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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1995-05-10, Page 18Page 18 Times -Advocate, May 10, 1995 Jvirs This Week in Sports...._ • Ladies slo-pitch in action - page 19 • Grand Bend Fishing Derby opens - page 20 Mark Brintnell beats a Latino player to the ball during the Fury's 2-1 victory on Sunday. Fury win game opener EXETER - The Exeter Fury be- gan their season in the Western On- tario Soccer League with a 2-0 win over the Latinos from London Sun- day. The game was scoreless for the first half with the Latinos getting most of the opportunities. Exeter had trouble controlling the ball going against the wind in the first half. The score remained tied at zero until the midway point of the second half when Mark Brint- nell was left alone in front of the net to finish off a splendid goal - mouth pass from Tom Westerveld. The Fury played solid defense through the rest of the game and were backed up by the strong play- ing of netminder Jason Murray who earned a shutout. Murray was called -up from Exeter's under 19 team for this game. Exeter added to their lead late in the game when Jeff Lingard by- passed a Latino defender and fired a shot into the corner of the net sealing the victory for the Fury. The Exeter Fury see action next when they travel to Dorchester Sat- urday. Sports -Lite Cara Gardner; an for all occasions athlete By Chris Skalkos T -A Staff HENSALL - Cara Gardner loves sports. The only problem is, she can't get enough of it. Gardner has just hung up her skates after winning a silver medal in Regina with the Ontario Ringette team and she is already in the middle of tryouts for the Ontario Field Hockey team. And according to Gardner her chances of making Team Ontario are pretty good. "I love to play sports," says the self-proclaimed jock. "Especially team sports, I like working with other people, learning how to play together. In team sports you can't be selfish, everybody has a role." Later this month Gardner will make a stab at the Team Canada Ringette team that will be travelling to Sweden for international competition. Most of the players she will be skating with are adults who have played in the Nationals. "I'm going into it for the fun and experience of the tryout," says Gardner who will be on of the young- est players among the 16-30 age bracket players vy- ing for a position on the team. At only 16 years old, Gardner has had a prolific sports career. She started out playing hockey at the age of three and soon afterwards she was playing with the boys Peewee hockey teams before moving on to other sports. Gardner attends SHDHS and has been playing soccer and volleyball with the Panthers since she entered grade nine. Last year Gardner won the SHDHS junior athlete of the year award and the MVP award in soccer. She has also participated in all three of SHDHS's field hockey team champion- ships at O.F.F.S.A. In the summer, Gardner finds the time to play baseball, pitching for the select team in Hensall. But baseball is Gardner's "fun sport." Due to her extensive involvement with ringette over the last season, Gardner found her grades slip- ping a little, but she says she is going to change that without sacrificing any of her athletic involvements. "Next year I'm going to crack down but I'm not giving up any of them [sporting activities]," says Gardner who has made the honour role every year at SHDHS. Gardner credits her parents for supporting her through a fast -paced lifestyle and credits her older brothers for influencing her early in childhood. "I never liked to play dolls with my friends. I'd rather go out and play ball or road hockey with my brothers," she says. They made me tough, I always had to bcat them and I wouldn't let them push me around. I learned to be very competitive." With an impressive athletic and academic record like Gardner's, it's no wonder she has her eye on an athletic scholarship somewhere in the US. Ultimate- ly, Gardner would like to study medicine and be- come a chiropraL'tor. Gardner admits she doesn't have much time for leisure activities or just plain hanging out with her friends but she doesn't have any regrets with the way things have worked out. "What 1 want to do is play all the sports that I can. I have the rest of my life to socialize," she says. Demise of the Mohawks Hopes of Exeter getting a Senior "A" hockey club collapse By Chris Skalkos T -A staff It's over. The O.H.A. championship ban- ners hanging over the ice at the rec centre will be coming down, now the Exeter Mohawks cease to exist. Whatever hope was left for Exeter getting a senior "A" hockey club next season fizzled out at a third and final meeting held by club executives at the rec centre Thursday. The meeting was a last -ditched effort to save the club from going down after a poor turnout at last week's meeting left organizers praying for a miracle, a miracle that never came. "I don't think we should let this drag on. We've got to make a de- cision and as far as I can see I say it's done," said club president Stew Taylor to the thirteen peo- ple who attended the meeting. Ice -time and funding were the two main obstacles that kept the Mohawks from making a revival; however, prime ice -time was of- fered to the club by the Hensall are- na. Fund raising projects that kept the club afloat