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Titans look to build on success when Sr. B season opens Friday by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Staff 27 | Wednesday, April 17, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Sam Roy (left) of the Oakville peewee AA Rangers tries to control the puck from one knee while Clarington's Harrison Sillen moves in to try to take the puck away.| Michael Ivanin -- Special to the Oakville Beaver Atom AAA Rangers ousted in semis continued from p.26 Atom AAA Rangers At the AAA tournament in Chatham, Oakville dropped its first game -- 4-2 to the Toronto Jr. Canadiens -- before tying the Niagara North Stars 1-1, pounding the Chatham-Kent Cyclones 10-3 and edging the ElginMiddlesex Chiefs 4-3. Toronto once again got the better of Oakville in the semis, however, defeating the Rangers 4-2. Luke Evangelista scored in each of Oakville's first four games, including a hat trick against ChathamKent. Cam Garvey and Sean Guerin also had three-goal outings against the Cyclones, when Cam Tolnai had six points (one goal, five assists) and Chase Strychaluk contributed four helpers. Tolnai had two goals against Elgin-Middlesex and a single in the first meeting with Toronto. Jacob Murray had two goals in a losing cause in the semifinals. Goaltenders Hayden Williamson and Davis Tolnai combined to win three games in the tournament. With just three points separating the top five Ontario Sr. B lacrosse teams last year, it wouldn't take much to slide down the standings. And Josh Briscoe, the general manager of the Oakville Titans, who finished tied atop the standings with an 11-5 mark, doesn't see his team moving down. "Nothing short of everything we had last year and more," said Titans GM when asked of his expectations for the coming season, which begins Friday with a game against the Sarnia Beavers. "There's no reason for us to take even half a step back." The Titans will begin the season without the services of the league's leading scorer, Shane Scott. Scott, who paced the league with 33 goals and 71 points, will be attending the training camp of Oakville Rock next month, hoping to land a spot on the Major Series Lacrosse team. Nic Grasby (51 points in 11 games) and Kyle Aquin (14 points in 10 games) will also be trying out for the Rock. Briscoe said most teams face the same challenge, though. "If you look at last year, we went 4-4 and then in May we made nine or 10 roster moves and went 7-1 the rest of the season," he said. The only sour note was a three-game sweep at the hands of Owen Sound in the semifinals. But with 13 players returning to start the season, including a strong leadership group consisting of Cam Monroe, Stu Gordon, Ken Coulson, key transition player Mike Gillan and Minto Cup winner Miller Rusbridge, the Titans' GM is confident in his team's ability to get through the earlyseason games. Fortunately for the Titans, they have only six games scheduled before the end of May, when they can typically expect to have players returning from MSL camps. Last season they had eight. And even if the likes of Scott don't return, Briscoe is confident they will get other quality players from the Rock, who have brought Terry Sanderson on board as general manager. The presence of the veteran lacrosse man will help the Rock attract players, heightening competition for jobs. "Terry Sanderson always puts a winner on the floor," Briscoe said, "which will mean we'll have some good players coming back to us." The Titans will also have two of their three goaltenders back with starter Jay Preece and backup Mike Cregan in the fold. They also added former Burlington Chief netminder Craig Wende. Oakville opens the season with back-toback home games at Glen Abbey Recreation Centre. The Titans face Sarnia Friday at 8 p.m. and St. Catharines Apr. 27. Oakville's Jordan MacIntosh matched his career best with five goals Saturday to help the Minnesota Swarm clinch a National Lacrosse League playoff spot with a 17-12 win over Colorado. MacIntosh also had five goals the previous week in a 21-7 victory over Buffalo. The secondyear transition player has 26 goals and 51 points in 15 games for the Swarm, which are 7-8 on the season. He has 14 goals in his last four games. Dan Dawson helped keep his team's playoff hopes alive with an 11-point game in Rochester's 15-14 victory over Calgary Saturday. Dawson had three goals and eight assists. The next day Dawson scored twice to hit the 20-goal mark for the 11th straight season. He also had four assists in a 14-10 loss to Edmonton. Rochester, 7-8, will look to clinch a playoff spot in its final regular season game in Buffalo Saturday. MacIntosh helps Swarm clinch NLL playoff berth Paniccia named MVP for Penn State's first team Nicole Paniccia was named Penn State women's hockey's first most valuable player Saturday. The Oakville netminder started 27 games for the Nittany Lions and despite facing an average of 40 shots per game, had a 3.11 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage. Paniccia led Penn State to victory in its first-ever Division 1 women's hockey game, turning aside 31 shots in a 5-3 win over Vermont. She also shared in the school's first-ever shutout, stopping 11 shots through two periods before turning the net over to Brooke Meyer, who made seven saves in the third period of the 6-0 victory over Sacred Heart. The junior goalie, who played the previous two years at the University of Connecticut, made more than 50 saves five times this season, including in 54 in a seasonending 3-2 overtime loss to RIT in the playoffs. Nicole Paniccia turns away a shot. The Oakville native was named the MVP of Penn State's first women's hockey team. | Mark Selders -- Penn State Athletic Communiciations