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Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports 11 | Wednesday, May 28, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" Mike Tarantino is the new coach of the Oakville Blades, the Ontario Junior Hockey League club officially announced Monday. The 33-year-old, who was a high-scoring forward for the Blades 15 years ago, was named the OJHL's executive of the year last season as the general manager of the league champion Toronto Lakeshore Patriots. | photo by Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog High school playoff coverage online, in future editions With the end of the school year around the corner, it's a busy couple of weeks on the high school sports scene. Many Halton finals and Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations qualifying games are being contested this week at venues throughout the region. The Loyola Hawks won the Halton senior boys' soccer AAA title Monday with a 3-1 victory over Corpus Christi. Loyola's senior girls lost the AAA final 3-1 to Bishop Reding, and the White Oaks Wildcats dropped a 2-1 decision to Christ the King in the senior boys' AAAA title game. Coverage of those games and more can be found online at www.oakvillebeaver.com, and will be printed in future editions of the Beaver. Halton Minor Ball Hockey League Standings as of May 25, 2014 Team A) LTP 3-6 A1-LTP Julian Dean Photography Bruins (Gold) A2-LTP Toronto Marlies (Blue) A3-LTP Hamilton Bulldogs (Red) A4-LTP K.N. Crowder Penguins (Black) A5-LTP Red Wings (White) A6-LTP Lightning (Silver) A7-LTP Oilers (Orange) A8-LTP Stars (Green) B) Tyke 7-8 1 B3-Raiders (Silver) 2 B4-Fitness Firm Penguins (Gold) 3 B1-Green Goblins (Green) 4 B2-Tyke Mainway Sports (White) C) Novice 9-10 1 C6-Fitness Firm (Blue) 2 C5-Dairy Queen Snipers (Black) 3 C1-Questica (Orange) 4 C3-Wave Shop (Silver) 5 C2-Oakville Beaver (White) 6 C4-Burlington Post (Red) D) Atom 11-12 1 D2-Granite Ridge Golf Club Blue Thunder 2 D4-Fitness Firm (Green) 3 D8-Bandits (Black) 4 D3-Vacuum Shoppe (Gold) 5 D5-Dynamic Healing Orange Crushers 6 D7-Eagles (White) 7 D6-Play it Again Sports (Silver) 8 D1-Mantis Red Devils E) Peewee 13-14 1 E1-S.E. Auto Sales (Gold) 2 E4-Pioneer Energy LP (Black) 3 E7- Sharks (Teal) 4 E8-Piranhas (Red) 5 E2-Peewee Team 2 (Silver) 6 E3-Tripemco Insurance Group (Blue) 7 E6-South Hill Designs (Green) 8 E5-Olympic Trophies (Orange) F) Bantam 15-16 1 F1-Burlington Ball Hockey League (Vegas) 2 F4-Bantam Team 4 (Red) 3 F3-Vipond Inc. (Blue) 4 F2-National Sports (Green) G) Junior 17-18 1 G4-Junior Team 4 (Silver) 2 G1-Junior Team 1 (Gold) 3 G3-Junior Team 3 (Orange) 4 G2-Junior Team 2 (Black) GP --------4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 3-1-0 3-1-0 1-2-1 0-3-1 3-1-0 3-1-0 2-2-0 2-2-0 2-2-0 0-4-0 4-0-0 4-1-0 3-1-0 2-2-0 2-3-0 2-2-0 1-4-0 0-5-0 4-0-1 3-1-1 3-2-0 3-1-0 3-2-0 2-3-0 0-5-0 0-4-0 5-0-0 1-2-2 1-3-1 1-3-1 4-0-1 2-3-0 2-3-0 1-3-1 (L1) (W2) (W1) (L2) (L1) (W1) (L1) (W1) (W2) (L4) (W4) (L1) (W2) (W2) (L2) (W1) (L3) (L5) (T1) (T1) (L1) (W2) (W1) (W1) (L5) (L4) (W5) (T1) (T1) (L1) (W1) (W2) (L2) (L1) 6 6 3 1 6 6 4 4 4 0 8 8 6 4 4 4 2 0 9 7 6 6 6 4 0 0 10 4 3 3 9 4 4 3 20 31 11 11 23 21 22 20 16 4 21 32 23 17 18 13 17 15 17 17 10 17 15 12 9 6 33 10 8 10 24 25 16 12 15 15 16 27 14 12 15 16 23 26 7 17 13 19 20 16 25 39 8 10 9 8 17 14 19 18 3 19 23 16 9 13 26 29 5 16 -5 -16 9 9 7 4 -7 -22 14 15 10 -2 -2 -3 -8 -24 9 7 1 9 -2 -2 -10 -12 30 -9 -15 -6 15 12 -10 -17 Record Pts GF GA +/- Former Blades star named team's new coach by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor Mike Tarantino has spent the last few seasons trying to coax elite hockey players out of Oakville. Now, his