previously such as hockey programs and 50/50 draws could have been implemented. What was miss- ing were the com- mitments needed to execute these pro- jects. It was obvi- ous to the frustrat- ed members present there was not enough commitment from the players, the executives and the community in general to get the club back on its feet again. "Ever since we won the senior "A" championship, commitment on and off the ice went down," said past executive director John Pryde. "If there were to be some en- thusiasm or excitement about re- fueling this hockey team it has to "Senior "A" hockey is done in Exeter, we all know it, it's as simple as that." be now." When it came down to taking vote on giving up on the club Mike Soldan was reluctant to let the meeting come to a "no" vote. "I still think there's a handful of players that want to play. I don't think getting hockey players is a problem," he said. Bill Dickey, a long time sup- porter of the Mohawks stood up and left the table in frustration. "There's no point in even sit- ting here and talking about it. Senior "A" hockey is done in Ex- eter, we all know it, it's as simple as that. Let's say goodbye and forget about it," Dickey said. Taylor said he regrets to see the Mohawks die out but it would be better than to have brought back a losing team and create an unbearable deficit the following season. However, both Taylor and Pryde feel that the Mohawks will return again some day in the dis- tant future. Centennials lose in London LONDON - The Exeter Centen- nials soccer team lost 1-0 to the Falcons during Western Ontario Soccer League action in London Saturday night. The single Falcon goal was scored from a free kick outside the 18 yard box late in the game. The Falcons are a Portuguese • team playing out of London. They were one of the top three teams in the League last year and remain a difficult club to beat. Coach. Jeff Playfoot said that the Centennials had some great scoring opportunities, including a ball off the Falcon goal post, but couldn't get on the scoreboard. Mohawk legacy comes to end By Chris Skalkos T -A Staff EXETER - "Mohawks are On- tario's best" "Fan support tremendous as Mo- hawks win" These headlines appeared in the Times -Advocate only a few short years ago. It's easy then, to ap- preciate how difficult it was for long-time supporters, to put the Mohawks to rest. A handful of people in a half empty meeting room officially ter- minated the Exeter senior "A" Mo- hawks on Thursday putting an end to a long and successful hockey legacy. The demise of the Mohawks started when the club took a year off from the senior "A" circuit. The Mohawks were granted permission to take a year sabbatical from the Ontario Hockey Association citing a lack of commitment from players and club executives. Officials held a meeting in April to see if there was any interest in the community to revive the team for the 1995-96 season. Over 30 people showed up voicing their support; however, the subsequent two meetings were sparsely at- tended and any hopes of bringing back the Mohawks quietly van - "We've always had a problem scoring goals and it seems like it's happening again this year," said Playfoot. Playfoot, however, credits goalie George McEwan for a strong per- formance and said the whole team played a great defensive game. Javelin record broken by South Huron graduate EXETER - Randy Johnson, a graduate of Exeter's South Huron District High School has broken the all-time javelin throwing record at the Ohio Valley Conference in Cape Girardeau on April 22. He shattered the previous record by 40 feet throwing his javelin 67 metres and 64 centimeters (221 feet and I I inches). On April 28, Johnson came in fourth at the prestigious Drake Re- lays in Desmoines Iowa. Despite a groin injury he sustained earlier, Johnson threw for 63.06 m. Johnson is a freshman attending South East Missouri State Universi- ty on an athletic scholarship. 4 ished. It's hard to believe this is the same community that packed the Rec Centre to capacity to cheer on the Mohawks just five years ago. It's hard to believe this could hap- pen in a community where the sport of hockey is highly valued. It's hard to believe this could hap- pen to a hockey team with a win- ning track record like the Mo- hawks. Before the Mohawks disbanded, they had a very long and successful run in the O.H.A. winning the sen- ior "AA" championship twice, the senior "B" championship in 1988- 89, and winning the senior "A" championship in 1991-92. One of the most memorable high- lights of their career was in January 1989 when the Mohawks emerged as the only undefeated team, from an eight -team tournament among a massive throng of noisy fans. That victory launched the team into the Hardy Cup series against Smith Fails in 1990. Regardless of why the Mohawks failed to make a come back one thing is for certain. The Mohawks were a successful and entertaining hockey team and they will be great- ly missed in Exeter. Imperial opener Chris McDonald braces himself for a pitch during the Ex- eter Imperials season opener against Mitchell Thursday night. Despite a solid effort the Imperial batters couldn't get past the impeccable pitching by the Mitchell team los- ing 10-0. The Imperials next game at home is on May 11, 9:00 p.m. Got a sports lead? Call the Times -Advocate at 235-1331