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U16 BOYS 4th AT PLAYOFFS

The Toronto Golden Jets U16 boys team finished off a strong season by placing 4th at the Eastern conference playoffs in Ottawa.
 
The Jets started out with a tough match against DDO (Montreal) and led 3-2 after the first quarter. DDO returned the favour in the second quarter sending the teams to half time tied at 5-5. The Jets repeated the first quarter to lead 8-7 after three quarters as each of the first three periods ended in 3-2 scores.
 
Then, after DDO tied it up early in the 4th, the Jets scored three unanswered goals and went on to win 13-11 to advance to the semi-finals.
 
Captain Bora Kaya led the way for the Jets with 6 goals. Dario Lucic added a hat trick with Eddie Elias and Alex Papalazaropu each netting two goals to round out the scoring.
 
In the semi-finals, the Jets had to face the #1 seeded Mavs. The Jets fought hard trailing 8-4 at the half and 10-6 late into the third quarter. However, the team tired and wound up losing 15-8.
 
Nisker paced the attack with three goals with Elias again adding a pair. Daniel Press, Kaya and Lucic notched singles.
 
The game for the bronze medal featured a match against the host Ottawa Titans. The match proved to be hard fought and close throughout as three of the four quarters ended up in ties. The Jets lost the second quarter by two goals including giving up a power play goal with nly 5 seconds remaining in the half. That quarter proved to be the difference as the Titans won 10-8.
 
Kaya led the way with 5 goals giving him a dozen over the three playoff games. Lucic added a pair giving him a total of 6 goals. Nisker added the other for his fourth tally.
 
Kaya’s performance was recognized by his selection to the Eastern Conference All-Star team.
 
Congratulations to the players and coaches on a great season!!!
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U16 BOYS EARN 4TH SEED

The Golden Jets U16 boys team traveled to Ottawa and Montreal to conclude the regular season in National Championship League (NCL) play and earned the 4th seed at the upcoming Eastern Conference playoffs.

The trip began in Ottawa with a game against Capital Wave. Despite the fatigue of a 4+ hour car ride, the Jets roared out to a commanding 7-1 first quarter lead. The teams traded single tallies in the second period. With four unanswered goals to start the third quarter, the Jets put the game out of reach as they led 12-2 en route to 16-8 win.

Top scorer Bora Kaya again led the way with a whopping seven goals. Ahmed Wagner also had a big game netting five. Eddie Elias added a pair of goals while Sebastien Nisker and Daniel Press chipped in with one each.

The next day in Montreal, the Jets squared off with the powerful Montreal Machine and fell 18-7. The team could not recover from a disastrous 1-6 opening frame. Kaya notched five more goals while Dario Lucic and Alex Papalazarou added singles.

Later that day, the Jets got their legs back in time to face another Montreal squad, St. Lambert and came away with a resounding 20-7 victory.

Just as with Capital Wave, the Jets zoomed out to a 7-1 first quarter advantage. Again, as with Capital Wave, the teams traded goals int he second period and the Jets led 9-3 at the half. To keep the similarity going, the Jets came out in the third quarter and scored six unanswered goals to put the game away.

Kaya and Lucic each had monster games putting up seven goals apiece. Papalazarou and Press both added a pair
while Daniel Brancus and Elias notched single markers.

With the victory, the Jets were assured of the 4th seed and looked at using the game against their third Montreal opponent, CAMO, as a way to get all the players playing time.

The Jets went out in front 4-3 in the opening period and then extended the lead to 8-5 at the half. As playing time started to be distributed among all the players, CAMO was able to claw back and tie the game 10-10 entering the final quarter and then turned the tide completely to win 17-12.

Lucic led the way for the Jets with four goals. KAya and Nisker each potted a hat trick while Elias added the final two goals.

The Jets will play the #5 seeded DDO (Montreal) in the quarter finals at the Eastern Conference playoffs later this month.

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OZDEMIR MLWP’S MVG

Toronto Golden Jets senior men’s starting goalie, Emirhan Ozdemir, was named the Canadian national league’s Most Valuable Goalie for the 2019 regular season.

Ozdemir was the backbone of the Jets defence. He led the league in steals and in save percentage of shots from outside six meters.

