The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.oakvillebeaver.com 14 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2006 Peewee AE Rangers rebound to douse Blaze in Bell final By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The Oakville minor peewee AE Rangers packed a year's worth of excitement into their final game of 2006. The Rangers saw an early 3-1 lead disappear when the Georgina Blaze scored three times on a five-minute power play. Oakville then rallied for six straight goals, only to have to fend off a late Georgina charge before securing a 7-6 win in the minor peewee AE final at the Richard Bell Memorial Hockey Tournament Friday afternoon. Making the win even sweeter was the fact that Georgina had beaten the Rangers 4-2 the previous night to hand them their only loss of the round-robin. Oakville outshot the Blaze 2211 in that game at the Glen Abbey Rec Centre. However, Oakville took advantage of the larger ice surface at Canlan Ice Sports to use its strength, its speed and skating ability, to dominate Georgina when they were at even strength. "Losing last night meant they came out hungrier. They wanted it," Stamper said. "And with the home crowd in it the whole way, it was like having a sixth man out there." Oakville seemed to have the game and tournament title wrapped up when Cole Nagy scored with 5:25 remaining to make it 7-4. Georgina would answer back within a minute, scoring on a shorthanded breakaway. Then with an extra attacker on the ice, a point shot made its way through a crowd to cut the lead to one with 12 seconds to play. Oakville would not let the lead slip away though, holding on to become the first local team to capture a title at this year's tournament. The Rangers looked like they would run away with the game in the early going. Daniel Bingham opened the scoring with a high shot from the slot and Matt Lunder quickly made it 2-0 by lifting a shot over the goalie from the edge of the crease. Georgina would pull within one but then gave it back, literally. With no Oakville player near them, a Blaze defender and the netminder botched a transfer of the puck at the edge of the crease and ended up pushing it across the line. Bingham was credited with his second goal of the game. Georgina would battle back in the second, taking full advantage of the five-minute checking-from-behind major penalty to score three times. Stamper called a timeout to settle his team and it worked. "They play with a lot of intensity and sometimes you have to slow them down to regroup," he said. Oakville responded when John Breeson chipped the puck past the last Blaze defender to send Tyler Kennedy in alone. He made no mistake beating the Georgina goalie through the legs. Michael Desario then restored the lead, cutting through the slot and firing a shot as he fell to make it 5-4. Kennedy upped the lead to 6-4 when a turnover created a two-on-one. He deked the defender and then fired a shot past the goalie's glove. "The boys are so supportive of one another, " said Stamper, whose team is 17-5-0 and in second place in league play. "It's an amazing group, always high-fiving one another, giving fist pumps. It's all about winning as a team." Minor atom Rangers roll to tourney title The Oakville Minor atom A Rangers' 8-0 victory over Humberview in the minor A final was an emphatic stamp on their domination of the competition at the Richard Bell Memorial Tournament. The Rangers won all five games, outscoring the opposition 24-2 in the process, to win their third tournament of the season. Despite having eight new players, including goalies, Daniela Paniccia and Michael Cookish, the Rangers haven't missed a beat this year. They are in first place in league play and nearly unbeatable in tournaments. In their only other tourney this year, they lost in overtime in the final. Drew Doherty led the Rangers with a hattrick in the Bell final while Cody Dixon scored twice. Michael MacDonald had a goal and an assist while Mitchell Dennis and Ryan Tomka also scored. Niall Currah and Adam Goraieb each had two assists. Though Paniccia could almost skate under the crossbar without ducking, she came up big by stopping a breakaway while Oakville was leading 2-0. Together Paniccia and Cookish combined for an 0.40 average and three shutouts in the tournament. "The team has come around and played very well," said coach Brian Stamegna. "And they're having fun, which is what we want them to do." BARRIE ERSKINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER WILD WIN: Oakville Ranger players, including John Breeson and Cole Nagy, celebrate a goal during a wild minor peewee AE final at the Richard Bell Memorial Hockey Tournament Friday. Oakville held off a late rally by Georgina to win the championship with a 7-6 victory.