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Sports Oakville Beaver Sign up now for guitar, bass, drums, and piano OAKVILLE'S MUSIC STORE SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2010 17 Rangers finish Bell tournament with four championships After a pair of local rep teams won championships on the first day of finals at last week's Richard Bell Memorial Minor Hockey Tournament, two more Rangers squads followed suit the following day. The minor bantam A and minor peewee AA Rangers were crowned champions of the annual MOHA tournament last Wednesday, pulling out one-goal victories in their finals. They join the minor atom AE and minor atom AA Rangers to give Oakville four Richard Bell titles this season. Below are recaps from the minor bantam A and minor peewee AA teams' gold-medal games. The minor atom teams' championships were covered in the Jan. 1 edition of the Beaver. Minor bantam A Last year, they made it all the way to the OMHA final. This year, they hope to make it back, but with a different outcome. "That was hard because we had the lead in the series and (Stouffville) came back to beat us," said Oakville minor bantam A goalie Patrick Leon. If the Rangers can take that final step this year, they will have had plenty of practice with victory celebrations. The Rangers won their fourth tournament of the hockey season last week, edging the Welland Tigers 2-1 in the final of the Richard Bell tournament at Joshua's Creek Arenas. After a 3-2 win over Welland in its tournament opener, Oakville rolled through the rest of the schedule, winning 6-1 over the Burlington Bulldogs and posting back-to-back 8-0 shutouts over Credit Valley and Cooksville. Welland's route to the final had not been as easy, recording two wins and a tie, but it continued to be a thorn in Oakville's side in the final, opening the scoring late in the first period. "We weren't really worried," the Rangers' Seth Franceschini said of falling behind in the final. "We came in really confident and it was only the first period so there was a lot of time." They didn't need much time -- just 49 seconds -- to even the score. Oakville would then take its first lead with a little more than five minutes to play in the second. Leon turned away the Tigers' Nicholas Briggs on a breakaway and Oakville turned the puck up the ice. Jake Smyth took a pass from Sean McLaren, circled behind the net and centered to Franceschini, who snapped the puck past the Welland goalie. Coach Paul Barbuto said the tournament was a reflection of the team's season. "We don't have a clear-cut guy who pops in all the goals," he said. "There's not a single guy I have to worry about sending out. Every one of them can pop in a game winner." And there have been plenty of game winners this season. In addition to the Bell title, the Rangers have won a Silver Stick qualifier as well as tournaments in Ancaster and Lake Placid. In league play, the Rangers are 15-5-4, good for second place in the Tri-County Hockey League standings. Oakville leads the league in goals against and averages the most goals per game. "It's a good group of kids," Barbuto said. "We knew they would be a tough team to beat." Minor peewee AA The forgotten player made sure his team will always remember the 2009 Richard Bell tournament. Colton Trumbla's goal late in regulation time broke a 2-2 tie and lifted the Oakville minor peewee AA Rangers to a 3-2 win MICHAEL IVANIN / OAKVILLE BEAVER PERMANENT REMINDER: Oakville Blades forward Kellan Lain displays the scar on his left wrist, the reminder of a scary injury he suffered in last year's Ontario Junior A Hockey League playoffs. Lain returned to the Blades lineup last weekend after missing more than nine months. Lain just happy to be back By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Kellan Lain feels fortunate to be back doing what he enjoys the most. The hulking forward returned to the Oakville Blades lineup last weekend, more than nine months after a scary injury in last year's Ontario Junior A Hockey "I guess I just League playoffs threatened to realized life can end his playing career if not change that his life. quickly and you Last March at Joshua's Creek Arenas, Lain fell onto have to live life Wellington Dukes goaltender every day." Steele Defazio after scoring a goal less than two minutes Oakville Blades into the game. He put his forward Kellan Lain hand down to break his fall, exposing his left wrist and slicing his ulnar artery on the blade of Defazio's skate. The long and heavy trail of blood Lain left on the ice as he skated to the Blades' bench was a tangible analogy to the long road he faced to returning to hockey. But, two surgeries and many hours of extensive reha- bilitation later, he's made it back. "I definitely feel lucky that I'm back playing," Lain said Monday. "It could have been worse. I guess I just realized life can change that quickly and you have to live life every day. To know something so small can impact your life so greatly... you have to live life to its fullest. It can be cut short at any time." Lain's not only back, he's back with a vengeance. The 20-year-old T.A. Blakelock grad scored twice and added two assists in his first game Saturday, helping the Blades to a 9-2 rout of the Bramalea Capitals in Bramalea. He then added a goal and an assist the following night in a 5-0 road victory over the Brampton Capitals. "I was kind of surprised," Lain admitted. "I wasn't really focusing on points. I was just excited to be playing. It was an added bonus to contribute." Blades general manager Carlo Coccimiglio is expecting many more contributions from the 6-foot-6, 220-pound centre the rest of the season. "He's hard to push off in the corners and in front of the net," Coccimiglio said of Lain, who had 19 goals and 23 assists in 47 regular-season games last year. "He brings that leadership and that big presence on the ice See Lain page 18 See Title page 18