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Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports HALTON TRANSMISSION "Connected to your Community" 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 905-842-0725 www.haltontransmission.com 61 | Thursday, December 25, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Rangers' schedules at the Bell Day, Time Venue Minor atom AAA Dec. 27, 8:30 a.m. Canlan 4 Josh Creek Blue Dec. 27, 1:10 p.m. Dec. 28, 8:30 a.m. Canlan 4 Dec. 28, 2:15 p.m. Canlan 1 Minor atom AA Dec. 27, 9:25 a.m. Canlan 3 Canlan 2 Dec. 27, 3:50 p.m. Dec. 28, 9:10 a.m. Glen Abbey Blue Canlan 3 Dec. 28, 7:05 p.m. Minor atom A Dec. 27, 10:35 a.m. Canlan 1 Josh Crk Blue Dec. 27, 7:10 p.m. Dec. 28, 8:30 a.m. Glen Abbey Green Dec. 28, 5:10 p.m. Canlan 2 Minor atom AE Dec. 27, 10:30 a.m. Canlan 2 Josh Creek Red Dec. 27, 3:20 p.m. Dec. 28, 8 a.m. Kinoak Dec. 28, 1:05 p.m. Canlan 1 Minor peewee AAA Dec. 28, 9:50 a.m. Sixteen Mile 2 Dec. 28, 7:10 p.m. Sixteen Mile 2 Canlan 2 Dec. 29, 8:30 a.m. Dec. 29, 1:45 p.m. Canlan 2 Minor peewee AA (Rangers 1) Dec. 28, 8 a.m. Josh Creek Red Dec. 28, 3:10 p.m. Josh Creek Blue River Oaks A Dec. 29, 8 a.m. Dec. 29, 1:35 p.m. Canlan 3 Minor peewee AA (Rangers 2) Dec. 28, 10:40 a.m. Josh Creek Red Dec. 28, 5:20 p.m. Glen Abbey Blue Canlan 4 Dec. 29, 9:50 a.m. Dec. 29, 5:50 p.m. Canlan 4 Minor peewee A Dec. 27, 8 a.m. Sixteen Mile 1 Dec. 27, 12:30 p.m. Sixteen Mile 2 Dec. 28, 11:10 a.m. Sixteen Mile 3 Sixteen Mile 2 Dec. 28, 5:50 p.m. Minor peewee AE Dec. 27, 12:30 p.m. Sixteen Mile 3 Dec. 27, 5:50 p.m. Sixteen Mile 3 Dec. 28, 9:20 a.m. Oakville Arena Dec. 28, 1:50 p.m. Josh Creek Blue Minor bantam AAA Dec. 27, 9:20 a.m. Sixteen Mile 4 Dec. 27, 2:40 p.m. Sixteen Mile 4 Dec. 28, 12 p.m. Sixteen Mile 1 Dec. 28, 7:10 p.m. Sixteen Mile 3 Minor bantam AA Dec. 27, 3:30 p.m. Sixteen Mile 1 Dec. 27, 8:10 p.m. Canlan 2 Dec. 28, 10:20 a.m. Glen Abbey Blue Dec. 28, 3 p.m. Josh Creek Red Minor bantam A (Rangers Blue) Dec. 28, 12:10 p.m. Glen Abbey Green Dec. 28, 8:30 p.m. Sixteen Mile 3 Dec. 29, 9:35 a.m. Canlan 1 Dec. 29, 3:05 p.m. Canlan 2 Minor bantam A (Rangers White) Dec. 28, 4 p.m. Glen Abbey Blue Dec. 28, 8:30 p.m. Sixteen Mile 2 Dec. 29, 10:40 a.m. Riber Oaks A Dec. 29, 3:10 p.m. Glen Abbey Green Minor bantam AE Dec. 28, 10:40 a.m. Sixteen Mile 4 Opponent Ajax-Pickering Raiders Grey Bruce Highlanders Markham Majors Hamilton Huskies Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles Mississauga Braves Brampton 45's Mississauga North Stars Erindale Spitfires Clarkson Hurricanes Owen Sound Jr. Attack West Mall Lightning Aurora Tigers Hamilton Huskies White Burlington Bulldogs Red Peterborough Petes London Jr. Knights Toronto Red Wings Whitby Wildcats Jokerit Red Mississauga Braves Toronto Wolverines Compuware T2 St. Catharines Jr. Falcons London Jr. Knights White Burlington Eagles Gold Halton Hills Thunder West Mall Lightning Port Credit Storm Cobourg Jr. Cougars Burl Bulldogs White Burlington Eagles Milton Winterhawks Orangeville Flyers Whitby Wildcats Burlington Bulldogs Red Wheatfield Blades Lambton Jr. Sting Brantford 99ers Toronto Red Wings Rochester Americans Mississauga Ice Warriors Richmond Hill Stars Orangeville Flyers Welland Tigers Halton Hills Thunder Erindale Spitfires Barrie Colts Erie North Shore Storm Burlington Bulldogs Grimsby Peach Kings Credit Valley Wolves