The St. John's College Green Eagles are looking to capture back-to-back gold medals at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations Quad-A senior girls basketball championships this week in Hamilton.
The Eagles, ranked second in the 16-team tournament, will open OFSAA on Thursday with a 5 p.m. game against No. 12 ranked David and Mary Thomson Collegiate from Scarborough.
The game is scheduled to be played at Bishop Tonnos Catholic Secondary School.
While the Eagles have an opportunity to make history, they aren't focusing on last year, when they captured SJC's first provincial basketball title since the school's 1990 senior girls championship.
"This is a whole new team and we're looking to create our own destiny," said SJC coach Steve Van Leeuwen. "They've worked hard and they're ready."
This is the third straight year that the Eagles will be competing at OFSAA.
In 2008, St. John's made it to the final, losing to the host St. Catharines Governor Simcoe Redcoats in the AAA final.
Last year, the Eagles became the first basketball team from Brant County to win a Quad-A championship, downing Burlington's Notre Dame in the final at Cathedral High School in Hamilton.
The road to another gold this year starts with David and Mary Thomson, the Toronto area runners-up.
"They have a couple of girls going to the U.S. on scholarship," noted Van Leeuwen, who didn't know much else about his opponent.
"The Toronto teams are very athletic and they don't play in the same tournaments as us."
Regardless, Van Leeuwen's Eagles will be playing their own game.
"Obviously, our reputation the last two years, we've been really highly ranked," said the coach, whose team was slotted in at No. 1 a year ago. "We have a big X on our backs. Everyone wants to play us and beat us."
One team that's been able to do that this year is Hamilton's St. Mary Catholic Secondary School, the No. 1 ranked team at OFSAA. St. Mary has beaten the Eagles twice -once by two points and another time by 10 points.
But before St. John's gets a chance to avenge those losses, it will have to first beat David and Mary Thomson.
If the Eagles beat David and Mary Thomson, they would play on Friday at Cathedral at 10 a.m. against the loser of a Thursday game between London's John Paul II High School (No. 5) and Brampton's Notre Dame Secondary School (No. 15).
If the Eagles lose to David and Mary Thomson, they would play on Friday at St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School at 10 a.m. against the winner of the John Paul/Notre Dame game.
St. John's, which is 33-4 this season, does have the advantage of knowing the courts it will play on as last year's OFSAA tournament took place at the same locations.
"I think it's an advantage the closer we are to Brantford," Van Leeuwen said. "The kids can sleep in their beds and stay with their families.
"And we can count on our fans. It seemed like the whole area was behind us last year."
As for his players, Van Leeuwen said the team is nearing 100%. After suffering an ankle injury, Kate Polischuk started practising again this week.
"Kate's looking to come back," he said. "She's starting to practice this week. It will take a big effort (for her to play) but you never know. Different kids respond in different ways to injuries.
"She looked good at practice."
The Eagles return seven players from last year's championship team and five of those players are starters.
Van Leeuwen said his team's goals are simple.
"The opportunity to represent the school, the city and CWOSSA, we're very excited about that," he said. "If we get the opportunity to play for a medal, that's marvelous."
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