Loading...
The Citizen, 2000-01-12, Page 8PAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2000. From the sidelines No longer just in Canada By Hugh Nichol For the third consecutive year our Canadian hockey team failed in its attempt for World Junior supremacy and once again accusations will arise on how inadequate our hockey teachings have become. Forgetting that we lost only one game, by one goal, to the defending champions, there will be an endless debate on how our system is too structured, that we put emphasis on competition over development and prefer size to skill. While it is true that based on facilities and registration Canada has the best environment for producing hockey players the game is no longer just Canadian. Despite winning eight medals in 10 tries during the 1990s, it is unrealistic to expect gold every year. European countries have made tremendous advancements but instead of simply giving credit we choose to criticize our own, that rather than having pride in our Canadian character and ability to rebound from adversity, we prefer to finger point overlooking that within hours of losing a heartbreaker to the Soviet Union we rallied to win Bronze. The World Junior Hockey Championships was the result of a joint effort between the Soviet Hockey Federation and the Czechoslovakian Ice Hockey Union to showcase the elite 18 and 19- year-o’d hockey players of the world. In 1974 the first tournament was held in Leningrad featuring entries from the USSR, Czechoslo­ vakia, Finland, Sweden, Canada and the United States. The Soviets dominated the event with a perfect 5-0 record with the Canadians, represented by the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League, finishing in third place. In 1975 Winnipeg hosted the first- Bantams Girls win B The Wingham Bantam Girls hock­ ey squad took home the B champi­ onship in the Teeswater tournament Dec. 27. In an action-packed contest against Howick in their first game, Wingham came out on the short end of the I -0 tally in spite of hard shots on net and good attempts by the Wingham play­ ers. Brooklyn Wheeler was very good between the posts. Wingham found their legs for the second game, romping over Drayton - 9-0. Scoring for Wingham were Candace Proctor, Rebecca Bruton, Ashley Ritchie, Laura Meier, Kerri Meier (two), Kristen Palmer (two) and Carly Quennell. Assists were earned by Ritchie, Sherri Ross, Proctor, Palmer, Jenni Hopf (two), Nicole Proctor, Mia Bieman and Nicole White. Entering the third game of the day, ever internatiorral hockey championship to be played on Canadian ice while the 1978 tournament held in Montreal, featured a 16-year-old Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky led the scoring parade and was named Best Forward, the first of his many international achievements. Although always in contention it wasn’t until 1982 that Canada claimed its first gold medal, a feat they repeated three year’s later. To date the 1987 tournament in Czechoslovakia remains the most controversial. Only minutes from gold the Canadians and Soviets became involved in a bench clearing that resulted in the suspension of both clubs. Convinced the brawl was premeditated, Canada used the incident as motivation to win gold the following year on Moscow ice. In 1991 Canada became the first team other than the Soviets to win back-to-back titles. Then following a sixth place finish in 1992 dominated the championships for the next five years losing only once in 34 games. The streak ended in 1998 when the Canadians fell to eighth place. The finish was our worst ever and included an embarrassing loss to first-time participant Kazakhstan. In 1999 the final tournament of the century again returned to Winnipeg. Although the outcome was disappointing; we lost the gold medal game against the Russians; the success of the tournament was a credit to the Canadian people. A TSN record 1.8 million viewers watched the final while a tournament record 174,000 fans attended the games. The result was a $2 million profit all of which was donated to amateur hockey. In the words of assistant Captain Tyler Bouck, “We wear our hearts on our sleeves.” And although a third-place finish may be disappointing don’t forget the Soviets failed to defend their title losing to a Czech Republic team featuring five players currently playing Major A hockey in Canada. the squad had energy on reserve as they challenged Clifford for the B title. Thanks to a second shutout by Wheeler and strong offensive play, Wingham took the game 4-0. Hitting the twine were Ritchie, Bieman, Palmer and Michelle Nixon. Assists went to Palmer and Bruton. On Jan. 2, the team travelled to Ripley. The squad worked hard to keep the puck away from netminder Wheeler, but had to settle for a 1 -1 tie. Bieman scored on a pass from White. The squad was victorious Jan. 9 when they met Teeswater on home ice. Third-period goals from White and C. Procter