HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1987-12-22, Page 24•
Page 4A Times -Advocate, December 22, 1987
Dundas Real McCoys short-change Exeter Mohawks, full house
Exeter Mohawks • went to the
South Huron arcna Sunday night
looking forward to their toughest
. game of the season. What they got
was closer to a practice .
Mohawks downed Dundas:Real
McCoys, a Senior AAA club on it's
way to the 1988 Allan Cup, 6-3 in
exhibition play -- at least they beat
half of the Real McCoys -- the.oth-
cr half were real Mohawks.
The Dundas team showed up with•
seven players Sunday night after
confirming a full line-up earlier in
the day. That left Mohawk coach
Jim Guenther in a difficult situa-
tion.
It was decided that Mohawks, who
regularly sit out three players per
game, would have to fill in the gaps
in Dundas's line -u
"I knew that 19 guys against their
seven wasn't going to be a real con-
test for a full house," Guenther ex-
plained. -
The ,Mohawk coach resentfully
sent over one full forward line and
two defencemen..
PRESSURE -- Bodies fly as Randy Bailey and Jeff Shipley put pressure
on Dundas Real McCoys net Sunday night at the South Huron Rec Centre.
Though the stands were full, the same could not be said for the Senior AAA
team's bench. McCoys showed up for the game with just seven players.
Mohawks won the game 6-3.
"I was proud as:hell of the guys
that went down there (to the Dundas
dressing room)," Guenther said.
That's an awful position to put your
team in."
"My guys were gung-ho: They
were ready. It took that edge off the
top of it."
Sports
Rob Mackie, John Kcrnick, John
Rowland, Ron Elliot and Dale Tim-
mcrmans all donned Real McCoy
sweaters to play -in front of a packed
arena.
Mohawks manager Doc Campbell
said he was extremely "upset" over
the outcome of the event.
To add insult to injury, it was the
Exeter line of Rowland, Kernic
Mackie which scored The opall[ng
goal of the game for Duntlas.
Rowland put ttie puck in the net
at 2:04 of the first period.
Mohawks were unable to answer
that goal until 15:47 when Quincy
Wilker scored from Paul Barton and
Dave Randerson.
The two teams left the ice after
the first locked in a 1-1 tie.
In the second, Dundas • again took
an early lead. Ted Kenley beatExet-
er goalie Rick Pikul with a shot
from Cord Brooks and John Gigtou-
lopous.
At - 10:35 Jeff Warren"blasted in a
shot from the blue line to tie the -
Please turn to page 6A
Hawks stung by "penalty mission"
Exeter Hawks narrowly edged out
Seaforth 8-7 Friday night after be-
ing paralized by referee Jamie
Kearns who called an extremely
tight game.
HawkspresidentRon Bogart said
Monday that Kearns never really let
the two teams play, noting that it -
seemed as if he was on "some pen-
alty mission".
Scott Lovie opened the scoring
for Exeter during a power play after
five minutes of play but Seaforth
waited only 14 seconds to answer
with a goal from Mike Betties.
Two first period goals from Mark
Morrissey, and a single from
George Pratt were nearly matched
with two Seaforth goals.
Hawks went into the second lead-
ing 4-3.
Exeter out scored Seaforth 4-2 in
the second period. Pratt pumped in
his second and third goals of the
night before five minutes had
elapsed and then Jeff Ansems added
two of his own to finish the period.
• Hawks failed to score a goal in
the third. Seaforth edged closer with
a goal at 4:00 and then with jest 12
seconds left, they scored again,
making it 8-7.
Hawks were able to repel them in
the lastsecondsof the game howev-
er, clinching the win.
Exeter out -shot Scaforth 43-40.
Five of the seven Seaforth- goals
were scored while Iiawks were a
man short.
Steve Gould picked up four as-
sists in the effort while Ansems
added two assists to his two goals.
Lovie also had two assists.
Hawks next see action December
27 when they travel to Brussels for
a 2 p.m. game.
Face- masks: Do they promote stick violence in hockey?
By Mark Bisset- -
You're standing -in a cold arena
watching a pair of Peewee aged
players battle for the puck along the
boards behind the net. The two kick -
at the puck with their skates, sticks
held high above their shoulders with)
single gloved hands. A Louisville
bangs across the back of a head. A
Titan blade slaps against a screened
face. The referee's whistle blows and
the two go w the penalty box -- for •
elbowing.
• An oldtimer leaning' on the railing•
beside you shakes his head.
"Never saw stick work like that
before they brought in those face
masks," he sighs. " lf'orst thing that
ever happened to hockey. "
"You think So?" you ask and he
answers in the affirmative, but you
don't want to pursue the topic be-
cause you're not so sure he's
Wrong._
It's an arena topic which gets a lot
of mileage -these days. There arc few
who would refute the safety aspect
of the complete face mask in hock-
ey -- one look at the face of Borje
Salming effectively sums up the ar-
gument for their use. But has the
new equipment changed the game?
The popular conception is that
stick violence is on the increase in
hockey: Those trying to trace the
reasons for this new style of
swordsmanship inevitably point to
two major changes in the minor
hockey system over the past few
years: the mandatory use of full
facemasks, and no body -contact for
players 12 and under.
