www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, April 5, 2013 | 22 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Skate Oakville ice shows this weekend Skate Oakville will cap off its 75th anniversary season with three ice shows this weekend. Two ice shows will be held tomorrow (Saturday, 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.) and another will be held Sunday (2 p.m.). The events will take place at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. "Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration on Ice" will showcase more than 200 skaters, ranging in levels from entry Canskate to the top competitive members. All of the Oakville Edge synchronized skating teams will also be showcased as the club takes spectators on a journey through the decades, celebrating 75 years. Among the guest skaters at the event will be Canadian senior dance silver medallists Piper Gillies and Paul Poirier, Canadian senior ladies bronze medallist Alaine Chartrand, Canadian junior men's champion and 14-year-old skating phenom Nam Nguyen, and two-time Canadian world team members and international skating stars Sean Rice and Jodeyne Higgins. Rice and Higgins will be joined by their touring cast mates, Swedish and Polish national champions Alexandra Shauman and Lukasz Rozycki. Ticket prices range from $15-$50 and are available from the Skate Oakville office. A portion of proceeds from Sunday's show will be donated to help fund the building of Oakville's new hospital. For more information, contact Skate Oakville at 905256-7771 or visit www.skateoakville.org. Sports T E N N I S , A "Connected to your Community" N Y O N E ? Bronte Tennis Club president Eddie Bodbyl stands on one of the new courts being built at the club's facility on Bridge Rd. The Town of Oakville, which owns the club, dug up the old courts last fall and is in the process of replacing the playing surfaces, lights and fences. The refurbishment project of eight floodlit courts will be completed in May, though a temporary playing surface is in place and will be available to members as of April 14. The club, which boasts more than 1,000 members of all ages, will hold registration for the 2013 season April 13. For more information, visit www.brontetennis.com. | photo by Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog Spencer expected to become highest-ever Oakville Ranger pick in OHL draft by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor Tomorrow's Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection could be compared to Christmas morning for many members of the Oakville minor midget AAA Rangers. If that's the analogy, their coach doesn't want them waking up early and running downstairs to see what's under the tree. "Unfortunately, the draft is really exciting for a few guys and really disappointing for a lot of other guys," said Duncan Harvey, who guided the Rangers to both the Ontario Minor Hockey Association and OHL Cup championships this past season. "We've told the guys to stay away from computers, have their parents take their phones. Go golfing -- well, maybe it's too cold to go golfing -- but go to a movie or hang out with each other." One player in particular who might not heed Harvey's advice is Rangers captain Matt Spencer. The 16-year-old defencemen shouldn't have to wait too long to see his name selected (the draft will be conducted online), with several published reports this week stating the Peterborough Petes will pick Spencer third overall -- ahead of Sean Day, the Detroit Compuware blueliner who has been granted `exceptional status' to enter the draft as an underage player. "I've seen Sean Day play quite a bit the last few years. There's no mistake, the kid is an exceptional talent," Harvey said. "But he played in the U.S. this year and did not get as many looks as guys would have traditionally gotten. What helps Matt is that he's a 6-foot-2, 200-pound, right-shooting, good-skating defenceman. Those don't just pop up every day." Even just going in the top 10 would make Spencer -- who had 17 goals and 56 points in 71 games last season and was named the OMHA's player of the year -- the highest-ever Oakville Rangers player selected in the OHL draft. Local resident John Tavares went first overall to the Oshawa Generals in 2005 (when he was also granted exceptional status), but did so as a member of the Greater Toronto Hockey League's Toronto Marlies. "That (would mean) a lot to me," Spencer said last month. "Just representing my home town is something special." Travis Konecny of the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs is projected to go first overall to the Ottawa 67's, while the Erie Otters are expected to select Marlies' Dylan Strome with the second pick. Other Rangers players who could go in the first round are defencemen Kyle Capobianco and Troy Henley and center Brett McKenzie. Capobianco, a Mississauga resident, had 14 goals and 42 assists in 71 games while racking up 74 penalty minutes. A scouting report on the OHL website described Capobianco as a "de- fenceman that loves to have the puck on his stick and is very dangerous when he does." Henley, originally from New Jersey, notched 12 goals and added 28 helpers in 70 games. The scouting report touts Henley as "one of the hardest-hitting defencemen in this draft and he never shies away from the rough going." McKenzie, who moved to Oakville from Ottawa last spring, racked up 102 points -- including 38 goals -- in 63 games. "He has a very good shot and sees the ice well to create scoring chances for his linemates," the scouting report said of McKenzie. Rangers teammates Jesse Barwell and Adam Craievich might also be selected in one of the first few rounds, according to Harvey, who feels as many as 14 Rangers players could be claimed by OHL clubs. "You don't really know where these guys are going to go," Harvey said. "I remember last year a couple kids were told by teams, `If you're there in the second round, we're for sure taking you,' and then the kids didn't even go until the fifth round. Things change on draft day." Several Oakville residents who did not play for the Rangers last season could also be picked in the draft. Results from the Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection can be followed tomorrow online at http://www.ontariohockeyleague.com/page/priority-selection.