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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday January 23, 2008 - 25 Silver Stick win puts peewee AE Rangers in Hall of Fame Many Canadian youngsters dream of someday making it into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Members of the Oakville peewee AE (additional entry) Rangers happened to make it more quickly than most. The Rangers earned a spot in the Hall earlier this month, winning the International Silver Stick tournament final in St. Catharines. Like all winners of the prestigious tournament, the Oakville Rangers' name will be added to a plaque in the Hall of Fame beside the original Silver Stick trophy, which was first awarded in 1958. The peewee AE Rangers are the first Oakville team to win the Silver Stick in the past 10 years, and the third local squad to do so in the past 15. The road to a Silver Stick title is a long one. Sixteen qualifying tournaments are held across North America in the fall (Oakville won its qualifier in Chatham, edging Georgetown 2-1 in the final) to determine the field for the final competition. The Rangers won their three preliminary-round games at the Silver Stick final tournament, outscoring opponents from Chicago, Napanee and Maryland by an aggregate score of 20-2. Oakville then defeated a Michigan squad 5-1 in the quarter-finals and edged the tough Georgina Blaze 2-1 in the semis the Rangers scored the winner with approximately one minute to go in regulation. A dramatic ending was again in store in the championship game, as Oakville scored a powerplay marker to break a 11 tie in the late going and held on for a 2-1 triumph over the Barrie Colts. Remarkably, Oakville did not allow more than one goal in any of its 10 Silver Stick contests. The Rangers, sponsored by Ren's Pet Depot, added to their accolades in recent action, clinching the Tri County league championship. Oakville now has its sights firmly set on its pre-season goal, winning an OMHA title. Members of the team are Aidan Pelino, Lucas Cheeseman, Johnathon Stamper, Sean Delacourt, Michael Buck, Rhys Maguire, Cameron DeFazio, Brad Dennis, David Watson, Connor Baigrie, John Breeson, Michael Burton, Jamie Bailey, Brett Russell, Cole Nagy, Joel Furlan, Tyler Cassidy and Gregory Palumbo. Chris Stamper and Lane Bailey coach the team, Russ Cheeseman is the trainer and John Maguire is the manager. Atom A club reaches final The atom A Rangers, meanwhile, almost became the second local team to win a International Silver Stick title this season. SILVER STICK CHAMPS: The Oakville minor peewee AE (additional entry) Rangers are the first Oakville team to win a Silver Stick title in a decade, following their championship effort at the international tournament final in St. Catharines recently. Oakville reached the championship game of last weekend's final tournament in Sarnia, posting wins over squads from Phoenix, California and Ottawa, before falling to Sudbury's Valley East Rebels. The Rangers' appearance in the finals marked only the second time a MOHA atom squad has gone that far in Silver Stick competition in the 50-year history of the event. Members of the Oakville atom A Rangers, who qualified for the final tournament by winning the qualifying competition in Brampton last month, are Jackson Bales, Jordan Boulding, Mark Bzowey, Aidan Challis, Sean Courage, Mitchell Dennis, Nick Greco, Robert Hudson, Sean Keating, Brian Keatings, Kyle McLaren, Matthew Simonot, Zach Stamegna, Ryan Tomka and Brandon Wood. Brian Stamegna, Brian Wood and Todd Courage coach the team, Rob Cookish is the trainer and Cort Challis is the manager. Atom Rangers chase top spot in SCTA With less than a third of the regular season left to play, the Oakville atom AAA Rangers find themselves within striking distance of top spot in the South Central Triple A standings. Oakville entered this week's action with an 18-6-2 mark, four points back of second-place Hamilton and 12 points behind first-place Brampton. The Rangers, however, have three games in hand on Brampton and four on Hamilton. Oakville snapped a brief two-game winless slide last Sunday with a 3-2 victory over the Welland Tigers. Andrew Burns scored the game-winner, taking a pass from Oliver Chau to break a 2-2 deadlock with 1:44 remaining in regulation. Jesse Barwell and Ashur Elliot had the other Oakville markers. In other recent action, the Rangers were blanked 1-0 by Brampton and dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker to Hamilton, surrendering the winning goal with 11 seconds to go in the third period. Elliot scored for Oakville against Hamilton. The Rangers also had a solid showing at the Golden Horseshoe tournament in Burlington over the Christmas break, reaching the semifinal. Oakville won all five of its round-robin games before dropping a 4-2 decision to the York-Simcoe Express. Accounting for the Rangers' scoring during the tournament were Barwell (five goals, two assists), Elliot (two goals, five assists), Michael MacDonald (three goals, three assists), Sam Vasilaros-Wilson (three goals, three assists). Boston Elliott (four goals, one assist), Cole Buchan (three goals, two assists), Misha Song (two goals, two assists), Matthew Spencer (three assists), Mitchell Prentice (three assists), Andrew Dumaresque (two assists), Josh Kosack (two assists), Chau (one goal), Andrew Burns (one assist) and Craig Cook (one assist). Defenceman Brayden Sampson was instrumental in keeping opposition scorers at bay, helping goaltenders Michael Bradshaw and Scott Smith earn one shutout each during the tournament. Foster, Tousaw skip local rinks to event titles The Oakville Curling Club rink of Scott Foster, Scott Muir, Ken McDermott and Johnny Watts won the Glenn Graydon Wright main event at last weekend's 44th annual Sportsman's Bonspiel, held at the local club. Foster's team defeated club mates Laurie Downey, Steve Quigley, Mike Mikola and George Provost in the final. Ross Tousaw's rink was the other local squad to win a title at the competition, capturing the Mitchell & Partners Logistics fifth event. Other winners were Dixie Curling Club's Jeff MacDonald (Molson-Coors second event), Brant Curling Club's Rob Todd (Basic Security third event), Chinguacousy Curling Club's John Earl (RGM Claims Service fourth event), Mississauga Golf and Country Club's Cam Hansuld (Sherway Warehousing Inc. sixth event) and Milton Curling Club's Chris Thomson (Oakville Curling Club seventh event). The 30-team competition included teams from Rochester (N.Y.), Ottawa, Oshawa, Brantford, Alliston, St. Catharines and France. The French team was skipped by Thomas Dufour, a participant in last year's World Curling Championship that was won by Canada's Glenn Howard. The government of France financed the trip to Canada in order for Dufour's team to gain more international experience. VIKINGS WIN: The Oakville novice red Vikings won four of their five games to capture the championship at the North London Nationals house league hockey tournament. Red Vikings victorious in London Posting wins in four of their five games, the Oakville novice red Vikings won the championship at the recent North London Nationals house league hockey tournament. The Vikings' only loss of the tournament came against the London Oak Ridge Aeros in round-robin play. Oakville, however, avenged that defeat with a 4-2 win over Oak Ridge in the tournament final. Thomas Campbell was lost to injury in the first period of the championship game, but the remaining 12 Vikings rallied to ensure the gold. The Vikings defeated the Minor Oaks Hockey Association house league rival Eagles in the semifinal. Ryley Wells posted two shutouts in the tournament. Other members of the team are Vasily Fedotov, Ethan Cummings, Nathan Taylor, Ryan MacKinnon, Robert DeBellis, Kyle Medd, Jacob Ristivojevic, Noah Gibson, Matthew Stubbert, Adam Perruzza, Alex Watson, Josh Hiebert, MacKinley Hunter and Thomas DaSilva. Jeff Gibson and Rick Campbell coach the team, Joel Watson is the trainer and Mike Wells is the manager.