The Citizen, 1998-03-11, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 1998.
ports
From the sidelines
It's just a figure
Dogging it
A Blyth PeeWee Bulldog stands firm by the Tiverton net as
the puck slides in front. The home team netted the victory
in this one by one-point. The PeeWees captured the
WOAA championship and are moving on to the OMHA
semi-finals.
Blyth PeeWees WOAA champs
Thursday, March 12
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 14
9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
at Mullett Public School
For more
Information call
Karen Dolmage
523-4726
HULLETT
MINOR BALL
REGISTRATION
99
Irish Breakfast
Sunday, March 15
at Blyth Memorial Hall
9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Adults (13 & Up) — $4.50
Children (6 to 12) -- $2.50
Under 6 -- Free
MENU
Pancakes, Sausage, Bacon,
Hornefries, Eggs, Toast & Jam,
Coffee/Tea, & Juice
Proceeds to the Blyth Midget Hockey Team
for the Canadian Cup Tournament, Montreal
Thank_You For your Support
Brussels Minor
Hockey Dance &
St. Patrick's Day Dance
March 14
9:00 - 1:00
Draw for
Entertainment Centre
Many door prizes _
$5.00
Lunch
Age of Majority
By Hugh
Nichol
The Detroit
Red Wings
recently signed
Sergei Fedorov
to a contract
that could earn
him $28
million this year. Now, while this is
just a number to most people the
effect at the minor hockey level,
like the contract itself, will be
enormous.
Numbers have always been an
integral part of hockey from the
analysis of one's performance to
simple identification purposes.
Players are measured in goals
scored, teams in games won and
minor hockey organizations in
registration.
The number of offsides and
penalties relates to discipline, the
number, of whistles dictates the
entertainment value of the game,
while the number of turnovers and
missed opportunities is in direct
proportion to the number of hours
of sleep a coach gets.
Individually everyone can
identify with a number. Four, 88
and especially 99 are instantly
recognizable but, the number seven
has always had a remarkable
impact. It is a special number, from
the role of a dice, to a George
Carlin monologue on words, to the
number of letters in a coach's worst
nightmare — P-A-R-E-N-T-S and
their child's I-C-E T-I-M-E.
Now Moms and Dads with stars
in their eyes when it comes to their
child's recreation is nothing new,
but the sport of hockey has always
brought to the surface a little extra.
Teams with too many numbers
must be divided, while those with
Blyth Minor Hockey has their
first team of the season playing for
an OMHA championship as the
Midget Bulldogs advanced to the
final round on the weekend.
Blyth played a 2-2 overtime tie
on Friday, March 6 before
eliminating Walpole Island on
Sunday, March 8 at home by a 4-2
score, thus giving the Bulldogs the
series win seven points to one
point.
Game four in Walpole Island
featured some exciting action right
to the bitter end as the teams
battled to a 2-2 overtime tie.
Walpole Island opened the game
scoring with four minutes
remaining in the first frame while
enjoying a rare powerplay of their
own.
The Bulldogs knotted the score
1-1 with only seven seconds left in
the period as Mike Haggitt, with
assists to Mike Ansley and Darryl
Postma, fired the puck top shelf off
the crossbar.
Blyth struck again in the final
minute of the second while playing
shorthanded. Darrell Gerrits passed
to Ansley who hammered a
howitzer from deep in the slot to
give the Dogs a 2-1 lead with only
16 seconds showing on the game
clock.
The teams played a fast-paced
too few a number must affiliate
within their system to survive.
A coach walks a delicate line
when he calls up a minor player.
Nothing is achieved by playing a
cheerleading role from the bench so
therefore on-ice participation is a
must. Playing time is a constant
conflict among parents and
coaches.
Unfortunately hockey does not
adhere to the philosophy that equal
pay means equal play. As well, any
coach who has been forced to
divide, either by age or by talent,
knows this is a numerical equation
that can not easily be solved.
While the number is few, parents
will, and do, interfere in the above,
especially those with 26 million
etched in their mind.
This column is not intended to
criticize, only to enlighten. Parents
should be involved, but for the right
reasons.
The local arena is not a day care
centre; stay, watch, be vocal, but
remember the adage, "If you can't
be an athlete, be an athletic
supporter."
Next year when you register your
child, remove the dollar signs.
Superstars at the minor hockey
level are a dime a dozen. A parents'
presence should not influence
where, with whom, and how much
their child plays.
If you don't believe this, stop and
listen to the kids during their next
road hockey game. You may hear
the sounds of Gretzky, Lindros or
Haley Wickenheiser, but player
agent talk of contracts will never be
mentioned.
Kids don't pretend their making
$28 million a year. To them it's
JUST a number.
third frame which saw Walpole
Island tie the game 2-2 with only
3:45 left in the period.
