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Sports Oakville Beaver By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR www.aplushomes.ca Adam Campbell Broker of Record 905-844-4444 B R O K E R A G E I N D E P E N D E N T LY O W N E D A N D O P E R AT E D SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2008 35 Minor peewees roll Three Richard Bell titles for local 11-year-olds Joshua's Creek Arenas was a minor peewee playhouse Monday for Minor Oaks Hockey Association rep teams. Three of the four minor peewee Rangers teams won their divisions at the Richard Bell Memorial Minor Hockey Tournament. The AA squad blanked the Georgetown Raiders 10, the A team pulled out a dramatic 3-2 victory over the East Gwillimbury Eagles in a shootout, and the AE (additional entry) club cruised to a 4-0 win over the Flamborough Sabres. Oakville's other minor peewee entry, the AAA Rangers, was eliminated in the semifinal round of its division. "This (minor peewee) age group alone is phenomenal, from AAA on down," said AE Rangers coach Dominic Reale. "We have a lot of depth and a lot of talent in Oakville." One other local team -- the minor atom AA Rangers -- reached a Richard Bell final Monday, falling 3-0 to the Mississauga Braves. The tournament concluded yesterday (Tuesday), with the minor bantam AE and A teams winning championships. See Friday's edition of The Oakville Beaver for coverage of Tuesday's finals. Boulding clutch for A team Though they've lost only two of 25 league games so far this season, wins seldom come easily for the minor peewee A Rangers. That was certainly the case Monday, as Oakville needed some last-minute heroics from forward Jordan Boulding just to send the game into overtime. Then, after a scoreless 10-minute overtime session, the Rangers outscored East Gwillimbury 3-1 in a shootout to claim the championship. Oakville head coach Brian Stamegna felt his team's experience playing in tight games -- only seven of the Rangers' 21 league wins have come by more than a two-goal margin -- proved to be a tremendous advantage against the Eagles. "Even though our record is very good, we don't have a 5-1 average win. Our average win is 3-1 or 3-2," he said. "I think that helps our team when we're in these types of situations. We don't panic, we still believe. We were down (2-1) in the second intermission, but we felt we were still in control of the game." Oakville netminder Michael Cookish, who made a great save with eight minutes to go in regulation to keep his team within striking distance, said he never lost confidence in his teammates. "We have strong players and we know how to get it in the net," said the 11-year-old Oakville Christian School student. "We get a lot of our goals in the third period." Cookish stopped three of the four East Gwillimbury shooters he faced in the shootout. Sean Courage, Nick Greco and Boulding converted their shootout attempts for the Rangers. Boulding, who had tied the game 2-2 by converting a goalmouth pass with 11 seconds to go in regulation time, scored the prettiest goal in the shootout. While teammates Courage and Greco both opted to go with low wrist shots to the blocker side of Eagles goalie Peter Suderman, Boulding froze Suderman with a deke and then lifted a backhand high into the net. "I don't have a very strong shot, and I'm very good at deking," explained Boulding, an 11year-old E.J. James student. Stamegna wasn't surprised to see Cookish and Boulding come through when the team needed a boost. "Michael is a very good goaltender. Goalies have pride not to give up the third goal when you're down 2-1, and Michael has that. He's also very good in shootouts, so once we got to the shootout we had a lot of confidence we could pull it out," said the coach. "Jordan is our best pure skater and he has great hands. That's why he was out at the end of the game. He knows how to put the puck in the net." Stamegna added he was particularly proud of Courage, who battled through a flu to play in the final. The Rangers, who defeated the Eagles 3-0 in the round-robin portion of the tournament, played the championship game without one of their top forwards, Robert Hudson (suspension). Oakville clinched a berth in the final with wins over the Newmarket Redmen (5-2) and Cooksville Phantoms (5-0) before dropping its final round-robin contest, 5-2 to the Grimsby Peach Kings. Defence keys AA squad's success It might not sound easy to convince young hockey players to take pride in their defensive play, but Mike Choma has certainly succeeded in doing so. The minor peewee AA Rangers' shutout of Georgetown in the final was the team's fourth in six games at the Richard Bell tournament. Oakville allowed only one goal in each of its two other contests. "I have an extremely intelligent group of hockey players that want to get better," said Choma, the team's coach. "It's just hard work and effort, winning the one-on-one battles. That's the philosophy behind our defence." Rangers goaltender Michael Gironda earned the shutout in the final, his third in as many games at the tournament. The 11-yearPHOTOS BY MICHAEL WILLEMS / OAKVILLE BEAVER old St. Marguerite d'Youville student said he couldn't remember having to make a difficult A BANNER DAY: Three Oakville minor peewee Rangers teams won Richard Bell Memorial Minor Hockey Tournament championships Monday at Joshua's Creek Arenas. In top photo, Nicholas Serniuck save in the championship game. "Good defensive work," he said. "They of the AA Rangers follows through on a shot. In bottom photo, AE Rangers captain Blake Stewart (in See AE page 36 blue) fights through the check of two Flamborough Sabres opponents.