.

Someone else could probably present the historical context better, but Jayna Hefford's career with the national women's team really is a living legacy to the strength of the women's game in Kingston, considering it's not a big city. For instance, Queen's had a women's team long before it was commonplace at Canadian universities, and in the '70s, there was also a strong senior women's team. Taking the long view, it's easy to see how that laid the groundwork for girls minor hockey -- the Kingston Kodiaks, now the Ice Wolves -- to get going, especially since some of the players from that earlier era had a direct hand in it after becoming parents. Hefford, born in 1977, was right on time for all that -- her mother, Sandra, coached her on some powerhouse teams -- and she was right on time to score another big goal for Canada last night.

• Our Swedes got some salvation -- the Kroner outlasted the Finns 1-0 for the bronze, but all-everything goalie Kim Martin was taken off on a stretcher with five minutes left in the game. That's a shame.
• Hefford wasn't the only Kingstonian to get a game-winner last night. Andrew Fournier scored the overtime winner for the OHL's Plymouth Whalers on a play that should be on YouTube pretty soon. A shot was deflected and flew more than 20 feet in the air, and when it came baack toward earth, Fournier swung and knocked it into the net. After a video review, it was counted, giving the Whalers a 5-4 win over Kitchener and a 3-0 series lead. By the way, all four second-round OHL series could each be over in four games.
• Accolades to Queen's Golden Gaels soccer star (and Lisgar Collegiate alumna) Eilish McConville, who's up for a BLG Award, the CIS female athlete of the year award. McConville is one of those folks who makes us all look bad -- she's a biochemical engineering student who just happens to have scored better than a goal per game in her four years with the Gaels, whom she led to a CIS silver medal last fall. Carleton's Oz Jeanty was the male BLG recipient last year.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.