The Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-03-06, Page 9ti
tlY
Vikings ousted by Stratford
in tight battle 'for win
. :z
No shame in losing
e.
Two GDCI wrestlers defeated
at all -Ontario competitions
The GDCI Junior Vikings were eliminated from the Huron-
Perth- championship ..playoffs...by-Stratford_-on..-Thursday-_in a .
m • _, eloseasuddendeat-h-playoffgame_ , dAkpoderieb,Heare Jeff--
The 'GDCI junior and senior
boys' basketball teams ended
their „seasons last Thursday,
losing in league semi-final
playoffs to,Stratford Central.
The senior Vikings were
beaten by a close 48-45 score
while the junior Vikings fell by
wan identicalthree point margin,
53-50.
Coach Phil Bugler had
nothing but praise for his senior
Vikings, third place finishers in
' the regular schedule. They led
Central, 'who finished first in
league play, by as many as 10
points4during the first half and
by six in the early part of the
third quarter.
It was at that point that
Central began their victory
surge. Even at that the Vikings
were coming back _strong at the
end, but ran- out Of time.
Missing eight foul shots and
having three shots from the
;floor go in and out of the basket
in the fourth quarter kept the
Vikings from pulling it out.
Casey Wildgen with 14'points
and Pat Conlon with 12 led the
Viking scoring. Glen Tigert
with eight, Jim, "Jo -Jo" Watt,
with seven and Ron "Tag"'
Sowerby, with four points,
completed the GDCI scoring.
. •Jim.. ,._._ Comm e rford . .., le:d'.
Stratford with 18 points. Terry
McGovern Sdded eight. -
- Stratford Central will now
- meet Stratford' Northwestern,
winners of the other semi-final,
in a two game total point final
series. -
The junior semi-final, played
beforepacked bleachers in the
GDCI gym, was an exciting
game between two evenly
matched teams. The game was
tied at .50-50 —with' the ten
seconds 'to go. At that point
Central's Steve Leeming was
fouled and he. sunk both shots to
put Stratford up by two points.
They added another last second
foul shot to win by three.
The ' junior Vikings, who
finished first with an un-
defeated record in league play,
trailed by 10' points at the end of
° the first half, but battled from
behind to set up the dramatic
finish.
The junior Vikings displayed
.a great deal of pride and poise,
in the .game, but lost it at the
foul, line, where they were
unable to capitalize . on Strat-
ford errors.
The absence of Greg "Stork"
Beacom from the Viking lineup
because of a hand injury was
certainly an equalizing factor
for the Stratford , team, who
finished third in the regular
schedule.
Jeff Baechler led the junior
, Vikings with 15 points while Bill
Gauley added 12. Tim Barz
with eight, Tim, "Red".McLean
with seven, .and ,Iain Lambert
with six points rounded out the
...Viking attack._
Dirk Newberry with 22 points
and John. Tekker with 15 led
Stratford.
Coach. Lynn Meyers gx-.
pressed great satisfaction with
the team . work and . effort put
,forth by his junior- over the
entire season.
Senior coach Phil Bugler paid
Baechler goes high for a jump ball as his teammates prepare to
. take..possession.-(.staff-photo:).
tribute to the eight graduating
members. - of, his club;
describing them as some of the
finest players to play for GDCI
in recent years. '
Casey .Wildgen; described as
the teams silent leader, was the
teams' top rebounder and 'as
coach Bugler said, "always
there when you needed him.
Jim "Jo -Jo" Watt was the
good shooter who made the
offense go, and always showed
hustle.
Pat, Conlon,an excellent
basketball player, was the
teams Most potent offensive
threat as a shooter and passer.
Pat is an outstanding team.
player who never quit trying.
Glen . Tigert was the most
improved player on the squad.
He .,represented a fast break
threat and played a,° tough
defence.
Ron "Tag” Sowerby showed
excellent rebounding skill and
quick hands on defence and
always contributed to the team
effort. •
Mike Wildgen was the team's
sparkplug, a tough rebounder
who could throw the hardest
pass in the league.
Mike"Donnelly was a senior
"rookie" who worked hard for
the Vikings this year.
Tom O'Brien, finishing' his
.career as. 'an outstanding
Viking athlete helped, adddepth
to° the Viking squad. As coadti,
Bugler said, "Every team,
needs an O'Brien".
The two"ot-her Viking'seniors,
Jed De Jong and Susil "Zeke"
Weerasooriya will be returning
next year,
Juveniles defeated Saturday
Lose 4-2 to Orangeville
after Friday's victory
BY. DAVE SYKES
Orangeville scored two
unanswered goals ,in the third
period to edge -the Goderich
Signal -Star Juveniles 4-2 in the
third and deciding game of the
O.M.H,A. . playoffs'' in
GDCIDJunior Vildng Steve Chase drives for the basket with Jeff-Baechler in a desperate move
to close a ten pbint gap between his team and Stratford in Thursday's sudden death Huron -
Perth playoff game. The Juniors lost the match by three points and are eliminated from the
championship. (staff -photo)
Orangeville. Saturday night.
