LOCAL SPORTS
Senior AAA Brants record drops to 6-5
by Steven McGoey
6 July 2026
BURLINGTON - As the calendar turns to July, baseball season in Burlington is in full swing.
Burlington teams are having lots of success early in the year, the 9U Tier 2 team is undefeated at 8-0 while the 10U Tier 1 Bulls sit in third place and the 10U Tier 2 squad sits in second.
The 11U Bulls are fielding two Tier 1 teams and the two sit in fourth and fifth place, the 13U Bulls also have two teams who are in third and fourth place.
The Burlington Bulls organization has won multiple tournaments early in the year. The 10U Tier 2 took home the championship at the Cobra Classic while the 11U Bulls took home the Troy May Memorial Tournament in Oshawa. The 16U Tier 2 Bulls defeated Ancaster in the finals to win the 2026 Muskoka Cup.
BOMBA formally announced the coaches for the High Performance Program and EBLO programs. Kyle Liberto will coach 12U HPP and Frankie Coccia will coach 13U PP. Jeff Ingram will coach 14U HPP/EBLO and Kellen Miyata will coach 15U. 11-year MLB veteran John Axford will coach 16U and Julian Parson will coach 18U.
BOMBA All-Star Day will take place on July 18 at Ireland Park and BOMBA Fun Day at Brant Hills
Park on July 25.
Meanwhile, the Senior AAA Burlington Brants have stumbled slightly in the COBA Major Baseball
League. The team currently sits at 6-5, second in the Ken Johnson Division, and are currently in the midst of a three-game losing streak. Matt Mastantuono continues to carry the weight at the plate for the Brants, he has a .418 average, 23 hits and a team-high 17 RBI on the season.
Cole Lewis, Bill Reaume and Sawyer Whitaker have also had strong seasons.
On the mound the Brants have relied on a deep staff with four pitchers tossing at least 14 innings. Trevor Woodjetts and Luke Connors have performed well with 24 and 23 strikeouts and a 1.08 and 1.17 WHIP respectively. The Brants participated in the 2026 CABC Gold Bat Invitational
Tournament held in Sarnia, which was recently revived after a 25-year pause. The tournament featured 16 Senior AAA teams from across Ontario and Michigan. Despite a 2-1 record and a +19-
run differential, the Brants did not advance to the semi-finals, and the tournament was eventually rained out.
Burlington has six games on the schedule in July, they have a home game each Wednesday at 7:30pm at Nelson Park.
M.M.Robinson champs in 12-10 win
by Russell Harness
6 July 2026
BURLINGTON - As promised in last month’s high school sports update, this article will be focusing
on the sports that weren’t yet finished/fully covered in last month’s edition, including senior
girls rugby and senior boys baseball. In next month’s edition we will take a look at how everything
played out in soccer, slowpitch and ultimate frisbee.
In senior girls rugby (as noted in last month’s high school sports update), Nelson defeated
Iroquois Ridge 72-0 in the semi-finals to lock up a spot in the tier two championship game against
T.A. Blakelock. After defeating the other Burlington squad in the semi finals (M.M. Robinson),
T.A. Blakelock proved to be too much for Nelson to handle, with the tier two final ending 29-12 in
favour of T.A. Blakelock.
In senior boys baseball, Nelson and M.M. Robinson shared the crown of being Burlington’s best
performing team during the regular season, with identical 4-1 records, along with nearly identical
points differentials as well.
They do play in different tiers (Tier 1 Volpe and Tier 2, respectively), which is why their paths
didn’t end up crossing in the post season. Playing in Tier 1 Volpe with Nelson was Frank Hayden,
a team that finished with a respectable 3-2 record.
In the playoffs, Frank Hayden managed to outscore a higher-seeded King’s Christian Collegiate
in an offence-filled 11-8 quarter final matchup.
In the semi-finals Frank Hayden fell to Garth Webb 11-6. Nelson had a similar showing
in the playoffs, defeating Milton 4-2 in the quarter finals, before getting knocked out by a strong
(number-one-seeded) Georgetown 4-1 in the semi finals, to end their championship hopes.
In the Tier 2 semi-finals, a highly anticipated all-Burlington matchup between M.M. Robinson
and Aldershot, M.M. made it through by way of forfeit. It is worth noting that Aldershot had a slightly disappointing regular season (2-3 record with a 16-39 points differential), but certainly would have preferred to give it a shot in what would have been a senior boys baseball “derby”
as they say in soccer and football. M.M. Robinson went on to face undefeated Acton in the Tier
2 finals, and came through with an impressive 12-10 victory, earning M.M. Robinson the championship.
