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24 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2008 Local atoms win Sabatino title Defeating one of their Minor Oaks Hockey Association house league rivals in the final, the Oakville Lumberjacks won the atom championship at last weekend's Frank Sabatino Memorial Tournament. Powered by a two-goal performance from Getty Dixon, the Lumberjacks blanked the Vikings 3-0 in the gold-medal match. Scott Hiltz recorded the shutout and Mark Coulter added an unassisted marker for the Lumberjacks, while Dixon earned game MVP honours. It was the Lumberjacks' second straight shutout in the tournament, following a 1-0 win over the Port Credit Storm in the semifinal. Daniel Rasquin's first-period goal stood up as the winner. Other members of the champion Lumberjacks are Donald Kareco, Patrick Sutton, Gabriel Langevin, Andrew Myers, Griffin Sanford, Jack Snell, Graham Wigley, Mitchell Jeffrey, Aidan Swanepoel, Mackenzie Hamill, Tanner Davies and Brandon Wood. The Vikings were the feel-good story of the tournament, reaching the final despite having won only two games in league play this season. Alex Santamaria and Michael Hickey scored goals in the semifinal round as the Vikings edged the Oakville Wolfpack 2-1. Robbie Scaglione had the lone marker for the Wolfpack, which had defeated the Meadowvale Hawks 5-2 in a quarter-final contest. Riley Blake, David Marceau, Malcolm Forde, Spencer Walker and Scaglione had the Wolfpack goals in that game. Peewee In peewee play, two Oakville teams advanced to the semifinals before being eliminated. The Lumberjacks were defeated 3-0 by the eventual champion Meadowvale Hawks, while the Wings were edged 3-2 by the Erindale Spitfires. Drew Carey and Sam Drysdale scored for the Wings, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game in the third period. Erindale scored the winning goal with 3:50 to go in the third period. This was the seventh year for the Frank Sabatino Memorial Tournament, held in the memory of the former MOHA atom red house league convener who lost his battle with leukemia in 2001. Thirty-six house league red level squads (20 in atom, 16 in peewee) competed in this year's tournament, which raised $2,000 in support of the Oakville Hospital Foundation's Palliative Care Services. Blades' winning streak snapped at 20 DEREK WOOLLAM / OAKVILLE BEAVER IT'S MINE: Sarah Traynor (left) of the Oakville bantam AAA Venom wrestles the ball away from a Windsor opponent during last weekend's girls' basketball tournament in Oakville. Third gold for bantam Venom The Oakville Venom bantam girls' AAA basketball team is a perfect 21-0 this season after claiming its third tournament gold of the year last weekend. The Venom won its own tournament, defeating five different squads en route to the championship. Oakville was tested in both its semifinal and final matchups, but edged Hamilton Blessed Sacrament #1 34-33 in the semifinals and came from behind to defeat Brantford CYO #1 43-37 in the gold-medal clash. Rasheeka Gunn and Leah Flemming were named tournament co-MVPs for the Venom. A balanced lineup, which also includes Kayla Davis, Sarah Traynor, Jovana Momic, Alex Ruscica, Nina Guzina, Courtney Den Elzen, Courtney Chambers, Rachelle Cyrus and Emily Wilk, has allowed coaches Pat Traynor and Cassandra Cyrus to rotate fresh players in and out of the lineup all season. Oakville Blades coach Carlo Coccimiglio says his team wasn't too upset after its 20-game winning streak ended Saturday night in Georgetown. "We never worried about the streak. (Players) never talked about it and (coaches) never talked about it," Coccimiglio said. "The main thing is they were always focused on the game and trying to get the two points. The streak was nice to have, but nobody was concerned about it." Still, 20 games is 20 games. The Blades went nearly half the 49-game regular season between losses, a span that lasted from Nov. 9 (a 4-3 home loss to the Mississauga Chargers) until Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Raiders. During that time, they improved their record to 32-5-3 and built an insurmountable lead atop the Provincial Junior A Hockey League's West Conference standings. Four of the Blades' 20 straight wins came via the shootout, while another was settled in overtime. Another five were decided by two goals or less in regulation time. Saturday, Coccimiglio said, the Blades simply didn't show up ready to play. Oakville fell behind 3-0 before rallying twice to pull within a goal, but could not come all the way back to force overtime. Nick McParland, Lindsay Sparks and Jeremy Welsh tallied in the loss. Chris Haltigin, Luke Moodie, Chris Corbeil, Julian Cimadamore, Geoff Guimond and Dan Hunt had assists. Georgetown's win allowed the Raiders to salvage a split of the teams' home-and-home weekend series, following Oakville's 5-2 triumph the previous night at Joshua's Creek Arenas. Steven Guzzo, Dustin Alcock, Kyle Badham, McParland and Cimadamore scored for Oakville, with Kellan Lain and Moodie drawing two helpers each. Also earning assists were Sean Teakle, Braden Birch, Chris Corbeil, Alcock, Badham and Cimadamore. Scott Greenham played net in both contests for the Blades, earning the win Friday. Oakville visited the Buffalo Jr. Sabres last night (Tuesday). -- Jon Kuiperij