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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-11-2, Page 18Page 18 Times -Advocate, November 2, 1994 This Week in Sports... • Minor hockey round -up - page 19 • Hawks still winning- page 21 Sidelines Biggest career decision By Fred Groves The future is now for Jeff MacLean. Playing Junior 'B' hockey at age 15 means you have to ma- ture in a heck of a hurry, es- pecially when you keep the kind of schedule this Exeter Minor Hockey Association product is keeping. On Tuesday he's at the rink for a 10 p.m. practice, Thursday it's a little earlier for the workout as he starts at 8:30 p.m. and then there is usually a game either Friday or Saturday and home games for the Rockets arc Sun- day nights. "Things are going good hut the record is not so good. The team is improving," said MacL- ean of the Rockets who had just one win in their first 14 starts. Whenever he played in Exeter, c.hether it be for the Peewee Le- gions or the Bantam Le- gionnaires, MacLean scored a bunch of goals from his forward position. However, part of the maturing process means you can adapt to certain situations and, when asked to, play other positions. Switching from forward in mi- nor hockey to defence in junior is very, very difficult. "I played novice and first year atom on defence. This summer I played defence," he said of his few months of summer hockey which certainly helped his game and got a long look from the Rockets. "At the time when I moved back, the defence was hurting and at first I was a little hes- itant." He's put on some weight and learned to move the puck with confidence, that's what you have to do when guys twice your size are lunging themselves at you to get the puck. The Rockets have been strug- gling for a few years now, usual- ly down in the lower part of the Western Junior 'B' league but one thing they do is encourage young players to have a shot at their dream. Strathroy, and all other junior clubs can sign a maximum of four players I 6 -and -under. The Rockets have used all those cards and even make sure there are other youngsters in the line- up. "With our team, we have four Junior 'B' cards and two that are on Strathroy midget cards," said MacLean. From bantam to Junior's', what's next for him? Next year is MacLean's On- tario Hockey League draft year but he can be selected this June if he goes in the first three rounds. "I don't know if that's (OHL) the route I'II take. Pat Stapleton (Director of Hockey Operations) has said there are a few teams that are looking at me." Being able to switch to de- fence may be a very big plus for this young man and probably the biggest career decision he will have to make in the next couple of years. OFSAA bound again Moments after they beat Medway 2-0 on Saturday to win their eighth straight WOSSA championship, the South Huron Panthers were celebrating. Eighth WOSSA crown started with big wakeup call By Fred Groves T -A staff EXETER - Panthers - how do we feel? Qh, we feel s00000 good! That was the battle cry of South Huron District High School's girls' field hockey team Saturday after- noon as they won the Western On- tario Secondary School Association titleand gained a berth in the pro- vincial tournament in Kingston this weekend. South Huron, in quest for its third straight Ontario title, beat Arva Medway 2-0 in Saturday's final af- ter easily getting by Central Elgin 7-0 in the semi-finals early in the day. The six -team, two pool tourna- ntertt.saw..the Panthers' Cara.Gard- ner score with 10 seconds left to salvage a 1-1 tie with Medway in preliminary action. The hosts also blasted Ingersoll 9-0. While every goal was a big one, Gardner's yljaner;in. the opener was the biggest as the Panthers seemed a little nervous. - "We were more nervous in the first game," said Kim Farquhar who scored what proved to be the Three straight titles? - its never been done By Fred Groves T -A staff EXETER - If you are an outsider looking into the world of the South Huron District High School girls' field hockey team, this is what you see - the best team going to the pro- vincial finals again. But it is a little more complicated than that. Just because you have a solid program and an outstanding coach doesn't mean everything is guaranteed. Throughout the season, coach Jim Workman has built his exhibi- tion schedule to make sure his team gets good quality competition, something that unfortunately for the Panthers, is lacking in the Hu- ron -Perth Conference. Thursday morning at 9 a.m. in Kingston, thc Panthers, looking to become the first team to win three. straight OFSAA crowns, will have a big challenge on their hands. "I think our chances should be pretty good. We should be ranked first or second, I'm still nervous," said the team's top scorer Danielle Miners. She, along with Cara Gardner and Brenyn Baynham are the lead- ers of this year's team but there are several other veterans who have stepped up their game and Work- man is very pleased with them. Workman seems to have a mag- ical touch when it comes to build- ing the top team year -after -year. Last year's champions lost Lynn Workman, Lisa