Flamborough Sabres Last year's Richard Bell Memorial Tournament minor peewee AA division final featured a pair of Oakville Rangers teams, the first time in the event's 21-year history that two local teams squared off in a championship game. | Oakville Beaver file photo Richard Bell tournament draws 145 teams by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor Minor Oaks Hockey Association's annual Richard Bell Memorial Tournament has something in common with another major event that has often been held in Oakville over the years. The Canadian Open PGA golf tournament, which Glen Abbey Golf Club will host for a record 27th time next summer, has long been hurt by being scheduled directly after The Open Championship (British Open). Now the Richard Bell competition, held Dec. 27-30 each year since 1993, is beginning to feel a downside of its date on the calendar. Some hockey parents want a break "It's getting harder and harder to have teams to come to a tournament (during the holiday season)," said Dana Harvey, a long-time organizer of the tournament for minor-aged atom, peewee, bantam and midget squads. "I hear that families are telling coaches they don't want to play over Christmas. Now that kids are playing hockey all year, by Christmas parents are saying `enough already.'" Still, Harvey has managed to recruit a very healthy number of 145 teams to this year's event. It's a marginal decline from the 151 that participated last year. "The year we had 170 (2012) was the zenith," Harvey said. "I've been looking at other tournaments at Christmas in the area, and their numbers are down. You really have to work at it, so that's what we did. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out." Changing the date of the tournament is not a realistic option, Harvey said, because of the amount of ice time the event demands. A total of 342 games will be contested over a four-day period at this year's tournament, which will use all 17 sheets of ice in the town on Dec. 28. The minor peewee AAA division is the largest in the tournament, featuring 19 teams. Two of those will be from Finland as Helsinki's Jokerit divides its squad into two entries: Jokerit Red and Yokerit Yellow. Norway's Frisk Asker Tigers will be the other club from overseas, competing in the 11-team minor midget A division. MOHA families will billet the European squads, continuing a lengthy tournament tradition. The rest of the tournament field will largely be teams from the surrounding area, including 17 Oakville Rangers squads. "One of the things I try to use when marketing the tournament is that you can play in a hockey tournament at Christmas and still go home (at night)," Harvey said. All teams in the tournament are guaranteed a minimum of four games, and there are no admission charges. Over the past three years, the Richard Bell tournament has raised $100,000 for the new Oakville hospital, putting the competition well on pace to meet its five-year goal of $150,000. Longo's and Corbett's Source for Sports are division sponsors of the tournament, which will be headquartered out of Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. Full tournament schedules can be found on the Richard Bell Memorial Tournament website (www. richardbellmemorial.ca) and scores will be posted throughout the competition on the Richard Bell Twitter account (@RichardBellMT). see Rangers on p.62