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Times-Advocate, 1979-04-25, Page 17Sports Spotlight * \\ By ROSS HAUGH i Winning goal disputed Times-Advocqte, April £5, 1979 Page 17 Bantams defeated in OMHA final It's over The hockey is officially over as far as all local teams are concerned. The season ended on two fronts over the weekend and with two different results. The Lucan juveniles won the OMHA championship for the second straight year with a hard fought 6-4 win over Colborne in the seventh and deciding contest. The Lucan-Colborne series was strictly a homer affair with each club winning their three games on home ice. Sincere congratulations go out to Jim Herr, Hon Carruthers and Keith Connolly who were the three men responsible for the championship victory along with help from the Lucan minor hockey association headed by president Bob Latta. We caught a few minutes of three of the games in Lucan and the brand of hockey was excellent with plenty of hard but reasonably clean hitting going on. Saturday’s final game in London was well handled by probably two of the best referees in this part of the country John Willsie and Glenn Beach. Willsie was a regular referee this year in the OHA Major Junior “A” series and Beach was a linesmen at many of the London Knights home,games. * Over many years we have watched a lot of hockey games but, have never seen anything like that which happened in Lucan Saturday afternoon. It was the only incident in a well played game. One of the Colborne players No. 10 Jay Mills got into a roughing session near the Lucan net late in the game. When he was being restrained by referee Beach he became a little cantankerous and decided to transfer his hostility from the Lucan player to the of­ ficial. Mills was finally wrestled to the ice by both of­ ficials and then proceeded to throw a wrestling style leg lock on Beach. When they were finally disengaged, Mills tripped Beach as he was skating away. The Colborne player was quickly tossed out of the game with a match penalty and will likely be dealt with further by the OMHA executive. Sunday the season for the Exeter bantams came to a close as they were defeated 5-3 in Ernestown and dropped the best-of-seven final four games to two with one tied. Despite the failure to bring the championship silverware home, the youngsters and their coaches Jack Fuller and Jack Underwood and manager Bruce Shaw should be congratulated on a good performance not only on the ice but furthering the name of Exeter in eastern Ontario. Well done, fellows. The Exeter Legion ban­ tams had to settle for the OMHA "B" runnerup trophy for the third time in the past 15 years when they suffered a 5-3 loss in Ernestown Sun­ day afternoon. The win gave the Kingston area township squad the ti­ tle with nine points in the best-of-seven affair that went the full distance. Ex­ eter ended up with five points and could have forced an eighth game with a win. However, Ernestown came out flying in the con­ test and carried the play to the Exeter lads, who didn’t give up until the final whis­ tle in a fast-paced contest. The locals were once again the victims of some questionable refereeing in Ernestown, with the winning goal coming on a disputed play late in the second period. With the scoreknotted at 3- 3. Rick Chard drilled a long shot from just over centre ice that partially hand-cuffed Peter Dearing. Exeter fans were giving a collective sigh of relief when they heard the puck hit metal and saw the disc fly off into the corner of the arena, but the sigh was changed to shouts of outrage when one of the game of­ ficials stopped play and signified a goal. He appeared to be the only person in the arena who was certain it was a goal, 'as neither the Ernestown goal judge nor any of the home players had signified the puck had entered the net and appeared as surprised as everyone else when the referee called the play from outside the blueline. Exeter fans still couldn’t understand how the puck could have entered the net and end up in the corner behind the net. The goal took some of the steam out of the Exeter at­ tack and also led to a bench minor a few seconds later when the players were grumbling among themselves about the call. Never say die The local Legion spon­ sored crew, weakened by a three-game suspension to first string left winger Mike Clark, had further problems when they hit the ice for Sunday’s seventh game. Starting centre John Ker­ nick was working far below par, having come down with a case of the flu on Friday and a couple of other players were working under the han­ dicap of colds. Winger Steve Prout was lost in the second period when he twisted an ankle after taking a check along the boards. Ernestown scored first when Rich Buss broke thr­ ough the defence after three and a half minutes of play to get a clear shot at Dearing. Exeter evened the count near the end of the period when Mark Vandergunst deflected Jamie Chaffe’s pointshot into the open cor­ ner and they moved ahead by a 2-1 count with just over a minute left when Jim Sid­ dall drilled a low liner into the cage after taking a pass from Mike Murray. However, the lead was short-lived as the hosts broke out from the ensuing face-off and Kevin Hartwick drilled a shot into the top corner only seven seconds later. Ernestown then took a 3-2 margin in the first minute of play in the second when Buss scored his second of the game, but Exeter’s white-knuckle crew came right back to even things in less than four minutes when Mike Murray out-raced a defender to pick up a Chaffe clearing pass and then mov­ ed in alone on Go'rd Downie to find the necessary hole. That set the stage for the controversial winner with just under three minutes left in the middle stanza. Both teams had several good scoring chances in the final period, but the new champs salted the win with the insurance tally after 10 minutes of play when Rich Abbott grabbed a loose puck in the Exeter end and skated out from the side to whip a back hander past Dearing, who had played a standout game in a losing cause. • Long season While the tears of frustra­ tion and disappointment flowed from several Exeter players when the final whis­ tle sounded, they came through in style as they lined up to congratulate the new champs. The locals received OMHA crests and the runner-up trophy, ending a playoff that saw them play 27 games. They