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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-03-05, Page 4PAGE 4 —GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, WEDNESDAY. M.\Rai 5, 1986 A little bit of my childhood died when hall of fame goaltender passed away in Switzerland last week. Hockey fans over the age of 30 will remember Plante, 57, as the most adven- turous goaltender of his time and perhaps, the greatest goaler the game of shinny has produced over its turbulent history.. Perhaps not unlike teammate, Rocket Richard, Plante played, the game with a fer- vor and fiery passion that augmented his natural talent. He lived the game and brought science and thoughtful perspective to what was considered a crazy man's posi- tion. But he revolutionized the sport and the position more than any other goaltender in hockey history and willl long be remembered as an innovator and leader. Plante challenged the established methods of plying his craft and became the first wandering goaltender. Until he came DAVE SYKES along, goalies were simply supposed to stay within their crease and not become involved in the play in any way. Plante challenged that theory, he wandered, he scooped up, loose pucks, he chased errants shots and controlled the puck for his team. He was unconventional in his approach to the game ' at the time and slowly, his methods were adopted by every player who pretended be a goalie in the National Hockey League or any other pro league. He became a sixth man for the Montreal Canadiens and it -became increasingly evi- dent that his puck -handling ability helped, rather than hindered, the play of his team. He was known and revered as Jake the Snake and Jake the Wanderer but today a goaltender cannot make it in the big leagues unless he is a more than capable puck handler and is able to wander confidentl-y from his crease. While he was one of the stingiest net - minders ever to play the game, Palnte will be remembered more for bringing hockey and its obedient goalies out of the dark ages. T9 these pre 1960 days. goalies were ex- pected to stick their faces in front shots if that's what it took to prevent a goal. and if a goalie's face happened to be the final object between the puck and the goal, then so be it. The face was stitched and the goalie returned to his cage. No bakcups in those days. When a goalie took to the ice, he did so for 60 straight minutes. Plante had experiernented with a mask in practice for several years and one game, after a shot rearranged nose, he refused to go back in goal without his mask. Canadiens coach Toe Blake, looked upon Plante's mask with disdain and was of the opinion that it offered visual evidence of the man's fears and lack of bravery. It took a full 20 minutes before he coneded and allow- ed Plante to wear the mask the rest of the game. The rest is history and goalies soon follow- ed Plante's example and saved themselves many stitches, many scars and many more years of hockey. As a youngster I had the opportunity to watch Plante - play' in Kitchener as the Quebec Aces (he was demoted for a time) tackled the Flying Dutchmen in the old senior league which was as good as today's NHL. He wandered, he passed the puck and tended goal with impecable flair and preci- sion. I delighted in his wandering, adven- turous approach and the fact that he got two penalties, both behind the net. That kind of play was unheard of then. The masked Plante was something of a mystery and as we gathered in schoolyards and driveways for regular hockey matches, every goalie tried to emulate Plante, his style, his every movement. The masked man brought a new mystique to the game and the mask provided a false sense of bravado and a menacing visage to opposing shooters. Boyhood memories die hard, though, and when images of those famous road hockey surface, Plante will be among them. opinion THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT SINCE 1848 o `�e • 6EHT ALL POUND COMMUNITY N6WOPAPHR IN CANADA irc.Wuun Clo. 3500 45001CC N,A Bene.Newspaper Compauwn 1984 erYC11 � S T SI GNALA. P.O. BOX 220 NUCKINB BT. INDUSTRIAL PARK OCI r:a=eed!-'.a "arca= 0 cii PUBLISHED BY SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED Founded In 1848 gond published every Wednesday et Ooderleh, Ontario. Member of the CIGNA end ®CNA. Subscriptions payable In advance 622.00, ($enior Citizens 819.00 privilege card number required] In Caned°, 8190.00 to U.S.A., 660.00 to all other countries, Bingle °opine 80c. Ol.pley, National End Classified edvertIEIng rates cvolloblo on request.. lanet, eek for Rete Cord No. 18 affective October 1, 1988. Advertising Is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, the advertising specs occupied by the erroneous Item, together with the reasonable allowance for.Ign tune,n the will event not be oe charged for but that balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable typographical error advartieing geode or services et a wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Advertising le merely en offer to sell, end mew be withdrawn et any time. The Signal -Star is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photo. or other meterlels used for reproducing purports. General Manager SHIRLEY J. KELLER Editor DAVE SYKES Advertising Manager DON HUBICK FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES...pleaee phone [619]524-2814 ' Second class mail registration number 0716 Member:►CNA CCNA And we all dig deeper It may not