SportsOakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 201134 By Gene Pereira SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Head coach James Church credits his goal- tenders for his Oakville minor atom A Rangers high-powered offence. Thats right, his goaltenders. Thanks to the confidence they have in Kiernan Drover and Christian Sbaraglia, the Rangers can let loose on offence. And thats exactly what they did at the Richard Bell Memorial Minor Hockey Tournament this holi- day season. The Rangers capped off an impressive show of firepower with a 5-0 whitewashing of the Meadowvale Mohawks last Wednesday in the final at Glen Abbey Recreational Centre. Oakville outscored its competition 29-4 en route to winning its second tournament title of the season. We said from the beginning of the year, we were going to score a lot of goals because we can expect our goaltenders to make the saves if we do leave them alone, Church said. We play really hard in the offensive zone and our defence plays with the condition that we keep the puck deep in the other teams zone. The Oakville game plan is focused clearly on puck possession. When you have the puck, the other team cant score. It may sound simple, but the Rangers aggressive style is based on team work and a hard work ethic. One that wears their opponents down. Thats how we control the game, Church said. Cycle the puck, keep it down low and they cant change. The Rangers put on a good display of that style in their championship win over Meadowvale. Oakville fired 29 shots, while Drover earned the shutout by kicking aside all nine shots he faced. It makes me feel a little more relaxed, because I know I wont have to make as many saves, the nine-year-old goaltender said of his teammates ability to control the play. Anthony Tabak potted the game winner in the first period, but the Rangers blew the final open in the middle frame with Jodh Dhillon, Curtis Blakely and Cooper Elliott scoring three times in less than eight minutes to put Oakville in the drivers seat. Tabak completed the romp with his second of the contest in the third period. We started to skate a little harder and we werent moving our feet in the first, Blakely said. Then we started to get more confidence and we started to score. Oakville now sports an 18-5-1 record in league play and a 40-10-1 record overall. With the Bell tournament win and just three regular season games remaining before the OMHA play- downs, the Rangers appear to be peaking at the right time. Im very proud of our boys, said Church, whose club also captured the Barrie Canadian Tire Invitational Tournament earlier in the sea- son. I tell them all the time they are a very spe- cial group of boys. Theyre smart and they know what to do. They believe in our team concept, our total work ethic and they show up on time and work hard. Lang expected to retire today Goalies lead minor atom A Rangers to Bell title REWARD FOR A JOB WELL DONE: Oakville minor atom A Rangers goalies Kiernan Drover (left) and Christian Sbaraglia check out their new trophies after winning the Richard Bell Memorial Minor Hockey Tournament last week. The tandem combined to allow only four goals in five games at the competition. KAREN NEWMAN / OAVILLE BEAVER By Ryan Glassman SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER The Oakville minor bantam A Rangers are far from a high-scoring outfit. But when it comes to keeping the puck out of the net, not too many teams know how to do it better. At last weeks Richard Bell Memorial Minor Hockey Tournament, the Rangers allowed just six goals in six games, including a 3-0 blanking of the Ajax Knights in Thursdays final at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex to win the division title. It was important for us to win in Oakville, head coach Dominic Reale said. Were a community based hockey team and the boys worked hard and they wanted to win in Oakville, so it means a lot for us. Luke Whitehouse, Aidan Challis and Luke Roy scored in the final for the Rangers, who won all six of their games during tournament play despite averaging just over three goals a contest. And considering his club has been anything but the picture of health thus far this campaign, Reale is all the more impressed Oakville prevailed when it mattered most. Weve been affected by a lot of injuries this year, he said. Weve only had a full team for seven games Stingy minor bantam A Rangers run the table at Bell tourney Kara Lang (cen- tre), pictured waving to the crowd after an international friendly two years ago, is expected to announce her retirement from soccer today. See Minor page 35 The Canadian Soccer Association has scheduled a press con- ference for today (Wednesday) at the Oakville Soccer Club, where it is expected that longtime Canadian womens soccer team star Kara Lang will announce her retirement. Several news outlets reported yesterday (Tuesday) that the 24-year-old St. Thomas Aquinas grad is calling an early end to her soccer career due to persistent knee problems. Lang tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in September 2009 while playing for the UCLA Bruins, the exact same injury she suffered three years earlier. Lang has been with the womens team since making her debut as a 15-year-old in 2002. She played a key role in Canadas silver-medal win at the FIFA U-19 Womens World Championships in 2002, helped Canada reach the semifinals of the 2003 Womens World Cup and played for the senior team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. See tomorrows (Thursdays) edition of the Beaver for more coverage. www.gea rmus i c . n e t 324 Kerr St. 905-339-3515 OAKV LL SOAKVILLE MU C STOMUSIC STORE