www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, March 21, 2013 | 24 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports N "Connected to your Community" H L C O N T R A C T HALTON TRANSMISSION 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 905-842-0725 www.haltontransmission.com Atom, midget AAA teams fall in OMHA tournament finals The Oakville atom AAA Rangers came within one goal of an Ontario Minor Hockey Association title last weekend. Oakville fell 3-2 in overtime to the Niagara North Stars in the championship game of the OMHA tournament, contested Sunday at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. The Rangers finished the tournament with a 3-2 record. Oakville's Cam Tolnai (nine goals, four assists) led the competition in scoring, while teammates Luke Evangelista (three goals, four assists) and Cam Garvey (three goals, three assists) also enjoyed productive weekends. The midget AAA Rangers saw their three-year OMHA championship run come to an end with a 2-1 loss to Whitby in the final of their OMHA tournament Sunday. The defeat was Oakville's first at the competition, after the Rangers posted two wins and two ties in their first four contests. Ryan Garvey was Oakville's top scorer in the tournament, registering two goals and a helper. The minor bantam AAA Rangers went 1-3-1 at their OMHA tournament last weekend in Quinte. Oakville beat the Brampton 45's 1-0 in its first game, then tied the Whitby Wildcats 2-2 in its next, but lost its last three contests at the competition. Cole Purboo scored twice in the tournament for Oakville. The novice, minor atom, minor peewee, peewee and bantam AAA Rangers were unable to qualify for their respective OMHA tournaments. The minor midget AAA Rangers, who won the OHL Cup Sunday in Toronto, were the Minor Oaks Hockey Association's lone AAA team to win an OMHA title this season. Alderson overlooked no more Undrafted forward signs entry-level contract with Philadelphia Flyers by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Staff Oakville's Brandon Alderson (right), pictured in action for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Philadelphia Flyers last week. | photo courtesy James Egan photography Potential for more playdown champions In OMHA playdowns, Oakville appears poised to add to the titles already earned by the atom AA and peewee A Rangers on Sunday. The peewee AE Rangers had a chance to win an OMHA championship last night (Wednesday) when they hosted Stoney Creek. Oakville won the first two games of the first-to-six-point series, 3-2 and 2-0. The bantam AE Rangers could lock up a title tonight (Thursday) when they are home to Orangeville, a 9 o'clock start at Joshua's Creek Arenas. Oakville beat the Flyers 1-0 Friday and 3-2 Monday. The atom A Rangers are also a victory away from OMHA supremacy. Oakville, which defeated Cobourg 4-2 Friday and 3-1 Sunday, will host Game 3 Satur- see Rangers on p.25 As Brandon Alderson approached the fourth season of his Ontario Hockey League career, the 21-year-old was growing a little frustrated. Being overlooked in his NHL draft year was one thing, but in the two years since he watched other undrafted OHLers receive invitations to NHL training camps. No such offers had been extended to his way. With one year left to make an impression, Alderson decided to make the most of his final season with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. "Going into my overage year, I wanted to be an impact player," he said. "You're one of the oldest guys in the league so you don't want to be a middle of the pack guy, you want to be someone your team can rely on." Alderson did that with a career-best 28goal, 64-point season that helped the Greyhounds to their best record since 2008. He also drastically improved his hockey future when he signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Philadelphia Flyers last week. Philadelphia had monitored Alderson as far back as his days with the Sarnia Sting in his draft year. "He was a player that caught your eye back then," said Flyers' director of hockey operations Chris Pryor. "Now, he's way more consistent. He's a big guy who skates well and he's put everything together." It's never easy to earn a pro hockey contract, but Alderson had more than his share of hurdles to overcome. He couldn't have asked for a better start to his final junior season, scoring twice, including the overtime winner, in the Greyhounds' season-opening 6-5 win over the Plymouth Whalers. Midway through the season, Alderson had 22 points in 28 games, but he still felt he had more to offer offensively. He would get that chance when the Greyhounds brought in Sheldon Keefe to replace Mike Stapleton behind the bench in December, but not without a harsh dose of reality from the new coach. "He said I was going through the motions," said the former Oakville Ranger. "It was hard hearing criticisms about your game. I had heard the criticisms before and maybe he was a little more blunt about it, but he also touched on what I did well and reinforced those things." Keefe gave Alderson a shot at playing on the top line alongside Nick Cousins and David Broll, and he began to click with his new linemates in mid-January. Alderson recorded his first OHL hat trick January 19 against Plymouth and his second a week later against Oshawa. Alderson's confidence soared through late January and early February, a span in which he scored 14 goals and had 26 points in 16 games. "Instead of coming to the game wondering what you were going to do that night, you start coming to the game knowing you're going to score," he said. "Once I had a couple of good games, I started to get a bit of swagger and used that to my advantage." Suddenly, Alderson was drawing plenty of interest from NHL teams. But, with teams unable to sign free agents until March under the new collective bargaining agreement, he would have to wait. Alderson was applying to universities, all the while hoping an offer might come. In the end, he had a choice of teams and last week signed with the Flyers. It was a decision Alderson made based on the offer presented as well as how he saw himself fitting into the organization. "If you look at their roster, they don't have a lot of big wingers like myself," the 6-foot4, 202-pound right winger said. The only forwards in the Flyers organization, either at the NHL or AHL level, with Alderson's size are 40-year-old Mike Knuble and 37-year-old Jody Shelley. "It is something we're trying to address see Injury on p.25