It is the third time Ozdemir has won the award.

CONGRATULATIONS EMIRHAN!!!

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JETS MEN WIN SILVER AT NATIONALS

The Toronto Golden Jets senior men won the silver medal at the National Championships this weekend at the Markham Pan Am Pool.
 
The Jets began the weekend as the #2 seed and drew the #7 seeded Mavs in the quarter final. The Jets jumped on top 3-1 in the first quarter and then used a pair of 2-0 periods to put the game away leading 7-1 after three quarters.
 
Tuna Tali led all scorers with a hat trick while Euan Scoffield notched a pair of goals. Rudy Despaignes, Milos Radojcic, Mike Chapman, Chris Vang and Pedro Moraes each added singles.
 
Goalie Emirhan Ozdemir was outstanding in the Golden Jets net constantly frustrating the opposition shooters and shutting them out for two and a half quarters.
 
On Saturday evening, the Jets’ semi-final match up was against the #1 seed from the Western Conference, the Calgary Torpedoes. Last year, the Torpedoes defeated the Jets in the bronze medal game so Toronto was looking for revenge and a trip to the gold medal game.
 
Calgary, a team with ex-National Team players and lots of experience, wasted no time in taking a 2-1 first quarter lead. However, the Jets came back with a strong second quarter, outscoring the Torpedoes 3-0 to take a 4-2 half time advantage. The Jets matched their second quarter total but the defence faltered allowing the Torpedoes to stay within reach as the Jets led 7-5 heading into the final frame.
 
Neither team could generate any offence in the final period until Calgary scored on a penalty shot with a half minute to play. However, the Jets successfully protected the ball against a furious storm defence by the Torpedoes to hang on for the 7-6 win.
 
Scoffield led the way with a pair of goals while Matt Hart, Paul Spooner, Despaignes, Moraes and Tali added singles. Ozdemir had another strong game in the cage for the Jets.
 
On Sunday, the Jets had to face off against last year’s champion DDO (Montreal) squad.
The two teams had a thrilling regular season game in Ottawa two weeks earlier that saw the score tied at half time, DDO rack up a 3-0 third quarter and the Jets rebound with a 4-0 final frame to eke out a 9-8 win.
 
The Jets opened the scoring out of the center on their first attack but DDO responded with a similar goal to tie things up. DDO then potted two more in the quarter to take a 3-1 lead into the second period. Neither team managed much offensively in a goalless quarter leaving the score 3-1 as the teams changed ends.
 
DDO then went up 4-1 early in the third quarter but the never-say-die Jets then rallied for two goals of their own to pull within one entering the final quarter. DDO re-established its two goal margin part way through the period but the Jets immediately responded. DDO then went up 6-4 only to see the Golden Jets score on the counterattack with 1:42 remaining to set up an exciting finish. The Jets defence held but the offence never got the ball back after its one failed attempt as DDO got a fortuitous rebound off the cross bar to get a new shot clock and ran out the game for the 6-5 victory.
 
Sukhmun Hare and Spooner each had a pair of goals with Despaigne adding a single.
 
Incredibly, this was the 9th time in the last 10 years that the Golden Jets men have been in the national championship gold medal game with the other year being a bronze medal game.
 
CONGRATULATIONS to the senior men!!!
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JETS WOMEN MAKE STRONG MLWP DEBUT

The Golden Jets senior women’s team began the 2019 MLWP season with four games in Montreal and came away with two wins, a tie and a one-goal loss.
 
On Friday night, the team jumped into the pool to face Montreal team DDO after a 6+ hour drive.
 
Both teams started tentatively trading single goals in the opening quarter. The Jets pulled ahead by two in the second quarter and kept that lead at the end of the third to lead 5-3. However, fatigue became a factor and DDO tied things up quickly to start the final frame and made it three unanswered goals to forge ahead 6-5. The Jets fought back to tie things up but conceded a late goal to fall 7-6.
 
Allie Vas led the way with a hat trick while Rhianna Wood, Deena Charles and Sara Sutherland added singles.
 
