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Times Advocate, 1984-12-19, Page 8f Page 8A Times -Advocate, December 19, 1984 Sports Spotlight By Ross Haugh Time flies The person that came up with the rase, "Time flies* sure knew what he or she was tIlking about. Here we are with our final issue of the paper for the year 1984 and trying to come up with something new and different, but, that's not what should happen at the end of the year. In many instances it could be a rehash of the highlights of the past 12 months. On the high side of the professional sports scene has to be the incredulous performance of the Detroit Tigers ,qy in getting off to a 35 and five start and winding up with the American League championship and a World Series title. If we look ahead in our crystal ball to the 1985 seIson we would suspect the Tigers despite a recent trade for starting pitcher Mel Terrell will have a hard time repeating their fantastic start of this past spring. Everything that Sparky Anderson tried including a variety of third basemen, sending in his relief pitcher at the right time and having pinch hitters come through in the clutch. Only the most rabid Tiger supporter could expect Willie Hernandez to have a repeat performance of get- ting 32 saves out of 33 trips out of the bullpen. - To the other end of the scale and the down side it has to.be the way the Toronto Maple Leafs are stumbl- ing around the basement of the National Hockey League and Harold Ballard is doing very little about it. As this is being written, the Leafs are on a one game winning streak, but, they did that four times before this year, especially when they defeated the Montreal _Canadiens. The Leafs have been experimenting with four dif- y ferent goal tenders, but, we doubt if that is the problem as the defensive corps has been a lot less than adequate and as most fans know a good offence can cover up for a bad defence and that hasn't been happening either. On the international scene, Canada's excellent per- , formance in the 1984 summer Olympics Games in Los Angeles has to be a big plus for our side. It was Canada's best performance ever at the In- ternational level and it is hoped the dedication and in- tensity shown by our athletes can-br continued and possibly increased by the time the 1988 Summer Games roll around in Calgary. On the local level, the emphasis appeared to be on participation with all ages getting involved in a wide variety of events. The minor soccer programs in Exeter,Grand Bend and Lucan have grown by leaps and bounds in the last couple of years making this game very popular. At the minor level, hockey baseball, figure skating and ringette continue to be popular. The year 1984 was a good one for athletes at South Huron District High School. Great accomplishments were made in badminton, field hockey, cross country and football with Huron - Perth and Wossa championships and excellent perfor- mances at the all -Ontario level. Probably the most significant increase in sports and liesure has been with participation by senior citizens. Each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings throughout the summer, the Exeter lawn bowling greens are fully engaged. Before we give the wrong impression, we should point out that lawn bowling is not restricted to older peo- ple alone. It is becoming quite popular with younger persons as well. At this time of year. seniors have two chances to get out and not only get some exercise. but. show they still have plenty of skills left. The South Iluron Rec ('entre is providing time three afternoons each week for shuffleboard play and this game has caught on surprisingly well. Each Friday afternoon, the ice Kings gather at the Exeter curling club to show that they have not lost any of their skills. The sweeping may not be as intensive as it once was, but. the enthusiasm and skill is still there. One of the highlights of the fall hockey season has been the inclusion of Dave Shaw and ferry and Paul Pooley at the fall training camps of two National Hockey League teams. After a very successful junior career with the Kit- chener Rangers, Shaw joined the Quebec Nordiques after being their first draft choice two years ago. The Pooley twins were signed by the Winnipeg Jets as free agents at the conclusion of successful years with the Ohio State Buckeyes. At the moment all three are in the American League, but, is hoped they will he recalled by their parent clubs early in the new year. We would like to take this opportunity to wish our readers a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and a pro- sperous and satisfying New Year. To the young athletes may good sportsmanship and fair play help you to realize your hopes and aspirations during 1985. MoLks vs Monkton Wildcats Friday, December 21 8:30 p.m. SHRC Season's (,r eiIngs • At home Friday to Monkton Mohawks continue with winning streak in WOAA h,ckey The winning streak of the Exeter Mohawks continued this week in the Western On- tario Athletic Association in- termediate division with two victories. Friday on hoine ice, th Mohawks blasted Drayton -by a scow of 16-3 and Sunday on Ake road they downed Lucknow 7-4. The Mohawks will be play - —l.host to the Monkton igat the South Huron Rec Centre Friday night at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday they travel to Drayton for a return contest. Friday. night against Drayton, the Mohawks came out