have come as a corfiplete surprise but Canadians have been put on the firing line in Finance Minister Michael Wilson's declaration of war on the deficit. As is the case in all declarations of war, someone has to pay the price; people have to sacrifice and commit themselves to the end goal. While Wilson's economic measures will take a modest chip at the $30 billion plus deficit, the manner in which he went about attacking the deficit is disturbing. He claims that 70 per cent of future debt reduction will come from spending restraint but the federal budget of last week took a course of higher taxation rather than government spending restraint to reduce the deficit. And because Wilson chose to take that approach, the budget will not 'be above reproach. He has asked Canadians to pay more for gas and booze and cigarettes and he has asked Canadians to dig deeper into their pockets and be willing participants in the relentless battle against the country's deficit. Deficit reduction became the top priority for Wilson in this budget and he projects that his measures will reduce the national debt to $29.8 billion in the 1986-87 fiscal year. The public was warned that the budget would hurt but Canadians no doubt felt assured the government would be involved in the process and share the burden. • Canadians now face a three per cent income tax surcharge across the board effective July 1, businesseswill have to face a three -per cent tax and federal sales tax went up and sin taxes were again increased by about six per. cent. While middle income Canadians will pay more, low-income families will get refundable tax credits of up to $50 per adult and $25 per child to offset higher federal taxes. While the government's move to help lower income Canadians is commendable only one- third of the deficit reduction comes from reduced government spending. It can be argued that government spending can only be reduced now at the expense of thousands of jobs in the public sector and that,the government will have to generate deficit - reducing funds through taxation and the elimination of tax breaks. Operating costs for the government will have to be kept in line to reflect the government's intention to chip away at the deficit. With interest rates rising and the dollar falling, Wilson had to present a tough stance to the financial community and restore foreign interest in our economy. The world took a dim view of the proceedings and the dollar lost ground after the release of the -document. The in- terest rate did come down slightly after the budget, but its obvious that Wilson approach did 'not meet with a total favorable response. Arid it is unlikely that budgets of the future will leave the resources of Canadians untap- ped. Wilson was under pressure to reduce the deficit and thereby prop up the Canadian dollar and pull interest rates down to an acceptable level. If we are to pursue that, path of deficit cutting, then as Canadian taxpayers we have little choice but to dig deeper and pay.the price. It's going to hurt a little but it could pay off in the long run for all of us. D.S. Chretien will be missed Winter's last call photo by Sharon Dietz Reader wonders about job security Dear editor, This is a letter of deep concern regar- ding what's happening at Champion. I have a husband who worked there eight years of his prime, starting in his 30s. He is now 44. He worked hard and had an ex- cellent work record, however, because of lack of seniority, he was laid off, hired back etc. He was always near the top of he layoff list and some foremen tried to keep him on to no avail. We lost everything before he couid find a decent job and he lost pride and dignity. He found a decent job and travelled 50 LETTERS miles to work and had an excellent record there too. He. was hired back at Champion and thought he would chance it again but it didn't last long and he was laid off. My husband is still laid off and naturally expected to be hired back with the latest announcement but the company is hiring untrained men on a government program and paying them well but not hiring him because he doesn't fit into the program. I understand others are in the same situa- tion. Personally, my heart is sick when I see this happening to married men with families. If this letter helps get his job back, which he earned, then I'll believe the company, cares enough to • listen and accept its responsibility, towards its employees. I hope the company realizes how decisions hurt employees, families and futures. M,L.Presseau The calibre of play in broomball is improving Dear editor: We arewriting in response to the article which appeared in your paper December 18, 1985 about broomball. It has come to the attention of the Central West Broomball Association that a reply has never appeared in your paper about the let- ters leading us to believe that your paper is in agreement with what your columnist wrote. ' To give you and your readers some background on broomball it has been established in this area for over 25 years. When it was first played, household brooms were cut off and taped. The balls were made of rubber and unlike pucks were not frozen before being used. Running shoes were used with insoles or carpet glued to the bottoms for traction on the ice. No equipment was us- ed other than maybea pair of gloves. In 1976 the Feeration of Broomball Associations of Ontario was born. It was made up of seven regions in the province. in ial Champion - The Canadian political system