Bulls, Brants kick off 2026 baseball season
by Steven McGoey
8 June 2026
BURLINGTON - As the summer kicks off the Burlington Bulls minor and Burlington
Brants senior baseball seasons have begun as the Burlington Organized Minor Baseball Association (BOMBA) celebrates its 69th season.
Minor baseball in Burlington is in great shape this season as BOMBA is fielding T-ball teams, house league teams from 7U-18U, a variety of rep teams from 8U-22U, Burlington will be fielding 14U, 15U, 16U and 18U EBLO teams, EBLO is the highest level of competitive minor baseball in Ontario. The 15U team will be coached by 11-year MLB veteran John Axford. They will also be fielding High Performance Program teams at 12U and 13U AAA, a specialized pathway to prepare players for elite-level baseball.
Applications are already open for the 2027 elite and high performance coaching positions.
Additionally, the Burlington Bulls 12U teams are fundraising for a trip to the Cooperstown All Star Village tournament, a storied week-long tournament that allows the players to stay in dorms as a
team and experience the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Meanwhile, the Burlington Brants senior baseball team has begun another season in the COBA Major Baseball League. To compete in Senior AAA baseball players must be at least 19, there is no upper age limit. The Brants tied for the division lead in wins last season but ultimately could not bring home the championship.
They compete in a division with the defending-champion Oakville A’s, Milton Red Sox and Waterloo Tigers. Other teams in the league include the Etobicoke Rangers, Brampton Royals and Erindale Cardinals.
Burlington sits at 5-1 to begin the season and have scored 71 runs, both lead the league. They have been stellar defensively, allowing just 30 runs.
They have won five games straight after dropping the opening game of the season to Milton.
Matt Mastantuono is leading the team offensively with 13 hits, 12 RBI and a .481 batting average. Sawyer Whitaker has nine hits in five games while Cole Lewis and Bill Reaume each have six hits. Third-year player Jack Gillis has five hits and has already stolen five bases in two games.
Veteran pitcher Jordan Rienzo has already racked up 9.2 innings while returning pitchers Charlie Lisac and Cam Ryerson have had strong starts to the season. First year Alex Papadopoulos racked up 10 strikeouts and picked up a win in his first start for the Brants.
The Brants have seven games on the schedule in June, they play every Wednesday at home at Nelson Park at 7:30pm.
Forster named OJHL Top Defenceman
by Steven McGoey
12 May 2026
BURLINGTON - As the 2025-26 minor hockey season comes to a close the Burlington Eagles and Burlington Barracudas Girls Hockey Club both had successful seasons across multiple age groups. Across all age groups the Barracudas finished with a record of 679-619-186.
Despite boasting several successful teams throughout the season the Senior A Barracudas were the lone team to medal at OWHA Provincials, taking home the bronze medal.
On an operational level, the Barracudas organization announced that Victoria Bach, a former PWHL player, CWHL Rookie of the Year, Canadian Olympic alternate and two-time World Hockey champion, will serve as Fundamentals Head Coach and Program Development
Coach for the BGHC, effective immediately. Additionally, the association was ranked the number one Girls Association in Ontario by MYHockey Rankings, a widely recognized youth hockey database and rankings platform.
The Burlington Eagles had four teams compete for the OMHA Championships. The U18AA team
were crowned champions after defeating the Whitby Wildcats, while the U11AAA, U13AA and U16AA squads were all finalists.
Following their OMHA title, the U18AA team advanced to the Ontario Hockey Federation finals. After opening the tournament with a 3-3 tie against the Soo Greyhound and 4-0 loss to the Ted Reeve Thunder, the Eagles rebounded with a 5-4 win over the Brantford 99ers before dropping
another game to the Kitchener Jr. Rangers. After rebounding with a 5-2 win over Kitchener, Burlington advanced to the finals against Ted Reeve, ultimately falling 5-3 in a hard-fought game. After an incredible season that saw them finish with a 58-8-6 record and OMHA title, the U18AA Eagles finished second in Ontario. Six Eagles teams made the finals in Tri-County playoffs. The
U12A, U13A and U15A teams were all Tri-County champions, while U13AA, U16AA and U18AA were
all finalists.
Following a crushing game seven loss in the first round of their first round series against the Milton Menace the Jr A Burlington Cougars received one bright piece of news to wrap up their season.
Defenceman and team captain Reid Forster was named OJHL Top Defenceman of the Year for the 2025-26 season and is currently one of six finalists for the CJHL Top Defenceman Award.
The CJHL comprises nine Jr. A hockey leagues across Canada. Forster led the Cougars and all
OJHL defencemen in scoring this season with 54 points in 54 games. He added another six points in seven playoff games, and was named to the OJHL First All-Star Team.
