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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Wednesday, March 20, 2013 | 34 Atom AA Rangers work together to claim OMHA championship "We can achieve more together than I can alone." That was the motto of the Oakville atom AA Rangers this season. And, in head coach Aaron Mahoney's mind, it's the biggest reason the Rangers (pictured, right) are Ontario Minor Hockey Association champions. Oakville completed a dominant season Sunday in Barrie, defeating the Jr. Colts 5-1 to finish a three-game sweep of the OMHA championship series. The Rangers did not lose a single game throughout both Tri-County league play and the OMHA playdowns. "We really focused heavily this year on the team. We really wanted to make sure our kids understood there wasn't one (key) individual on the team or one marquee player," Mahoney said. "There were 17 equal boys and they would win together as a team. They wouldn't win as individuals. That's really what set us apart, I believe, from our competition." Oakville's series win over Barrie avenged a Colts sweep of the Rangers in last year's OMHA minor atom AA final. Mahoney said the memory of that loss motivated the players that returned from last year's squad. "The boys were on fire. They got out there and they just wanted it so bad," said the coach. "There were also four kids on our team who had never won OMHAs. The players really bought into wanting to do it for them." Oakville went 26-0-2 in Tri-County league play this year, outscoring its opponents 171-35. After dominating OMHA qualifying, the Rangers outscored Centre Wellington 20-5 to sweep the quarter-final series and then outscored Lasalle 12-5 in a three-game semifinal. In the final, the Rangers won the opening game 3-1 Thursday in Barrie, then earned a 4-3 victory Saturday at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. Oakville also won four tournaments this season, including the International Silver Stick. Members of the team are Adam Clark, Adam Zedor, Christian Pelley, Christopher Parsons, Colin Flurey, Dawson Maloney, Jacob Caravaggio, James Passafiume, Jamie Langill, Liam Mahoney, Matthew Jenner, Owen Sage, Riley Horton, Ryan Brown, Ryan Jeffrey, Aidan O'Sullivan and Tyler Ford. Al Clark and Chris Brown are the Rangers' assistant coaches, Dave Langill is the trainer and Stanley Caravaggio is the manager. -- Jon Kuiperij Appleby top dogs at OFSAA hockey The Appleby College Blue Dogs are favoured to win their second Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations boys' hockey gold in three years this week in Oakville. Appleby is the top seed in the A/AA provincial championships, which get underway tomorrow (Thursday) and conclude Saturday at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. The Blue Dogs, who won gold in 2011 and also claimed silver in 2004 and 2008, will open the tournament tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. against Robert Hall. Appleby will also face Holy Cross at 5:15 p.m. tomorrow. Friday, the Blue Dogs will con10th season clude their opening-round schedule against Kenora's St. Thomas Aquinas. Oakville's St. Thomas Aquinas will also compete in the tournament, representing the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference. The 14th-ranked Raiders' games tomorrow will be against Sacred Heart (12 p.m.) and F .J. Brennan (7 p.m.). Quarter-final games will be played Friday, beginning at 2:30 p.m. Semifinals will be contested Saturday at 10:45 a.m., followed by the bronze-medal game at 4:30 p.m. and the gold-medal game at 6:30 p.m. Members of the OMHA champion peewee A Rangers are A.J. Sachdev, Gabriel Coutu, Connor Moore, Tyson Bartlett, Luke Pilcher, Matt Stone, Daniel Stewart, David Hamburg, Jared Rein, Nicholas Giamou, Colton Bales, Patrick Vulgan, Mark Lakostik, Michael Desautels, Lukas Radinovic, Jacob Long and Paul Franko. Mike Radinovic and Peter Vulgan also coach, Jonathon Hamburg is the trainer and Karen Stone is the manager. Peewee A Rangers collect first OMHA title Once the Oakville peewee A Rangers advanced past the league stage of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association playdowns, the rest was easy. The team of 2000-born players captured its first OMHA crown Sunday in Barrie, earning a 5-1 win to polish off a three-game championship series sweep of the Jr. Colts. Oakville also made short work of Greater Fort Erie in the semifinals, winning the first-to-six-point series in four games. The Rangers' stiffest test during the playdowns was a five-game series against the Tri-County Minor Hockey League rival Burlington Eagles in the quarter-finals. Oakville won the first two contests before Burlington fought back to win the next two. Oakville finally advanced with a 3-2 win in Game 5. "That was our toughest opponent," agreed Rangers coach Bryan Stewart. "They matched up very well against us, the style of play and type of players they had. Fort Erie and Barrie were good teams, but they play a slightly different style than the Burlington team, and we were able to take advantage of that." How even were the Rangers and Eagles this season? The teams finished the Tri-County season tied in points. In nine head-to-head meetings, including playdowns, each team posted a 3-3-3 mark. Oakville, however, won the game that mattered most. Stewart attributed the Game 5 win to experience gained by playing in AA tournaments earlier in the year as well as his team's depth. "We didn't necessarily rely on a couple guys to do the scoring. Burlington had a balanced team but had two substantially good players. We designed a scheme to shut those guys down, and overall our balanced team approach carried us through," Stewart said. Oakville, now 54-7-6 overall this season, will represent the OMHA at next month's Ontario Hockey Federation championships in New Liskeard. The Rangers have won a pair of tournaments (an early bird A tournament in Richmond Hill and a AA competition in Pittsburgh) and were finalists at the Scotiabank Cup AA tournament as well. -- Jon Kuiperij DEVELOPING GREAT ATHLETES & PEOPLE SUMMER YOUTH HOCKEY For Boys & Girls FOR REP AND HOUSE LEAGUE PLAYERS 11 games between May and August (excludes long weekends) Please Check 3on3hockey.ca for details! COUGARSHOCKEYCANADA.CA Register for Tryouts April 1st - Mastercard Centre Registration available online at