Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1983-04-27, Page 14Times -Advocate, April 27, 1983 Spot Express bringing seniorhball back to town ligt Sports g In Great Lakes league The Express are coming! Senior baseball is returning By Ross Haugh to Exeter for the first time in a number of years with•the organization of the Exeter While most attention of "hockey fans is tuned in on the Stanley Cup playoffs, the battle of the brass over the proposed move of the St. Louis Blues to Saskatoon continues. Less than a week ago Ralston Purina officially ac- cepted Bill Hunter's bid to buy the NHL franchise and now applications to make the geographical move are underway along with many moans from other team owners. There seem to be three objections to an NHL team being located in Saskatoon. They appear to be isolation of Saskatoon and difficulty in getting there, the upset- ting of the league's division alignments and not enough people with not enough money to support a big league franchise. All of these claims can be refuted quite easily. The New Jersey Devils were located in Kansas City and Denver before moving to the Meadowlands which is very close to New York City. Getting to Saskatoon should be no problem for any team. Granted the airport is small, but, the trip from Toronto takes only three hours and is much less from Calgary 'and Edmonton. The problem of finances and support of an NHL team would probably be the least to overcome. First of all, Saskatchewan is probably the most prosperous province on a per capita basis in Canada and has the lowest unemployment rate in the country. Sure, Saskatoon's population of 154,210 is small compared to NHL standards, but; is size any guarantee of success? Cities like Denver and Kansas City with populations of close to a half million each could not support an NHL team. The situation in Saskatoon is different. Most of the western province's population have been hocke fans for many years and whether they like Harold Ballard or not the Foster Hewitt broadcast of the Leafs for 50 years was the best entertainment they could find on a Saturday night. In addition, Saskatchewan is called home by a lot of NHL'ers past and present. The best known of course is Gordie Howe from Floral, but, then there are Don and Nick Metz from Delisle and more recently Emile Fran- cis and Bernie Federko from North Battleford. An NHL franchise in Saskatoon would be much the same as the Green Bay Packers in the National Foot- ball League. The Packers have been one of the real powers in the NFL for many years and the population of Green Bay, Wisconsin is only 87,899. For Green Bay and the same would happen in Saskatoon would be the community's commitment to the team. It would have to be a province -wide team with supe rt from every part of the province which has a total ,of 986,000 persons. It,'s true that there aren't as many big corporatidhs to absorb the cost of season tickets in Saskatoon as there are in other larger centres. Westerners are used to paying high prices to see the NFL teams in action. A pair of season tickets for choice seats in Winnipeg are $1,411, $1,620 in Edmon- ton and $2,136 in Calgary where the arena seats less than 8,000 spectators. In Toronto a pair of gold tickets for the entire season cost $1,601. Bili Hunter says the new arena in Saskatoon which would seat about 18,000 fans could be built in five months and if approval came quickly would be ready for the 1983-84 season. Saskatoon mayorCliff Wright says bids have been received for 18,000 season tickets and added that in- terest in outlying communities such as North Battleford and Prince Albert were hign. The Saskatoon mayor continued, "We have most- ly farmers out here and they have the two things you need for a successful franchise. That's money and time." While all the squabbling goes on maybe we should mention that the actual population of East Rutherford, New Jersey where the Devils have recently located is 7'849' Senior. ball is back It's good to hear that senior baseball is back in E:•- eter with the establishment of the Exeter Express. The new team will perform in the Great Lakes senior baseball league along with last year's ()BA junior champs; the Exeter Co-ops. The Express are being organized by general manager Geary Penhale and field manager Glenn Thurman. The latter has plenty of senior experience in Stratford before moving to this area a few years ago and since then has been involved with the Dashwood Tigers before the team folded a year ago. The local junior team will be again in charge of Joe Fulop who will handle the managerial duties and general manager Brad Gregus who was the hard driv- ing force behind the new baseball park which was con- structed last year and is one of the best baseball facilities in this part of the country. Officials of the Express have called the team's first practice for this coming Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at Exeter Community park. Any players over junior age are asked to come out to the practices. Although there appears to be plenty of talent around, no positions are set and everyone has a fair chance of making the club. Both Penhale and Thurman stress the fact they need pitchers. So, if you can throw the ball across the plate without hitting the opposing bats too often they will be delighted to hear from you. MATHERS MOTORS Chrysler - Plymouth - Dodge Dodge Trucks Bob Lammio Bus: (519) 235-1525 Res: (519) 229-6678 O 136 Main St. N., Exeter, Ontario NOM 130 Express. The Express will be com- peting in the northern division of the Great Lakes senior baseball league. 