Friday night the 'Juveniles
forced a third and deciding
game with an 8-5 victory.
Friday night by an act of God
and the skin of their teeth both
teams emerged ,relatively
unsctithed from the bat-
tleground save the many
bumps,; bruises, cuts and
stitching synonymous with
back alleys tactics.
The contrast between the last
two games was simply
ludicrous. Friday's. chippy,
retaliatory antics resulted in
,over, 130 penalty minutes which
were'compli.men'ted by several
match penalties. Saturday, in
Orangeville only 13 ''minor
• penalties and one misconduct
were. assessed which is still
ample enough to call it 1 good
contact game. by hockey
standards,
But then hockey standards
seemed ' to have changed
recently. A Fred ;Shero brand
wand philosophy of hockey seen
to have seeped into the minor
ranks. Winning at all costs has
reduced the sport to survival of
the fittest or toughest. Hockey
is one of the fastest sports and
a's long as the players move at
"high speeds fans can expect a
certain amount of instant
retaliation. To look for it is an
animal of a different breed.
Ron Sowerby scored four
goals Friday night to lead1tlie
juveniles to an 8-5 victory over
Orangeville. Goderich with
their backs to the, wall ,scored
three quick goals in the first
five minutes of play.
Orangeville wasn't about to be
counted out and added three of
their own to even the score
early in the second period. .
Goderich outscored
Orangeville 5-2 in the third
period with hath teams playing
four asicfe for the better part of
• (Continued on page •IA )
eliminated in .the first round.
Donnelly missed a sho4 at the
consolation series because his
opponent in the first round
failed to reach the semi-final,
The tournanint Saturday
was run under NCAA rules
which state that fora 'losing
wrestler to fight in the con-
solation round the man who
beats him must advance to the
semi -filial, t)onnelly's first
opponent Jost tothe wrestler
that eventually won the class.
George Sheardown competed
in the unlimited weight class
and finished seventh after five
fights. Sheardown lost to the
defending tournament
champion Pat Daley who went
on to win this year's ' com-
petition.
1 Donnelly Wrestling coach Ray Don-
nelly could not criticize his two
Two wrestlers from GDCI,
George Sheardown and Larry
Donnelly, did not come home _
from. London . with;, -„.-an, All -
Ontario championshili 15ut'tl ey-
convinced other wrest e.rs Froin
_large centres in the province
that Goderich was not to be
taken lightly on the mats.
Larry Donnelly fought in the.
141 pound class in his last.high
school competition and was
fighters' efforts in the province
wide competition. He said that
as far as he was concerned
there. is -no shame in losing at
that level agginst th_e ke:she
,(n t
-province. -- ... .
"Just the fact that the boys
got there is a credit to their
a'bility," he said. "
To fight in the provincia
finals the wrestlers had to
place
first or second in' their
regionals. Across Ontario there.
are 17 regions including the
province's large centres such
as Londop, Toronto and.
Hamilton. The Goderich
fighters defeated opponents
from .,,the cities in their con-
ference, London and Sarnia, to
win a berth in the final.
Ray Donnelly explained that
fighters from these centres
have an advantage over those
from rural areas. He said that
wrestlers from large centres
have a greater opportunity to
fight against people from their
own level as well as those
better. He' said that in
university cities the com-
batants work out with
university teams several nights
a week when they are in serious
training and can even work out
with organized wrestling, clubs.
"When you wrestle guys that
have fought in a lot of good,
tough 'bouts-" against more ex-
�---p,erienced wt stle're at a
disadvantage from experience
alone," said the coach.
Despite the drawback of
competing in a rural zone
Donnelly is confident that his
George Sheardown
fighters, will be competing in'
the provincials in the future. He
isr losing some good men as a
result of graduation but is more
than pleased with some•of his
li'ght'er pfayees
"When we compete in' big"
tournaments other coaches are
always amazed that we do so
well and that we're so tough,"
he said. "My fighters will .be
around -for awhile." -
Goderich Signal -Stars goaltender Pete Duckworth makes a key
glove save in Friday nights game against Orangeville. The
juveniles won
in Orangeville
the'game 8-5 but lost the third and deciding game
Saturday 4-2.
A R
Ron S,ou'erby of the Signal -Stars skated in unmolested on the Orangeville goaltender in the third period and scored one of his
four goals in Friday nights game in the Goderich Arena. °
.v.
3
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