The next day began with a game against last year’s national champions and host CAMO. The Jets again played their opponent to a 1-1 first quarter draw. And, as the night before, rode a 3-1 second quarter to a 4-2 halftime lead. CAMO got one back to trail 5-4 after three periods and scored the only goal of the final quarter to leave the teams tied 5-5. Caitlyn Tiedje paced the Jets with a pair of goals from the center with Charles, Sutherland and Vas notching single tallies.
 
A few hours later, the Jets women were back in the pool to play Capital Wave (Ottawa) and fell behind early before tieing things up 2-2 by the end of the first quarter. The Jets scored the only goals of the second quarter and the third quarter to surge ahead 4-2. This time, the team kept the pressure on and won 7-4 for its first victory of the season.
Charles had a monster game scoring 5 goals to lead all players while Emily Grossman and Tiedje added singles.
 
Early Sunday morning would be the setting for the team’s final game of the weekend. A new entry, St. Lambert was the opponent. The St. Lambert team is comprised of numerous older players who spent their careers playing for CAMO and DDO. As such, it was conventional wisdom that they would triumph easily. But the Jets women had other ideas. St. Lambert jumped ahead 2-0 and 3-1 in the first quarter and it appeared that the more experienced Montreal team would run away with things. But the Jets wouldn’t go away and scored twice near the end of the first quarter to tie the game 3-3. St. Lambert opened the scoring in the second quarter and then the teams traded goals leaving the Jets down 6-5 at the half. Then the unthinkable happened as the Jets scored two unanswered goals to go ahead 7-6. St. Lambert tied it 7-7 with a minute to go in the period but the Jets responded just 15 seconds later to carry a 8-7 lead into the final quarter. St. Lambert pulled even with 4:30 to go but again the Jets responded on the next attack to retake the lead. The exciting game went down to the horn but neither team could generate a goal leaving the Jets with a surprising 9-8 victory. Vas led the Jets attack with her second hat trick of the weekend. Wood scored a pair while Charles, Grossman, Sutherland and Tiedje added singles.
 
With three starters unable to make the trip and three more top players out for the season, the undermanned Jets women displayed great determination and belief in each other to pull off a very successful weekend!
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SILVER MEN MAKE STRONG DEBUT

The National senior men’s league (MLWP) got underway in Montreal at the end of January and the Toronto Silver Jets had a very strong showing going      1-2.

All three games were close affairs marking the first time ever that the Silver team had performed so well.

On Saturday, after getting up at 5:30am to drive over 6 hours to Montreal, the Silver Jets got out of the car and faced off against the Ottawa Titans Black team.

The Jets stunned Ottawa with a 3-0 burst to start the game . Ottawa managed to pull to within one by the end of the opening quarter and kept it that way until the half as the Jets led 5-4.

The Jets moved the needle back to a three goal lead by the end of the third quarter (9-6) before hanging on to win 11-9.

Maksim Cuturilo led the way with a hat trick. David Rapoport, Luka Pejanovic and Petar Kovasevic each scored twice while Richard Laurie and Harrison Young added singles.

A few hours later the team was back in the water to face the host CAMO team and put up a valiant fight before falling 13-10. The Jets trailed 3-2 after one period. Then the team tied things up three consecutive times before CAMO restored its one goal cushion at the half. The Jets found new energy in the third quarter and surged ahead 8-6 on the strength of three unanswered goals. But then the fatigue showed as the team gave up two goals at the end of the quarter and four to start the final quarter.

Cuturilo, Laurie and Rapoport each scored twice while Ali Saleh, Kovasevic, Pejanovic and Young added singles.

After a short night’s rest, the Silver Jets were back at it Sunday to play St. Lambert – a team composed of 7 players centralized at the national team training center in Montreal. Though the team quickly fell behind 3-0, it refused to give up and actually closed to within one at 6-7 in the third quarter. St. Lambert then struck for three unanswered goals to close out that quarter before the Jets again came back to win the final quarter 2-0 while ultimately falling 10-8.

Cuturilo again led the scorers with a hattrick. Kovasevic and Pejanovic had a pair each and Young added one.

Great start to the season for the team!

