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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1995-01-25, Page 211 itttr> .1;1c o(itte, l,U7tuti:/ 2.), 199.j 1't 1') This Week in Sports... • Junior 'D' hockey page 20 • Minor hockey roundup - page 21 Exeter to host provincial bonspiels in 1997 The local club will be the site of the Master and Colts Ontario finals EXETER - The Exeter Curling Club put itself on the curling map in a big way over the weekend. John DeBlock of the local club, announced that Exeter will be the site of both the 1997 Masters and Colts (Junior) provincial final bonspiels. "We bid on it about four years ago and got it. Now we're starting to crank up for it," said De - Block. There will be eight teams in the Masters, 60 -and - over; and eight teams in the colts division which is 19 -and -over. All teams have to qualify through the zone and re- gional structure before coming to Exeter March 26- 29, 1997. While it may be a couple of years away, it is the biggest curling event which the local club has host- ed and orf which will take a good solid group of in- dividuals to make it run smoothly. One thing the club won't have to worry too much about is preparing their facility. In the past four years nearly $100,000 has been spent on everything from insulating the ice, regrinding the rocks, new lighting and a new paint job. Over $44,000 alone went into work under the ice. "We realize•we have some events coming up and have to spend some money," said DeBlock. OCA event: Exeter is a member of the Ontario Curling Association and belong to Zone 15 of which there are 13_&bs. DeBlock explained there are 16 sanctioned OCA events during the curling season, each with zone and regional playdowns. On Saturday, Exeter hosted the OCA's Zone 15 Governor General's event and there were two teams from both Exeter and Vanastra competing. "While a lot of OCA events are double knockout, this is single because there are so many teams," said DeBlock. Winning on Saturday was the Vanastra rink skipped by Brad Falconer who forced Albert Van- Dyken's rink to the final end. It was tied 15-15 after nine ends before Falconer and his rink were able to plug up the house quite nicely and managed to score three. Falconer's rink will now return to their own club to play in the regionals on February 4 and the fol- lowing day the Governor Generals finals will be held in Brampton. Right from the start of an event, from the first step of the zones, it is all very good curling. Exeter's Deneen Sebastian releases the rock during weekend action at the Exeter Curling Club. Preparing to sweep are Bill Brock and Didi VanDyken. "These are all competitive all the way through," said DeBlock. "The quality of curling is good." VanDyken's rink included Didi VanDyken, De- neen Sebastian and Bill Brock while the Exeter - rink, skipped by John Smits, included Mary Lou Thompson, John Mousseau and Barb Smits. Locals compete for Huron Hurricanes The county's competitive swim team has two categories and go from September to July By Fred Groves T -A staff VANASTRA - The sounds of splashing water and laughter are usually what you hear in the sum- mer months, not on a chilly January morning. In Vanastra, at the only indoor pool in Huron County where com- petitive swimming meets can be held, the Huron Hurricanes raced against themselves, the clock and their January 15 opponent, the Woodstock Piranhas. There are 40 Huron County swimmers on the team that was es- tablished four years ago, among them are five from the southern county comrfiunities of Exeter, Dashwood and Hensall. Exeter's Tim Hundey and Greg Roy along with Candace Becker and Aaron Datars from Dashwood and Julie Campbell from Hensall are all members of the Hurricanes. On this particular Sunday, Hun- dey competed in the Individual Medley which is the backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke and the front crawl all combined. He also does other strokes as well. "I'm in everything and sometimes the relay," said Hundey who com- petes in the boys 13-14 age divi- sion. When asked why he doesn't just concentrate on one particular stroke, Hundey said, "I think it would be more fun to be good in all of them." He is a veteran member of the team -Ng this is his third year. For Datars and Campbell, it is their first year and they, along with the others from this part of the county, seem to be doing quite well. "We have different levels in our club. There is a novice group and an intermediate group," explained coach Matt Pearson. '"They swim anywhere from three hours to nine - and -a -half hours a week. Some of the kids are here five days a week." Developmental league: Right now the Hurricanes are in what is called a developmental swimming league which also includes Wood- stock, Stratford, Burlington, Brant- ford, Niagara Falls, New Hamburg and Kitchener -Waterloo. The Hurricanes have 40 swim- mers which come from Clinton, Wingham, Goderich and the Exeter area. They range in age from 7 to 17. For those long practices and early Sunday morning meets, it's a lot,�f wear and tear on the family se"It's a commitment on everyone's part," said Pearson. Most of our kids swim on summer teams in their own community and that helps promote our team." Exeter, Clinton and Goderich all have summer competitive swim - "They swim anywhere from three to nine -and - a -ha f hours per week. Some of these kids are