The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Wednesday, March 15, 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER (fugaT^lglit Friday, Mar. 17th, 10pm S O M E T H IN G E X T R A Friday, Mar. 24th, 10pm G R A F F IT I P A R K Itown Centre I H arm & qcw 844-8703 SpoitslWednesday IS YOUR GARAGE PROTECTING YOUR CAR B E n E R THAN I YOUR BARGAIN-RATE CAR INSURANCE? D o n 't t r u s t j u s t a n y o n e to in s u re y o u r c a r, se e m e: "SSTSU 842 2225 An Oakville Beaver Feature Editor: NORM NELSON Phone:845-3824, ext 255 Fax:337-5567 E-mail:nnelson@ haltonsearch.com The O M H A cham pion O akville R angers peew ee triple-A rep team were led by goaltenders M att Pike and C hris R ow an (left to right in the above photo) and by captain N ick D odge (right photo). Pike had one gam e M V P and Rowan tw o gam e M V P honours in the O M H A playdow ns w hile captain D odge was the tourney MVP. T hese photos were from the prestigious Quebec tournam ent w hich they also qualified for. They're OMHA champions! By M att Nimmo SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER It was speed over size in Sunday afternoon's O ntario M inor H ockey A ssociation (O M H A ) cham pionship final w on by the O akville R angers peew ee triple-A rep team 3-0 over the W indsor Spitfires. "Speed has been our strength," said R angers coach Scott M cK enzie m om ents after his team 's trium phant win. The Rangers show ed that speed can outplay size and strength as they capi talized on the key chances, w hereas the com parative gargantuan W indsor play ers ju s t could not find the net. O akville had the m ajority o f the scoring chances in this gam e, because o f their speed. T heir first goal, scored w ith five seconds left in the first period, w as by Daniel H annigan-D aley, w hen he pounced on a loose puck, w rapped around the net, and slid it in. T heir second goal w as a beauty w hen a tw o-on-one saw Brad M cK enzie m ake a nice m ove on the W indsor goaltender after a nice cross pass from Justin Donati. C onnor Farris also had an assist on the goal. The Rangers iced the gam e w ith an em pty netter by N ick D avis, assisted by Tyler D onati and B en H eersink. N ot only w as the offence clicking, but their goaltending w as very solid. Chris R ow an stopped every shot that cam e his way, earning his second gam e M VP honour o f the w eekend. N ot to be outdone, his sidekick betw een the pipes M att Pike also had a gam e M V P to his credit. "O ur goaltending has been hot all year," noted coach M cK enzie. Rangers captain N ick D odge w as nam ed the tournam ent MVP. The Oakville Rangers had two goals this season. To qualify for the Quebec peewee tourney and to win their OMHA championship. After competing in the Quebec peewee tourney (where these photos are from) they won the OMHA championship last week. In this photo, which provides a unique vantage point as the arena is actually in a shop ping mall, the Rangers Brad McKenzie and Nick Davis storm the net in a pre-tournament exhibition game. Oakville triple-A peewees' long wait is finally over The O akville R angers In addition to the R ingw ald and M ark Rowan peewee triple-A rep team above report from and the entire R anger pee played one o f th e ir best Sheridan College w ee A A A team. games o f the season in w in co-op student Matt In each o f those four ning in the O ntario M inor Nimmo, our special years> the team had won its H ockey A ssociation coverage includes 12-team divisional title only (OM HA) cham pionship in the regular team t0 Place second or third in grand fashion, 3-0. rep report the five-team O M H A cham T he sm a lle r faster pionship tournam ent. Rangers cam e out flying in the first T his y ear's peew ee team w ere not to period, testing the W indsor goalie 12 be bridesm aids again. times before Tyler D onati scored w ith a T he Q uebec Tournam ent invitation minute to go in the first period. and a berth in the all O ntario's were the W hile the second period w as score goals o f the team dating back to last less, the W indsor goalie again w as kept A ugust. exceptionally busy, relying on his posts W ith the victory last w eekend the and cross-bars three tim es to help him. tw o goals have been achieved and At the other