40 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 9, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Atoms shoot for OHF title Fresh off a third-place showing at the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) championships, the Oakville atom AAA Rangers will shoot for an Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF) title this weekend on their home ice. The Rangers will face the top atom AAA squads from the OMHA, Greater Toronto Hockey League and Alliance during the OHF tournament, which will begin play Friday at Joshua's Creek Arenas. The Rangers' first game is scheduled for 11:40 a.m., when they will face the OMHA representative York-Simcoe Express. Oakville's other round-robins contests are slated for 7 p.m. Friday, against the GTHL's North York Rangers; 1:30 p.m. Saturday, versus the GTHL's Toronto Marlies, and 6 p.m. Saturday, against the Alliance's Elgin Middlesex Chiefs. The top four teams will advance to the semifinal round, with games at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Sunday. The championship game will be played at 3 p.m. Sunday. Games will consist of three 15minute periods Other events planned for the tournament include a welcome banquet tomorrow (Thursday) at Oakville Conference & Banquet Centre, and opening ceremonies Friday at 6:10 p.m. Bronze at OMHA tournament The Rangers went 3-2 at the OMHA championships, claiming bronze with a 4-3 victory over the Whitby Wildcats -- a team they had lost to, 4-0, in the round robin. Cole Buchan, Misha Song, Oliver Chau and Boston Elliott had the Oakville goals. In its other OMHA tournament games, Oakville fell 3-2 to YorkSimcoe, blanked the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs 4-0 and doubled the Central Ontario Wolves 4-2. Also scoring goals for the Rangers at the OMHA championships were Sam Vasilaros-Wilson and Mitchell Prentice. Oakville qualified for the OMHA tournament by going 3-1 at the SCTA qualifying weekend. Scott Smith earned the shutout in a 5-0 win over Guelph, Michael Bradshaw kept St. Catharines scoreless until the final minute in a 9-1 rout, Brampton scored in the final minute to edge the Rangers 3-2, and Oakville scored three third-period goals to down Halton 6-2. Scoring for the Rangers at the SCTA tournament were Jesse Barwell, Andrew Dumaresque, Michael MacDonald, Craig Cook, Ashur Elliot, Elliott, Vasilaros-Wilson, Chau and Song. PROVINCIAL MEDALISTS: The Oakville Basketball Club's atom (top) and novice Venom squads both won medals at the recent provincial championships. The atoms won silver, while the novices earned bronze. OBC teams win provincial medals In only its second year of existence, the Oakville Basketball Club can already boast two provincial medal-winning teams -- and it is likely to pad that total this weekend. Both the novice and atom Venom clubs won medals at their recent provincial championships, as the atoms earned silver and the novices claimed bronze. This weekend, it might be the bantams' turn, as the Venom #1 squad is the top-ranked club going into the AAA provincials in Niagara Falls. The atoms, fourth at last year's all-Ontario tournament, were tied with Brantford in the late going of the championship game before falling 32-27. Coached by Toney McNeil, Mario Garcia and Yuki Carter, the team consists of Lisa Sullivan, Claire Bannister, Audrey Popa, Chennedy Wiles, Tiffany McNeil, Jaelyne Kirkpatrick, Mara Briscoe, Hayley Suchanek, Vanessa Garcia, Marina Painco and Liana Hughes. The novices went 4-1 at their provincials, losing only in the semifinals to Caledon. Oakville downed Tecumseh, Newmarket and St. Catharines in the opening round, then won the bronze with a 27-23 victory over Brantford. Members of the team, which finished Ashley McDonald, Olivia Wilson, Chloe Dickison, Melody Wyslobicky, Ellen Ougrinov, Caroline Szustak, Sarah Piercey, Stephanie Findlay, Anastasia Levreault, Jordan Tracey, Kiana Steinauer and Maggie Curran. Jim Findlay, Aidan Tracey and Tim Wilson coach the team, and Suzie Findlay is the manager. Oakville's three bantam teams were all in the Blessed Sacrament tournament the same weekend as the novice and atom provincials, and each continued the club's medal haul. The #2 squad took gold in the AA division, the #1 team earned silver in AAA play, and the #3 team won bronze in A competition.