allying with six goals in the first period and after a lull of only three goals in the mid- dle frame wound up with seven scores in the final 20 minutes of play. In the first period, Brian M : cer found the Drayton net (th three successful shots CONSOLATION CHAMPS — Bob Brand, manager of Outer Limits Arcade presents prizes to Mike Gullage 'and Mike Lessard as the 8 champs in a recent billiards tournament. T -A photo TOP SHOOTERS -- Sam Toornstra, runnerup and Chuck Windsor the ch imp are shown with manager Bob Brand at the conclusion of the recent billiards tourna- ment at the Outer Limits Arcade. T -A photo Bill Fairbairn coach of Squires The Petrolia Squires of the Ontario Hockey Association Senior 'A' hockey league have a new coach. Taking over the coaching duties of the Squires who won the Allan Cup championship a few years ago is Exeter native Bill Fairbairn. Fairbairn named in an in- terim capacity Tuesday by club president Malt Edgar was behind the bench Wednesday night when the Squires were in Chatham to play the Maroons. In a press conference, Edgar said, "Coach Steve DeGurse stepped down by mutual agreement." The Squires are off to their poorest start in many a year. Their record when DeGurse was let go was only six vic- tories in 19 starts. Edgar said the executive also asked general manager pill Weir to step aside and "he g 1 e e has graciously consented to do so, but , right now everything is in limbo as things have not been settled with the person we had in mind." Ira Downer who managed the Squires during the time they won two Allan Cups has been transferred back to Petrolia from Calgary, but, his wife indicated he would turn down any offer. For Fairbairn it will be his first try at coaching in senior ranks. He was a standout player with a number of Ex- eter minor teams beginning when the local pee wee club won the Goderich Lions popular Easter Week tournament. tie went on to a successful career with the Exeter junior Hawks and was a valuable member of the Squires when they .were winning Allan ('ups Irish split, hold third The Lucan Irish held on to third place in the Ontario Hockey Association Junior northern division this week by splitting a pair of games. On home ice, Wednesday, 'the Irish dropped an 8-3 deci- sion to the Seaforth Centenaires and Friday in Thamesford they downed the Trojans by a score of 8-4. The only pre -Christmas ac- tion remaining for the Irish is tonight, Wednesday when they play host to the Mitchell Hawks. Game time at the Lucan arena is 8:15 p.m. - In Wednesday's loss to Seaforth, Steve Glenn fired two of the Lucan goals and both came on power plays ef- forts. Brent Martin and Jesse Crawford picked up assists. The first Irish goal of the game came from the stick of Jeff Hodgins on a pass from Mark Bannon with their club playing a man short. Mark Mellwain, Jim Camp- bell and Dave Murray each scored two goals for Sea forth with John Dale and Gerry Wright scoring in single fashion. Six of the eight Seaforth goals came on power plays. In Thamesford Friday night the Irish came out fly- ing and had taken a 6-0 lead by the end of the first 40 minutes of play. in the opening period. Wayne Urbshott hit on passes from Al Craig and Brent Mar- tin and Rob }lardy finished off a three-way effort with Bob Thirlwall and Scott Gilders on a power play. Brent Martin. Wayne Urb- shott, Scott Balazs and }lob Stanfield were the Lucan marksmen in the middle frame with Steve Glenn. Bob Thirlwall and Mark Bannon getting assists. Al ('raig and Shawn Schaefer fired successful Irish shots in the third period to complete the scoring. Get- ting single assists were Schaefer. Urbshott and .lesse Crawford. while Bryan Baker, Cam Doig and Pete Tuckey scored in single fashion. Cam Doig contributed a pair of assists and Dave Kinsman, captain Randy Kraut, Jim Guenther, Mark Cronyn, Dave Jackson and Ken Varley each helped on one score. The Exeter marksmen in the second session were Jim Guenther, Tom Ryan and Barry Baynham with Dave Kinsman. Rick Lindenfield, Mark Cronyn, Cam Doig, Terry Caldwell, Barry Baynham and Ken Varley gaining assists. In the sevengoal outburst in the closing period, Cam Doig and Ken Morley were Senior boys basketball team runnerup in tourney South Huron'ssenior basketball squad finished as runners-up at the Huron Perth pre -Christmas tourna- ment hosted by the local school. The senior cagers faced Wingham Madill for the open- ing match of the single knock- out tourney. The Panthers took it to the Madill team. trouncing the opponent 94-44. Rob Tait was South Huron's big man for the opening tilt, recording 24 points and eight rebounds. Scott Miller ac- counted for 15 points and seven rebounds while Scott Lovie and Brian Topp scored .12 points each. Coach Terry O'Rourke managed to work his entire bench into the one sided affair and ten players figured in the scoring for the locals. Other scorers included Stephen Merner with 10, John Willem - son with seven and Mike Clarke with six points. Roun- ding out the scoring were Dave Gratton with four points and Jeff Maxwell and Greg O'Toole recording two and one point respectively. Saturday afternoon the local seniors faced a much tougher opponent. The Pan- thers took on Seaforth in a close match that went right to the wire before the locals took the lead for good to end the scoring at 59-57. The quick paced match turned out to be excellent entertainment for all spec- tators