end O akville keeper coach M cK enzie and his charges can Chris Row an w as rock solid, facing a now prep are fo r th eir n ew est and two-man breakaw ay and a couple o f b iggest goal y et -- an all-O ntario tight goalm outh scram bles. cham pionship. O akville continued their fast paced T he O ntario H ockey F ederation offence and quick m oving defensive (O H F) tournam ent kicks o ff in Sarnia zone w ork well into the third period as on Tuesday, April 3. the larger W indsor players started to A s alw ays, the Rangers appreciate show signs o f fatigue. the support from their m any sponsors M idway through the period C onnor and from their friends that com e to Farris and Tyler D onati set up Brad both hom e and aw ay gam es and further M cKenzie in front o f the net, w ith encourage everyone to visit their w eb M cK enzie putting a m ove on the site at oakvillepeeweeaaa.com. W indsor goalie to score the m uch We particularly appreciate the sup needed insurance goal. H uge sighs o f port o f the O akville B eaver and their relief reverberated thro u g h the coverage o f our team 's progress this Oakville bench and its huge contin season. gent. (Championship game summary) F o llo w ing a quick tim e o u t to OMHA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: ensure assignm ents, the O akville team Oakville 3, Windsor 0 played out the final six m inutes in total Goals to Tyler Donati, Brad McKenzie control, guaranteeing the shutout and and Nick Davis. adding an em pty net goal by N ick Assists to Nick Dodge (2), Daniel Davis w ith assists from N ick D odge Hannigan-Daley, Tyler Donati, Connor and Ben Heersink. Farris and Ben Heersink. The O M H A cham pionship win was MVP: goalie Chris Rowan. a dream com e true after four years o f TOURNEY MVP: captain Nick Dodge for his relentless skating, forechecking and knocking at the door for head coach tenacity. Scott M ckenzie and assistants John D avis, G ary M acD onald, R ob C om plete tourney summary, D 3 Third Olympics one step away By Norm Nelson BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR D om enic F ilan e's goal to com pete in Sydney, for w hat w ould be his third O lym pic G am es, is back on track, and in strange fashion. T he veteran o f tw o O lym pic, three Pan-A m and three C om m onw ealth gam es, saw his incredible 10-year reign atop the light flyw eight class (106 pounds, or 48 kilos, if you prefer) stopped earlier this year by Tyson C ave in som ew hat controversial circum stances. It w as the sam e division in w hich the m ost publicized fight took place outside the ring w ith a Sikh boxer earn ing his right to box in full beard. But not before the cham pionship for that particular d iv isio n w as p o stp o n ed a m o n th to Jan u ary from December. Fortunately for Filane, the loss o f the national title d id n 't end his O lym pic aspirations -- it ju s t m ade the road longer. The first stop w as last m o n th 's box-off in H alifax in w hich the favoured Filane convincingly won. H is oppo nent retired in the fourth and final round during a second standing eight count. It was the sam e opponent that Cave had beaten "by a couple o f p oints" in the national cham pionships. F ilan e's win earned him a rem atch w ith C ave, and that was supposed to take place last w eekend in Sudbury. A s the national cham pion, Cave only had to win once w hile Filane w ould have had to win twice. As it turned out, how ever, the tw o fighters got no fur ther than the w eigh scales. "We got there Thursday night, I drove dow n to Sudbury and it w as all set," said Filane. "Friday m orning we w ent in to do the w eigh-in. "I did my w eight and did my m edical, and I w as ju st hanging around, and they w ere hanging around, and they d id n 't m ake weight. They were three and a h alf pounds off." File Photo by Barrie Erskine D om enic Filane, fo r the third tim e, will carry C anada's O lym pic hopes in the light flyw eight class. F ilane nearly had his ow n eight count, albeit outside the ring. "I w as shocked that it w as actually happening at such an im portant tournam ent for such a prize. "H e d id n 't train the w ay that I w as ready, and I was like w orking three tim es a day ju s t trying to get ready to (S ee 'Filane' page D3)