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48 Sp Sports SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2011 Blades l d in familiar f l spot as 2011 comes to a close l By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The Oakville Blades find themselves in a familiar position as the calendar prepares to flip to 2012. The Blades' 2-1 loss to the Georgetown Wednesday guarantees that the Raiders will be atop the West Division standings when the Ontario Junior Hockey League rings in the new year. But it is hardly reason to sound alarm bells. The Blades have not finished first in their division since 2008. Yet that has hardly prevented them from having postseason success, having reached the league final each of the last four years. "We feel pretty good about where we are," said Stefan Thompson, who had the Blades' lone goal Wednesday. "We should have a couple more wins. There were some games we let go. We need to win more of these big games." Oakville didn't have to wait long for a chance to rectify that. Georgetown visited Sixteen Mile Sports Complex Friday (a game that began after the Beaver's press deadlines), and the Blades rode a 15-game home winning streak into that game. The last team to beat Oakville at home, though, was Georgetown, which edged the Blades 1-0 in their home opener. Wednesday's loss was another typical matchup of two of the best defensive teams in the league. Thompson opened the scoring in the first but Georgetown took the lead on goals by Patrick Megannety and Caleb Apperson five minutes apart in the second. The third featured few good scoring chances -- the teams combined for just 13 shots -- until the Blades were served up a golden opportunity with a minute to play. Oakville was applying good pressure when Raider defenceman Nathaniel Domagala pushed the net off its moorings during a scramble. The Blades were awarded a penalty shot but Georgetown goalie Steven Racine turned away Kyle Blaney to preserve the win. "I was going to go glove side but as I was coming down, I saw him cheating that way," Blaney said. "I made a move but he got over. You have to give him credit, he made a good save." Blaney expected the Olympic-sized ice on the Blades' home rink would give them an advantage in the rematch. After an initial adjustment period last year -- the Blades started 8-5-1 in their new home -- they y have been all but unbeatable. EAMONN MAHER / METROLAND MEDIA GROUP BLADES EDGED IN GEORGETOWN: Georgetown Raiders goaltender Steven Racine comes across to stymie Oakville Blades captain Kyle Blaney on a penalty shot Wednesday in Georgetown. Racine's stop preserved a 2-1 Georgetown win and kept the Raiders ahead of the Blades in the Ontario Junior Hockey League standings. Combined with an 11-game winning streak to close last season, Oakville entered Friday's game 26-1-0 in its last 27 regular season home games. "It's a big plus for our team," Blaney said. "We (recently) played our third game in three nights in Huntsville (which also has an Olympic-sized ice surface) and it didn't even feel like a road game." Though the larger ice surface would seem to favour an offensive team, the Blades have thrived despite being one of the best defensive teams over the past two seasons. It also benefits the offence though g when the Blades create turnovers and move the puck up the ice quickly. "Our D like to jump into the rush and it gives us more space to work them in," Blaney said. NOTES: The Blades were missing leading scorer Tyler Karius as well as Jordan Coccimiglio for Wednesday's game..... James Prigione made 25 saves.....Oakville lost four of its first five contests with Georgetown this season. Four of the five games were decided by a single goal. Friday's game was the last meeting of the season between the teams.....Georgetown entered Friday's game 25-8-1 this season while Oakville was 22-7-4. Richard Bell tourney y taking g over local rinks this week The largest-ever Richard Bell Memorial Tournament gets underway tomorrow (Tuesday) and will run throughout the week at arenas across the town. One hundred and fifty-eight teams, hailing from six different countries, will compete in the 19th edition of the annual Minor Oaks Hockey Association holiday competition. All teams are guaranteed at least four games as a total of 369 contests are scheduled in the tournament, using approximately 560 hours of ice. All minor atom and minor peewee teams, along with the minor bantam AE division, will begin play tomorrow. Finals in those divisions will be held Thursday. The rest of the minor bantam squads and all of the minor midget divisions will play their first games Wednesday, with championship games slated for Friday. On top of the seven American squads that will compete in the tournament, eight teams from overseas will also participate. Those clubs include Finland's S-Keikko (minor bantam A) and EVU 98 (minor bantam AAA); Norway's Toensberg (minor midget AE), Hasle Loeren (minor midget A) and Manglerud Star (minor midget AA); Denmark's Frederikshavn (minor midget AE and minor midget AA); and Sweden's Gota Traneberg (minor midget A). All overseas teams are being billeted by Minor Oaks Hockey Association families. There is no admission charge for any of the games in the tournament. -- See page 49 for a schedule of all local teams' round-robin games and the championship game in each division.