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The Huron Expositor, 1996-02-07, Page 9THE HURON EXPOSITOR, February 7, 19904 Only so many talented young hockey players to go around CONTINUED from PA(,E 4 "They except take the best players o(f of each organization in the area...11 won't have as much affect on us as the smaller areas...lf you take those kids away its' going to devastate those teams. "All you've (lone is weaken .the organization and then the i e plc in the organization start to give up...You start to lose ,community pride, which is something I feel- is really im- Ix)rtanl. PRIME EXAMPLES In the Iasi six years Boyd Devereaux ()I' Seaforth and Danny Wildlong of Clinton both played junior for the C'entenaires as 14 -year-olds. Neither played midget. One is now a real "up -and -coiner" for On in THE GAME ! ! ! Hockey players, with thumbnail sketches of. their careers who have advanced to higher levels of the game (Junior B or beyond, nut including senior) and been initially developed by either, or loth, the Seaforth (population approx 2,(100) "'(T miner or ()HA junior "I)" Ccntcnaires (founded 1974) systems in the last two decade:, in no particular order, with apologies to any who may have been inadvemr ntly overlooked • ( Note, • = played hoth Seaforth minor and Junior, apprux 70 -per cent): • - *DAVE Mct.IWAIN -Seaforth, played Iwo years of Junior as minui affiliate heginning at 15. Played for Canadian national ju team. Noll. draft pick.. Eight-year veteran of NII!-, 93 goals 198 points Nuw an all-star with Cleveland Lumberjack: of international ihxkcy League. *PAT MURRAY Dublin. lackey scholarship with Michigan State University. NI II. draft choice. played m our Philadelp' :u• Flyers in that league, later 1111. etc. Now playing pro in Germany. *REM MURRAY Dublin. Hockey scholarship MSL . NI11. draft choice, rights belong to Edmonton Oilers. Now playing w,da ('ale• Breton of the • American hockey League *GREG MLRRAY - Dublin. Colonial, (last ('east, 411 over the place. Nuw playing fur Jacksonville in Honda (lucky fellow) in the Sunshine League. *SCOTT DRIS('OL.l. - Scaforth. Became captain •,t the Junior l3 Si. Marys.. Lincolns. Not drafted by NIII. but -invited .and attended trailing camp of Vancouver ('anal ks. Now a National !hickey 1.eagu, official. *MIKE WA'L'T kgiuundvlllc. Played fur Cents 'as nlmor affiliate at 15. N111. draft choice, rights now belong to Edmonton Oiler: Mender of this year's World Champion Canadian nauunal jotter ,c.nn \ow m iecuud year with MSU Spartans. 'BOYD DEVEREALX - Seafurth: Played for louts at 14. -Now wool - Kitchener Rangers and one of the youngest, tap=ratr.'major junior players In the country. Went 5th overall in the first round of last sunmler's C)tll. dratt. - •DAVE AKEY - Seaforth. Major junior•wllh Lawton Knights, Sudbury . Wolves and hull Olympics. Was courted by the Washington Capitals but - ended up playing semipro here and there in the Lotted States with, alllorlg others, the team immortalized in the Paul Ncwrnan movie Sfapihut. it hero fie was coached by one of the "Ilanscn brothers". • DANNY WILDF'ONG •• Clinton. Played with.('ernts AS 1A -year-old. 51\'1' - of the junior B Si. Marys Lincolns for two -straight s_•;loins.- Now on hockey scholarship at Colgate University in the Lniued States. - *CAM DOJ(: • Scaforth: Played with ('ends as 15 y ;,r old and. .e4 red -o0 goals to set OHIA league record in 1978. A serious kiwi:injury ended his'earo. r with the junior 11 Stratford Cullito ns. Played come :cue -pro iq the United States. • '!DENNIS NIEL$EN - Scaforth. Junior '11, Su M:uy: rl.1nculns. ' 'Gr5RD CARNOCH AN - Seaforth. Junior 13, Ltd.:ohis:: *LOUIS ARTS ! Seaford:. Semi -pro South Carolina: 'JERRY WRIGHT - Stafonh. CIAO hockey w idi St. Marys University. •MIKE SCHOONDEKWOERD • Dublin! Junior B, I'amira Sugar Kiirgs. JASON DAPPLE • Egmondville., Junior 13 and ,tier -Two. Junior A in Toronto. •STEVE PAPPLE - ligmexndville. Junior II with t'crr9lia Jets, Si. Marys a and Elmira. *KEVIN ,NfrLIWAIN - 1Egnlundvtilc. Junior 11 and CIAI hockey in Windsor. 'ENT VANDEYACKKER .I:gmrrtdwllc honor l3 Listowel Cyclopes. RAD CARTER - Se;tI ,rh. Won lJI t \-Junwr 'I r" .;curing title with Cen- , tenaires. Went on to player( a .couple ..1 :rowers uiih junior BWaterlo., Siskins. • 'JASON BEAL'rl F;NNI1Ll.ER Scaionh. 0111. draft pick. :Junior- 13 Pctrolia Jets. .JEFF I11('K - Strailord. Junior B. Aylmer Aces and Elmira. 'JASON McNICHOI. - Walton. 0111 draft pick. Junior 11 in Listowel. - DAVE WILLIAMS -Strafford.