www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 16, 2008 - 41 Rangers semifinalists Scottish impressed in OHF tournament by Oakville Soccer Club By Adam Johnston SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Vanderjagt seeking kicking gig The Denver Broncos have invited White Oaks grad Mike Vanderjagt to work out for the NFL team this week. 34 points. He was named an AllAtlantic Hockey Association first-team all-star. SPORTSBRIEFS The 38-year-old kicker has not played since being released by the Dallas Cowboys in 2006. Vanderjagt is the most accurate kicker in NFL history, having made 86.5 per cent of his 266 field goal attempts over his career. The Broncos are in need of a kicker after Jason Elam signed with the Atlanta Falcons. OT grad head coach at Brock Oakville Trafalgar High School graduate Daniel Valley has been named head coach of the Brock University Badgers women's rugby team. Valley joined the coaching staff of the Red Devils girls' rugby team while still attending OT. After playing two years at the University of Western Ontario, he returned to OT as the girls' head coach and led the team to a 61-9 record and three Halton titles. Last year, he coached and studied the game at the Southport School, one of Australia's premier rugby schools. The Oakville Soccer Club is making news worlds away from its Iroquois Shore Road headquarters. According to a couple of Scotland's top soccer talent evaluators, at least. "As soon as I got home (from my last visit to Oakville), I put my television on and what was on the television was Oakville (Soccer Club). I think it was on Transworld Sport. I couldn't believe it," said Jon Joyce, a coach and talent scout with the Glasgow Rangers Football Club, one of the most recognizable soccer organizations in the world. "If it was on Transworld Sport, then it's a big deal." Joyce, along with fellow scout Greg Statt, was in town recently conducting a series of training and evaluation sessions for Oakville's many rep soccer teams at River Oaks Park. Oakville is one of many areas of interest for the Rangers' worldwide scouting program. The Rangers also hold training camps in Germany, USA and Australia. Although the global competition is stiff, the coaches have noticed a lot of potential in the Oakville Soccer Club. "There's talent here, yes" said Joyce. "They're as good as anybody else we've seen." The European visitors were quick to credit the system that the Oakville Soccer Club has implemented for the wealth of talent. "It's superb; second to none. It's the biggest I've seen (outside Europe) by far," said Joyce. Aside from the raw talent shown in Oakville's program, Joyce believes that to get a true measure of the skill level that an Oakville product possesses, he would need to compare them to athletes from his youth academy in Scotland. "They've still a ways to go yet," he said. "The mentality of football over here is a bit different from back home. It's a bit more gung-ho (in Europe)." The Rangers' coaches will be back in Oakville this summer to host another camp at Shell Park, which will run August 11-15. -- Adam Johnston The Oakville Rangers didn't achieve the desired result on the ice at the Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF) atom AAA championships last weekend. However, as far as hosting the tournament was concerned, Oakville could not have performed better. The Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) was in line at the beginning of the season to have one of its members host the annual province-wide championship. Oakville coach Duncan Harvey took notice and nominated the Minor Oakville Hockey Association (MOHA) for the host duties. After Oakville got the nod, an executive committee was formed and began organizing the event. "Even though I'd like to take some credit, my mother Dana Harvey and Hans Taal did an unbelievable job (organizing the tournament)," said Harvey. "It was first class all the way. A number of the coaches have emailed us and said we did a great job." As for the on-ice action, the competition level was fierce between the province's best teams. Oakville finished with a 1-12 record in the round-robin tournament. "I was talking to the other coaches and we all agreed that we could've played this tournament five times and had five different winners," said Harvey. The mark included a 5-2 tournament-opening victory over the OMHA's York-Simcoe Express, followed by a 6-4 loss at the hands of the Greater Toronto Hockey League's North York Rangers. This was followed by a 1-1 draw against the eventual tournament champions, Alliance's Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs, and a 5-3 loss to the GTHL's Toronto Marlies. Oakville's record, however, was strong enough for a fourthplace finish out of the five teams and allowed them to advance to a semifinal match-up against North York. The Rangers coaching staff knew they would have to amend their game plan against a potent North York offence that burned them for six goals in their round-robin meeting. "They were beating us with a lot of odd-man rushes in the first game," said Harvey. "We just tried to focus on our defensive game and tried to slow them down. As a result, we might have given up some offensive scoring chances." Brown finalist at World Cup Oakville's Alyssa Brown reached the vault finals Saturday at a World Cup gymnastics competition in Cottbus, Germany. Brown finished seventh, scoring 13.475 on her two vaults. Petrick a doubles ace Oakville's Charlotte Petrick did not lose a single set in any of her four doubles matches at last week's under-12 national tennis championships in Calgary, helping Team Ontario Red to gold. The 11-year-old also finished first in her box in singles round-robin play, moving into the championship flight that featured the top eight of the 32competitor field. Ringwald to co-captain RIT Oakville's Dan Ringwald has been named one of three team captains for the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers' hockey team for next season. Ringwald finished second in the country in scoring among defenceman in his sophomore season, finishing with SATURDAY, APRIL 19TH, 2008 Roll into Corbett's for more than your player package. Come out and talk with the roller hockey equipment reps, plus pick up your schedule, helmet sticker and free stuff! TIME: 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM LOCATION: CORBETT'S SOURCE FOR SPORTS 450 South Service Road, Oakville (Just west of Dorval) See Rangers page 43 PLUS Don't miss the annual equipment swap. Drop off your used equipment to Corbett's no later than April 18th for the big sale on Saturday. (Inline skates, pants and girdles only) DRIVING RANGE 905-257-6075 1330 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W. (1 km W of Ninth Line Oakville) Hours: 9:00am to 9:00pm Monday thru Sunday 2008 Tour Oakville Coyotes Open Tryouts SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 2008 9:00 10:00 AM 10:00 11:00 AM 11:00 12:00 PM 12:00 1:00 PM 1:00 2:30 PM 2:30 4:00 PM 4:00 5:00 PM 5:00 6:00 PM SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 2008 12:00 1:00 PM 1:00 2:00 PM 2:00 3:00 PM 3:00 4:00 PM SUNDAY, MAY 4, 2008 TBA TBA TBA 8 under / 10 under 14 under 16 under 18 under 99', 00', 01' / 97', 98' 93', 94' 91', 92' 89', 90' 8 under 10 under 12 under Girls 14 under 16 under 18 under JR. 21 under 99', 00', 01' 97', 98' 95', 96' 90' and under 93', 94' 91', 92' 89', 90' 86', 87', 88' SUMMER NON-CONTACT H · Non-contact · Prime time games at River Oaks Arena · Trophies · Individual entries ADULT OCKE LEAGUE CPGA GOLF INSTRUCTION · Private Lessons · Clinics · Swing Tips Y NOW OPEN VALUE CARDS NOW AVAILABLE 10 LARGE BASKETS FOR ONLY HALTON MEN'S HOCKEY LEAGUE 25 th SUMMER SEASON! · Balanced teams · Excellent officiating · Sweaters/socks provided · 19 game schedule, no weekends or Fridays $ INFORMATION AND/OR REGISTRATION BY PHONE www.hmhl.bizland.com (905) 849-9712 75 All players attending tryouts must be registered with Halton Roller Hockey, or an OMRHA member league. A fee of $7.50 per player per 1.5 hour skate and $5.00 per player per 1 hour skate will be collected. All tryouts will be held at Oakville Arena. Enjoy a FREE SKATE open to the public For more info call 905.849.0132 or visit www.rollerhockey.net Sunday, April 20th at Oakville Arena 12:00 - 2:00 PM