19 · Friday, January 6, 2012 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com COMING SOON TO OAKVILLE Canada's First-Ever Private Hockey Academy AH A ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Oakville minor midget AA Rangers goaltender Patrick Leon (left) earned four shutouts at last week's Richard Bell Memorial Minor Hockey Tournament. Bell ll tourney ' 'good d preparation' ' for f OMHAs Continued from page 18 in Chatham. Now, after its victory at home, Oakville hopes to keep that success going in the new year. "This is good preparation with Silver Stick and OMHAs coming up," Leon said. The Rangers' chances won't rest solely with their netminders, though. Oakville scored 25 goals in its six tournament games and is ranked second in its league in scoring. "We've got balanced scoring," Crozier said. "One of our top two scorers (Anthony Brochu) was away on a skiing trip and we still got scoring." That was evident in the final as Oakville got goals from five different players -- Douglas Bertrand, Colin Clarke, Jake Smyth, Sean McKellar and J.J. Cipriano -- while five others picked up assists. That depth may be put to the test in the coming weeks. Several fights broke out in the last couple of minutes of the championship game, which could have resulted in as many as three suspensions. But the Rangers have shown they can overcome adversity. Their lone defeat in the Bell tournament was a 5-1 loss to the Mississauga Terriers. Given a second chance against the Terriers in the semifinals, Oakville posted a 2-0 victory. "When you lose a game like that, it's easy to coach," Crozier said. "I didn't have to do too much to get them motivated for the second game." Other members of the minor midget AA A Rangers are Connor Chambers, Alex Cox, Logan Crozier, Marco Jugovic, Chris Luongo, Zachary Murray, Jacob Serensits, Ben Sisokin, Tyler Spence and Ryan Wolski. A D VA N C E HOCKEY ACADEMY OPEN HOUSE!!! Saturday, y January 14th 10:00am - 4:00pm PRIVATE HOCKEY ACADEMY LIMITED MEMBERSHIP: AGES 6 - 13 Special Guests, Games, Priz i es and Equi E ipment Tri T als. l Brin r g the boys and girl i ls and come check us out! Don't forge f t to brin r g your stick! Bantam AAA Rangers reach h Marlie l final f l By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR While six Oakville Rangers teams were busy winning their hometown Richard Bell tournament, another nearly pulled off an even bigger accomplishment. The Oakville bantam AAA Rangers became the first-ever local team to even reach the final of the prestigious Marlies Holiday Classic in Toronto. Oakville won its first six games before settling for silver with a 4-3 loss to the Elgin Middlesex Chiefs. "To even get to the final day was a big accomplishment," Rangers head coach Duncan Harvey said. "The boys were obviously disappointed not to be able to win the final game, but the parents were very proud of how their sons played and the coaches were proud how the boys did." Oakville's wins at the tournament came over the Toronto Red Wings (4-1), Sudbury Wolves (6-2), Long Island Gulls (5-3), Team Comcast (3-0), South Central Ontario Coyotes (2-1), Mississauga Senators (3-1) and Toronto Marlboros (2-0). The semifinal win over the Marlies marked the first time the '97-born Rangers squad had beaten the Greater Toronto Hockey League squad since minor atom. "That was good for the boys. There's a lot of pressure every year for kids in Oakville to leave and play in the GTHL," Harvey said. "I know a lot of younger Oakville AAA teams have had success versus GTHL teams, but it's nice to see one of the older teams have success. It validates you don't necessarily have to play in the city to be part of a (strong) team." -- A longer story on the bantam AAA Rangers is available on the Beaver's website (www.oakvillebeaver.com) "Developing Healthy Lifestyle Habits Through Hockey" CALL US TODAY TO BOOK A PERSONAL TOUR OR DROP BY TO VISIT OUR NEW FACILITY. W W W. A DVA N C E H O C K E YACA D E M Y.CO M 2220 Speers Road Oakville Phone: 289-430-7298