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24 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2010 Blue Dogs maul early competition at OFSAA hockey It's been a dominating start to the provincial high school boys' hockey A/AA championships for the top-seeded Appleby Blue Dogs. Appleby stormed out of the gate at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) tournament in St. Catharines, winning its first two games Tuesday by a combined score of 17-1. The Blue Dogs carried their 2-0 record into yesterday's (Wednesday's) action, where they were scheduled to play Toronto Community Hebrew Academy and Belleville St. Theresa. Results from those games were not available at press time. The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders, Oakville's other representative at the A/AA tournament, split their two games on Tuesday. Aquinas got the tournament started with a 4-1 win over Sarnia St. Christopher, then dropped a 3-2 decision to Haliburton Highlands. Aquinas was slated to face Sioux Look Queen Elizabeth and Unionville Bill Crothers yesterday. The playoff round begins tomorrow (Thursday). The bronze-medal game is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, followed by the gold-medal contest at 6 p.m. Appleby was led offensively Tuesday by Liam Board, who scored four times in a 7-1 win over Toronto Richview and then added two goals and three helpers in a 10-0 pounding of Clinton St. Anne's. Mitchell McMullin notched a hat trick against St. Anne's, Mitchell Graham and Stephen Macinnis added a pair, and Matthew Rubinoff also tallied. Daniel Poliziani, Troy Mrazek and Rubinoff had singles against Richview. The Raiders' goals Tuesday came from Cameron Farrell (two), Brad Gillies, Paterson Farrell, Eric Sapiano and Tyler Vadacchino. Going all out MICHAEL IVANIN / OAKVILLE BEAVER GRADUATION DAY: Andrew Kranjac (in orange) and Cameron Clarke hit the ice Sunday at River Oaks Recreation Centre during the Minor Oaks Hockey Association's Timbits Initiation Program Graduation Festival. Youngsters played 30-minute games in the finale to a season of building hockey skills, developing skating confidence and having fun. Bantam AE Rangers send coach out in style By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR The bantam AE Rangers didn't just set out to win an OMHA championship for head coach Chris Stamper in his final year of coaching in Oakville. They pinky swore on it. The Rangers became the first Oakville bantam AE team to ever win an OMHA title, finishing off a three-game sweep of the Georgina Blaze with a 4-2 victory Saturday at Oakville Arena. It was also the first OMHA championship for Stamper, a longtime coach in the Rangers system who is moving to London later this year. "Our assistant coach (Dean De Fazio), in January, made the boys pinky swear they would win an OMHA championship in my last year coaching in Oakville," Stamper said. "They only told me about the pinky swear on the ice after we won. It was really cool. "It's a nice way for me to go out." Stamper, whose team went 6-0-1 in the final two rounds of the OMHA playdowns, said a relentless forecheck was Oakville's greatest strength. The Rangers See Bantams' page 25