Aldershot, Nelson football champs
by Russell Harness
12 May 2026
BURLINGTON - With the winter HSSAA high school sports season all wrapped up, let’s take a
look at how our local Burlington teams are starting out their spring sports seasons.
Not all sports are on the same schedule, as baseball (both senior boys baseball and senior girls
slowpitch) has yet to get underway (at the time of writing this article), and both touch football
and junior boys hockey have already finished their brief spring seasons. Lacrosse, rugby, soccer,
and ultimate (frisbee) have all begun as well.
Let’s start out with the Junior Boys ice hockey, as their spring tournament took place over a
span of just two days from April 8th to 9th at Joshua Creek Arena in Oakville. Aldershot and Nel-
son (with Nelson normally being a school of hockey prowess) both were eliminated in the quarter
finals, while Frank Hayden and M.M. Robinson managed to make it one more round, both
getting knocked out in the semi finals by tough teams.
In Boys Varsity touch football, Nelson and Frank Hayden performed exceptionally well in the
regular season winning a combined 10 of 12 games, while Aldershot and M.M. Robinson
weren’t able to get much going and finished in the bottom half of the standings. Despite Aldershot’s rough regular season, they managed to make it all the way to the tier two finals where they comfortably took care of Elsie MacGill 40-8 to take home the championship. Nelson continued
their strong play into the playoffs, where they were beaten 28-27 in the tier one finals by Milton.
In Girls Varsity touch football, Nelson went undefeated in the regular season, while Frank
Hayden, M.M. Robinson and Aldershot struggled, all finishing at or below the 0.500 mark. In the
playoffs, Nelson was the only Burlington team to make it past the quarter finals, and they eventually ended up taking down Iroquois Ridge in the tier one finals 16-12.
Here is a quick summary of what is going on in lacrosse, rugby, soccer, and ultimate. In Varsity
Boys lacrosse, Nelson is off to a solid 2-1 start, while Aldershot has struggled, losing both
of their first two games. In Senior Girls rugby, Nelson has won two of their first three games, and
M.M. Robinson has played one less game and is currently sitting at 1-1. In Senior Boys rugby, M.M.
Robinson is currently 2-1 for the season and Nelson has struggled winning only one of their first
four games.
The soccer season is still very young as teams have only played one game a piece in junior girls
soccer, with M.M. Robinson being the only Burlington squad to notch a victory thus far. In Senior
Girls soccer Nelson, Burlington Central and Aldershot have all started off their seasons with
a bang, while Frank Hayden has struggled out of the gate.
In Junior Boys soccer, Burlington Central is currently tied for first place after winning both of
SEE THIS MONTH'S PRINT EDITION FOR THE REST OF THE STORY
Nelson undefeated end as champs!
by Russell Harness
6 April 2026
BURLINGTON - As promised in last month’s paper, this edition of the Burlington HSSAA high
school sports update will be focused on the winter-season playoffs, and how each of the local
schools fared in hockey, basketball, and volleyball.
In senior girls hockey, Nelson made it as far as the quarterfinals where they lost 4-1 to Garth
Webb, but Burlington Central managed to make it to the semis, where they fell 5-2 to T.A.
Blakelock. In senior boys hockey, both Aldershot and M.M. Robinson made it to the semifinals
but fell to T.A. Blakelock and Craig Kielburger respectively, ending their championship hopes.
In bantam boys basketball, Aldershot made a deep playoff run, getting past Abbey Park in
the quarterfinals in an extremely close 39-38 game, and fought hard in the semis against Georgetown but ultimately ended up falling just two points shy of a berth
in the finals.
In junior boys basketball, neither of the two Burlington schools qualified for the playoffs, but in
senior boys basketball, three of the five Burlington entries made it to the postseason.
M.M. Robinson took down Abbey Park in a high-scoring 90-82 quarterfinal matchup, but fell
57-47 to Iroquois Ridge in the semis. Burlington Central and Aldershot met in the semifinals,
where the latter punched their ticket to the tier two finals with a 62-57 victory. After a tightly contested final, Aldershot defeated E.S. Gaetan Gervais 64-60 to become the tier 2 champions.
In bantam girls volleyball, M.M. Robinson and Nelson were eliminated in the quarterfinals, while
Frank Hayden managed to make it to the semis where they were defeated by Georgetown. In junior girls volleyball, the top-seeded favourites (Nelson) continued their incredible play getting past Abbey Park in the semifinals and then taking down Oakville Trafalgar in the finals to be crowned the tier 1 champions.
This Nelson squad won all 13 of their games across the regular season and the playoffs, going
undefeated from start to finish. Aldershot also had a great postseason, beating Elsie MacGill in
the semis before falling just short of the tier 2 championship in a tight 2-1 loss to King’s Christian
Collegiate.
