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The Huron Expositor, 1995-02-22, Page 9MSU Spartans sport Seaforth roots BY GREGOR CAMPBELL Expositor Staff • EAST LANSING, Mich - Seaforth and area remains well -represented in this hockey -mad hotbed al Michigan State University. With an empty -net goal in Friday night's 4-1 win over Western Michigan in front of 6,196 fans in the course of the 167th consecutive home regular -season sellout here al Munn Arena, Dublin -area native Rem Murray took over this season's MSU team lead in scoring. Rem is a veteran senior and captain of the hockey Spartans, who last failed to fill their home rink during the regular season in the middle of December 1986. Rookie Mike Watt, from Egmondville, didn't get any points in either of the MSU starts this weekend but is using the body particularly effectively and getting Tots of ice time, recording nine goals and five assists in his 30 games so far. Head coach Ron Mason, born in Blyth but who grew up and learned the game of hockey in Seaforth, also added one more win to his impressive record this weekend. He remains the all-time winningest coach in college hockey history, now with a 717-315-53 record in 29 seasons, more than 200 victories ahead of the second active coach on the all-time win list, Jeff Sauer of Wisconsin. The talented trio is not bad representation at all for our small rural community, here next door to the state capital of Michigan. Ironically, the head coach of Western Michigan's Broncos, MSU's opposition Friday, is Bill Wilkinson, originally from Goderich and related to the Dinsmore and Marion families here in Seaforth. MSU coach Mason is not the happiest of campers these days however. His Spartans, nationally ranked seventh to 10th depending on which poll you look at, have lost four of their last five games and are slumping badly lately. Saturday night in frontof more than 17,000 fans at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena the Spartans were simply out- classed 7-1 by their arch -rivals, the University of Michigan Wolverines, who demonstrated why they arc the top-ranked team in the United States. The Spartans, now sporting a 13- 7-3 record in their conference (18- 10-3 overall), are in a tight three- way battle for second spot in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association with Bowling Green and Miami of Ohio, behind the Wolverines who are moving out of range on top and have already clinched home -ice advantage for the upcoming playoffs. A goal late in the second period of Friday night's win over the Broncos broke a rare and extremely lengthy scoring draught of 139:54 for the troubled Spartans. Meanwhile Murray and Watt continue to plug away. Rem has 16 goals and 28 assists in 31 games, giving him 206 points over his four seasons from 67 goals and 139 assists in 156 games, making him MSU's leading active career scorer and leaving him in 10th place on the Spartans' all-time career scoring list. He is a mere five points away from taking over eighth place on that list. Brother Pat played for the Spartans from 1987 to 1990 and was a CCHA all-star, and his 60 assists in 1989-90 remains a team record. Now Rem, MSU Rookie of the Year three seasons back, is among the weekly national leaders in total assists, assists per game, total points and points per game. He has put points on the board in 12 of the team's past 14 games despite the squad's recent lack of offensive punch and is Spartan hockey's current "ironman" having played in every single game since enrolling at State in the. fall of 1991, never MIKE WATT ... 9 goals, 5 assists having been sat to watch a game from the stands. A sixth -round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in the 1992 NHL entry draft, Rem also leads the team this season with four game -winning goals, and was named the CCHA offensive player of the week early in January. He is carrying an average in the 80 per cent range and will graduate with a degree in civil engineering. . "IRONMAN" - Dublin -area native Rem Murray has played in 156 - straight games. The captain of the MSU Spartans, he also now stands 10th on the team's all-time scoring list. "He has the respect of teammates and coaches, outstanding work habits, outstanding grades and talent," coach Mason said earlier this season after Rem was chosen to wear the captain's "C". Another sport, another Murray sparks big b -ball upset The Stratford St. Michael Warriors won the Perth County senior boys basketball championship last week, thanks in a large measure to the inspired play of Joe Murray of RR 1 Dublin. Murray popped 24 points last Tuesday as the Warriors toppled