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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1999-10-20, Page 23Tres Waist IN SPOUTS Jr. D Hawks grounded twice, Luck of the Irish returns. Par 23 juvie Chiefs start year with loss, Sherwood: shafted by Milvertom Fags 24 Page 22 Sports Woeno•day, October 2g,1999 SPosvrs Tins? Contact Sports Editor Craig Bradford Tel: (519) 235-1336 ext. 113 Fax: (519) 235-0766 E-mail: sports©SouthHuron.com Exeter Times -Advocate Panther field hockey off to WOSSA after convincing win over St. Marys Sticking to it. South Huron District High School field hockey player Jillian Koehler, left, gets blocked by a St. Marys player with Leeanne Erb looking on dur- ing their Huron -Perth semi-final game at Exeter Community Park last week Exeter won 2-0 and advanced to the Huron -Perth final versus Mitchell held in Exeter yesterday after press. Both teams qualify for WOSSA in London on Oct 29-30. (photo/Craig Bradford) EXETER — The South Huron District High School field hockey team continued on their Huron - Perth championship trail last week with a 2-0 semi- final home win over St. Marys. Both Panther goals were scored by Heidi Muller with goalie Kelli Fulton earning the shutout. Panther coach Jim Workman said his squad dominated the game but couldn't score more than twice. "Two seems to he our magic number," he joke& _. The Panthers; Saeed; Mitchell in the Huron- Perth final in Exeter yes- terday after press. Mitchell upset favoured Goderich 1-0 in their semi-final. South Huron and Mitchell qualify for the WOSSA championship. tournament in London Oct. 29-30. Top teams from WOSSA qualify- for OFSAA action Nov. 4-6. The Panthers got a taste of top competition at the St. Catharines Ridley College tournament on the • ekend. T Panthers first play: . Toronto's Bishop Strac ►. coached by for- mer Pan er player Lee O'Rourke The game was even with a i -0 tie. In gam two, the Panthe s had their chances, . t came out on the losing e i d 1-0 against WOSSA rivals Parkhill North Middlesex. In game three, South Huron came from behind to tie Havergal College 1- 1 on a goal by Midler- The final pool game was a must win for the Panthers versus Appleby College. Scoreless, with three seconds left in the game, Shauna Koehler connected: with an Erb cross to clinch the win. , The Panthers played well in the semi-final_ but Waterloo; Oxford scored with three minutes leftto defeat South. Huron 1-0 for the second time this year. Workman said another South Huron grad, Leanne Dietrich, coached St. John Kilmarnock of Merryhill, the private school OFSAA will be held this year. In girls basketball action, senior girls lost to host Goderich last week -7-26. Despite the loss, coach Terry O'Rourke lauded his girls for play- ing a great game. The Panthers were only down two points at the half and only six points with four and a half min- utes left in the game. Jessica Davies and Sherry, Leveck . each scored sixpoints with Marilou Hern adding five points and Jamie Redman four points. The juniors fared better versus, Goderich and held on to a one -point lead to win 44-43. The Panthers ledfor the entire game thanks to great shooting and solid defence. Coach,. Nicole. Kovats said her team's shooting is "improving Sea PANTHERS pag74'-f : Plethora of Panthers interested in hockey's return to SHDHS By Craig Bradford T1MES-ADVOCATE STAFF EXETER — Panthe power has shown up in spades when it comes to the resurrected high school hockey program at South Huron District High School. Both the 'boys and girls programs have attracted over 40 potential players to the first practices held last week. "There's a real interest in high school hockey,' Panther boysbodice" coach Mike Soldan saki g one of last week's prac- tices. "This is a good way to get things going again for high school hockey." Those showing up for practices on the boys side are not only keen but they already play on either an established minor hockey program (Exeter, Stephen, Hensall, Zurich) or with an 'AAA' team. Soldan said that means he and his coaching staff, including Matt Flynn and Ted Smith, don't need to teach