ousted St. Marys in three straight, took the Six Nations lads from Ohsweken in the final game of a best-of-five and then had to go to extra games in sidelining both Walkerton and Tilbury. Coach Jack Fuller and assistant Jack Underwood got their pencils working on the return trip from Ernestown and announced the kids had travelled over 3,000 miles in their quest for the OMHA title. Fuller lauded the players for their exceptional season, moving around the dressing room after the game to ex­ tend a hand shake to each of the players. As the boys slowly filed on to the bus for the trip home, their parents also commend­ ed them for a banner season, and the glum attitude was soon forgotten after a meal stop at Belleville. Assistant team captain Bill Glover was one of the more interested in the runner-up trophy the boys received. It had Exeter Legion teams on it for the years 1964-65 and again in 1968-69. Bill’s brother Jack played on the first of those teams and Pete Glover was a member of the other. Bill Gilfillan coached the 1968-69 squad and his son, Rick, was the backup net- minder for this year’s entry after his own pee wee team was sidelined. 000 miles. Back row, from the left; manager Bruce Shaw, assistant coach Jack Underwood, Dave Shaw, Jim Siddall, Tom Coates, Mike Murray, Scott Batten and Mike Clark. Middle row: Steve Prout, John Kernick, Scott Brintnell, Scott Pincombe, Bill Glover, Dave Underwood and coach Jack Fuller. Front: Trevor Boyle, Rick Gilfillan, Mark Vandergunst, Peter Dearing and Jamie Chaffe. Staff photo SMILES DIFFICULT — Despite a banner season that saw them named as the second best team in the OMHA "B' category, the Exeter bantams found it dif­ ficult to muster smiles when this photo was taken, minutes after they had dropped a 5-3 verdict in Ernestown, Sunday. The disappointment of drop­ ping the seventh game is mirrored on most of the faces along with the el more than 3,- IL sisal - Bn T ’> i ABh 9|w||||ijkl IS 1 ; 4 If' « Ao Esh . ix SSir ; ? * Ready for ball season In a recent conversation with Bob Hoffman of Dashwood we learned that the Huron-Perth baseball league is embarking on an expanded schedule and ex­ pects to enjoy the best season in many years. Hoffman is president of the league for the second year and the vice-president again Percy Bedard of Zurich. There is only one guess as to who the secretary of the league is. Jolly John Livermore of Clinton has held this position for more years than he cares to remember. We are only guessing, but, it must be well over 40 years that the former clerk of the town of Clin­ ton has been keeping the Huron-Perth records straight. While the four regular Huron-Perth teams will be participating in a 26 game schedule the Dashwood Tigers have extended their schedule to a total of 32 games. ' The Clinton Colts, Crediton Mets, Dashwood Tigers and Thorndale Angels will be meeting each other in a double home and home schedule and they will also meet four London district junior teams along with a senior club from Tillsonburg. Added to the Dashwood schedule will be home and home series with Walsingham, Arva and Petrolia. Some of the area teams will also be taking part in senior tournaments this summer in Tillsonburg, Whit­ by, Welland and Petrolia. The local H-P schedule will get underway on Sun­ day, May 13 and plenty of “play ball’ calls can be ex­ pected throughout the balance of the summer months. More on merger One of the major stipulations of the recent merger of the World Hockey Association with the National Hockey League is that the four new clubs must provide arenas with seating capacities of at least 13,- 500. The only rink that is already big enough with a maximum capacity of 15,248 is at Edmonton; The others with their current seating are Quebec 10,012; Winnipeg 10,151 £hd New England 10,507. In case anyone is interested Gary Davidson, the founder of the WHA is said to be doing well in the real estate business in Newport Beach, California. Allan Cup Area hockey fans are showing a little more than usual interest in play leading up to the 1978-79 Allan Cup finals. For one reason the Petrolia Squires are the first Continental senior league team to reach the Allan Cup semi-finals. The Squires have done better than that. They are in the final and will be meeting either Trail, British Columbia or Steinbach, Manitoba. The series is ex­ pected to start this weekend in Sarnia. Local interest is added as Exeter native Bill Fair­ bairn is a valuable member of the Petrolia defensive brigade. A few oddities Guy Lafleur of the Canadiens who became only the second NHL player to record five consecutive 50 goal seasons scored his 50th this year against Denis Heron of the Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s the third time in five years that Lafleur scored No. 50 against Heron, twice while the goalie was with the Kansas City Scouts. THE AGONY — The agony of defeat was evident in the Ex­ eter end of the Ernestown arena, Sunday, after the locals dropped a 5-3 verdict to end up as OMHA runnersup. Cap- fain Tom Coates (7) burries his head while to the left are Bill Glover and Scott Brintnell. Staff photo winger Steve Prout from the ice in Ernestown, Sunday, by Jack ANKLE — Exeter bantamBREAKS assisted Underwood and Bruce Shaw after suffering an ankle injury. It was determined that a bone was broken when the player had x-rays at SHH on Monday. The injury came in the last game of the season and was the only one suffered by the team members, despite their busy regular season, tournament and 27-game playoff schedule. Staff photo BIG SAVES —=$Jj»<j.ter bantam netminder Peter Dearing played a standout game in Sunday's deciding game for lhe OMHA title, despite having five goals against. He makes a stick save against one attacker in the top photo as Dave Shaw moves in to help, while he slid out below to prevent another goal with Bill Glover arriving to assist.Staff photo BLAZING TRAILS. MAKING WAVES Generahng Beat the trail with Yamaha GTMX Here's a bike that stands up to whatever punishment a kid dishes out. It features long-travel front forks, heavy-duty rear shocks and Yamaha’s exclusive Torque Induction system. ELDER ENTERPRISES 1 mile west & 1 mile south of Hensail Ph. 262-6142 When you know how they re built J e All paths lead to your Honda dealer. And with good reason. 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