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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, January 1, 2015 | 42 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor "Connected to your Community" Minor atom AE Rangers start fast, then hold on for Bell tourney title His Oakville Rangers built a 3-0 first-period lead over the Halton Hills Thunder in the Richard Bell Memorial Tournament minor atom AE final, but Matthew Rogers knew better than to think things were over. "We didn't think we had it in the bag," said the nine-year-old Ecole Forest Trail public school student, who scored two of the Rangers' three early goals Monday evening at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. "We kept trying to go hard." Sure enough, Halton Hills rallied, scoring once near the end of the first period and another in the last minute of the second. The Thunder pressed hard for the equalizer in the final minute of regulation but Oakville held on for a 3-2 win, becoming the first local team to win a Richard Bell title in 2014. "It's our home tournament," said Rogers, "so we were excited." Monday's contest was the fifth meeting of the season between Oakville and Halton Hills. Two have finished in ties, the others have been decided by one goal. The Rangers' win in the Bell final gives them a 2-1-2 edge in the season series. "I have a feeling we'll see them again," Oakville head coach Kevin Harper said, alluding to the upcoming Ontario Minor Hockey Association playdowns. "It was a good start by our kids. (Halton Hills) had a game this morning (when Oakville enjoyed a bye), so they might have been a little tired." Riley Gawronski scored Oakville's other goal in the championship game, and Sam Muller recorded the victory in net. Other members of the Rangers are Ethan Bencich, Hudson Brown, Diego Da Silva, Joshua Edwards, Owen Gabany, Fraser Harper, Nolan MacDonald, Marcus Montanino, Theo Montanino, Jack Pitre, Brady Stewart, Benjamin Stewart and Matthew Taylor. Two minor atom finalists Oakville had a shot at two other minor atom championships Monday, but both the A and AA Rangers lost in the finals. The minor atom As fell 3-1 to the Burlington Bulldogs White, and the AAs dropped a 6-2 decision to the Mississauga North Stars. Minor atom A Rangers coach Steve Dixon was pleased with his team's play in the tournament. Oakville allowed just one goal in its four round-robin games -- all victories -- before the loss to Burlington. "Burlington's goalie (Lucas Lambeck) was the difference. We outshot them and he made the saves he had to make," said Dixon, whose team is 12-12-2 in TriCounty Minor Hockey League play this season. "We started the year 1-5 and have been gaining momentum ever since.... We've established three lines that produce almost every game, our defence has been solid, and our goaltending (Sennett Pang and Jack Smales) has been great." Rylee Kogon scored for Oakville one minute into Monday's final, but Burlington answered with a goal by Spencer Korol and two third-period markers by Logan Shannon. Ethan Noble had both goals for the minor atom AA Rangers, the first of which tied the game 1-1 in the second period before Mississauga scored the next three. After Noble tallied to pull the Rangers to within 4-2, the North Stars iced the game with two goals in the final minute. "Our guys had a lot of chances, a lot of opportunities that just missed going in. The game could have gone either way for a while," said Oakville coach Paul Rowan. "I'm very proud of how the boys played. The other team just passed a bit better than us." The Rangers are 22-1-4 this season in the Tri-County loop, so Rowan enjoyed the tough competition the Richard Bell tournament provided. Oakville went 4-0-1 in its first five games, but three of those were decided by two goals or less. The Rangers tied the North Stars 2-2 during the preliminary round, and defeated Mississauga 4-1 in an exhibition game before the tournament. "Sometimes with nine-year-olds, it depends who shows up," said Rowan. "(Going into OMHA playdowns) in my opinion, we have a lot of work to do... We need to be better positionally and passing, but we're working on it. At the end of the season, I hope they're better hockey players than the start of the season, and I think people would attest that they are." The minor atom AAA Rangers fell one win short of giving Oakville an entry in all four minor atom finals, winning their first five games before being edged 2-1 by the Niagara North Stars in the semifinals. Samuel Holmes celebrates after scoring a goal for the Oakville Rangers in their 8-5 victory over the London Bandits Black in Monday's Richard Bell minor peewee AE championship game. | photo by Justin Greaves -- Special to the Beaver Rangers capitalize on lengthy power play to win Richard Bell minor peewee AE gold When opportunity knocked, the Oakville minor peewee AE Rangers were quick to answer. The Rangers scored twice on a lengthy power play in the second period on their way to an 8-5 victory over the London Bandits Black in the minor peewee AE final of the Richard Bell Memorial Tournament Monday evening at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. Oakville trailed London 2-1 with less than six minutes remaining in the middle frame, but the Bandits -- already shorthanded -- were assessed three minor penalties on one play. The Rangers quickly scored on their 5-on-3 advantage, added another goal 59 seconds later and rode that momentum into the third period with four goals by the midway point of the final frame. "We basically explained to the kids that we had an opportunity to (win) the game," Oakville coach Brent Robertson said of the tide-turning power play. "It was just really simple, getting the puck to the net and trying to take advantage of any rebounds... When we got that third goal to give us a 3-2 lead heading into the third period, it was a different perspective. Rather than talking about how to get a goal, it was talking about how to protect." Anthony O'Coin and Matthew Perry each scored twice for the Rangers in the final, with Sam Swatuk, Samuel Holmes, Michael Chornous and Jackson Round providing the other Oakville markers. Perry's second of the game came into an empty net after London -- which pulled its goalie for an extra attacker when it was down 7-3 with 2:30 left in regulation -- pulled to within 7-5. The victory capped an undefeated showing at the Bell tournament by the Rangers, who have turned their season around after a 1-4-1 start to the Tri-County Minor Hockey League campaign. Oakville, which recently enjoyed an eight-game unbeaten streak, is now 15-8-3 in league play and gaining confidence going into see Minor on p.44