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36 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday December 31, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Tavares pacing Canada early AE Rangers strike quickly in second Canada has gotten off to a promising start at the World Junior Hockey Championships, with John Tavares playing a leading role. The Oakville native led all tournament scorers going into last night's (Tuesday's) action, netting five goals and adding four assists in the first three games. Teammate Cody Hodgson was tied with Tavares atop the tournament scoring race with two goals and seven helpers. Tavares scored twice and added an assist Friday as Canada opened the tournament with an 8-1 pounding of the Czech Republic. He collected four more points (two goals, two assists) in a 15-0 rout of Kazakhstan Sunday, then scored and earned an assist Monday in Canada's 5-1 win over Germany. Canada, which also features local resident Cody Goloubef, will conclude the preliminary round today (Wednesday) with an important game against the U.S. Continued from page 35 (teammates) don't allow a lot of shots, and they're really good at blocking them." Drew Doherty provided the lone goal of the final, scoring midway through the second period. The Rangers' defensive dominance at the Richard Bell was nothing new. Oakville has allowed a miserly total of 15 goals in its 22 TriCounty league games this season, a major reason why the Rangers have been victorious in all of those contests. Choma said his team doesn't play a trapping defensive system, but just works hard at both ends of the ice. "The only defensive portion (of our game) is in our own zone," said Choma. "We want to be extremely aggressive in (the other team's) zone. When it's time to come back in our zone, we have to work as hard in our zone as the offensive zone." The Rangers opened the tournament with a scoreless draw against the Mississauga Terriers before defeating the Mississauga Braves 1-0, Milton Winterhawks 12-1, Tecumseh Eagles 2-0 and Terriers 2-1 to reach the final. Ben Blacker recorded Oakville's other shutout. Elusive title for AE club Runners-up in the previous three tournaments they'd entered this season, the minor peewee AE Rangers felt some pressure to win a Richard Bell championship. Taking a first-period lead in the final against Flamborough helped settle those nerves, and Oakville broke the game open in the second period with three goals in three minutes. "We just got a lot of momentum going," Rangers forward Luke Roy, 11, said of the offensive barrage. Roy scored the second of the three quick goals, banging in a rebound as Oakville fired shot after shot at the Flamborough net. Roy, a New Central student, also had the opening goal of the game. Reece Feijo and Daniel Devlin had Oakville's other markers. Ryan Bell earned the shutout for the Rangers, who had lost 4-3 to Flamborough in round-robin play. "We changed our strategy a bit and played a different game," Reale said. "Flamborough is a quick team, so we just sat back and waited for our chances and it worked. (We) felt that loss in the round robin and, for some reason, we just exploded in the second." Oakville, 19-2-2 in league play this year, hopes to ride the momentum from its first tournament win into the upcoming playoffs. The Rangers defeated the Aurora Tigers 6-1, Cambridge Hawks 2-0, Innisfil Winterhawks 80 and Whitby Wildcats 4-1 in their other tournament games. Early goal sinks minor atoms The importance of scoring the first goal, particularly at a younger age level, wasn't lost on Mark Taciuk and the minor atom AA Rangers. Oakville was denied a division championship with a 3-0 loss to the Mississauga Braves in Monday's final. After opening the scoring in the first period, the Braves bottled up the Rangers' attack to earn their second shutout of Oakville in the tournament. "They got the first goal and they got more aggressive. Pinching, two guys down low, two guys following up and one guy back," said Taciuk. "Any team that gets up a couple goals... (the players) are nine, right? The kids' confidence gets high and the other team's confidence gets low. (Mississauga) played a great game." The Braves, one of the stronger teams in the Greater Toronto Hockey League, avenged a 3-1 loss to Oakville in the Silver Stick tournament final earlier this season. The Rangers won championships in the three tournaments they'd played in this season before the Richard Bell tournament. "We would have liked to win our hosted tournament, but the boys played hard and have nothing to be sad about," Taciuk said. "What I was most proud was how nine-yearold boys weren't crying or whining about penalties or anything else that didn't go their way." Mississauga was the lone team to beat the Rangers at the tournament. After opening the competition with a 1-0 loss to the Braves, Oakville rebounded to blank the Vaughan Panthers 1-0, then tripled up the Hamilton Phantoms 6-2 before blasting the Kingston Canadians 6-0. The Rangers are 20-2-2 in league play this season, and 39-8-4 overall. They will play in the International Silver Stick tournament in Newmarket next month. If you're going t shop anyway make it cou t ' i to hop anyway, k count. h UNICEF cards and gifts are available right in your neighbourhood. Shop today and make a real difference in the lives of children with the things you buy. 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