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Times Advocate, 1995-09-20, Page 14Page 14 Times -Advocate, September 20, 1995 This Week in Sports... • Centennials eliminated - page 15 • Minor soccer banquet ends season - page 16 Junior "D" Hawks soar into new season The Exeter Hawks finished third in the league last year with a 22-15-3 record. Their first regular season game is against Burford on October 6. Lucan Irish, young team with more experience Irish coaches looking for better start to the new season • - LUCAN - After a lopsided sea- son last year. Scott Bogart and Mark Bannon, co -coaches of The Lucan Irish, will be looking for- ward to somc stability. The Irish got off to a 'rocky start last year losing their first 11 games before going on a 13 game winning streak near the end of the regular season and into the playoffs. They finished in fourth place with a 21- 18-I record. Over 65 showed up for thc first day of training camp and among them were 13 returning players. Missing from this year's lineup. however, is Greg DePrest who is past his eligibility age to play jun- iorhockey. During his six years with the Irish, DePrest has consistently been their star player and was the league's top scorer last season earn- ing 78 points in 31 games. With DePrest gone Bogart admits he will have a tough time replacing him. "Other than DePrest we were pretty thin offensively. Some guys had 30 points but most averaged around 20. Now that he's gone we're going to have to spread out our talent. We can't key in on just one player," he said. Last year, thc Irish used de- fensive -oriented- style of play that Bogart would like to sec again this year. "A defensive team isn't always fun to watch but it's a proven win- ner. it's hard to teach a team of- fense, tither you have it or you don't." This year will only be Bogart's second season coaching the Irish and with over half of the players re- turning to camp, Bogart feels he has a good pool of talent to pick hockey players from. "I was new to the team last year hut I really got to know the guys. Choosing players is easy when you have so many returnees. It's just a matter of filling the holes," Bogart said. Six of their top seven goal scorers return to training camp EXETER - With three of last sea- son's top scorers returning to the line-up, Dave Revington, coach and general manager of the Exeter Junior "D" Hawks should have no trouble building a winning team this year. Shayne Robinson, the team's leading point getter with 67 points in 29 games was skating with the Hawks during their first day of training camp, as was Chris Ken- nedy with 60 points and Sean McCann with 59 points. All together six of the Hawk's top seven scorers returned to camp to join the other 45 hopefuls trying out for a position on the team. The Hawks were the second high- est scoring team in the league last year and finished third overall with a 22-15-3 record. With so much raw talent on last years roster, it was inevitable the Hawks would clinch a playoff spot. They did, winning live of their last With their first regular season gantc only 10 days away. Bogart has set some firm objectives for himself and thc team. "I definitely would like to have a Netter start, cut our goals against down and finish in the top three," he said. "I think we can do it. We are still a young team but this year we're more experienced." Over the summer, the Irish lost two of their coaching staff. Assist- ant coach Jeff Dalrymple and train- er Jon Passmore resigned and joined•up.with thc Exeter Hawks. Despite the move, Bogart doesn't expect it to tame down the rivalry these two teams have enjoyed in the past. "It doesn't [natter who's on the bench or who's on the ice. The ri- valry between these two towns has always been intense," said Bogart. "We always get fired up for Exet- er." six regular season games before heading into the playoffs. They swept Belmont four straight in the first round before losing a heart- breaker to Lambeth in the seventh and final game in the next round. Despite his team's obvious pros- pects, Revington said he's in no hurry to make final decisions. "1 don't have preconceived no- tions when I pick personnel. We look at skill level, age and per- sonality all these things are im- portant when selecting a balanced team," he said. Balance and stability are char- acteristics the Hawks needed to work on last year. "Throughout the first part of the season we were inconsistent. We would play well one night and poorly the following game," ex- plained Revington. This year, Revington and the rest of his coaching staff will work hard to remedy that. "Ideally, our main objective is to improve month by month so by the time the playoffs come up, we're playing as well as we possibly can." Two exhibition games against Mitchell over the weekend will give the Hawk coaching staff a better idea as to who will get the final nod before the regular season starts. The 5-4 win in Mitchell on Friday and the 1-1 tie at home in the Hensall arena meant nothing to the record books, however, it gave Revington a closer look at how his potential players perform in a game -like situation. "During Exhibition games we tend to key in