basic skills and can focus on plays, patterns and defence. "The tough job will be to pick 19 or 20 players," Soldan said of .the wealth of talent available. Soldan added his South Huron squad will be "competi- tive" but didn't dare to predict where in the standings the Panthers could end up. One problem Soldan and his coaches will have to deal with is competi- tion with junior hockey, notably the Exeter Jr. D Hawks and various Jr. B clubs the most talented local high school age players like Jeff Campbell IStrathroy Jr. B Rockets) And Jeff kkbeiner •(Aylmer Jr. B Aces) platy for. Players carded with junior teams are forbid- den to play high school hockey while those play- ing 'minor hockey or `AAA' hockey are allowed to play for their school. "We lose the cream of -the crop," Soldan said. South Huron High will try to combat that by building a reputation as a force in high school hock ey, Soldan said. One key to the solution is that junior hockey scouts are known to gather en masse, at OFSAA high school hockey finals. "There are more scouts at an OFSAA final than any junior game," Soldan said. High school hockey is highly competitive in cities like London and Toronto where players choose school hockey over other programs. Panther girls hockey coach Lynne Farquhar is happy with what she's seen do far. "I'm really impressed with the talent that has come out," she said. It's making it really hard to pick a team." Twenty-seven girls made it to the first prac- tice last week. Unfortunately not every hopeful player will make the team Farquhar doesn't Wildre, alienate what could be future stars. "We don't want to lose any of these kids," she said. "We can'tkeep them all but maybe they can make the team next year." Expecting to see some weak skating, Farquhar and her assistant coach- es, Marj Green and Jeff O'Brien, were pleasantly surprised. "They're nice little skaters," Farquhar said, addling the stop and start skating drillhammered that fact home. "You could have hearda pin drop with the stops," Farquhar said. Boys hockey is back at South Huron High after a five year absence while girls hockey is an entirely new addition to the school. Panther sports co-ordi- nator Terry O'Rourke said earlier in the fall that hockey left the school not because of a lack of money but because no one was available to coach. Both the boys and girls Panther teams will play in what Soldan called the "Avon Maitland group." The boys will play a home -and -home schedule (one home game versus each opponent and one road game) versus Clinton Central Huron, Clinton St. Anne's, Stratford Central, Listowel District, Wingham F.E. Madill and Goderich Collegiate. Taking a look. South Huron District High School boys hockey coach Mike Soldan, centre, talks things over with assistant coach Matt Flynn while a stretching hopeful player skates by during last week's practice at South Huron Rec Centre. Both the boys and girls high school. hockey season begins early next month. The girls have a more limited schedule versus Stratford Northwestern, St. Anne's, St. Marys, Madill, Listowel, Central Huron, Stratford St. Mike's and Stratford Central. •The Panther boys schedule (all home games at South Huron Rec Centre, 2 p.m. game time; home games in bold): Nov. 10 at Stratford Central; Nov. 12 vs. Madill; Nov. 19 vs. Stratford Central; Nov. 22 at Listowel; Dec. 2 at St. Anne's; Dec. 3 at Madill; Dec. 10 vs. Listowel; Dec. 17 vs. Central Huron; Dec. 21 at Central Huron; Jan. 14 vs, Goderich; Jan. 24 at Goderich; Feb. 11 vs. St. Anne's. Playoffs (all series best two of three): round one (first place versus fourth, second vs. third), Feb. 18 -Feb. 24; Avon Maitland championship,. Feb. 25 -March 3; WOSSA (London area), March 8-9. •The Panther girls schedule (all games a p.m. unless noted other- wise, all home games in bold at South Huron Rec Centre): Nov. 5 at Stratford Northwestern, 2:30 p.m.; Nov. 11 vs. St. Anne's; Nov. 25 vs. St. Mary's; Dec. 3, all day OFSAA qualifer tourney at Listowel; Dec. 8 at Madill; Dec. 16 vs. Listowel; Jan. 13 at Central Huron; Feb. 11 at Stratford Central, 2:30 p.m.; Feb. 17 . vs. St. Mike's.