despite some ques- tionable officiating. Scott Lovie sparked the South .Huron scoring attack with 18 points and was followed by Stephen Merner with 12. Rob Tait, Scet Merrylees and Scott Miller all accounted for - nine points while Mike Clarke added two. The win advanced the cagers into the finals where they met Stratford Central, Saturday evening. The Sttral- tord squad advanced to the final game by defeating the Goderich Vikings earlier that afternoon. The locals found themselves down 12 points at half time and never managed to make up any of the lost ground before the gpme end- ed 72-56 to declare Central the tournament winners. Miller and Tait were the top local scorers with 14 and 13 points respectively. Mer- rylees scored 12 points and Scott Lovie added nine. All in all it was an excellent weekend for the senior basketball team and their fans who were treated to some excellent basketball by the local boys. Hawks deeper in fourth place The Exeter llawks buried themselves deeper in fourth spot in the northern division of the Junior "I)" loop as they dropped their only outing of the week. The locals gave up five powerplay goals in Seaforth. Friday, to end up on the short end of a 7-3 count with the se- cond place Centenaires. Exeter now trail third place Lucan by six points and are nine behind Seaforth. Last night (Tuesday t the local$ were in Mitchell to tackle their last place namesakes and on Friday they'll be in Tavistock to play the first place Braves. The five -game road outing continues in Bothwell, Sun- day, and then on to Thedford for a Boxing Day game. The locals make their next ap- pearance at home on December 28 against , the Thamesford Trojans. Backed by the spectacular netminding of rookie Jason VanHaarlen, the Hawks were tied 3-3 going into the third period against the Centenaires, but they wilted under a :30 -shot barrage, four of which eluded the youthful goalie. Both squads lost fair players each due to fighting in the contest, with Exeter's Steve Prout, Scott Bogart. Jeff Rowe and Jeff Pfaff be- ing banished. After spotting Seaforth a goal at the 3:07 mark of the IMra{IM►stlessusscuss cuts caeclretaesaeamaecoos ore ons cuss csasomaurawnrssoranesso40oraoa.oe Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year To All IRONWOO" COURSE located a mile east of Exeter, Off Highway 83 Y ib cseo cues cue ciao Nes Quo %is WO NO *Ss coin clis thiaos !Milo Will eois Coless 01/01111, Cuss ems coin coils **a 0.05 CM) Wig. pita etwi 4%) R 3 3 1 3 3 A 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 A 3 .r .M -- _ - _ - a a- a — -ra Lama — n •,.�. --- — — — — u — — _ - — —A.k A&. _r a AMJEll S An WINS JUMP Rob Tait (15) of the SHDHS Panthers wins this dump ball against a Seaforth opponent in the weekend tournament held at the local school. first. Exeter came right back to knot the count when Mike Clark finished off a play with Bill Glover. However, the Centenaires got things rolling again later in the period to take a 3-1 lead. In the second, the Hawks Scored the only two goals. Don Hamilton notched the first on a play with George Pratt and then Tony Jones got the equalizer on an unassisted effort at the 17:29 mark. Seaforth regained the lead on an even strength goal at the 4:17 mark of the third and then three powerplay markers to win going away. Vanllaarlenended the game with 47 saves, while Keith McClure recorded 23 at the other end of the rink. the Mohawks to register two goals. Hitting in single fashion were Peter Tuckey, Bryan Baker and Tom Ryan. Dave Kinsman was the top playmaker with three assists. Helping on one goal each were Jim Guenther, Ken Varley, Tom Ryan,- Dave Jackson and Barry Baybham. John Grose was on the fir- ing end of two of the Drayton goals with Darrel Jack not- ching the other. In Lucknow Sunday night, the Mohawks needed a goal late in th second period and two unanswered scores in the third frame to post the 7-4 - 'ictory. The first period ended in a 2-2 tie with Dave Kinsman scoring on a three-way effort with Dave Jackson and Ran- dy Kraut andTerry Caldwell finishing off a similar play with the help of Ken Varley and Jamie Caldwell. The opening period. marksmen for Lucknow were Steve Simpson and Grant Gilchrist. Early in the second Dave Kinsman notched his second goal of ..the game for the Mohawks on passes from Jim Guenther and Dave Atthill on- ly to have Simpson reply for Lucknow. The same thing happened again later in the middle period as Ken Varley con- verted a pass from 'ferry Caldwell for the Exeter club and Grant Murray registered for Lucknow. With less than iwo minutes remaining in the centre ses- sion, Tom Ryan notched what proved to be the winning goal for the Mohawks on a pass from Marty Wraith. In the third period, Brian Mercer notched an insurance goal al 1.: lti on passes from Barry Baynham and Ranch Kraut and with 11 seconds left. Jamie Caldwell sent a pass from Ken Varley into the opposing net. > C WarmWishes, Hers are wishes expressly for our many friends: the happiest of holidays and the best of everything/ Thanks for your patronage. Management and staff oh GOLDEN HARVEST FARM SEEDS 151 Thames Road East, Exeter Give Us a Coll at 235.0770 MAKE MERRY! Our Merry Christmas specials are something to celebrate. PARTS & ACCESSORIES ELDER ENTERPRISES SALES & SERVICE DIAL 262-6142 HENSALL - ONT. 1 MILE WF;ST AND 1 MiLE SOUTH OF HENSALL. ski -doff BUILT FOR THE LONG RUN SKI-DOO® SPORTSWEAR •