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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-03-09, Page 14Page 14 Times -Advocate, March 9, 1994 S P J 77 TS Stanton's overtime goal puts Irish past Flyers By Fred Groves T -A staff ALVINSTON - Bring on the Centenaires. When Jim Stanton scored 2:16 into the overtime late Friday night he was mobbed by his Lucan Irish teammates. The Irish are hoping that spirit will continue as they now take on the Seaforth Centenaires in the OHA Junior Development League west division semi-finals. Game One goes tonight in Lucan at 8:15 p.m. During the regular sea- son the Irish, who took the pesky Alvinston Flyers in six games, fin- ished second in the standings while the Centenaires, who knocked off the Exeter Hawks in four straight, were sixth. Stanton was definitely the hero of Friday's game as he scored twice and set up the other in a 3-2 goal - tenders battle victory. His game winning shot came from the slot where he let go with a wrist shot which hit Alvinston goal- ie Matt DanBrook's stick and went into the top corner. "I was just trying to put it to- wards the net," said Stanton who was enjoying his March Break from university. Some [night have called it a lucky goal but they all count, espe- cially in overtime. "He (Stanton) scored two big goals tonight. We had to get a break sooner or later," said Lucan coach Ken Needham. Stanton's first goal came after a scoreless opening period when he broke free at the red line, muscled his way across the btueline and let go with a shot which went through DanBrook. He then set up big Mike Reid to Lucan Irish forward Greg DePrest (11) was twisted and bent by A/vinston's Shaun Hopkins during last Wednesday's game • in Lucan. Later in the game DePrest was crosschecked and he left the game with a severely bruised uppere arm. break a 1-1 tie. Stanton carried the puck into the Alvinston zone and all the Flyers seemed to go towards him. He shoved the puck through a crowd to Travis Stinchcombe who shot and Reid scored on the re- bound. Also playing well for the Irish in the big winning game was Lucan Minor Hockey Association product Shawn Fairweather who did a lot of strong forchecking and heavy hit- ting when called upon. Lucan had a lot of injuries as leading scorer Greg DePrest was sidelined with a severely bruised upper arm, veteran defenseman Ed VanKerkoerle played a couple of shifts before a nagging injury put him in the stands and Dwayne Price was also shaken up when he went hard into the corner. It looked as though Scott Riddell would be out as well in the second period when he received a vicious two-handed chop from Marc Tyler during a faceoff. Three of the six games went into overtime and it was a goaltenders' series as both Danbrook and Lu - can's puckstopper Steve Watson played their best. "He's (Danbrook) outstanding and he's the reason it went six games," said Needham. Irish 4, Flyers 3 Last Wednesday night in Lucan, Jeremy Jemec scored the winner with 2:14 left in the ten-minute overtime period of Game Five. Like Stanton's winner which would come a couple of days later, he just shot at the net. "I was just heading to the net and Jim (Stanton) threw it over and I backhanded it," said Jemec. Reid had a good game assisting not only on the winner but on Stan - ton's goal in the first period. The Irish held a 2-0 first period lead as Steve Moore went down the wing and put it up high with 26 ticks left, collecting his first of two. Irish 4. Flyers 2 After dropping two of the first three games of the best -of -seven se- ries, the Irish won three in a row beginning with last Tuesday's 4-2 win in Alvinston. Price and Riddell each netted a pair of goals while Moore and Fair- weather had two assists each. A big hit was given out by Lucan defenseman Keith Robson as he stuck out his hip and sent this Alvinston Flyers' Blair Mclnnis into the air during last Wednesday's playoff game in Lucan. Ceiitenaires will have a big job to do LUCAN - When Greg DePrest, the Lucan Irish's number one point - getter went down on the ice last Wednesday night it looked as though the Irish future was bleak. And although the star did not play in Friday's game which saw the Irish eliminate the Flyers in six games, he could be back tonight for Game One of the OHA Junior Development League west division semi-finals against the Seaforth Centenaires. The other semi-finals will match the defending champions Mitchell Hawks against the Mt. Brydges Bulldogs. DePrest was cross checked heavily across the upper arm and it was orig- inally suspected he had a broken arm but it was only severely bruised. "That's the best news I've heard in a long time. He could be back for Wednesday," said Irish coach Ken Needham. "We've got some guys beat up but well be ready for them," he added. Also on the mend are defenseman Ed VanKerkoerle and forward Dwayne Price who should both be ready for Game One. The Irish finished second in the nine team division with a 27-11-2 record and scored 225 goals while allowing 147. Seaforth were sixth at 18-18-4 but knocked off the Exeter Hawks in four games. Seaforth allowed the second fewest goals in the division, 143 and de- fence is a strong part of their game. Between the pipes Dana Duskocy is solid and up front the checking line of Steve Geiger and brothers Jamie and Chad Ramer help keep the goals down. The Centenaires have a strong one-two punch in offensive leaders Paul McLlwain and linemate Jason Hayter but after that they are short on goal' scorers. In comparison, the Irish are a well-rounded team and have got three lines which can score. If the Centenaires are able to blanket DePrest, Dwayne Price and Rob Davis they'll have to figure a way to beat the likes of Scott Riddell, Steve Moore, Jeremy Jemec, Shawn Fairweather and Mike Reid. In net the Irish went all six games, three of them overtime with Steve Watson. He's got to be a bit tired so Stuart Ashton may enter into the pic- ture. IIig/i school sports Panthers miss conference title by one goal CLINTON - It came down to the last game and that was stretched into overtime. Hockey fans in this arca are cer- tainly aware that the 1994 playoffs, at just about at any level has be- come a post -season filled with