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Times Advocate, 1991-04-10, Page 14Pa s14 Tines -Advocate, April 10, 1991 SPORTS Crunched Exeter's Paul Manders was caught in the middle of this scrum. Lucan's Todd Hayter, right; lost hls glove during the scuffle. Hawks win first game of west division final By Fred Groves LUCAN - For the third consecu- tive year, it's the Exeter Hawks against the Lucan Irish for the Western Ontario Junior 'D' Hock- ey League west division final. Last year and the previous sea- son, saw the Irish emerge as divi- sional champs. But Sunday night in Lucan, the Hawks won the opening game of the best -of -seven series, 3-1. Game two was played last night (Tuesday) in Exeter at the South Huron Recreation Centre. Sunday's game started on an of- fensive high as Lucan goalie Bob Szabo stopped Derek Shackleton on a backhander just 31 seconds into the contest. At the other end, Hawks' netminder Clint McCann made a big save on Andy Ross. The game became very physical, very early as Irish defenceman Todd Hayter put Larry Lewis in a headlock and hauled him to the ice. Later in the period, Hayter hooked Jim Dickins on a potential breaka- way. On both occasions, no penalty was called. In the and period, Exeter's Harlen Thmey was making his way towards the Lucan net and Hayter pulled his helmet off. Paul Manders stepped in and the two were quick- ly separated by the officials. Against Lambeth in the semi- final, the Irish were not as physical. "It's a different style, we'll hit back," said Exeter coach John Ker - nick. "I think our series is going to be a lot rougher than it was be- tween Lucan and Lambeth." "Our team is bigger than Lamb- eth and we can take the hitting." While the officials were breaking up ,the fight, the linesman lifted Hayter off his feet and in turn, Hayter tossed him over his shoul- der. Twice during the game, Lucan was assessed a penalty for cross- checking heavily after the whistle had gone. Both times Exeter had al- ready been given a penalty. "They don't usually do that, I don't know why they did it," said Lucan coach Ken Needham. The scoring began late in the fust period when J.P. Cousineau won the draw to the left of Szabo, Doug Clark got the shot away and An- drew Barton scored. The way they lined up on the faceoff, it looked like a designed play. Near the end of the period, Lewis sent Brian Schuyler flying end - over -end and later in the game, Lewis put a big hit on Greg Muir which sent him to the first aid room. "That's the key, our defenceman have to play good defensive hock- ey. The better you play defensive- ly, the easier the whole game goes," said Kernick. "Their defence played really well," admitted Needham Lucan came out quick in the sec- ond period when Todd Hayter car- ried the puck in and passed off to brother Tim who shot. Todd went after the rebound but he directed the puck past McCann with his foot. The Irish continued to put the pressure on offensively but Clark teamed with his linemates again with 1:46 left to make it 2-0. While Lucan was a little over aggressive, Exeter's Mark Reid found himself in the penalty box for 14 minutes. Late in the second period, Reid was sent off for roughing and since he continued to punch a Lucan player in the head while down on the ice, was given a ten-minute in- citing penalty. Lucan took advantage of the powerplay and defenceman Kevin Leitch was left all alone in front of the net and he pulled the Irish to within one. With 13:46 left in the game, Sza- bo came out to cut down the angle but Clark got his second of the game. Lucan was playing without the services of centre Dan Brand and midgets Jeremy Jemec and Paul O'Shea. When Muir was injured and didn't return and Hayter's game misconduct, that left only eight skaters on the bench. "The short bench was really the factor with the ice being so soft and so slow; said Needham. During the regular season, Lucan won three of the five games but the Hawks want to make a trip to the league final. "This win is big, but if we don't win at home, this means nothing," said Kernick. Once again, Pt. Edward