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UofT TO HOST UNIVERSITY FINALS

The University of Toronto will host the men’s and women’s university water polo championships this weekend December 1-2 at the UofT Athletic Center. It marks the first time in five years that Toronto has hosted the events.
 
This is a chance for all Golden Jets to come and cheer on the Varsity Blues teams which are nearly completely composed of Golden Jets members.
 
Both teams went undefeated during their regular seasons and enter the Finals as #1 seeds. Due to the ranking, both UofT teams will receive byes into the semi-finals on Saturday. The women will play at 1:45pm and the men will play at 4:15pm.
 
Medal games are on Sunday.
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TRYOUT WEEKEND IS HERE!

The Toronto Golden Jets 2018-19 tryout weekend has finally arrived!

Players are asked to attend both sessions (if possible) and bring bathing suit, swim goggles, towel and large bag in which to put their clothes.

The National Association (Water Polo Canada) has just changed its registration policy so the club will be removing the Registration Link until the new policy by WPC goes into effect.

The tryout practices all take place in the 50m pool at the University of Toronto (55 Harbord Street – corner Spadina) and are scheduled as follows:

Saturday, September 15  –                                                                                                            11:45am – 1:30pm:  All age group girls born 2001-2012                                    1:15pm-3:00pm:  All age group boys born 2001-2012

Sunday, September 16  –                                                                                                            4:45am – 7:00pm:  All age group girls and boys born 2001-2006                             4:45pm-6:00pm:  All age group boys and girls born 2007-2012

 

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GOLDEN JETS ADD INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED COACH

The Toronto Golden Jets are extremely pleased to announce that 4-time Olympian David Hart has been hired to provide an innovative new program for the club effective with the new competitive season.

57 years after they first met in the water as rival age-group swimmers and 42 years after they competed as teammates at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, club founder and head coach, George Gross, Jr.,  and Hart will team up once again. Hart has signed an exclusive deal to bring his world-class coaching and mentoring experience to Gross’s Toronto Jets Water Polo Club.

“I’m thrilled that George approached me when he heard I was relocating from Ottawa to the Golden Horseshoe area and offered me this great opportunity. We both looked at each other and said …it’s been too long, let’s do this.”

Gross and Hart had an instinctive understanding of each other in the water as illustrated by the 1976 Olympic Games clip seen via the following link:

The exclusive GTA deal brings Hart’s Performance Water Polo program to the club.  Hart will run a concentrated, small group (6-10 members) high performance program aimed at helping players reach international standards of play.  The players selected by Hart to be included in the program will still attend all regular team practices but will also have the opportunity to learn more personally-directed skills separately under Hart’s tutelage.

Evaluations of those members interested in participating will be done during the first week of practices.

Hart is the only Canadian Water Polo personality to have coached with all 6 Canadian National Team programs (Senior Men and Women, Junior Men and Women, Youth Men and Women) and was the first ever Canadian to  coach a foreign National Team (Head Coach Brazil Women 2002-2003).

In addition to his four Olympic appearances, he participated in five World Championships as well as six Pan American Games.  As a coach he won 8 International Medals.  As a player, he appeared in 160 international matches including the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games.

After his playing retirement in 1976, Hart became the leader of the Canadian Water Polo Association’s national office.  He quickly authored the first Level 1 and Level 2 NCCP Water Polo Coaching Manuals, developed the materials for the Level 3 NCCP water polo course and provided the technical leadership for the creation of a National Officials Certification program.  In the early 1980s, he spearheaded the establishment of the first national men’s league (CWPL).

In 1993, he accepted the position of Master Coach for Water Polo Canada and developed the first “Legacy Coaching Program”.  Three of his graduates became head coaches for National teams

Among his other ambitious programs, his innovative “Dream Team 1999” was totally self- funded, offering an extensive 4 year international preparation and personal self-development program for 24 of the top 15 and 16 year old boys. Three of his program’s graduates represented Canada in the 2008 Olympics.

In 2001, David created one of the most innovative and important domestic water polo programs – the ‘I Love Water Polo’ program aimed at introducing young people to the sport.

In 2012, Hart received the Geoff Gowan Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Coaching Association of Canada for lifetime contribution to Coaching Development in Canada.

Welcome to the Golden Jets, David!