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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1999-08-25, Page 8S porta/ PAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1999. From the sidelines For Leafs, success never lasts By Hugh Nichol Based on the quality of last season’s finish and economic benefits provid­ ed by the new Air Canada Centre, the Toronto Maple Leafs should be preparing for a move into the NHL’s upper echelon. Instead an ownership that brought us to the brink of ecstasy may allow boardroom politics to send us back towards a level of impotence all too familiar to Leaf fans. First, Ken Dryden’s decision to concentrate strictly on the team’s presidency issues is not a sign of surrender. Dryden is a unique well- spoken individual but despite his experience as a player, his training as a lawyer, and his reflective intelligence he had no managerial background. Yes, his conquest of the league governors led to the Leafs returning to the Eastern Conference but it only overshadowed his inability to deal with the issues. Whenever the media questioned his decisions the man considered the best goaltender of his time simply intimidated us intellectually with non-existent answers. The problems began with Dryden’s decision not to hire Mike Smith, the main architect behind the Leafs’ rebuilding plan, as his replacement. Smith’s dismissal has meant no significant free agent signings or trades to improve team competitiveness unlike the Rangers, Lightning and Canadiens who all have enhanced their playing rosters. In fact the Leafs may have already taken a step backwards as defenceman Bryan Berard and Dimitri Yushkevich remain unsigned and are probable no shows to open training camp. And now Anders Hedberg has submitted his resignation, an announcement that brings to an end the Leafs’ front office triad experiment established in 1997 when Dryden named himself general manager, then appointed Smith his associate manager and Mosquitoes win title Competing against 15 teams from Clinton, Goderich, Wingham and Lucknow, the Blyth Mosquitoes soccer squad captured the year-end tournament champi­ onship. They met the Wingham Jets in their first match. Duane Buffinga wasted no time putting Blyth on the board and the team managed three more before halftime. Justin Peters slipped two past the defending goalie including one on a comer kick. Raymond deBoer also got one between the posts. Blyth took on the Goderich Lions in a very close match which result­ ed in a l-1 tie. Brett Bean scored Continued on page 9 Hedberg the assistant general manager. The Smith firing was not unexpected. Smith and Dryden rarely met and seldom spoke, with Smith refusing to even sit in the Leafs’ management suite during games. While the Leafs did approach him about the vacant position the offer was taken and eventually withdrawn. For this reason insiders feel that Leaf coach. Pat Quinn, who enjoyed a trusting and loyal working relationship with Smith, “had” to add the manager’s title to his portfolio because he could not trust Dryden. Hedberg decided to move on because promises to expand his duties, including possibly becoming the league’s first European general manager, were never kept. Instead his responsibilities under the Quinn regime would have been reduced to amateur scouting, a career move he found less than challenging. Although Dryden maintains both men can easily be replaced it was Hedberg’s recruitment and European connections that delivered the likes of Sergei Berezin, Daniil Markov and Tomas Kaberle to the Blue and White, while Smith, a proven horse trader who waited patiently until gaining fair market value for any transactions, was named The Hockey News executive of the year. It has been 32 years since the Leafs participated in a Stanley Cup final simply because ownership has never supplied their management team with the constant win-at-all costs philosophy of the Mike Ilitch Detroit Red Wings or the Cablevision owned New York Rangers. For every occasional opening of the wallet there have been numerous tightening of the purse strings. Harold Ballard’s frugalness during the 1980s led to the worst decade in Leaf history and although they have rebounded under Steve Stavro to post final four appearances the return to exciting quality filled hockey is never continual. In the words of Toronto Star reporter Damien Cox: “Success never lasts long with the Leafs”. What’s the call, ump k Listowel player looks on as the Walton PeeWee catcher waits for the ball to hit leather and the umpire to make the call when the two teams met, Aug. 17. Walton Girls edge Listowel The Walton PeeWee girls edgedListowel at home, Aug. 17 by a score of 15-14. The visitors set the tone of this high-scoring contest scoring three in the first. Two strikeouts and a comebacker to the pitcher got Wal­ ton out of the inning. In the bottom half walks to Jen McClure, Mandy Mitchell, Michelle Cook, Sarah McDonald and Ashley Halley resulted in two early runs before Halley was out on a fielder’s choice. Jessica Lubbers cashed in two runners with a dou­ ble. After Missy Souch walked, Lub­ bers stole third opening second base which was quickly taken by Souch. Melissa Beuermann was next on base with a walk, followed by McClure. Mitchell singled to cash in two more runs and Cook got another walk before the third out. A total of seven runs scored. Not undone, Listowel, came on strong in their half of the inning notching nine runs to take the lead. The first out came when Carrie Leonhardt nabbed a ball hit down the first base line and threw it to Mitchell who was covering first. The second and third outs were strikeouts A six-run inning for Walton gave them back the edge, however. Scor­ ing were Halley, Leonhardt, Beuer­ mann with an RBI, McClure, who lobbed a double for two RBI’s, Mitchell and Cook. Listowel jumped ahead by one once again in this see-saw battle scoring two. For the first out, Mitchell at second quickly picked up the ball and threw it to Leon­ hardt at first in time to get the run­ ner. Later shortstop Cook overthrew the ball missing the play at first, but a quick-thinking Leon­ hardt made the throw to home in time to catch the runner there. Cook redeemed herself later when a ball hit to her, went straight to the first baseman’s glove for the third out. Walton regained the lead in the bottom of the inning with Leon­ hardt and Lubbers crossing the plate. RBIs went to Lubbers and Beuermann. On the mound for the home team were McDonald and Cook. In spite of a good start to the game, the Walton PeeWee Girls fell apart after the first two innings in Tri-County play against Brus­ sels, Aug. 19. Walton was up 6-3 after two and a half before the wheels fell off. Brussels struck for nine runs and never looked back. Walton was shut down through the fourth and fifth as Brussels HURON COUNTY FASTBALL LEAGUE PLAYOFF TOURNAMENT In Brussels Saturday, August 28 & Sunday, August 29 Arena & Main diamonds will be used C4™ CENTENAIRES JR. D HOCKEY CLUB —--------TRYOUTS------------ at Seaforth and District Community Centres Tues., Aug. 31 - 9:00 p.rn. Thurs., Sept. 2 - 8:00 pm to 10 pm Sat., Sept. 4 - 8:00 pm to 10 pm Please contact Dave Parsons at 519-273-4578 previous to tryout stopped them with strong defence and continued to add to their total with good at-bats. Walton was defeated 20-6. Season ends It was a good learning year for the Blyth eight-year-olds’ soccer squad as they showed team work and progressed greatly since May, said Coach Chris Courtney. They played exhibition games against Clinton and Lucknow and participated in the Wingham tour­ nament in July. They won their first game in tournament play but lost the sec­ ond. It was a hard-fought contest against Lucknow, but they were defeated by one goal in a shoot-out. “These young soccer players will make a great addition to the older team next year,” said Courtney.