eliminates Exeter Mohawks By Fred Groves EXETER - Too many games. Up against a better team. Whatever the reasons, the Exeter Mohawks ended their Senior 'A' hockey season on a dismal note Saturday night, losing 11-2 to the Point Edward Champs. The Champs had to win five games to eliminate the Mohawks in the Ontario semi-final and the defending provincial champs will now face Creemore. An illegal player saw the first game ,of the�;.tlayed and tha l lt+ltiitatirka : l • a to win . at; -home a week ago, but the Champs clearly dominated on Sat- urday. They took a 5-0 first period lead and built that to 9-1 after 40 min- utes. "I knew we were ready to play. The boys came out flying in the fust five minutes," said Champs' player -coach Mike Dark. It took Pt. Edward just 39 sec- onds to score as Mark Hillier fired one low on the stick side of Rick Pikul. Former Mohawk Ron Goodhand moved from the side of the net and put it between Pikul's legs to make it 2-0. I stressed to the guys tonight if you don't do anything else, come out as hard as you can and well make the breaks happen," said Dark. The breaks certainty went their way as Randy Campbell filled the open net, Francois Michand scored on a weak shot and Gary Cater knocked in a loose puck. Exeter looked tired and with rightwingers Gord Brooks and Joe Scherer out of the lineup (due to prior commitments), the Champs had Title trouble rolling up the score. "We didn't give up until it was 5- 0, then we just wanted to play one period at a time," said Exeter cap- tain Teff. Shipley. Throughout the game, the Champs were physical and Exeter did little to give it back. Shipley and Tim Shields were both hit very hard in front of the Pt. Edward bench. "We certainly didn't anticipate being down by five at the end of 20 minutes," said Exeter coach Dave Revington. "They were more physi- cal than they were in the enure se- ries." The Champs continued to domi- nate in the second period as they made it 9-0. Bill Dark replaced Pi- kul but he couldn't stop the barrage either. Greg McEachem scored and Brian Verbeek got a natural hat trick. Verbeek didn't didn't have a chance to do much scoring in the first period as he spent eight of the Cos>Irtiiort - While Andre Prevost watched the play during last Wednesday night's game in Exeter, teammate Barry Baynham put a very big hit on Pt. Edwards' Jamie DatBtnavich. 20 minutes in the penalty box. Exeter finally got on the score- board when Shields let go with a hard shot from the left circle. In the third period Shipley gave the Exet- er fans something to cheer about as he teamed with Tairo Kaibara on a nice passing play. "They had a good club but I think we had a better club," said Shipley. But the Champs got two of their own in the final frame as Dark and Campbell with his second connect- ed. emotionally out of you." Exeter went the distance against Dunnville and then eliminated Aylmer. Shipley suggested the opening series be reduced to a best - of -five instead of seven. Off the ice: While the Chattig were the better team on the ice," there was a lot of behind the scenes incidents during the series. Former Boston Bruin Kraig Nien- huis scored three goals in the open- ing game and it was later deter- mined he was not eligible to play. "I was upset initially because I thought we investigated enough to fund out all the angles," said Dark. "If we were in the same position as them (Mohawks) we probably would have done the same thing." It should also be pointed out Ex- eter played 14 games prior to meet- ing the Champs while Pt. Edward, only nine. "We're a tired team," said Rev- ington. "We're tired going the max- imum in two series. We faced elim- ination four times and it takes a lot Game Four:. ;: Thursday night in Pt. Edward, the game was tied 2-2 after 20 minutes and the Champs held a slim 5-4 lead after two periods before win- ning 6-5. Kevin McArter, Scherer, Kris Bedard and Brooks scored for the Mohawks while Shields had two assists. Answering for the Champs were Cater, Bill Bilton, Hillier, Dark, Ric Schelling and Brad Wil- son. Playoff statistics FORWARDS