Hall keeps Olympic hopes alive

Pointe Claire native Tom Hall is just one race away from achieving his Olympic dream. The longtime member of the Pointe Claire Canoe Club needed to be the top Canadian in the C-1 1,000-metre event at last weekend’s World Cup paddling competition in Szeged, Hungary to keep his Olympic hopes alive. He did just that taking the bronze in 3:59.04 edging Mark Oldershaw of Burlington, Ont., who finished fourth in 4:00.700.

‘’I was really happy, I’m getting stronger with every race,’’ said Hall. ‘’I’ve known for over a month this was going to be the situation here and I was well prepared and not feeling too nervous. Mark was in the lane next to me but I tried to keep focused on my own race.’’

Hall will now focus on another dramatic tiebreaker against Oldershaw at a World Cup regatta in Duisberg, Germany in mid-June. If Hall ends up beating his rival in that tiebreaker, an entry to Beijing on a C-1, 1,000-metre Canadian boat is his.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League held its annual entry draft on Saturday in Sydney, N.S., and seven players who either learned their skills with area hockey associations or played for local teams in the past year were chosen.

Three went in the first round. Forward Michael Chaput of the midget espoir Lac St. Louis Royals was selected ninth overall by the Lewiston Maineiacs while the Moncton Wildcats took Louis Boileau-Domingue, who tended goal last season for the Quebec Midget AAA Hockey League Lac St. Louis Lions, in the 13th position. The Acadie- Bathurst Titan selected defenceman Stefan Fournier of the Lions 17th overall.

The Wildcats chose forward Matthew Bissonnette of the midget espoir Lac St. Louis Tigers in the second round, 20th overall while the Rimouski Océanic selected defenceman Ryan Kavanagh of the Lions in the fourth round, 63rd overall. Also in the fourth round, the Baie-Comeau Drakkar selected forward Simon Darveau of the espoir Tigers 73rd overall while the Wildcats chose forward Yasin Cissé of the Lions in the fifth round, 75th overall.