HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-01-21, Page 21Sports
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Sports Editor - Gerard Cruces email:gsssports@bowesnet.com
Wednesday, January 21, 2Q09
on-line: www.goderichsignalstar.com
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Photo by Dave Sykes
The Goderich Sailors beat Mount Forest 3-2 this weekend and lost to Mitchell 3-2. Shown
is goaltender Sam Johnston standing guard while teammate Greg Tiffin covers his back.
Sailors wait for resolution to
deterrnhie playoff match -up
Denny Scott
signal -star ste
With only seven games left to play in the
season, the Goderich Junior 'C' Sailors are
trailing fifth place Wingham by 22 points.
While they can't reach any higher in this
year's standing thanks to the spread, the
Sailors do need to keep an eye on Mount
Forest, as their five remaining games are
just enough to put them ahead of Goderich's
12 points.
Goderich's problems this year stemmed
from penalty minutes, where they rank sec-
ond in the league. Their 742 minutes over
their last 29 games is only bested by fourth
place Mitchell, who accumulated 759 in 30
games.
Goderich's nearly 26 minutes of penalties
per game has put their special teams at a
disadvantage. The the Sailors had to penal-
ty kill a full twenty minutes more than any
other team in the league.
Their power -play results were also hurt-
ing. The Sailors have the second lowest per-
centage, followed only by Mount Forest.
Goderich's penalty killing has been suc-
cessful about 80 per cent of the time. In a
league where the penalty killing leaders
are successful between 84 and 92 per cent
of the time, 47 goals over 237 minutes of
short-handed play hurt them on the score-
board.
As far as time in the sin bin goes, Tyler
Dorscht leads the team with 83 minutes,
nearly 20 more than Shawn Moore's 65,
Brandon Dyxhoorn came a close third with
58.
Goderich's goalies, Sam Johnston and
Cory Gascho, have put a good amount dr
time between the pipes. Johnston has played
16 games and played 674 minutes, and
Gascho has seen action in twenty games,
for 953 minutes. Gascho has been•
See MCCLINCHEY, Page 22
Photo by Dave Sykes
The Pirates narrowly missed a chance to beat second -seeded Petrolia this weekend,
losing 4-2. Shown is Matt MacPhee shooting while Chris Delgage sets up a screen.
Pirates sitting in the middle
Denny Scott
signal -star staff
The Pirates are running out of sched-
ule this year, having put 17 games be-
hind, them, and split them almost as
evenly as they could.
With eight wins, eight losses, and one
over -time loss, the Pirates are sitting
three points behind fifth -place Monk -
ton, five points behind perennial rivals
Clinton, and 13 points.out of that -cov-
eted number one spot.
With their loss on the weekend, to
second place Petrolia, Goderich now
has two matches versus the Radar, and
one versus the Milverton FourWheel-
Drives to hopefully put up six more
points, which could make the differ-
ence between a fourth place finish and
their current sixth place seeding.
Goderich's strength has come from
their home games, where they have
only lost two times since swicthing
from the Memorial arena to the Mait-
land Rec Center. Their road record is,
unfortunately, not quite as good.
Leading the charge, points -wise for
the team -minded Pirates is James Gart-
shore, with 28 points (11 goals, 17 as-
sists) in 26 games. Malt MacPhee is
second with 23 points (10 goals 13 as-
sists) in 24 games, and Kyle Hamilton
a close third with 20 points (5 goals, 15
assists) in 25 games.
Ryan Shelton and Brad Powell have
split the time in front of the twine, each
putting in four games and 240 minutes.
Shelton has 30 goals against, and Pow-
ell has 20.
In their weekend game against Petro-
lia, Goderich. fell just short of Petrolia, 2,.
losing 4-2. Goals were scored by Matt
MacPhee, assisted by Deryk Whitehead
and Ryan Samworth, and Mike Gillen,
assisted by Samworth and Dave Me-
riam.
The Pirates face-off against the
Clinton Radars, who they've gone 1-1
against this season, on January 23 at
the Maitland Rec Centre. ' The puck
drops at 8:30 p.m.
For league standings, see next page