the I heavily favoured Northwestern Huskies 71-66 in the semi-finals, then led the team in scoring again Wednesday in the Perth final with 12 points as the Warriors dropped Stratford Central 42-37. Murray, an OAC student and now 19, played minor hockey and a season of junior in Scaforth, before opting to focus on basketball. Dave Middcgaal from Seaforth, with another season of eligibility remaining, also scored 11 points for the Warriors in the upset over Northwestern. Rookie Watt has been playing his off -wing, to the right on Anson Carter and Steve Guolla for most of this season. He says he's frustrated like many of the Spartans lately, with "at least 15 solid chances in the last four games", which includes dinging a shot off the post Friday night, but with no points to show for it. He says the biggest adjustment from playing junior B is "a lot more stick work" in U.S. college hockey. Fighting means instant banishment in the American college game, which is wide open with no centre -ice red line and thus far fewer offsides, but Watt says the no fighting rule results in far more interference and stick work, which was particularly noticeable in Friday night's game with the Broncos that featured a lot of clutch-and-gmb,p1ay. Watt adds he has much more spare . time on his hands than he is used to this year, but he has adjusted to it, maintaining an average of about 85 per cent in his second semester. Watt went out of his way to give some Seaforth Centenaires, who took in both games on the weekend on a team trip, a guided tour of the classy state-of-the-art Spartan hockey setup. He and both Murrays are former Centenaires who went on to play Junior B for the Stratford Cullitons. Watt, a second -round (32nd overall) pick of the Edmonton Oilers in last summer's NHL entry Cents up against red-hot Irish in playoffs Things look grim but far from impossible for the Scaforth Centenaires. They will be up against the hottest team in either division when they begin their Ontario Hockey Association Junior "D"evelopment League playoffs tonight at 8:15 in Lucan. Game two in the best -of -seven series is Friday night at 8:30 at the Seaforth and District Community Centres. The only time in the past eight seasons Lucan hasn't made it to the Western Division final was last year when the underdog Centenaires rocked them in four -straight games in the division semi-finals. You can bet the mortgage the Irish haven't forgotten. And the fourth -place Irish arc on a bit of a roll. They won their final nine regular season games to grab fourth spot, and home icc advantage in the first round, finishing with 44 points and a 21-18(1)-1 record, quite remarkable when you consider they were 0=10-1 after their first 11 games. Meanwhile the Ccnteniares finished fifth in the nine -team division at an even .500 with 39 points by virtue of an 18-18-3 record, but looked in disarray more often than not down the stretch. Thcy were blanked 4-0 by the second -place Lancers in their last start last Tuesday night at Lambeth. The regular schedule finished Sunday and the Cents were supposed to play their final match, snowed out earlier in the schedule, last night (Tuesday) at Parkhill against last -place North Middlesex. But the OHA cancelled the game, meaningless in terms of the standings, when Seaforth argued allowing the extension of the regular season would put them at a competitive disadvantage if the first round of the playoffs were not also extended past the Mar. 5 deadline 1 and they were forced to open the playoffs Wednesday night with a consecutive mid -week road game. The Seaforth and Lucan managers walked out of Sunday night's JDL playoff scheduling meeting in Lambeth without reaching any agreement on playoff dates and the matter went to OHA President Brent Ladds for resolution Monday, with Centcnaires' executive member Dave Murray negotiating Seaforth's case. Although Lucan has four balanced lines, depth behind the blueline, solid goaltending, a high skill level and experience, the keys to their kingdom remain in the talented hands of shifty overage centre Greg Deprest, who wears number 11 and won the division scoring title again despite missing 10 games, most of which were at the start of the season when Lucan got off so slow. You will also see Dcprest on the icc when the Irish arc killing penalties, and if they are two -men short. He can do it all. The Irish won the regular season's series with Seaforth four games to one, and ran roughshod over the locals when the two teams Last met, by an 8-1 margin at Lucan Feb. 1. Lucan scored 32 more goals than Seaforth during its 40 -game schedule, and allowed seven fewer although the