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www.insideHALTON.com |OAKVILLE BEAVER |Thursday, January 5, 2017 |42 Selects kept improving as tourney went on continued from p. 41 expected to win, especially at a younger age." The Rangers defeated the Selects 6-1 Wednesday in the opening game of the tournament for both teams, but the Selects -- whose preparation for the tournament was one tryout, three practices and one exhibition game -- improved as the competition went on. That was evident in Friday' s title game as the Selects kept things tight through the first two periods, aided by a strong performance by netminder Zachary Brown, and even took the lead on a nice short-side-roof goal by Nolan Muller. However, Hudson Brown tied the game less than 20 seconds later on a shot from the high slot. The Rangers then pulled away in the third period with Max Dixon break ing the deadlock three minutes into the frame and Rylee Kogon adding a pretty insurance marker with 10 minutes to go. "A little bit," Kogon said after the game when asked if he and his teammates felt pressure to beat a non-rep opponent. "We just focused more on our selves than them ," added the 11-year-old W H . Morden elemen tary school student. "(This will) help us because this is near the end of our season and we're going into the playoffs where we will be play ing better team s." Meanwhile, Selects coach Mi chael King was thrilled with both the effort and the attitude of his players, noting he had "zero expec tations" for how the team might fare in a rep competition. "(The Rangers have) played 4 0 games together, they practise twice a week, they've been together since the middle of last year," King said. "Just through sheer heart and en ergy, our guys made the final of a rep tournament and lost only 3 -1 ." The Minor Oaks Hockey Associa tion has run a select program in the past but recently stopped doing so, opting instead to run three levels of house league (red, white and blue). Asked whether the MOHA should consider bringing back the select program, King quickly said, "Yes." "There are three levels of house league, six teams per league, that' s about 2 7 0 players. There' s definite ly enough talent to do it, and look ing online I've seen there are a lot of select-oriented tournaments," he said. "I understand it requires more ice time, which is very h ard ... but I would love to see (select) come back into play" Rangers win two more Bell tourney finals Minor bantam AAA W ith a defence that rivals the best teams in their league, the Oakville minor bantam AAA Rangers are rarely out of a game. But for much of the season, the Rangers have struggled to score goals. "They have been hard to come by. There have been a lot of 2-1 losses," said Rangers' coach Mike DeRenzis. Finally free of the injury bug, the Rangers scored 2 2 goals in six games on their way to the division title at the Richard Bell M emorial M inor Hockey Tourna ment. Carter Real scored twice in 16 seconds to break a 1-1 tie midway through the second period as the Rangers defeated the Rochester Monarchs 4 -2 in Thursday night' s championship game. "It means a lot more winning at hom e," Real said. "It's the first time I've ever won the tournam ent." Rochester is the ninth-ranked team in the U.S. but DeRenzis said his team has proven capable of beating strong teams. Despite a sub-.500 record in league play, the Rangers handed first-place Buffalo one of its only two losses this sea son. Burlington Eagles' William Armstrong (11) had his stick on the puck in the Oakville Rangers crease, but he couldn't jam it past Oakville goalie Dean Alikakos in the minor atom A championship game. | photo by Kevin Nagel - Oakville Beaver Minor atom A The odds were already stacked against the Oakville minor atom AE Rangers. So when the Burling ton atom A Eagles jumped out to a 2 -0 lead in the opening period, it was game over. Or at least it should have been. The Eagles had already beaten the Rangers 6-2 a day earlier in their opening game of the Rich ard Bell Memorial Minor Hockey Tournament. Oakville, playing up a level, had recorded a pair of vic tories and its 5-2 upset of the Bur lington Bulldogs in the semifinals would have been enough cause for celebration. Instead, the Rangers saw no rea son they couldn't win the tourna ment, even if it meant overcom ing a two-goal deficit against the fourth-ranked atom A team in the province. Max Newton scored twice before the end of the opening period to tie the game and set up Keegan McK enna' s winning goal in the second period as the Rangers scored five unanswered goals in a 5-2 victory. "I'm so proud of these guys," said Oakville coach Greg Newton. "They never believe they are out of a gam e." Tyler Lammi and Dylan Barish also scored. The Rangers are 2 7 -0 -0 in Tri County AE league play and 45-5-1 overall. 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