overtime. The Huron -Perth high school hockey conference was no excep- tion as the Central Huron Redmen edged visiting South Huron Pan- thers 5-4 in extra time Friday night to win the title. South Huron won the opening game of the four -point series last Tuesday in Exeter 5-2, and then Thursday in Clinton the Redmen tied things up with a 3-1 win. In the deciding game, Central Huron's Dave Rathwell finished off a two -on -one a minute into the overtime when he let go with a shot from the circle which got past Pan - Sticks were up during the opening game of the high school hockey playoff series in Exeter last Tuesday afternoon. Here, Chris McDonald, right; of the Panthers trys to get away from a Central Huron Redmen player. thers' netminder Jason Glavin. South Huron, trying to stop the Redmen from repeating as confer- ence champs, certainly had an op- portunity to put the game away. "We had four good chances in the last minute or two," said South Hu- ron coach Dave Cox. Among those were Chris McDo- nald hitting the outside of the post and a shot from Blair Moir which the goalie put his arm up just in time. Ben Geiger led the Panthers with two tallies while Derek Campbell and McDonald also connected. The score was tied 3-3 after the second period. "The score was 2-0 and we came back to make it 2-1 early in the sec- ond period," said Cox of the Pan- thers determination. Although there were only three or four penalties whistled per team in the final game, Campbell was taken to the hospital on a stretcher after he was hit hard. He was not seri- ously injured. Lucan basketball players head to OFSAA ARVA - Seven Lucan residents will be heading to the Ontario Fed- eration of Schools Athletic Associa- tion basketball championships this wcck in Thunder Bay. Shawn Fairweather, Jason Day - man, Chris Revington, Daryl Bo- shart, Dyland England, Randy Reymer and David Jenken are all members of the Medway Cowboys senior team which won WOSSA 'AA' this past weekend. Dayman netted 20 points in the Cowboys 51-47 win over Lambton Central at the University of West- ern Ontario's Alumni Hall. In semi- final action, Medway topped Wood- stock College Ave. 49-31. Opening win: Last Tuesday at the South Huron Recreation Centre, the Panthers blasted into a 3-0 lead but the Redmen chipped away and it was 3-2. But a late goal and an empty- netter by the hosts clinched the first game. Gavin Snell had two goals for the winners with singles to Jeff Glavin, McDonald and Jeff MacL- ean. Thursday in Clinton, the Redmen jumped into a 3-0 first period lead en route to a 3-1 win. Matt Godbolt had the lone South Huron goal. Central Huron advanced to the WOSSA tournament where they were seeded second. It's another rough one as Mohawks, Mudcats battle By Fred Groves T -A staff EXETER - Playoff hockey is supposed to be un- predictable - that is unless you are going head-to- head with the Dunnville Mudcats. This past weekend the Exeter Mohawks opened their Southwestern Ontario Senior 'A' semi-final se- ries against the Mudcats and now have a command- ing two games to none lead in the best -of -seven se- ries. Once again, as always in a series against the Mud - cats, the stands at the South Huron Recreation Cen- tre were filled. And once again, the Mohawks had to watch their backs because they never knew when they may get a stick into it. Exeter won 8-5 in Dunnville Friday night and Sunday in Exeter, skated to a 5-2 victory. Game Three is Thursday in Dunnville while the series re- turns to Exeter on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. "They're claiming they can't get ice on the week- ends," said Mohawks' coach Dave Revington. "It's Saturday nights all year until they play us." Following a fairly lengthy meeting between the two teams and OHA officials before Sunday's con- test, the Mohawks will have to convince their players to make the three-hour trip on a weeknight. The fans got what they came for Sunday, a game in which they could scream and yell at the visitors. In the third period, Dunnville's Dave Robertson laid a two -hander on Tim Shields who was breaking to the net and Shawn Vaudry three Mohawks' Kevin McArter's stick over the end glass. Combined with several hard crosschecks in front of the net and you had a night which saw the hosts end up with a few more bruises. "They (Dunnville) were supposed to clean up their act.'4tey got rid of four guys three years ago," said Revington. Among those was bad boy Gerry McSorley who is now the Mudcats' coach. Friday night in Dunnville, the Mudcats had four players ejected as Dan Woitowicz, Dave Butler, Scott Allemang and Paul Tyne all left in the third period. Woitowicz was back in the lineup on Sunday and he made sure he got the lumber into a few Mo- hawks. Friday one of them sucker punched Exeter de- fenseman Jeff McLenaghan who suffered a cracked jaw and could be out for a while. Sunday in Exeter, Mohawks enforcer Dale Timmerrnans went right to work early and he and Butler went toe -to -toe less than four minutes into the game. "We can't control their style of game. All we can do is worry about ourselves. We know what to ex- pect from them," said Revington. Big lead: Exeter jumped into a 3-0 first period lead on Sunday as Joe Scherer tapped one in from the side of the net to start things off. McArter spun around and put one up high to beat Garnet Wilson. It was 3-0 when Scherer had a lot of net to shoot at and collected his seventh of the post -season. The visitors got one back in the second as Glen Czepek flipped one high over Rick Pikul in the mid- dle period. Owen Lessard gave the Mohawks the three -goal edge again as he put one through a sea of legs. Gino Lostracco made it 4-2 but Richard Hawkins backed up and although Wilson got a piece of it, it was 5-2. Mohawks 8. Mudcats 5 The hosts held a 3-0 lead heading into the third period but the Mohawks caught fire beginning with McLenaghan's marker just 10 seconds into the peri- od. "Their forwards just seem to get too far away from their defence," said Revington. They weren't clearing the puck as well as they should have." Exeter scored eight goals in the third period in- cluding two by McLenaghan, Shields and Lessard. Also connecting were Wayne Urbshott and Craig Oster. 1