'fhe Exeter . llllr oyrvt,_ a -t .ry Co -U juniors last year's all - Ontario champions will be part of the southern division of the same league. The northern group will be •4 comprised of the Express. Walkerton. Kincardine and Clinton. In the southern division will be Exeter juniors. Arva• WINNING BASKETBALL TEAM -- Exeter Public School won the Exeter and area girls' basketball tournament played at the Exeter school last week. Team members are (back left) coach Jane Brown, Cheyenne Mosurin- john, Tracy Spencer, Sandra De Boer, Tanya Delbridge, Kathy Hodgins, Maryann Dekoker, Cindy Edwards, Tracy Prest and (front) Sheri Varley, Kristin Lovie, Chris Gould, Kim Crawford, Ronalynn Bell, Shelley Skinner and Suzanne Wareham. STEPHEN TAKES BOYS TITLE — The boys championships of Trid. 's area public school basketball tournament was won by Stephen Central. At the back is coach and principal Don Finkbeiner. Centre, Glenn Hayter, Trevor Ratz, Mike Lightfoot, Dennis McDonald,' Rob Hoffman, Lee Watt, Paul Mellecke, Bill Vandeworp and Cam Darl- ing. Front, Jerry Lamport, Steven Lightfoot, Dean Hayter, Roger. Ward, Jim Payne and Jeff Hoffman. Drop close decisions Molting Hawks end season in tourney The Exeter Molting Hawks concluded their 1982-83 oldtimers hockey season with a tournament in Cambridge on the weekend. The Hawks despite failing to win any games turned in excellent performances in all three contests and with a lit- tle More luck could have been right in contention. The first game for the Ex- eter club was a 3-3 tie with the St. Kitts Rusty's Friday night. Early Saturday morning they dropped a 3-1 decision to the Halton Hill Puffers and later in the day were edged 2-1 by the Brampton Clark Flames. A goal by Jack Chipchase on a pass from goalie George Robinson with nine minutes left in the third period gave the Molting Hawks the 3-3 tie in the tourney opener. Captain Keith Ahrens open- ed the Exeter scoring in the second period on a three-way effort with Jim MacDonald and Bob McDonald and Mike Cushman notched the second goal on an unassisted effort early in the third period. In the 3-1 loss to the Halton Hills Puffers, defenceman Al Rundle fired the only suc- cessful Exeter shot on a three- way effort with Mike Cushman and Al Flynn. The only Exeter goal in the Statistics G A Pts 59 29 38 30 16 46 18 28 46 17 27 44 14 28 12 15 25 40 14 26 t 40 13 19 32 14 17 31 7 20 27 3 18 21 3 12 15 2 12 14 2 12 14 6 1 7 1 8 9 0 8 8 Keith Ahrens Mike Cushman Bob McDonald Pete McF'alls Jim' MacDonald Jim Russell Bob Jones F'rank Boyle Bill Pincombe Jim Pfaff Walt Tiedeman . AI Flynn Eric Finkbeiner, M Rundle Jack Chipchase fiord Slaght Paul Weido Goalies (; GA Av e. Glen Stire . 38 197 5A'. Bob tyke 17 120 7.0! Geo. Robinson 3 8 • 2.6( final game loss to Brampton came from the stick of Bob Jones with Walt Tiedeman providing the assist. The Molting Hawks won the Play Fair trophy as the team being assessed the least number of penalties in their first three games. This is the third Play Fair trophy of the year for the Ex- eter oldtimers. They won similar awards in earlier tournaments in Zurich and London. Thorndale, London Ser- vicemaster juniors, Strathroy and possibly a Byron junior club. Teams in each group will play double home and home games within their own division and single home and home with the other group. The first practice for the Express has been called for Sunday afternoon. May 1 al Exeter Community Park at 1:30 p.m. by general manager Geary Penhale and field manager Glenn Thurman. Thurman has considerable experience with senior baseball in Stratford and more recently with the Dashwood Tigers. According to Thurman and Penhale there are a Large number df prospective ball players in the area and they are all invited to the upcom- ing workouts. Thurman adds, "We should be set pretty well at most positions except pitching." Coming out of a short retirement is shortstop John Hayter, a former Dashwood Tiger and Stratford Hiller. Now living in Exeter is another former Hiller in- fielder Dave Hunt. Six overagers from the 1982-83 junior champs are Kevin Hern, Brian Rader, Dave Bogart, Dave Robinson and Dave Atthill. They will be »robably ioined by Ken Pinder, Dave Parsons, Randy Jim Guenther. Kraul. Doug Fairbairn, Fred Express home games will Robinson. Dan Heywood and be played Sunday afternoons. TIPS by GIB DOW RIGHT HAND GRIP PRESSURE Weekend golfers have a tendency to put so much pressure on their right hond grip that they throw the club or force the club head, as some instructors refer to it. Be sure that you just lay your right hand on the club and keep only very Tight pressure on your right hond throughout your swing. With practice you will get better results quickly. t GOLF 9 HOLES for only $500 TRY OUR DRIVING RANGE (excellent lunch hour exercise) Ironwood Golf CIS Weekends included • LOCATED ONE MILE EAST OF EXETER OFF HIGHWAY 83. PHONE 235-0707 Attention Farmers Seed Soycibeans Foundation Registered and Certified • Maple Arrow • Evans • Hodgsons • Granular Inoculant • Peat Inoculant We are interested in buying your: 6 Feed Oats • Feed Barley • Feed Mixed Grain • • Feed Corn For best prices on seed grain, soya beans and forage seeds Come in and talk ,to us, 5 p . Seed Soyabeans - Seed Oats-. Seed Barley - Seed Mixed Grain - Double Cut Red Clover - Single Cut Red Clover OhGOLDEN HARVEST FARM SEEDS 151 Thames Road East, Exeter FARM SEEDS 151 Thames Road Exeter • Give Us a Call at 235-0770 otn st . Exeter Ort ar;d s o M esters ; t Q� Sovt�`N st Se,ect 1 on 1.drge wri 1* AO Mens & Ladies Quality RUOGER PANTS $1688 Rawlings RBG60 Rog. $49.99 Now 3999 GLOVES LOUISVILLE LSG-26 Reg. $49.99 NOW $3999 Not t,ro, tly ns Moth ntn,t Bauer Plastic BALL SPIKES Reg. $46.99 NOW ONLY $3999