That ended the game scoring as
the teams finished regulation and a
10-minute overtime frame without
lighting up the red light. The
overtime frame featured strong
end-to-end action highlighted by
spectacular goaltending at both
ends of the ice. Blyth had many
chances to end the series in OT but
can thank Scott Bromley for some
timely saves in the Blyth crease in
the final minute to preserve the 2-2
tie.
With the tie the series now
became a six-point series with the
Bulldogs holding a 5-1 lead in
points. Blyth hosted game four on
Sunday needing only a tie to
advance to the finals. The game
was another hard-hitting, fast-paced
affair that wasn't decided until late
in the third as Blyth ended the
series with a well deserved 4-2
victory.
Jeff Cowan opened the scoring
with less than three minutes
remaining in the first as he caught
the Walpole Island cage keeper
sleeping for the only time in the
series. Gerrits fed the puck to
Cowan who slipped in a shot along
the ice from just inside the Walpole
Continued on page 7
The Blyth PeeWee Bulldogs
captured the WOAA PeeWee E
title this past weekend after playing
an exciting series against Tiverton.
Tiverton came out strong, against
the Bulldogs, in game one winning
by a score of 6-3. Games two, three
and four proved that these two
teams were a close match with lots
of play in both ends of the ice.
Blyth won games two and three
by a score of 4-3, with game three
going into overtime. This gave
Blyth a one-game lead in the series.
On March 5 the Bulldogs
travelled to Tiverton with the hope
of bringing home the trophy, but-
this was not to be as Tiverton
played a hard fought game and beat
the boys in overtime by a score of
3-2.
This brought the Bulldogs back
to home ice for the fifth and
deciding game. This was a very
exciting and fast-paced effort in
front of a large crowd of fans from
Blyth Tyke Bulldogs came home
with a B championship from a tour-
nament this past weekend in Luc-
know.
On March 7, the team came up
against a strong host squad in a 9
a.m. contest and lost 6-2.
Lucknow had a five-point lead
going into the third, then notched
another just minutes into the peri-
od.
The team never gave up though,
and Derek Youngblut finally put
Blyth on the board at the 4:23
mark, off the stick of Anthony
Peters. With just one second
remaining Tony Bean popped the
final shot between the pipes.
The squad had better luck in
game two at 1 p.m. against Brus-
sels, whom they defeated 6-3.
Bean notched one in the first,
then Brussels tied it in the second.
Roman Sturzenegger, then Bean
put the squad ahead by two to fin-
ish the second period.
Johnathon McDowell widened
the gap in the third, then Katie
McClinchey set up Mathew Steven-
son .
Brussels answered with two of
their own, but again with one sec-
ond remaining, McDowell scored
both teams.
After many shots on both goalies,
Blyth's Cole Stewart scored with
some great passing from Steven
VanAmersfoort and Rob
Archambault. Tiverton tried to
even the score, but a great team
effort was made to keep them off
the board.
This win brought the WOAA
trophy back to Blyth after a lengthy
absence. It has not been in the
Blyth showcase since the 1971/72
season. Some of the Peeyee
fathers were recipients of this at
that time, so:it's probably quite a
thrill to see their sons receive it
after sn many years.
The Blyth PeeWee Bulldogs go
on to play Bothwell in the OMHA
semi-final with the first game at
Blyth on Wednesday, March 11, at
7 p.m. and game two in Bothwell
on Friday, March 13, at 9:20 p.m.
The players appreciate all the
support and hope to see the fans out
Wednesday.
to end the game.
For the B final at 5 p.m. Blyth
faced Elma-Logan and came away
with a 5-1 victory.
The team held their opponents
back until the third period, while
-Scoring three in the first, one in the
second and one in the third.
Bean led the way with a hattrick,
while Derek Youngblut and
McDowell notched singles.
Bantams
winWOAA
The Blyth Bantam Bulldogs are
WOAA champions and now move
on to the OMHA semi-finals
against Walpole Island.
The Bantams dumped Normanby
Twp. in four straight games, then
defeated Tiverton in three straight
to capture the WOAA title for the
second year in a row.
B;yth opens the best of five
series in Walpole on Thursday,
March 12 at 8:30 p.m. then returns
to Blyth for game two Saturday,
March 14 at 2 p.m. The winner of
the flip will host game three
Sunday, March 15.
Come on out to watch exciting
hockey and support the local
Bantam Bulldogs.
Novices lose
Brussels Novice Rep team
finished their playoffs in Drayton
on Saturday with a 6 - 2 loss.
Scoring for Brussels were Matt
White and Chris Corbett.
Brussels will end their season
with tournaments in Bayfield and
Blyth later this month.
Midgets on to OMHA final
Bulldogs Tykes B champs