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www.insidehalton.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, December 22, 2017 | 3 2 Kevin Nagel, Oakville Beaver Sports Editor, knagel@burlingtonpost.com Sports "Kids are playing hockey all year now, playing three-on-three in the summer, and maybe the par ents are now indicating it's time for a break," Harvey said. "I'm of the vintage that Christmas equals hockey, but parents do look at things differently now." The idea for branching into the major age groups came when JJZ Sports, a company that co ordinates trips for overseas teams, inquired on behalf of a major ban tam team from Finland. Harvey originally said there were no major divisions, but then began looking into whether there might be an op portunity to expand. "I did som e hom ew ork and looked at the other tourna m ents going on a Christm as and I found out there w as not a lot out there for those division s," Harvey said. The major bantam AA division will have 11 teams and major peewee AA will have nine, each in cluding one team from Finland. After having 120 teams in the tournament last year, this year's edition is up to 141. Over the "Connected to your Community " Two m ajor-age divisions in Richard Bell tournam ent for th e first tim e By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver sta ff The Richard Bell Memorial Tour nament is changing in a major way. Yes, hundreds of hockey teams will still be competing in Oakville between Christmas and New Year's. But for the first time in the tourna ment's 25-year history, it will in clude two major-aged divisions. Among the 16 division titles up for grabs will be a major bantam AA and a major peewee AA divi sion. Dana Harvey, the tournament chair since 2008, said the tourna ment was originally created to ad dress the lack of Christmas tour naments for minor-aged teams. The tournament consistently drew more than 140 teams and had as many as 170 teams as recently as 2012. Since then, the numbers have declined for a variety of rea sons. Harvey said there are now more options for minor-aged teams and some teams are now actually tak ing a break during Christmas. Oakville m inor bantam AA Rangers team m ates congratulate Dylan Garner (5 ) on his goal in a game a t last year's Richard Bell Memorial Hockey Tournament. This year's Bell begins Wednesday, Dec. 27. | Metroland file photo course of four days, beginning Dec. 27, there will be 337 games played in 16 divisions with the fi nals taking place at 16 Mile Sports Complex on Friday, Dec. 29 and Saturday, Dec. 30. There will be 10 teams from Finland, with players and coaches from those teams being billeted with Oakville families during the tournament. There are also four American teams taking part in the tournament. Harvey said it takes a dedicated group of volunteers to operate such a large tournament. "Luckily, we have great people who come back and help every year," she said. "We have a core of about 15 conveners, which helps you to know when they're all off in various arenas, that things will run smoothly " The Bell tournament has also extended its partnership with the Oakville Hospital Foundation. Over the past six years, the tourna ment has donated $180,000 to the hospital. "We're very proud of that," Har vey said. "We want everyone to come to Oakville and enjoy them selves and leave happy, and that is a wonderful by product of the tournament." Oakville Jr. B lacrosse Buzz will switch to Jr. A for 2 0 1 9 season By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver sta ff The Oakville Buzz got an early Christmas present. The Ontario Jr. A Lacrosse League announced Monday that the Buzz will become the league's 12 th team in 2019. The Buzz will compete in Jr. B for one more season before becoming the Jr. A league's first new franchise in more than a decade. "We're obviously extremely excited, but it's also a bit of relief that we've finally crossed that fin ish line," said Buzz president Sam Rook, who has been working with the league to finalize the condi tions of Oakville acceptance after its proposal was unanimously ac cepted by the Jr. A board of direc tors. "We've had great support from the Oakville minor system and all the lacrosse people in town. It will be a nice opportunity for the kids now playing tyke or peewee to play in Oakville at the highest level all the way up." The Jr. A league has not added a team since Akwesasne joined in 2007, however, it ceased its Jr. A operation in 2011 and the league has remained at 11 teams since then. League commissioner Dean McLeod said the addition of a 12th team may allow the Jr. A league to split into two divisions. McLeod said the Buzz made a very good presen tation and its suc cessful operation of a Jr. B team and the strength of local mi nor programs made Oakville a solid can didate to succeed long term. "Oakville has a strong history of minor lacrosse and the flow of kids from Oakville through Jr. A has been pretty stable for 10-12 years," McLeod said. An Oakville player has been se lected in the top 10 picks in the Jr. A draft in each of the last eight years. Once it joins the league, the Buzz will automatically retain the rights of any player from the Oakville minor system. Oakville would also be able to reclaim players developed in the Oakville minor system currently playing at the Jr. A level. Rook said the Buzz has an agreement in place to work out compensation with those teams. "The Oakville minor system has done a great job developing play ers, but the Jr. A team has also put in time and resources devel oping them," Rook said. "So we're not go ing to get them with out any cost." In other cases, where a veteran play er is playing for a contending team, Rook said the Buzz would allow the player to finish his career with his current team. Under the terms of the agree ment, the Buzz would have to ei ther relocate or fold its Jr. B team. McLeod said once the team is es tablished in Jr. A, there would be an opportunity to bring a Jr. B team back to town. Oakville's Jr. C team will not be affected. The Oakville Buzz joined the Ontario Jr. B league in 2001. It won the Founders Cup, the na tional championship, in 2006 and has posted a winning record for 15 straight seasons. Rook said there have been ap plications for new Jr. B teams in recent years, so there is interest in other centres. "If there's a good opportunity for relocation and they can do Jr. B the proper way, we would have to con sider it," he said. Rook said a lot of people have been involved in raising the profile of lacrosse and helping grow the game in Oakville, from the build ing of facilities like the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre to the estab lishment of programs like Hardcor Lacrosse, Edge Lacrosse and the Rock Elite League. "A lot of work has gone into making Oakville a strong lacrosse community and we want to make sure we carry that on." Rook said. "We want to give Oakville players the chance to play together and Hornets win one road game, play two on weekend Jada Christian scored 5:18 into the game and the Oakville Hornets never looked back, defeating the Etobicoke Dolphins 4-1 Tuesday night on the road. With the victory, the Hornets are six points behind the Provincial Wom en's Hockey League's first-place Toronto Aeros with a 17-4-2-0 re cord for 36 points. Laura Cote and Catherine Trev ors added a goal each for Oakville in the second period; after Etobi coke scored its only goal in the third period, Kira Memet restored a three-goal Hornets lead. Maddy McArthur stopped 16 shots in recording the win in the Oakville net. The Dolphins, now 12-14, are in ninth-place in the 20-team league. The Hornets play road games against Cambridge tonight (Fri day) and Waterloo tomorrow.