Participating Teams
Brantford St. John's Green Eagles (D5 #1)
Guelph John F. Ross Royals (D10 #1)
Kitchener Cameron Heights Golden Gaels (WCSSAA #2)
Brantford St. John's Green EaglesLeague Record: 10-0
League Finish: D5 Champs (Defeated North Park 2-1 in best-of-three series)
Key Wins Against CWOSSA Teams: JF Ross
Last CWOSSA Appearance: 2010 - Went 1-1 in Pool Play; lost in CWOSSA semifinal to Waterloo Collegiate.
Last CWOSSA Championship: 1994 (AAA)
Key Players: Tim Dawson (5'8" SG, Grade 10); Adam Peters (5'6" PG, Grade 10); Cam Post (6'3" F, Grade 10); Jake Brennan (6'3" F, Grade 10).
Season In Review: The Eagles, who have an "all-CWOSSA" performer in Tim Dawson, won the D5 championship this past Tuesday in thrilling fashion when Dawson made 2 free throws with 0.6 seconds left to pull out a one point win.
Assuming that St. John's isn't still celebrating that win, they have a great chance to advance through to the semifinals here at this week's CWOSSA championship, and possibly further.
St. John's has been a "top 4" CWOSSA team most of the season, with their season highlights including a championship at the competitive "Purple and Gold" 16 team tournament at Resurrection CSS; they would also advance to the consolation final at the Ontario All-Catholic, which featured many of the top teams provincially.
Mark's Pool Projection: In this extremely competitive pool, the winner of the opening game (St. John's - Cameron Heights) will put themselves in great position to move on to round 2. That should be a great game between two teams that have been "top four ranked" all season long. As much as that's a toss-up, I like the Eagles to win at least one (and most likely both) of their pool games and advance to the semifinals. Of note, the Eagles defeated JF Ross 64-48 at the RCSS tournament in January.
League Record: 10-4
League Finish: D10 Finalists (lost to Bishop Mac in D10 final)
Key Wins Against CWOSSA Teams: N/A
Last CWOSSA Apperance: 2010 - Went 0-2 in Pool Play, losing to Resurrection and Waterloo CI.
Last CWOSSA Championship: 2007 (defeated Centennial in final)
Key Players: Kristian Vande Kemp (6'4" F, Grade 10); Nolan Ireland (6'4" F, Grade 10); Vlad Vamanu (5'10" G, Grade 9); Alex Turvey (5'10" G, Grade 10).
Season In Review: The JF Ross Royals are probably a team that not too many teams want to face. Their scrappy style and deep bench may actually serve them well in a competitive tournament like CWOSSA (where teams don't have a lot of turnaround time).
The Royals' season has been up and down, with more "ups" than "downs". They finished 10-4 in the D10 league, but came very close to knocking off Bishop Macdonell in the regular season (54 straight D10 wins), losing by 1 in OT. The Royals would also lose by single digits to Bishop Mac in the championship finals, but showed a great ability to come back in that game --- this is a team that you can't rest on if you get up early on them.
The Royals are led by the sleek 6'4" Kristian Vande Kemp, who teams up well on the offensive post alongside fellow 6'4" F Nolan Ireland. Grade 9 guard Vlad Vamanu has had some solid games down the stretch of the season, and hit the go-ahead three-pointer in JF Ross' close win against St. James in the D10 semis.
Mark's Pool Projection: I think the Royals may be able to upset Cameron Heights, simply as a result of their size and depth of their bench. Keep in mind that the Gaels will be coming off a game only a couple of hours before against St. John's, so fatigue may be a factor there. At any rate, I'll say 0-2 or 1-1, if they can get past CHCI.
League Record: 11-1
League Finish: WCSSAA Finalists (lost to FHCI in finals)
Key Wins Against CWOSSA Teams: Forest Heights
Last CWOSSA Appearance: 2008 - went 1-1 in pool play and lost to eventual champion Resurrection CSS in semifinals.
Last CWOSSA Championship: No CWOSSA Junior Championships
Final CWOSSABasketball.com "AAAA" Rank: #2
Key Players: Vladimir Matovic (6'3" F, Grade 10); Jason Thompson (6'2" F, Grade 10); Luke Hovius (6'1" G/F, Grade 10); Ahmed Sheikhali (6'0" G, Grade 10); Junior Bradford (5'11" G, Grade 9).
Season In Review: How things can change in a couple of weeks. At one point a favourite to possibly make the CWOSSA final, the Cameron Heights Golden Gaels now find themselves in a very competitive pool with JF Ross and St. John's, whose veterans all have CWOSSA experience from a season ago.
Cameron Heights is missing the services of 5'5" streak shooting reserve guard Nikola Farkic, which hurts their depth, but they still do have the pieces to make a serious run at a CWOSSA title --- provided they pick themselves up from an emotional loss last night (and with only one day in between to prepare).
That said, the Gaels are one of the better shooting teams in CWOSSA, and have a dominant interior presence with their 6'2" forward, Jason Thompson.
Mark's Pool Projection: I think the winner of the CHCI/JF Ross game will advance to round two. For the purposes of this discussion I'll slide the Gaels at 1-1 in Pool B with a semifinal appearance.
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