In senior girls volleyball, Burlington’s top two teams from the regular season (Frank Hayden and
Burlington Central) made their way through the quarterfinals, semifinals, and into finals matchups
in their respective tiers. Unfortunately for Burlington volleyball fans, Burlington Central fell
to King’s Christian Collegiate 3-0 in the tier 2 finals, and Frank Hayden lost 3-1 against Oakville
Trafalgar in the tier 1 championship match.
Jr. A Cougars eliminated by Milton Menace in round one of playoff action
by Steven McGoey
6 April 2026
BURLINGTON - The Jr. A Burlington Cougars season has officially come to an end following
a 3-1 loss in game seven of their first round West Conference series against the Milton Menace.
Burlington jumped out to a 2-0 series lead following a crazy game two that saw them accumulate 17 powerplays and win the game 7-0 as Milton racked up seven misconducts and played an extremely chippy game. Despite the seven goals the Cougars went just 1/17 with the man advantage.
While down three players to suspensions, Milton took game three 4-1 before Burlington rebounded
with a 5-1 game four win to push the Menace to the edge of elimination. With their backs against the wall Milton won a hard-fought game five 4-1 that was closer than the score would indicate. The
Menace controlled play in game six, cashing two powerplay goals in a 5-2 win to force a do-or-die
game seven. Despite outshooting the Menace 39-19 in game seven the Cougars could not solve goaltender Austin McKillop as Milton won the game 3-1.
This marks the second season in a row Milton have eliminated Burlington in the first round.
Defenceman and captain Reid Forster continued to be the team’s MVP in the playoffs, playing big
minutes and finishing as the Cougars leading scorer with one goal and six points in seven games.
Rookie forward Ben Trebicky had a productive showing with two goals and five points in seven
games, Mickael Tissier was the team’s leading goal scorer, notching three in the series.
Goaltender Carter Vicente had a great series, starting all seven games. He finished with a 2.37
GAA, .936 save percentage and one shutout after facing a whopping 251 shots against.
Following the conclusion of the regular season defenceman Forster was named to the OJHL
First All-Star Team, cementing his position as one of the two best defencemen in the league
in 2025-26. Burlington had two players who finished the season on the playoff roster who made
commitments to D1 hockey programs. Trebicky committed to Dartmouth College while Daniel
Vasic committed to Lake Superior State University for the 2027-28 season.
The Cougars had a relatively young team and made multiple additions via trades during the
season. It will be interesting to see how many players return for the 2026-27 season.
Rookie camp for those looking to make the team next season takes place May 8-10.
Victoria Mboko wins National Bank
by Steven McGoey
BURLINGTON - Burlington tennis star Victoria Mboko defeated former WTA No. 1 and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka at the National Bank Open in Montreal on Aug. 7.
The 18-year-old Mboko began the season ranked 333rd in the world and was 85th by the time
the Open began. Her win made her the second-lowest ranked player to win a Tier 1 tournament
and her world ranking shot up to 24.
Mboko’s parents emigrated from the Democratic Republic of Congo and she was born in
Charlotte, N.C., before moving to Burlington at the age of four. She trained at Burlington’s ACE
Tennis from age four until the age of 12 under partners and former professionals Doug Burke and
Pierre Lamarche. “From the word ‘Go’ she had incredible competitive spirit, she wanted to beat everyone, she wanted to beat her siblings even though they were eight or nine years older,” Burke told The Independent. Her passion for the game was evident from a young age.
“She loved being on the tennis court playing, she couldn’t get enough. When she was out there
she was zoned-in and unusually focused for someone so young,” said Burke.
Throughout the tournament Mboko was constantly coming from behind, including a 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) win in the semis against Elena Rybakina.“What struck me the most was her composure in tough situations through the tournament...she was almost itching to come back and fight.”
“Her power and ball striking are exceptional, her timing is so good and she has so much power that I think after a while it wears on her opponents,” said Burke.
After picking up her first WTA Tournament win Burke thinks the sky is the limit, “I don’t think
there’s a ceiling, I really don’t... she has a strong belief in herself, she doesn’t get rattled easily and
she seems to have a really good team around her. I think as long as she stays healthy there’s no
limit where she can go.”
Despite a straight sets loss in Round One of her first U.S.Open appearance, Burke does not think
it will impact her long term - and that it might be good for Mboko to get some rest. She was plagued by a wrist injury.
As for what Mboko’s rise means for tennis in Canada? Burke is already seeing an impact at Ace.
“They’re more excited about tennis and the possibilities, for young Canadians, especially females. I
think it does give them the belief that they can go far in this game.”