goal will be to keep them playing in the town. The former Oakville Blades star is the new coach of the Ontario Junior Hockey League club, the Blades officially announced Monday. Tarantino, 33, led the Toronto Lakeshore Patriots to the OJHL championship this spring as the club's general manager -- earning recognition as the league's top executive -- after serving as the Patriots' coach and GM the previous three seasons. The Oakville native replaces Kevin Gomes behind the Blades bench. Gomes, who coached the team for two seasons, is now the Blades' director of player development. Last year, a young Blades team missed the post-season for the first time since 2001, losing a one-game playoff qualifier to the Toronto Jr. Canadiens on the final night of the regular season. "Any time you're looking at a franchise, whether it's in business or the sporting world, whenever you have an opportunity to make yourself better, you go out and do it," said Blades GM Mike Daley. "We thought if Mike Tarantino was available and wanted to come back and coach in Oakville, having ties to the commu- nity and being a former Blade, it all made sense." Blades co-owner Rob Campbell made sure to stress that Gomes wasn't being pushed aside. "This is positive for everybody," Campbell said. "Kevin is now stepping up into ownership and will have a lot of responsibilities there. He'll also be heading up the development side of things -- that's a big job -- and will be a liaison between the owners and coaching staff." Tarantino is a well-known and respected name in local hockey circles, and for good reason. After averaging nearly 1.5 points per game during two full seasons with the Blades, the Oakville native played four years at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he racked up 171 points in 103 games. He then served as an assistant coach at Bowling Green State University in 200405 (where he did his masters) before returning to the GTA to look for coaching opportunities closer to home. In 2010, he guided the Greater Toronto Hockey League's Mississauga Reps midget AAAs -- a team that included future NHL draft picks Malcolm Subban and Eric Locke -- to the Telus Cup national final. Tarantino became the Patriots' coach and GM in 2010, inheriting a program that had won just 15 games the previous season. Lakeshore nearly doubled that win total the following year, earning 28 victories, and increased its point total each season under his leadership. He relinquished the coaching reins to Jason Fortier last fall in order to spend more time with his wife Melinda and newborn daughter Zoey. Tarantino, a long-time high school teacher at Iroquois Ridge who will transfer to Garth Webb in the fall, said the opportunity to coach the Blades appealed to him for several reasons. "It's the one (OJHL) organization that I've had prior experience with, with my years playing there," he said. "My brother and dad used to be involved. There are lots of connections there personally. Ultimately, when the opportunity came, I was definitely interested in it." Coaching in Oakville is also much better logistically for Tarantino, who estimates an OJHL coach works approximately 20 hours a week. He will only need to make the five-kilometre drive from Garth Webb to Sixteen Mile Sports Complex to run practices, rather than commuting 45 km several times a week to Etobicoke's Westwood Arena. "You can't beat the convenience factor of it," said Tarantino, who now resides just outside of Oakville near Burloak Drive. As good a fit as the Blades are for Tarantino, Daley believes the coach will be the same for his new club. "His coaching style fits well with us. We see Coach on p.12 This ad is courtesy of ­ Proud Supporters ­ &