- dotted Played- with. 1 -cots as 14 -year-old, uu •'•rwiplc Twuuble" line with Watt and Wilsiong. Junior 13. wills Listowel aml St. Marys. Now with junior 13 Stratford Cullituns,' . JAMIE RANIER 'Zurich. Now playing junior Win Saskatchewan. •MIKE DEVEREAUX'- Seaforth. Fonner ('cuts' 1Z.,"kle of the Year. Now with CIAI. Waterloo Warriors. Playcxl with 1994-95 011A Junior 13 champion iiradurd,C6lldexns!' i • BEN SEN - Sfr:ufurd. Signcd•Ily Cents at 15 flared iunnur,l3 in St. Maras and with the Cambridge Winter 1lawks.- \ow• 113: ng junior C in New lamburg ('HAD R:ANIER : /urrch. Played with Cents- ai 17, \ow -playing juniurrldr in Saskatchewan. • - S"LEVE GI-.I(.1.l4 - Zurich. Now ing junior B. with the London Nationals. • • MIKE LAI: %1 SEI(1' - Stratford- Played for Cent'. Last Year as 157yca'end. - Signe.J by I.istowrt ('yeluus ai the start uI this :season, Liter reteased-hythem to New Ilamburg Niagara C. all-star at (hrnamas. *JASON 31LRRAY - Walton. Played Junrur 13 wuh Si.'Mary's earlier thus .cason, traded to Str:ailord ('uIlttunls. Out kir ,sumo( with -knee Injury.. "MARK VA\ DOOREN • Sealunh. Signed by matter I3'S,ratturd ('ulliluns this season,.relea,ed hack w Seaforth nnumr ai ('hnslinas. Now playing as .un affiliate with the Ccn,cnarres. ' J. DUVELormery t HOCKEY CLUB BELMONT BOMBERS at CQntenaires Friday, Feb. 9 8:30 p.m. aoo6moo000000000❑ o Huron County's Complete c 11 E Els VEHICLE CI E CI U al RENTAL °a Headquarters o co7 Small $t Mid-sized Cars r g7 Passenger & Cargo o it Vans. Pickup Trucks E iJ! 7 Daily. Weekly. Monthly E 0 7 insurance Rentals el c More E al 7 Free Delivery u 0 'Ask about our hill EO i] transportation service ID ° D •� in CAR & TRUCK RENTALS O Division of Suncoast Ford I1] IU 500 Huron Rd.. Godertch 0 CALL COLLECT Ask for Helen a 524-8347E eeeeeeeeeeeeeeo • the junior A Kitchener Rangers, and the oilier is on a hockey scholarship at Colgate University in the Unita( States. By hook or by crook', although accused of robbing the cradle, the local juniors paid SI ,000 40 get a release for each, and the Ccntcnaires and local hockey fans were both the better for it. Mike Watt 'of Egmondvilie, fresh from the World Cham- pion and on a hockey scholar- ship at Michigan,. State, was also a relatively wee' nipper, 15 -years -old, when he played for the Centcnaires, by skip- ping bantam and playing as a midget affiliate about five years hack. None. of these guys had to pay a cent in registration l es to play junior here. They got a few sticks, and were eligible for a. "big 80 per mile travel allowance; if the executive had the Ccntcnaires' hooks black instead of red that season. -The 23 -year-old local club is at - best • a break-even proposition which lakes anywhere from S50,000 to 570,(x)0 a season to run (ice time; equipment, bussing etc.) and is always on the verge of • the financial- abyss. But Scaforth survives, and has done lar better than surrounding towns such as Clinton and .Goderich where junior hockey has gone extinct. The junior club in Brussels is close to kaput right now t(x): But the three fine young men lncntioncd above Couldn't play, for the Cents next season if the new rules stand. They would have to play a • year of midget first, either "Ce in S.eaforth or triple A somewhere else, an(i pay big money for this "privilege". Dcvoping player§ will be gating less I'or more money. -Tile best triple A midget, team around couldn't begin to touch 'worst Junior "D"evelopment League team around .here right • now. The COIupetitiOn isn't anywhere won't be near as. goof in triple • A. -Both Mitchell and North Nliddlescx, ai the moment near . the bottom of the. Morenz Division standings, would chew any ''AAA" midget team -up .atul spit thele -out for dinner. •. t'H Vf'S HOCKEY 1 - There arc only so many players to go around in rural Ontario, and only a sllialr per- centage of these have the size, skill and ' dcdieatiol to play -junior and go on in the game. Talent goes up and best • dc\ daps by competing against equal or better. That's hockey. it better players are lured to • triple A, and the new rules and structure makes this mandatory, we may see a self-fulfilling prof Ihecy. "I rtplc A could `act better - because it says so. - But exceptionally talented 'players already have "somewhere to go around.herc - thcy: can go up a' couple ,of Ic\.ls in "CC", if urinor hock- ey will get the notion out of its head that they shouldh't , for. "the good of the rsystcIn ;, and let them, (Remember' hbw Gre tzky as a•1.5 -yea --old had to get himself legally :adopted to get out of Brantford, where he was literally scoring 100s of (111111111110p.0441.101.11 v elp Treat your M 4 • sweetheart •with a gift from • • Tastebuds • 4 4 4 4 • 4 4 4 4 4 5, 5. 