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

35 W ednesday , January 5, 2011 O A KVILLE BEA V ER w w w .o akvillebeaver .co m this season. We went with 11 play- ers all tournament. It meant a lot to the team that we were able to fight through it. Coming into the tourney, the Rangers sat in second place in the eight-team Tri-County Hockey League with a 14-7-4 record and had allowed just 47 goals (less than 2 per game). After a 3-2 victory over the Applewood Coyotes in their semifi- nal matchup early Thursday morning, Oakville wasted no time getting on the board in the finale as Whitehouse beat Knights goal- tender Paul Kumar at the 11:10 mark of the first. Challis made it 2- 0 with 2:21 remaining in the sec- ond and Roy netted the insurance tally at 11:35 of the third. But Whitehouse conceded that without some of Rangers goal- tender Michael Cookishs stellar saves, which included stopping an in-close backhander by Ajaxs Grayden Ley in the first and David Hannahs breakaway towards the end of the second, a title may not have been possible. Hes a stellar goalie, Whitehouse said. He bounced back from a tough beginning of the year and he came to play in the finals for our team and played well. For Knights head coach Steve Avery, it was a case of missed opportunities early on that made the difference in the final score. We had three great scoring chances in the first five minutes of the game, Avery said. If we had capitalized on one of those, it would have been a different game. I think we wouldve come out on top. Continued from page 34 Minor bantams yield less than two goals a game By Gene Pereira SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER The Oakville minor peewee A Rangers hopped aboard the Gravy Train and rode it to a championship win at the Richard Bell Memorial Tournament over the holiday break. Liam Gravy Train Gravelle brought the Oakville bench to its feet just 18 seconds into the final against the Whitby Wildcats, when he raced down the right side and ripped a drive over the right shoulder of goal- tender Michael Burke. The goal was all the Rangers would really need en route to a 3-0 victory over the Wildcats last Wednesday at the Glen Abbey Recreation Centre. He carried two guys on his back and went upstairs, Oakville head coach Scott Stevenson said, the excitement rising in his voice when describing Gravelles winning marker. It set the whole tone for the hockey club. That it did. It was like, OK, lets get some more, guys, said Rangers forward Derek McVey. It was big for us, and Gravy has been big for us the whole year. Stevenson only had to look across his bench to see the impact the early marker had on his team. There was a lot of endorphins floating at that bench, he added. The young kids were very excited when they saw him score. He came back to the bench and they thought, were going to win this tonight, because of that one goal. That made a lot of a difference for us. It almost proved to be the only difference on the scoreboard between the two teams, thanks to the outstanding play of Burke in the Whitby goal. Oakville dominat- ed play, especially in the second, but couldnt beat Burke and didnt put this one away until late in the game. We were telling the boys to go high. Hes a small guy with soft shoulders, but he proved us wrong, Stevenson said. We went low, high and he stopped every- thing. Hes a hell of a goalie. The importance of that second marker loomed large on Stevensons mind knowing how hot goaltenders can steal games. The fact was that we had a lot of shots and our confidence was starting to wane, because he made a few big saves and we thought, we cant score, he said. We called for an ugly rebound and we finally got one of those goals and that helped a lot. The Rangers would finally get the breathing room they needed with 3:47 remaining in the game when Adam Grace beat Burke from the low slot past the left pad. We knew (Burke) was good, said McVey, who sealed Oakvilles third tournament title this season with an empty net goal with 19 seconds remaining. He has a lot of talent down low, but we just tried to get (the puck) high and eventu- ally we cracked him, and it was huge. Christopher Vezina earned the shutout in goal for the Rangers, who have clinched first place in OMHA play with an impressive 19- 1-2 record. Minor peewees ride the Gravy Train to tournament gold The young kids were very excited... he came back to the bench and they thought were going to win this tonight. Minor peewee A Rangers coach Scott Stevenson, talking about an early goal by captain Liam Gravelle LEADING BY EXAMPLE: Oakville Rangers captain Liam Gravelle (right) battles for the puck with Jake Peacock of the Whitby Wildcats during the minor peewee A final of last weeks Richard Bell Memorial Minor Hockey Tournament. Gravelle scored 18 seconds into the game to spark the Rangers to a 3-0 victory. CHANTAL AYOTTE / OAKVILLE BEAVER www.ymcaofoakville.com Get on the path to health. Fun & active adult health & fitness programs.