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Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2012 27 AHEAD OF THE FIELD: Oakville minor atom A Rangers player Joshua Platt (in blue) is chased by Burlington Eagles opponents Jacob Vet (left) and Nicholas Wilcox during last week's Richard Bell tournament final at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. Oakville defeated the rival Eagles 1-0 in overtime to become one of six local champions at the annual tournament. ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER Record haul for Rangers squads at Richard Bell tourney Oakville Rangers teams marked the largest-ever Richard Bell Memorial Minor Hockey Tournament with the most-ever local champions. Six Minor Oaks Hockey Association squads hoisted the Richard Bell trophy last week, including two teams from both the minor atom (A and AE) and minor bantam (AA and AE) age groups. The minor peewee AA and minor midget AA Rangers rounded out the local record haul. Five more local teams -- the minor atom AA, minor peewee AAA, minor peewee AE, minor bantam AAA and minor midget A Rangers -- were finalists at the tournament, which featured 158 teams. Following is coverage of Oakville's minor atom and minor peewee champions. Details from the minor bantam and minor midget winners will appear in tomorrow's (Thursday's) edition of the Beaver. By Jon Kuiperij and Herb Garbutt OAKVILLEBEAVERSTAFF M ike Kennedy emerged from the Oakville Rangers' dressing room drenched from head to toe, drops of water streaming down his forehead and dripping off his nose. Having won three of the four tournaments they entered this season, the minor atom A Rangers have had plenty of opportunities to practice their celebrations. And last week, head coach Kennedy and his staff found themselves on the wrong end of a water bottle barrage after the Rangers scored a 1-0 overtime victory in Thursday's final of the Richard Bell tournament at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. Celebrations have been familiar to the Rangers, as have their opponents in the championship game. Few teams have been able to deny the 22-1-3 Rangers a point in league play, but the Burlington Eagles have been a constant threat to first-place Oakville. The teams tied their first two meetings before Oakville finally broke through with a 4-2 win in their most recent league meeting. Thursday, the teams were back on equal footing as they played through three scoreless periods of hockey. In overtime, though, the Rangers capitalized on a powerplay using their best asset. "Passing has been a strength," Kennedy said. "They're always looking for each other. We don't like to dump and chase. We'll do it if we have to, but it's not our strength." On the winning goal, Owen Kennedy moved the puck ahead to James Passafiume, who carried it up the wing before sending a pass across the top of the crease to Brady Afelskie. Alfelskie got a quick shot away, beating the Burlington goalie before he could get across the net. "That was exciting," Afelskie said. Especially coming against a league rival. "They're a strong team," Kennedy said. "They play a strong system." And while Kennedy said the Rangers may not have been at their best, they did what they needed to do to get the win. "Our defence took care of our goaltender and we capitalized on our chances," he said. Jack Stallworthy earned the shutout, making his biggest save of the game on a wraparound attempt by the Eagles' Jagger North in overtime. That preserved Oakville's third straight shutout and fourth of the tournament. The Rangers also pulled out a 1-0 victory in the semifinal against Grimsby, a team that handed Oakville its only loss of the tournament, a 3-2 decision in the round robin. The Rangers didn't have to wait as long for their goal in the semi, with Kole Schledewitz scoring the game's only goal in the first period. In all, the Rangers duo of Stallworthy and Aiden O'Sullivan allowed just five goals in Oakville's six games. That allowed the Rangers to add the Bell championship to the titles they earned in Rochester and the Silver Stick in Owen Sound. Other members of the minor atom A Rangers are Ryan Brown, Adam Cherepacha, Matthew Dybka, Tyler Ford, Michael Goverde, Evan Kollee, Nicholas Legaspi, Dawson Maloney, Tyler McLeish, Joshua Platt and Jack Talbot. Jason McLeish and Zoltan Nemcsek are assistant coaches, Peter O'Sullivan is the trainer and Chris Brown is the manager. Welcome challenge for minor atom AE Rangers The minor atom AE Rangers haven't just won all 25 of their Tri-County league games this season. They've won all of them by two goals or more, and 22 of them by at least a threegoal margin. So they embraced the challenges they faced at last week's Richard Bell tournament, even though it made for a few nervous moments in Thursday's championship game at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. After watching the Burlington Bulldogs battle back from a 2-0 third-period deficit to tie the final, the Rangers won the hometown tournament on Jackson Weber's marker with 1:14 to go in regulation time. Weber came down the right wing and squeezed the puck past the Bulldogs netminder from a difficult angle. "I was just trying to put the puck on the net," said Weber, a nine-year-old Grade 4 student at Pine Grove. Was he worried after the Bulldogs rallied to tie the game See Minor, page 28