here five days a week." ming teams but the interest is not as good as it is for the Hurricanes. In the summer, pools are plentiful and it also doubles as a way to cool off. Not everyone is keen on working b41 in the pool in the hot weather. n'he kids that are here (Vanastra) want to swim, it's not because their parents just want to send them to the pool for the afternoon," said head coach Rob MacLellan. MacLellan pointed out that the Hurricanes is not just a program which runs for a couple of months and stops when the warm weather returns. "We start swimming in Sep- tember. One group is done in May and the other goes right through to the end of July. There are two dif- ferent categories," he explained. "There is one that swims com- petitive all over Ontario and the Aqua Seven is the developmental league." When the Hurricanes began four years ago, there was seven swim- mers on the team, that grew to 24 in the sophomore season and now, there are 40. The Hurricanes next meet is Feb- ruary 5 when they travel to Kitch- ener and their next meet at the Va- nastra pool is April 9 against Brantford. The following are results of Da - tars. Hundey and Becker who com- peted at the January 15 meet against Woodstock Datars, (9-10 boys): Sth, 50m freestyle; tad, 50m backstroke; 3rd, 50m breaststroke. Hundey, (13-14 boys): 8th, iOOm freestyle; 8th, 100m backstroke; 8th, 100m breaststroke, 8th, 50m butterfly. Becker, (9-10 girl la 5tl►, 100m fiestyle; 6th, 10(M batkstroke; 10th, 100m breaststroke; 6th, 50m butterfly. Campbell, (11-12 girls): 12th, 100m freestyle; 11th, 100m back- stroke; 9th, IOOm breaststroke; 1 lth, 50m butterfly. Julie Campbell does the backstroke in a recent swim meet NHL is back, but keep on supporting those local players 1 l felines 1 ; I'I I (; rr r i'e%; Just because the big boys of the National Hockey League have settled their differences and are back on the ice with their re- duced 48 -game schedule, dont abandon the locals. Why there are no statistics to prove whether or pot the local minor and junior 'D' hockey teams have gained at the gate, there also isn't any data to show that they haven't. It costs a lot of bucks to head to Toronto or Detroit to watch the NHL'ers while you can go to the local pond, sit a lot closer and pay not as much. I. was down at the OHA Junior Development League All-Star game in Lucan on Saturday and it was very interesting to see just how much this league has picked up as far as enthusiasm is concerned, Sure there was a bar and each team sent their own cheering session to give encouragement to their representatives, but their was an air that this league is beginning to pick up more fan sup port. Since the league changed its image a few years ago, adding the word Developmental, the growing pains seem to be over. League officials are a little more organized and for the most part, coaches and GM's are pleased. Here's a name from the past for sports fans - Dave Rook. A former goalie with the Exeter Hawks, oh I'd say going back about 10 years ago so I'm told. is now playing professional for the Paisley Pirates of the First Division League in England. I came across a copy of a newspaper article from England about Rook and coach Martin Shields says discovering Rook was the find of the season as he is really helping the Pirates win a few games. Rook was born in Britian but grew up and played his junior hockey around Exeter. It was only when he came to Scotland to complete a college course that he got back into hockey se- riously. Don't think raisley isn't known by Canadian hockey fans as the Pirates recently beat the University of McGill Red - men from Montreal 8-4. The biggest skating event ever come to Exeter, and I'm told with the number of participants it could be the biggest sporting event ever to hit town, begins Friday at 10 am. At the South Huron Recreation Centre over 570 skaters from Huron, Oxford, Middlesex and Elgin will compete in rec reational and competitive levels. I remember a year ago driving over to Ingersoll for last year's H.O.M.E. competition with Katherine Ens, then president of the Exeter Figure Skating Club. We couldn't believe how many peo- ple were there and how big of an event it really is. All those involved with this year's event should be con- gratulated for taking on such a huge undertaking and bringing skating recognition to Exeter. To chairman Jane MacLean and all her group, good luck I hope you are still smiling come Sun- day night. From the sidelines: On the subject of good luck, here's wish- ing all the best to Exeter's Brenyn Baynahm who heads to the Canadian Junior Indoor Field Hockey Champ • hips in Van- couver this weekend. This past weekend the Ontario team, of which she is a member of,won a tournament at York University and beat a Toronto team which included Exeter native Lee O'Rourke...Congratulations this week goes to the Lucan Juve- nile Ice Gems who took the silver medal at the precision skating competition in Burlington...Last week it was goalie John Miners of the bantam AE hockey team turnipg in more shutouts, this week its Marty. Glavin of the Nabisco Atoms who closed the door against both Hensel! and Forest...Special thanks to Ross Haugh for all tis work in preparing this week's special feature for the H.O.M.E. competition..., Fond farewell to Exeter's George Shaw who recently passed away. He played a lot of hockey including some pro in Montreal...