For Tom N•icCann, president of
the Exeter Minor Hockey Associa-
tion, the pros out -weigh the cons as
far as screens. are concerned. He
doesn't go along with the idea that
lacc masks promote stick violence.
"There arc rules in hockey for
stick -work and there arc rules in
hockey for fighting and the rules
have to be enforced," McCann says.
"Whether they're wearing face'
masks or not, it doesn't make any
damn difference."
McCann however, explains that
the powers -that -be made a mistake
when they removed body -contact
from the lower levels of minor
hockey.
"Quite frankly, if a Novice or
Atom player is hurt now, chances
arc that it is an illegal body check
that hurt him."
• Providing an example, the EMHA
president notes that a young de-
fenceman, when faced with an on-
coming opponent, has no other op-
tion but to use his stick to stop the
play. With the no -body contact rule,
-he can't force the attacker to thc out-
side or check him off the ,puck.
That, says tvlcCann, promotes bad
habits.
"You take out the body contact;
you increase the stick -work.. You
put body contact back into Novice
and Atom; you're teaching the kids
how to use the body• and it might
just take the stick -work out of
hockey later," he maintains. •
McCann believes professional
hockey players arc making a mis-
take by disregarding the value of the
face mask.
"I think it's kind of ludicrous' that
there's a guy making a million
Holiday
Greetings
bucks a year and all of a sudden he
gets a stick in thc eye and his career
is over -- it's ludicrous that they
don't wear them (screens)."
"It's going to come thc day when
you're going to get a super -star
who's 'come up through minor
hockey and he's going to say: 'I
. don't give a damn„ I'm going to
wear a lace mask."
McCann traces the stick -work
problem to officiating, noting that
too many times, high sticking in-
fractions are ignored.
"If the stick penalties are called, a
"You look at an Eyc-
Tcch and every game
you're wiping a couple
of white marks off'
lot of the rest of the stuff is going
to take cart of itself."
Will Norris, former NHL lines-
man and now the officials co-
ordinator for the OHL, concedes that
if stick -work is on the increase, it
may he the fault of officials who
pay too little attention to stick in-
fractions. But he maintains Viet
hockey is much different than it was
when six teams made up the NI IL.
Players arc bigger, stronger and
faster. In fact, Norris says, the only
thing that hasn't changed is the size
of the rink surface. Give modern
players more: room and the violence
will give way to good hockey.
If you doubt his reasoning, Norris
has a survey on hand which indi-
cates that the skating speed of
players in the original six was com-
parable to that of the modern Ban-
tam -Midget aged player.
Norris agrees that protective
equipment may be contributing to
increased stick -work.
"Nowadays you're completely
covered from head to toe -- a little
guy becomes a tough guy and thcy
take runs at each other," Norris ex-
plains. "Personally I wouldn't want
to go around myself without a face
mask."
"I think there arc pros and cons on
it '(thc face mask), but I certainly
wouldn't want to be an advocate of
getting rid of them."
As far as the no -body contact rule
is concerned, Norris echoes
McCann's sentiments.
"Under the 12 and under rule, the
kids are not allowed' body contact
and what other choice do they have
but to use that stick?"
.Steve Gould, Exeter Hawks cap-
tain, offers a good indication of the
face mask's usefulness. He wears a
clear plastic full face mask.
"You look at an. Eye -Tech and
every game you're wiping a couple
of white marks off of them," he
says, adding that the marks are left
'there by white sticks. '
"Guys aren't afraid to bring their
sticks up as much," explains the
veteran left winger. "If they didn't
have a face mask on, they wouldn't
bring it up as fast. The smaller
guys, it helps them because they
feel a little more confident."
A referee as well, Gould has no-
ticed an increase in stick violence
over the past five years, an increase
which has led to a current crack-
down on stick violations.
Asked if he feels face masks are
the cause of the increase, Gould hes-
itates to place all the blame in one
spot.
"I don't think it's the main reason,
but I think it has a little bit to do
with it. In general the guys just
arcn't afraid to use their -Sticks any-
more."
Barry Baynham, an Exeter Mo-
hawks dcfenccman, ' notes sbme
changes in today's hockey which
might be a result of face masks and
no -body contact.
"If you wcnt out and held your
stick high and hit somebody, you
were going to have to pay for it,"
Baynham says, adding that it's not.
like that anymore.
Baynham is of the opinion that
stick violence is on the increase in
hockey and he maintains that
screens give less talented players a
certain advantage.
"If they're (face masks) worn for
the right reason, I don't think they
do (promote violence), but my feel-
ing is that some people kind of hide
behind them."
Baynham's tcam mate Bill Glover
recently took a stick in the face and
received a nasty gash rctj,uirigg a
number of stitches.
Baynham himself isn't wcaring
any protective equipment on his
face this season, though he has in
the past and expects to again in the
future. He blames his current lapse
on a feeling of claustrophobia, but
notes: "The eyes arc something
you've got to have." '
411149#r
K � I
HEAD TO HEAD -- Michael Wilhelm and Casey O'Brien provide a graphic example of the protection afforded by
face masks. But has the use of protective equipment had an effect on the game of hockey?
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