ensured the win. Good action at both ends as well as strong goaltending by both netmin- ders kept the score low. Bowled over k Brussels and Zurich PeeWee struggle for control during the WOAA hockey action Wednesday night in Brussels. The home team was continually outmuscled by the visitors losing this one by a big margin. Atoms play in tournament Thursday Jan. 6, the Brussels Atom Reps travelled to Hensail for a one-day tournament. The first game was against Ilderton AE. Scoring for Brussels was James Roberts; Adam McClure two; Matt White, three; Andrew McDonald, and Doug Schnock. Assists went to Schnock, Greg Bowers and McDonald with two. Kyle Gibson had his first shutout of the tournament. The final score was 7 - 0. White was named player of the game for Brussels. The second contest was a battle for both teams. Brussels met Thamesford after lunch and neither team was able to score in three periods of play. The game went into five minutes of sudden-death overtime. Chase Chapman blasted a slapshot away from the blue line which went deep into Thamesford goal at 1:03 in the overtime period. Gibson had another shutout and Brussels went on to the “A” championship game after the win. Chapman was named player of the game for Brussels. Brussels met Stephen Twp. which they had battled in Silver Stick action and came out one goal short. Brussels started the scoring at 3:30 in the first period when Bowers scored on a pass from McDonald and McClure. Stephen Twp. answered with two quick goals of their own in the first period. Brussels scored twice more in the second period when White scored an unassisted goal and McDonald received a pass from Cory Chapman and shot it past the goalie. Stephen however, scored the next three goals which went unanswered by Brussels to go home the champions. Dreschner scored four goals and Knee assisted on three of them and got one goal of his own for Stephen Twp. Final goal of the game was 5-3. Player of the game was Roberts., Friday night Bayfield came to play against the Atoms. Bayfield scored first in the first period which was quickly evened up when McClure and McDonald set up White for a goal. Stephen Ropp scored on a pass from Jutzi to pull ahead before the end of the period. McClure scored when White and Cory Chapman set him up in front of the net. Bayfield managed to get another past the dark side of Gibson. Bowers scored when Roberts passed the puck to him with mere seconds left in the second period. Jutzi got the only goal in the third period on a pass from Bowers, making the final score 5 - 2 for Brussels. Saturday at noon Brussels met Ayton. White scored with less than a minute left in the first period when Ropp sent the puck his way. In the second period, White scored twice with assistance from McDonald and Schnock. McClure scored an unassisted goal. Novices down Zurich There was no mercy shown when Brussels Novices trounced a visit­ ing Zurich squad, Jan. 8. The offensive onslaught began early with Brussels slapping in four goals in the first, while holding Zurich to one. Ryan Jutzi got it started with an assist from Wade Stephenson, then Tommy Cronin bulged the twine a minute later. Tyler Deitner picked up the assist. Stephenson then blasted in one of his own, before turning around to set up the play for Cronin. Zurich’s lone marker came in the ALZHEIMER 5th Annual Indoor Walk For Memories Saturday, January 22, 2000 9:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m. At 5 county locations: St. Anne's Catholic Secondary School, CLINTON South Huron District High School, EXETER Seaforth & District High School, SEAFORTH FE Madill Secondary School, WINGHAM Goderich District Collegiate Institute, GODERICH 90% OF FUNDS RAISED GOES TOWARD HURON COUNTY PROGRAMS 10% TO ALZHEIMER RESEARCH FOR MORE INFORMATION AND PLEDGE FORMS Please call Alzheimer Society of Huron County 482-1482 or 1-800-561-5012 Prizes awarded to Participants obtaining the highest pledges! Brussels added four more goals in the third period. White scored with assists going to McDonald and Jutzi. McClure scored on a pass from White then Jutzi scored when Bowers and McDonald set him up. Scott Phillips scored on a pass from White. Gibson had another great game in net. The final score was 8 - 0. Next week the team plays Blyth on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. in Brussels, Saturday at 1:15 p.m. in Hensail and the following Tuesday in Brussels at 6:30 p.m. against Howick. dying seconds of the first period. The only goal of the second earned Cronin a hattrick. Tyler Deitner assisted. The final period was a repetition of the third, with the hosts all over their opponents, scoring four more. Set up by Stephenson and Cronin, Deitner lit the light at the 9:29 mark. Then Andrew Baker shot one past Zurich’s netminder, unassist­ ed. Two more goals by a hot Cronin ended the scoring before the final buzzer. Stephenson picked up another assist.