has been home for Jean Chretien for over 23 years and. his absence from the House of Comrnons will be most noticable. He moved about the parliamentary system freely and with relative ease in those 23 years and the "`little guy" from Shawinigan was a politician who held the interests of all Cana- dians. He was a man who worked exclusively for Canada. While the political community is rife with speculation that Jean Chretien will resurface to lead the Liberals and perhaps become prime minister one day, he resigned last week for personal reasons. The 52 -year-old MP for Saint Maurice could not come to grips with the for- tunes of the Liberal party under John Turner. Chretien lost a bitter battle to Turner for the leadership last year, and while he rode within a few votes of the PM's office on sentiment, he was forced to take a back seat to his former Liberal cabinet colleague. He was a fiery but sincere politician who always carried the interests of this country with him. He spoke for the little guy of Canada and led by his example of hard work and dedica- tion over a notorious career. His manner of speech was endearing andhis sincerity genuine. He helped bring the con- stitution to Canada and he helped keep the country intact. Jean Chretien will be sadly missed by Canadian Ades if indeed, he is gone for good. D.S. This was the year that prov c ships first began. After one year Ontario graduated to sending their provincial Cham- pion (both Men's and Ladies') to the Na- tional Championships. The game of broomball has made great and a column such as appeared in your • steps in the area of numbers and also in the paper undoes whatever we are tryingto do. calibre of play. The Central West region in Shoulder pads are not worn except for the made up of 19 leagues in our area. Seaforth, goalie, the shoes are made especially for which is made up of thirteen men's teams, broomball and, if you notice, are also worn and eight women's teams is the biggest in the fall by Canadian Football Players on league in Ontario. The total number of frozen turf. All other equipment is basic to players in this region total . over 2,500. hockey. Our rule book is similar to hockey Teams in our region play in their leagues except the off -sides and icings are different. each year to win the right to play in the The penalties are all the same, but as ih Regional Championships in Palmerston, the most sports, sometimes are not all called by first two weekends in March. If. your paper the officials. would like to see how the game is played, we would be more than glad to have you attend We hope that this has given you a better these games. look on some of the aspects of our game. By We are the first to admit that there is the amount of talk this column has produced some violence in our sport. The suspensions in all leawilgues and an opportunitys,we hope yourr are much greaterrbin broomball than in this s rgame respectable as it is one of the up hockey. For verbal abuse to an official, most offenders receive anywhere from a and coming sports, Junior Leagues are month to : three months suspension. If a beginning to happen and for the first tine player is using his broom like a hatchet the this year will be represented at our Provin- suspension would be at least one year. cial Championships in Cornwall, Ontario at the Bantam level. Yours in Broomball Maurice Kaye, Pres. Central West Broomball Assoc. When a person writes a column to go into a paper which many people read, we feel he must have his facts straight. We are trying very hard to make our sport go forwards FA president deserves award of merit Dear Editor, Harry Pelissero, President of Ontario Federation of Agriculture and Albert Van Donkersgood Secretary -Manager of the Christian Farmers Federation should be awarded a medal of merit for their recent straightforward statements outlining the serious present financial plight of a great many farmers throughout the world. While the separate assertions expoundedded by both of these forward-looking ge should and are commended for their far- reaching suggestions in helping to alleviate the dilemma of survival for many present operators of one of Canada's earliest methods of forging out a suitable living stan- dard, it follows that the powers, be they financial, political, legal and many allied farm commodity groups, get their acts together, to rescue a most essential segment of Canada's 25 million peace -loving populace. Not being of the age of those directly af- fected].,I and many ether still have very vivid recollections, oval as well as written, of the rafrlifications that took place during ihe great man-made depression in the years 1929-1936 and which still stands out .as" recorded blotches on the integrity of -o'ur farebearers. Hopefully, if all currently involved with the serious financial plight of many 'of our true agriculturalists put forth suitable, ac- ceptable solutions and implement same a repeat performance of the belated, ill- conceived, Farmers Creditors Act as passed by the R.B. Bennett Federal Government of Canada, 1934, will clot become necessary. The financial chaos and the monetary scars which resulted from those drastic measures 50 years ago are still evident among the descendants of those directly in- volved. For posterities sake, pray God that the present guiding powers set about putting their actstogether so that financial stability may ain prevail among many of our beleagurered farm friends. Herb M. Kuntz, Formosa, Ont.