more on individuals and try to narrow it down and de- cide who makes the team," he said. "It was a little scrambly but that's what you expect this time of year. We were all impressed by what we've seen so far." Motowinners The Exeter and Area Motocross Club participated in the two-day Maple Leaf Motocross Series Race held in Aubum on the first weekend of September. From left, Paul Chapman 29, placed first in the 125cc class and first and third in the 250cc class. Harley Davis 9, placed first both days in the 60cc class and third and fifth in the 80cc class. Andrew Hein 18, came in second and fifth in the 125cc class. And Shane VanRompaey 12 placed sixth in the 80cc class. Missing is Al Brand and Tom Bitz. The racer s won 13 tro- phies between them making the event the club's best show in its two year history. Swiss tug-of-war rep goes home Brenda Burke T -A staff The Bluewater Tug of War Club said goodbye this week to its visiting representative, Markus Sax. Thirty-one-year-old Sax returned home to Switzerland after spending part of the summer with the team. Sax, who admitted learning the English language was his main reason for coming to Canada, said he also came to help the team adapt to inter- national tug-of-war regulations. "Tug of war is a fair sport but here in Canada it isn't," said Sax. re- ferring to the fact that rules of tug-of-war in Canada vary from inter- national rules. For example, Sax feels Canadian tug-of-war lacks an ac- knowledgment of misdemeanors which include hand -over -hand feeding of the rope and a release and pull method. According to Sax, who was a member for 15 years on the Waltenschwil-Kallern team in Switzerland, which consisted of members from a number of towns, Canadian tug teams also start their pulls differently. "They don't have a marker on the ground. It's a floating start," said Sax. "That's okay in the Canadian rules but it isn't okay in the inter- national rules." One thing Sax taught the team was how to adjust to weight classes. International tug-of-war rules stipulate that the entire team's weight not exceed certain weight classes of 560 kg, 640 kg, 680 kg and 720 kg. in Ontario tug-of-war, there are only two weight classes, the 720 kg class and a class which docs not limit weight. Besides weight classes, Sax considers teamwork an important aspect of tug-of-war. "The teams from Canada, theyneed more discipline. They need more communication together on tete rope...The best thing is that you have to work together. Nobody's a star. it's just a team. The team is the star," he said. Sax has also helped the team intensify its twice -a - week work outs. As part of its new routine, the team now runs 20 to 25 minutes to warns up as opposed to its past 10 to 15 minute sprint. "That's an important thing to relax the body and warm up the body," said Sax. "Tug of war is not just muscles." in August Sax accompanied the Bluewater club to a festival with international competitions in Milwatkee. The group came in as the top Canadian team. placing second in the 680 kg class and placing fourth in the 720 kg class. Eight or ninc teams pulled in each cat- egory. "1 could see it was the first time with this team to pull with the right rules. I could see we could use more practice and more training," said Sax who added that out of 25 countries competing in tug-of-war, Canada maintains the largest variation of tug-of-war rules. Now that the Canadian tug-of-war season is ending, Sax left for Switzerland to take up his previous posi- tion as technical commision of tug-of-war. He'll also crave) to Spain to act as representative for the European championships. When Sax began as a puller at 16, junior teams, com- prised of 15 to 18-year-olds, didn't exist. it wasn't un- til 1987 that junior pullers could compete nationally. He admitted it's difficult to recruit new junior pullers because they are so busy with other interests. The Bluewater Tug of War Club, which began three years ago, now has 16 Members. The team became aquainted with Sax at the Cambridge Highland Games in July. "it was our first encounter with international rules on foreign ground," said team coach, Erich Freiter. Freiter said the team is considering competing in Holland's world championships next year and also has its sights set on the 1998 Wisconsin in- ternational World Championships. "It's a realistic goal...We will practise for in- ternational competitions," said Freiter who add- ed the team likes to set a new goal each year. Last year the team goal included placing in the top of the bottom third of competitors. This year they wanted to place half way. "That's exactly where we are - fifth place out of ten teams," said Freiter. The team also sees friendships with tug-of- war teams from Wisconsin as an opportunity to learn. Next year an exhibition competition including teams from the. United States and Switzerland, will be held in Zurich during Hay Days at the end of June. "These guys here," said Sax, referring to Blue - water club members, "they play now with the right international rules. They do it now and they will do it in Zurich too...if (Canadian pull- ers) can do the right things, the sport here in Canada will have a future."