Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1997-03-19, Page 14Times -Advocate, March 19, 1997 1 This Week in Sports... • Tyke tournament winners - page 15 • Petites scare Stratford in H -P finals - page 16 Lucan midgets split All -Ontario series A pair of wins at home this weekend will clinch the'OMHA provincial crown MARIPOSA TOWNSHIP = The Lucan Midgets have split their OMHA championship series with Mariposa Township after winning their first_ game 5;3 on Saturday and losing the second6-2 on Sun. • day. • Playing out of Little Britain. Mariposa's home arena. - Lucan played up to their potential in the -first game with five different goal -scorers finding,the.back of the net for the win. However, a severe brcakcjown in discipline cost Lucanthe second gamc,- - . • "That•was the difference right there. ' said co -coach Bruce -Cornish pointing out a total of 38 penalty ininutes in game two compared .to only 17 .minutes in the first game! "If -they would have stayed with the ganie.plan 'we would -have come out of there with four points in- stead of two." ' , Cornish feels playing the next t'wo games in Lucan will give thein the upper -hand hccausc the players are Icss apt to take stupid pen --- -aloes in front of a home crowd. "The'fan support has heen.grcat, They woaht disappoint their fam- ilies and friends by taking, stupid penalties at hone this weekend. • -Um expecting.a lot doscr game," said Cornish. . Even.though Mariposa has outscored Lucan 9-7 so far in the first ' two games,' both teams seem to he -equally matched and Cornish is expecting a tough battle in Lucan. - •. . "We can -win if,the guys play the way they arc capable of play- , ,.. inghe said. ` •.. . . .. Lucan earned a berth- in,the OMHA "DD" finals.for thc first time in ten years after defeating . ChesIey in the semi-finals last ,week. ,' They only need to win, their next two games at home this weekend in - order to capture thc.prestigious All -Ontario title.: • Game two is scheduled for Saturday at 8 p.m. and game three will start at' 3 p.m. on Sunday. • Stephen Peewees lead in semf-finals STEPHEN TOWNSHIP - After winning a nail-biting see -saw battle against' Drayton for the WOAA championship title, the Stephen Township Peewee rep team have won the fust two games: of their OMHA hemi -final sen? bands- &iwt against 1'betlftjrd. - ,Stephen leads the best of five games series outscoring their op- ponents 14-4 in just two games beating Thetlford 6-3 in thc opener and the humiliating them by a score of 8-1 in their own barn on, Sunday. , "We didn't get any bounces in the first game but a few pucks bounced our way on Sunday," said bead coach Jamie Wilson trying to explain the lopsided win. "We even had three goals called back," he added. Brian Dixon leads Stephen so far in the series with five goals but every player has already contrib- uted a goal or an assist in the last two games. "They can really turn it on whcn they want to," said Wilson about his team's goal scoring prowess. However, he credits his defensive players for allowing the scoring romp to happen. - "Our defence kept pounding them and all of a sudden they start - cd to slow down. As long as our de- fence keep doing their job, our of- fence will always score," said Wilson. Stephen can wrap up the series with a win in Thedford on Friday and Wilson is 'confident his team will take thc third game to earn a berth in the All -Ontario final. "The way we're playing there isn't a 1"D" division Peewee team out there that's going to stop us." said Wilson grinning from ear-to- eal% Exeter Hawks rebound to lead series Chris Kennedy scored the win- ning goals for Ex- eter in the last • two games EXETER. - After dropping the first game 10'Scaforth in a hest of seven series, the Exeter Hawks -won . •the next two garner by a one goal "margin. Exeter won a decisive game on Sunday night beating Scaforth 2-1 to give themselves the lead -in the OHA Junior."D" playoff series. - It was standing room only at the South Huron Recreation Centre and hockey fans were not disappointed by the end-to-end action in the light checking game marked by sprawl- ing saves from both goaltenders at each end. Craig Corrivcau struck 'first . for the Hawks- scoring. off a rebound during a powerplay at 11:42 in the -second period. Bill' Hodge • and Chris McDonald picked up assists. Chris Kennedy scored the win- ning goal for the Hawks with -less than two minutes remaining in the period off a give -and -go play en- gineered by Sean McCann. Mark Cooper also got an assist on the play.- • Kennedy and S. McCann also teamed up for the winning goal in game two'on Friday night and it was Kennedy again who notched the garne•_wibncr scoring an un-_ assisted, marker 20 seconds, later to lift his lcam.W i.6-5 win. S; McCann also scored one'for Exeter -and• Nathan Burns, Joc Mac- Donald apd .Mark' Cooper rounded out the scoring. Other than the 5-2 loss Exeter suffered at the hands of Scaforth in • tide opening game last Tuesday, this series has hcen a close and en- tertaining contest pitting two even; ly matched teams. - Exeter Head coach Dave Rcving- ten said he didn,'t expect an'thing Icss than a tough contest and point- ed out Exeter had.lost it's last two encounters with Scaforth in regular league action. ' - "1 think both teams play the same style of hockey and goaltending has been strong in thisscrips," said Revington. . Both teams Bayo ' capable goal scorers and arc hacked up by solid netminding between the pipes and Revington feels team defence will be the key to winning this series. The Hawks traveled tib Seaforth on Tuesday night for game four, but results werenot available -by. press time. On Friday the Hawks will host game five for a 8:30 p:m; game at the South Huron Rec- reation Centre. Exeter Curling Club will host Colts and Masters EXETER - The Exeter Curling Club will play host rink to the, 1997- Provincial Colts and Masters -Clhampionships from March 26 to 29. - Curling enthusiasts will he treat- ed to a fine show of high calibre - curling as thc province's hest "Colts" (male curlers under 19). and "Masters" (male curlers 60 and over),. meet in a straight win/loss format playdown. "1t should he very entertaining. Spectators will sec sonic of the Sudden death elimination for Exeter Bantams, a Harrowing experience EXETER - The - Exeter Bantam Legionnaires ended their season on Sunday when they -lost their third playoff game to Harrow in the OMHA semi-finals. •.The Legionnaires dropped the first game 5-2 in Harrow. hut hoped to turn things around hack in Exeter on the weekend where they would host the next two games. Tanner Ingram scored for Exeter to give the Legionnaires the early lead on Saturday. Harrow tied it up before the first period was out but Jeff Campbell made it 2-1 for Exet= er in the second when he let a blis- tering slap shot loose and buried the puck in top right corner. But that was the extent of Exet- cr's s scoring as they began to take penalties allowing Harrow to coun- ter with four goals on the way to a 5-2 win. The second loss • put the .Le- gionnaires in a must -win situation on Sunday. but Harrow got on the scoreboard first with a pair of goals in the second period: - Tanner Ingram scored off a pass from Scott Keys and Jason Grcnier to bring txeicr within a goal and Stew Rascnbcrg scored the game Exeter Bantam team captain Jeff Campbell fights off a - check during a playoff game against Harrow on Saturday. tieing goal with only three seconds left on the clock in a dramatic goal set up by Campbell and Kian Mac- Dougall. With the momentum going there way Exeter looked poised to stage an overtime victory, but the Le- gionnaires came out flat in the extra period allowing Harrow to score on a two -on -one rush. Coach Terry Bourne said it was disappointing to end a season in a sudden death situation and he didn't expect to bow in three games. "We expected to be more com- petitive than that but we hit a down streak at a bad time," said Bourne, adding a break down in discipline cost them the second gamc on Sat- urday. "Selfish penalties killed us. You can't play seven minutes short in one stretch against a team like that." - Even though Ale Legionnaires didn't play up to their potential, Bourne admits the team may have been overconfident going into the series and he credits Harrow for playing smart hockey. "They were solid defensively...no holes back there. They also have a few good skaters and they beat us at every part of the game," he said. Despite the playoff loss, The Ex- eter Bantams have a had a success- ful season finishing first in thc Shamrock League standings, win- ning the "A" finals in the Bill Bat- ten Tournament and earning a berth in the North American "B" Silver Stick Championships. 1 hest curlers in Ontario," said Orga- nizing Committce'Chairperson Jim DeBlock adding a committee. of 16 volunteers have keen working hard over the past year to make this the most highly touted curling competi- tion ever hosted in Exeter. The four-day event will attract an estimated 1,200 people to Exeter and De Block said local business owners will benefit from the influx of spectators. The Exeter Curling, Club put forth a hid to host the games in 1988, but no one expected Exeter would get it. Now months of work, planning and organizing will come- together • next Wednesday. when the first rock will be thrown. . "It's an honor to have the provin-. cial playdowns in Exeter. We're ready to welcome this year's Colts and Masters to Exeter and 1` think we have a really good program in ,store forthem,"•said De Block. The first game is scheduled to take place at,2 p.m. on March 26 with an,opcning ceremony at 7 p.m. Chiefs scalp Wainfleet EXETER - The Exeter Juvenile Chiefs downed Wainfleet in the third and final game of their semi- finals scrips to earn a berth in the All -Ontario Championship finals. The Chiefs took the first game of the series on the road -stunning Wainfleet in their own barn 3-1 and then stole a certain victory from be- neath them with a come from be- hind 3-2 overtime win in Exeter last week. With the opportunity to sweep• their opponents in front of a home crowd the Chiefs drove . the last spike into the Wainfleet coffin with a 2-1 win last Wednesday. • Team captain Marty deBruyn scored Exeter's first goal in thc first period and Paul Knight notched the game winner in the close tight checking game. Beating their feisty opponents in three games surprised Exeter's coaching staff. "We didn't know what to expect when we first met them and they proved to be a tough team through the whole series," said head coach Henri deBruyn who credits his pen- alty killing unit for keeping Exeter in the game when players started to take on penalties. Statistics may point to Marty de- Bruyn's four goals in this series as being the key to beating Wainflect, however, deBruyn insists goalie Dennis Roth was the factor. "He's carried us through the playoffs just like he did last year," said deBruyn. It is not known who the Chiefs will meet in the final, but getting there has been a reniarkahle ac- complishment considering Exeter did not have a Juvenile team three years ago. Led by head coach Henri de- Bruyn, assistant coach Don Rich- ardson, trainer Mike Soldan and manager John Rasenbcrg, the and highly. motivated. the Juvenile Chiefs have managed to keep a Chiefs don't care who they meet in winning record,throughout the reg- the OHA Juvenile Championship if ular and playoff season ' even they continue to play with the grit though most players are juggling and determination that has carried full-time jobs or going to school :them this far they can expect to go out of town. all the way. • With most of the team healthy War cryl The Exeter Juvenile Chiefs celebrate the winning goal that downed Wainfleet. Exeter will advance to the All - Ontario championship.