Cents only played 39. The Centenaires have now maintained a .500 winning percentage during the course of the past two regular seasons, quite an accomplishment in comparison to their seasonal records for the past 21 years, for instance from 1986 to 1990 they maintained a .145 winning percentage. But Seaforth will have to overcome its "streaky" nature this regular season if the team wishes to advance. Seaforth won six of its first seven games, then dropped nine of 10, before going undefeated in their next 10, then playing good one game and poorly the next in their final month. Although he has been in a profound slump lately, the Centenaires are led offensively by AP LE AUTO CLASS PAYS YOUR DEDUCTIBLE On Most Windshield Replacement Claims At Your Home, Office, Farm or BOP .,; i ALLOW Steve Mclnally with 20 goals and 34 assists, and Steve Geiger with 18 and 26. Despite missing 16 games with a badly broken wrist Jason Murray still finished third in team scoring with 15 goals and 22 assists, only returning to the roster a couple of weeks ago. If the Centenaires have one thing going for them as they enter this opening playoff series it is their goaltending. Both Dave Nahrgang and Tim Swan have come on of late, and if Seaforth proved one thing during last season's team record eight -straight playoff win run, that took them to the Division Final for the first time in a decade, it was that old hockey adage that good goaltending at the right time can take you a long way towards all the marbles and make up for other deficiencies. The other first-round playoff matchups pit Port Stanley against Mt. Brydges, Lambeth and Mitchell and Exeter and Belmont. THE HURON EXPOSITOR, Foamier/ 22, 1!!!6-11 draft, got off to an impressive start this season with the Spartans notching three goals and two assists in his first five games. He had two goals, one on the powerplay, against Ferris State in early January, and an early career high three points, from two goals and an assist, against Westem Michigan on Jan. 28. A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A Watt says Detroit Red Wing coach Scotty Bowman was recently on campus and advised him and his Spartan teammates to keep on working hard through their troubles, and the goals might soon come in bunches because every successful team has its rough stretches and it is just part of the game. * CENTENAIRES DEVELOPMENT MICKEY CIUD IMPORTANT NOTICE The Executive of the Seaforth Centenaires Junior "D"evelopment Hockey Club has decided to SUSPEND OPERATIONS for the 1995 - 96 playing season unless more volun tears step forward by APRIL 1, 1995! Running a competitive junior hockey team in an isolated rural community such as Seaforth is no small chore or responsibility in the 1990's and we V V require V WORKING & COMMITTED VOLUNTEERS 10 if we are to continue. If the prospect interests you, the Centenaires are having a PUBLIC MEETING to gauge the prospects v for any forthcoming support. The public meeting 10 will be on r WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22 7:30 PM Seaforth and District Community Centres V A C4th and the OHA - Together Since 1897 1tt<t<tttt<t<ttttttt40 NIO»»»»»»»>.»>111 entenaires a o$ked! A(Best- of -seven -Quarter -final) A A GAME 1 (Tonight) Wed. Feb. 22 8:15 PM A SEAFORTH AT LUCAN A GAME 2 Fri. Feb. 24 8:30 PM A LUCAN AT SEAFORTH A GAME 3 Sun. Feb. 26 Time T.B.A. A SEAFORT IIAT LUCAN A GAME 4 Tues. Fi 9:00 PM A LUCAN AT SLAFORTH A A GAME 5 Wed. March 1 8:15 PM A SEAFORTH AT LUCAN A GAME 6 Fri. March 3 8:30 PM LUCAN AT SEAFORTH IF NECESSARY A GAME 7 Sun. March 5 Time T.B.A. 0 A SEAFORTH AT LUCAN V A - BLUELINE CLUB - V in operation at all home games A between periods and after 10 116Cttt<tttttttt<ttt<t•10 HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT BECOMING A VON BOARD MEMBER? VON is helping people in your community. We are looking for enthusiastic people to serve as Board members. If you want to work with a committed group of people who identify and meet health care needs in your community, and you want to give something back, then the VON Is for you.Since board members sit both on the Board and on one committee, we suggest that you have a flexible schedule. A typical requirement is about four to six hours per month. If you think that you would like to help,please talk to or write: Lynne Mc Donald Executive Director, VON rai hither Information On any VON Services, Please (all Your Neatest VON Office. STRATFORD 101 Shakespeare 5t., Stratford, Ont., NSA 3W5 271-7991 HENSALL 115 King St., Hensall, Ont., NOM 1X0 262-3320 Serving Tie C.mmitsi/y LISTOWEL 306 Main St., West Listowel, Ont., N4W 1A5 291-4611 Slam 1 11,6.