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Sports Oakville Beaver 17 · Friday, January 4, 2013 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-632-0588 (ext. 294) email sports@oakvillebeaver.com 2012 Richard Bell Memorial Minor Hockey Tournament Unlikely hero leads minor midget A squad to shootout win By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Vincent Reale was initially nervous. And it showed. The Oakville minor midget A Rangers defenceman was about to make his first-ever appearance in a shootout. Potentially at stake was the championship of the hometown hockey tournament, the Richard Bell Memorial. Reale quickly scooped the puck off the center-ice dot and started skating in on the Niagara Falls Canucks netminder. Then the whistle blew. Reale hadn't waited for clearance from the referee. "I didn't know what was going on," Reale laughed afterward. "I thought we were ready to go." Just seconds later, after receiving the official goahead, Reale looked like a seasoned shootout veteran. The 15-year-old moved into the slot, deftly switched from forehand to backhand and lofted the puck off the goalie's trapper and into the top part of the net. When Rangers netminder Ryan Bell stopped Niagara Falls' subsequent shootout attempt, Reale's tally "I just went with a stood up as the winner move I did everytime in as Oakville claimed a practice, because that's 2-1 shootout win and a the move I was most 3-2 overall decision in comfortable with." the Richard Bell final Sunday at Sixteen Mile Oakville minor midget A Sports Complex. Rangers defenceman Vincent "I just went with a Reale, reflecting on his firstmove I did everytime ever attempt in a shootout in shootouts in practice, because that's the move I was most comfortable with," said Reale. "I was a little scared when it hit his glove. I thought I missed, but then I saw it go in." Despite Reale's inexperience in shootouts -- competitive ones, at least -- Bell wasn't surprised to see his blueliner come through. "He's actually a very offensive defenceman," Bell said. "He rushes a lot, and sometimes it works out." Reale also came through offensively in regulation time, scoring one of Oakville's two third-period goals as the Rangers erased a 1-0 deficit. Niagara Falls tied the game with 38.9 seconds left, however, forcing Oakville to regroup for overtime and the eventual shootout. Bouncing back from adversity isn't something the Rangers haven't had to do too much this season, con- STEVEN DER-GARABEDIAN / SPECIAL TO THE OAKVILLE BEAVER TITLE-CLINCHING TALLY: Oakville minor midget AA Rangers forward Sean Courage (in blue) flips the puck past Mississauga Braves Inside info aids minor midget AA Rangers By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLEBEAVERSTAFF netminder Bradley Bezemer Sunday at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. Courage's shootout marker was the winner as Oakville defeated Mississauga 1-0 to win its division at the Richard Bell Memorial Minor Hockey Tournament. See Midgets, page 18 It had been a long day and there was a championship on the line. So if a little bit of inside information could help Sean Courage, he was going to use it. The Oakville Rangers had yet to face the Mississauga Braves this season, but Courage knew Braves goaltender Bradley Bezemer very well. The two of them were once teammates on their high school team at T.A. Blakelock as well as in their early minor hockey days in major atom. With their teams tied 0-0 through regulation and a 10-minute overtime, the former teammates found themselves staring each other down in a shootout to determine the champion in the minor midget AA division at the Richard Bell Memorial Minor Hockey Tournament. The shootout was tied 1-1 when Courage skated in on Bezemer. At the hashmarks, Courage faked a shot, freezing the netminder, then drew the puck to his backhand and slid it by Bezemer's outstretched glove. "I had missed an open net early in the game so it felt good to score," Courage said of the goal that would prove to be the winner. Jordan Boulding and Nick Jedryk also scored in the shootout while Rangers goalie Michael Bradshaw stopped three of the four shooters he faced to secure the win. Bradshaw is not a big fan of shootouts, but with his team's first tournament title of the season on the line, he knew what he needed to do. "I was really nervous about it. It's been one of my weaknesses," the netminder said. "I felt like I could do it if I stayed patient and let them make the first move." Ranger coach Brian Stamegna said the team has worked on shootouts in practice all season, but hadn't needed to put it to use until Sunday's final. He was happy to see his team prevail. "We were one of the better teams out there that hadn't won a tournament yet," he said. "And to win your own is special. The boys worked hard for this." They worked extra hard Sunday. Oakville won its first three games of the tournament on Friday and Saturday as Bradshaw and Nathan Gravelle posted three straight shutouts over Duffield, Clarington and Newmarket. However, a 2-1 loss to Kent in Oakville's final round-robin game left both teams at 3-1 and relegated Oakville to behind Kent because of the head-tohead loss. That meant the Rangers had to play a quarter-final game Sunday morning, which they won 2-1 over Gloucester. In the afternoon, they faced the Burlington Eagles and went to triple overtime. With the teams playing two-on-two, Trevor Szaniawski took a pass from Boulding and beat the Burlington goalie high on the glove side. "It was nerve-wracking. Everyone is relying on you," Szaniawski said of the overtime format. "You've got to be perfect. You don't want to give the puck away. We were thinking more defensively but I'm glad we scored." Oakville had some good chances in regulation but Bezemer made a glove save on Michael MacDonald's wrist shot from the See Rangers, page 19