G A P Kevin McArter 15 4 19 Joe Scherer 8 11 19 Tim Fritz 5 12 17 Tim Shields 5 6 Richard Hawkins 3 7 Wayne Urbshou 0 8 Gord Brooks 4 4 Andre Prevost 4 2 Jeff Shipley 4 2 Dale Gibbon 1 5 Taro Kaibara 3 2 5 Greg Snyder 11 10 88 66 6 Game Three It was a very defensive game Wednesday night in Exeter as the Mohawks won 2-0. Following a scoreless first period, McArter teamed with Tim Fritz and Barry Baynham on a scramble and in the thud Rob Moore stole the puck and went in alone on Jeff Simpson. Baynhamlwho has been playing both forward and defence during the playoffs had a big hit as he crunched into Jamie Dabanavich. A brlef look back on the past season By Fred Groves EXETER - The more things change, the more they stay the same. How true this is especially for the season the Exeter Mohawks had. Coming into the season they knew it would be an uphill battle as they lost two very big offensive weapons in Dave Rartderson and Quincy Wilker. But general manager -coach Dave Revington, who was joined behind the bench by former player M Gates, found two replacements who did an outstanding job, espe- cigliy in the playoffs. Nicknamed the 'Brussel Sprouts' by their line - mate Joe Scherer, centre tim Fritz and letwinger Kevin McArter be- came true offenisve leaders. "We lost a lot of offence. We knew that going in but we did our best to recruit and we had a pretty good season," said Revington. Veteran puckstopper Rick Pikul didn't start the season but when he did return he teamed with returnee Bill Dark and rookie Paul Wool - ford to form the best combi- nation in the Southern When centre Bill Glover decided to lace up the blades once again, he and veteran Gord Brooks were un - And what about Brooks, �1 tha etid of last season announced his he'd had enough and retirement. Tem were a lot cI.hap- py hockey taw le lows this wlsss, whey they sew his 4ltnilistr bearded face beck on the ice. 3 2 SPRING SWIM &FITNESS PROGRAM Starts Monday, April 15 at Vanastra Recreation Centre 5 Paul Barton Bill Glover Rob Moore Mark Bannon Clarke Singer DEFENCE Ron Elliott Les Arts Kris Bedard Jeff McLenaghan Barry Baynham Chet Couture Dale Timmermans Jeff Pfaff 2 1 3 2 1 3 1 2 3 1 1 2 1 0 1 1 25 1 0 0 0 10 11 9 11 5 10 5 6 55 3 3 2 2 1 1 (2 miles south of Clinton) To Register CaII 482-3544 4YR But after four exhibition, 28 regu- lar, an all-star game and 20 playoff games, the Mohawks simply ran out of gas. "Too many games, too many nights," said captain Jeff Shipley. "The first (playoff) series should have only gone three -out -of -five. That Dunnville series killed us." No doubt those long bus rides to Dunnville, especially during the playoffs were discouraging. Getting home at 3 a.m. isn't fun. Injuries plagued the team as de- fencemen Chet Couture and Jeff McLenaghan were sidelined. Shipley missed a few games and Fritz was cut up several times dur- mg the series against Whiie the to didn't go all the way and were once again stopped by the tough Pt. Edward Champs, there were a few individual accom- plishments. Congratulations to bluetiner Ron Elliott for being named the league's lop defenceman and Scherer was selected to the first all-star team on the rightwing.Also, Dark had the best goals -against average. The Mohawks will be at the top of the heap again next year, as they ablagwauyes arestacks sup he rest of the questionable. Thl"s season saw the Southern Leule gue with laythe Seaway -Cyclone interlocking yclne l0000pp, and just about everyone would rath- er not play Dunnville. lt's been a long season and it's time to get out the golf club, we'll tett em' next year guys present Roller Hockey Only $70 per player!!! This includes: Free use of roller blades 1 Free 'practice session 12 regular season games 2 playoff games General meeting for anyone interested on Wed., April 17th at South Huron High school Cafeteria at 7:30 p.m. ' If you don't have a team but want to play, we'll find you a team " Extended one more week! "Pop -A -Shot for Shoes!" Save BIG money on any pair of shoes in stock! (two 282 Main St., Exeter 235-1314 More than just an equipment storel , i %;