Forrest, Carla Tay- lor, Carrie Simpson and Kristin Strang and all of those but Work- man were in a defensive role. "We concentrate on our offence," said Kim Farquhar who scored sev- eral goals during this past week- end's WOSSA tournament held in Exeter. "We lost a lot of good de- fensive players." If the defensive portion of their game is a weakness, it certainly isn't showing up in the statistics. South Huron's march 'to this year's OFSAA tournament started last Tuesday by winning their 13th straight Huron -Perth Conference championship. They had a 12-0 regular season record, beat Stratford Central in the semi-finals and then Mitchell in the final. Through those 14 games, the Panthers, backed by the goal- • tending of Jana Webster, did not al- low a goal. In five tournaments, most of them with shorter games due to time limitations, they had 22 wins, one loss and four ties. That stacks up for an overall record of 36-1-4. The Panthers scored 121 goals and only allowed 5, that's not a mis- print. Who will it be?: Who will be the team to take on the Panthers is the biggest question up in Kingston this week. South Huron opens on Thursday against Kingston Syndenham at 9 a.m. followed by Parry Sound at 10:30 a.m. and then King City at 10:30 a.m. on Friday. The top two teams from each pool advance to the quarter -finals at 2:15 p.m. on Friday and the sem- is arc set for 9 a.m. on Saturday. The only loss this year came at the hands of the Lorne Park Spar- tans, a 2-1 defeat at thc Scar- borough Tournament. A year ago at OFSAA, it was the Panthers win- ning I-0. While the Panthers have been gearing up for a showdown with the Spartans, it's one game at a time at OFSAA and as Workman and the girls well know, anything can • happen at the big tournament. Hopefully when they return home to Exeter, residents will hear the traditional fire truck siren cel- ebrating a provincial championship. winning goal against Medway in the final. "Today (Saturday) we got all worked up, we were pumped up." "They (South Huron) were- flat and as the game went on they be- came more nervous because they weren't scoring." said Panthers' coach Jim Workman. • In the final, Farquhar scored with about three minutes left in the first half and then,.very early in the sec- ond, Danielle Miners added the in- surance marker. Medway's top player Megan Bra- dy was given a yellow card late in the game. The referee had warned both her and Farquhar for overly aggressive play early in the game but Brady got a little out of hanc and was sent to the sidelines. "I was getting pushy, I wanted to get in front of her," said Farquhar. Brady was sent to the end of thk field to cool off but proceeded to head to her bench where the referee ejected her for thc rest of the game forcing Medway to play short- handed. "These arc top of the line of- ficials and they know what they should be calling," said Workman. Big wins: After the wake up call they received from Mcdway in the first game, the Panthers' offensive machine kicked into high gear as they blasted Ingersoll 9-0. Continued on page 20 Needham new Nationals coach The former Lucan Irish coach is now with London's Junior 'B' club LONIX)N - Ildcrton's Ken Needham received some very pleasing news last week, he is the new head coach of the London Nationals of the Western Junior 'B' Hockey League. Needham, the team's director of scouting, replaces Dick I loward who lcd the team to a 6-6 record, fourth in the east division. The announcement was made to the players 'I hursday night by Nationals' owner Kcnt Phibbs. Assistant coach Shawn Phibbs was retained while assist- ant Scott Montgomery was not. "I didn't get into it a lot with the owner," said Needham nnl why I toward was let go. "When he spoke to thc team he said he was unhappy with the way things were." "You never like to sec someone fired and take advantage of the situation," he added. "Ilie move reunites Needham and general manager Ken Freeman who were together the past five years with the Lu - can Irish of the OHA Junior Development League where they won four division titles in five years. 1.ucan has been a bit of a feeder team for the Nationals the past few years and the London club currently has three ,former Irish on it's roster in forwards Jason Wilson, Jason Reidhcad and Mike Reid. Although there is a big difference in the calibre of hockey between 'D' and '13', Needham doesn't expect to change his thinking that much when he steps behind the bench. In Aylmer on Saturday night against the host Aces, Needham lost his debut 6-5. "I don't think coaching will be that different. 1 won't changc my philosophy or my style. One difference is that wherever you go, someone is always talking about trades and I'm not used to that." When he was with the Irish, Needham had as many as a dozen bosses in the Lucan Irish executive, now he has one with Phibbs. "I believe 1 can talk to him and 1 won't run into the prob- lems 1 had in Lucan." Five years of Junior 'D' and now Junior 'B' , docs Need- ham have hopes of going on further with his coaching ca- reer? "Everyone who coaches has aspirations of going as high as they can." Ken Needham - takes over i A 1