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BROKERAGE Sports INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email [email protected] • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2009 25 Opening-game loss doesn’t faze Blades The Ontario Junior Hockey League’s semifinal round couldn’t have started much worse for the , but they quickly recovered. Oakville rebounded from a heartbreaking opening- game loss to down the Wellington Dukes 4-2 Sunday and square the series 1-1. The teams were scheduled to play Game 3 last night (Tuesday) at Joshua’s Creek Arenas, and will clash again tomorrow (Thursday) in Wellington for Game 4. Braden Birch, Jordan Smith, Dustin Alcock and Kellan Lain scored Sunday for the Blades, who jumped out to a 2- 0 lead in the opening period. Lindsay Sparks had three assists and Matt Hache made 26 saves in the win. Oakville dropped Friday’s series opener at home, 4-3, as the Dukes’ OMHA CHAMPS: The Oakville midget AAA Rangers gather for a team photo after winning their Ontario Minor Hockey Association tour- Marty O’Grady netted the game-winner nament last weekend in Peterborough. Members of the team are Brian Betts, David Johnston, Nicolas Soubry, Jake Jagodkin, Tyler Badham, with 20 seconds left in regulation. The Mark Bennett, Scott Wilson, Jacob Liptok, Braeden Corbeth, Mark Runciman, Ryan Wallik, Brett Lee, Scott Somerville, Jeff Pinto, Brendan Quigg, Blades had rallied from a 3-1 deficit to Michael Mirabelli, Patrick Feric, Daniel Purcell, Michael Scott and Brandon Alderson.Tom Daley, Mike Daley and Rick Redshaw coach the team, tie the game only five minutes earlier. and Bruce MacRae is the trainer. “I thought after we tied that game Kellan Lain up, we had the momentum. I thought we’d get into overtime and score,” said Midgets bound for OHF tournament Lain, who scored to tie the game 3-3, “but unfortunately ■ By Jon Kuiperij clutch markers the forward provided in Bruce Highlanders, the Rangers they got that one at the end.” BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR the tournament. Mark Bennett had scored nine goals in their other four That made Sunday’s long road trip to Wellington all the Oakville’s other in the final. games. more important. The hockey gods finally smiled on the The Rangers had lost their first game Oakville was first in Tri-County play Oakville head coach Carlo Coccimiglio chalked up his Oakville midget AAA Rangers. of the tournament round-robin to York- this year with a 27-6-3 record, earning team’s ability to regroup to the experience gained during The Rangers won Oakville’s first Simcoe, severely crippling their hopes of one more point than the Burlington last year’s league championship run. Ontario Minor Hockey Association reaching the gold-medal game. Oakville Eagles. Last year’s midget AAA team won “Our experienced players from last year, they know the midget AAA championship in 15 years, then posted two wins and a tie, edging OMHA bronze. character it takes to win,” he said. “It was heartbreaking, working overtime to edge the York- out the North Central Predators in a This year’s squad is a combination of knowing we played so well (in Game 1) and weren’t reward- Simcoe Express 2-1 in the final of last tiebreaker for a spot in the final. first-year and second-year midgets. Daley ed, but we showed a lot of character bouncing back.” weekend’s OMHA tournament in “It was by the slimmest of margins,” said one key to the club’s success has Lain had two goals and also tallied in Peterborough. The title earned Rangers head coach Tom Daley said of been the camaraderie of the players. Friday’s loss. Oakville fired 22 shots at Dukes goaltender Oakville a berth in next week’s Ontario the tie-breaker, which added teams’ goals “They have melded together and like Steele Defazio in the first period alone, ending the game Hockey Federation championships in for and against and then divided that each other as kids,” he said. “That’s been with a 43-33 advantage in shots. Burlington, where the Rangers hope to number by the teams’ goals against. “The our biggest attribute.” Dukes lose sniper become the town’s first-ever all- hockey gods smiled on us.” Oakville will face Hamilton, Ontario midget AAA champion. Daley felt his club carried the Burlington, Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie and Wellington is facing its share of adversity this series as Daniel Purcell scored the OMHA-win- play against its OMHA opponents a Greater Toronto Hockey League repre- well. ning goal against York-Simcoe in the sec- but had difficulty scoring goals. sentative at the OHF championships, The Dukes will be without Marc Senecal, the league’s ond overtime period, one of several Aside from a 6-1 rout of the Grey- which begin Monday. leading scorer in playoffs, for the rest of the post-season. Senecal, who had 18 points in Wellington’s five-game Central Division final series against the Toronto Canadiens, turned 21 Friday and chose to stop playing for Minor peewee AE team repeats as OMHA champs the Dukes in order to maintain his NCAA eligibility for The Oakville minor peewee AE Rangers have won their The Rangers tore up their Tri-County competition this next season. second straight OMHA championship, finishing an unde- year, finishing first with a 24-2-2 record. Their only ties and Oakville ran into problems with the same rule last sea- feated showing in the playdowns by sweeping the Stouffville losses came against the Caledon Hawks — the team Oakville son, losing goaltender Scott Greenham in the middle of the Clippers in the final. beat in last year’s OMHA atom AE final — but Caledon was Dudley Hewitt Cup Central Canadian championship tour- Rangers captain Blake Stewart scored five minutes into eliminated in the playdown qualifiers by the Flamborough nament. overtime of the clinching game Friday in Stouffville, lifting Sabres. “When you lose a goaltender, it’s a little different story,” Oakville to a 4-3 come-from-behind victory. Oakville went 6-0 in qualifiers, then defeated Coccimiglio said. “(Senecal’s) a big part of their team, but The Rangers trailed Stouffville 3-0 in the first period Flamborough 3-0-1 in the quarter-finals before sweeping at the end of the day they have other players who can step before scoring four unanswered goals. both the Uxbridge Stars and Stouffville. up.” “For them to come back and win in that fashion was “In essence, Flamborough did us a favour,” Reale said. Game 5 of the Blades/Dukes series is scheduled for amazing... it says a lot about how our season went this year. “We always had a mental block when it came to Caledon. It Friday in Oakville, beginning at 7:30 p.m. They never gave up and just kept playing,” said Oakville head was always back and forth with them. They were one of — Jon Kuiperij coach Dominic Reale. ■ See Plenty page 26