Abbey Park Eagles goalie Michael Cookish keeps his eye on the puck as T.A. Blakelock captain Sean Courage crashes the crease Tuesday at Glen Abbey Recreation Centre. Cookish was very good but Tigers netminder Bradley Bezemer was even better, blanking the Eagles 2-0 in the Halton high school boys' hockey clash. | photo by Riziero Vertolli -- Oakville Beaver Pre-novice team posts personal best at nationals continued from p.32 Skate Oakville also sent a prenovice ice dance team of Angel Green and Matthew Snowden to the Skate Canada Challenge. The team posted personal-best scores to finish 14th out of 25 teams in its division. Synchro season starts The local club will send all 10 of its synchronized skating teams to Stratford this weekend to compete in the Bill Phillips Memorial Skating Competition, the first meet of the season. The competition will help prepare the squads for two major events next month, Winterfest in Mississauga and Skate Oakville's Synchro Capers meet at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. SELF STORING LEAF 33 | Thursday, December 11, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com TAB blanks Abbey Park in hockey showdown The T.A. Blakelock Tigers blanked the Abbey Park Eagles 2-0 Tuesday at Glen Abbey Recreation Centre in an early-season clash between two teams expected to vie for the Halton high school Tier 1 boys' hockey championship. Jack Base scored less than two minutes into the game for Blakelock, Ben Bernier added an insurance marker early in the third period, and Bradley Bezemer made several difficult saves to record the shutout. Tigers coach Ken Butler was pleased, but not surprised, by the win over the defending Halton Tier 1 champion Eagles. "Last year, we were very good," said Butler, whose team finished first in the regular-season standings a year ago but failed to advance past the playoff quarterfinals. "For me, it's about building a team and a system for guys who want to buy in and have success. The buy-in is there, and the belief will soon be there too, I believe." Blakelock (3-1-1) was coming off a tournament victory this past weekend in Montreal, when the Tigers bested squads from as far away as Manitoba and Sudbury. The Eagles were also flying high going into Tuesday's game, having blitzed the Garth Webb Chargers 10-3 the previous day to improve to 4-0 on the year. They may have been soaring a bit too much, coach Larry Rinaldo felt. "We might have had some over-confidence. It hurt us. But Blakelock played well, their goalie played outstanding. They made some very nice plays, so you have to give them credit," Rinaldo said. Abbey Park has only six returnees from last year's team that represented the region at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AAA/AAAA tournament. Other players have quickly stepped up to fill the void left by those who departed, led by Ben Prentice and his six goals in Abbey Park's first three games. Goalie Michael Cookish was also very sharp in a losing cause Tuesday, his highlight being a secondperiod toe save on a Blakelock one-timer that drew applause from the Abbey Park crowd. Rinaldo said he noticed he had a bit more talent to work with this year after the Eagles' successful campaign in 2013-14, which also included a victory at the Burlington Bur Bear tournament. "We've got a lot of good players out. Kids came out for high school hockey because they (saw us in) the Halton championship game," Rinaldo said. The Eagles will only get stronger after Christmas, when they expect captain Mitch Prentice to return from injury. Holy Trinity (5-1), Oakville Trafalgar (3-0) and Iroquois Ridge (31) have also enjoyed strong starts to the season in the Richardson Division, which features eight Oakville schools and two from Georgetown. -- Jon Kuiperij Novice ice dancers Bradley Keeping-Myra and Gina Cipriano compete at the Skate Canada Challenge. | photo submitted Lower Looo Looo THAN BOXING DAY! 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