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 LARGE VARIETY OF HAND DIPPED CHOCOLATE INCLUDING OUR SUGAR FREE COLLECTION! "Long Stemmed Chocolate Roses "Truffles "Long Stemmed Cherries "Chocolate Boxes "Valentine Tid-Bits "Jelly Bellys sr choose A Basket, Bag or Mug Failed to the brim with Chocolate or Gourmet Foods including: • coffees • teas • hot•chocolates • jams • Pine River cheese • crackers • seasonings • dips • nuts • much more Drop by and visit our retail showroom ' for your selection or call us today For Your VaNnWn• shopping Colw.nunc• OPEN MON., FEB. 12 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Reg. Lours. Tues.Sat. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Hwy. 4 South of CLINTON (directly across from Huronview) 482-1232 4 4 4 4 v 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 -goads a season a couple . levels up, to go play jun' with .Seneca because of these , silly self-imposed minor -hock cy restrictions?), or they can go play junior here if they are good enough. Lest we forget - it was Seaforth minor hockey tha wouldn't let Boyd Devereaux go up to midget, forcing the jinliors to fork out -the grand. Who gave thein proprietary rights? And why should the Cents have had to pay one red cent in the first place'? - Minor hockey may well lose many of these elite players to triple A now anyway, so might consider just letting the good ones go up and play with the big boys when they want to, at all levels. They'll be back if they can't cut it. All kinds of scouts are al- ready in the stands. "Opposition isn't logical," say triple A organizers. "With 18 players on each team, it means one to two players on average will be taken from each system." "This will actually help minor hockey at the local level because it will 'level' the com- petition and give weaker players a chance to excel," others add. i say this is catering to the lowest common denominator, and cutting off your nose to spite your face. In the last 10 years minor hockey in Seaforth has es- tablished very healthy second- teams at all ievels, giving "weaker players a chance to excel." The local arena also remains a hive of activity every Satur- day, morning, when players who just want to have fun can do so, playing House Lcaguc. . -- STARS = FANS Take away McLlwain and "Rooster" Muir and the old Scaforth Baldwins wouldn't have become the scourge of most junior B teams in south- westem.Ontario hallfia century ago. , ' Take away Mclnally and' Murray and the Seaforth , midgets wouldn't have got ;much closer than Kippen to an OMHA championship a couple of seasons back. , Good players help the system stand on its own two feet and thrive (an important con- siilcration in these days of fiscal restraint). Fans don't pay o • to watch losers. The players wr aren't doing. themselves any harm either. Let's not forget all many other players. who knew they would never go pro and had more pressing priorities. such as life. There have been some terrific ones here in the last few 'years who never went up, but still pepped things up at die arena, for example;• Jim Campbell, Keith McClure, "Ripper"- Melady, Dave Mur- ray, Kevin Williamson, •Paul McLlwain, Karsto.n Carroll, Dana Duscocy and Steve Mclnally, to name -only a few. They do it for the love of.the game. They play here. There are stories that would make your hair curl about some of them; for instance the playcr(who got the BIG lecture and shall remain nameless) .who drove a couple of hundred miles home from college without lights one night a few years back (because the alter- nator on his car was .baked) on .:. hack -roads like a sheet of ice in the middle of winter just to heat the opening whistle. With all the changes, will these, fellows have a home team worth road salt to come home to? Will it end up only he some kind of glorified juvenile "goon squad" because • of these new levels and rules? And - when this triple A comes shopping for ice time in Scaforth will it get the sub- sidized local minor rate, or the adult rate the Ccntcnaires pay, .which is S20 more an. hour,. and if the former, will we then not be subsidizing 'our own system's funeral? . WHA -I' GAP :'•. I'll wager few, if any, of the many players from Seaforth who have gone on in the game, would have gone further, any faster by paying through the nose to add a couple of letters to the name of the league they play for. Hockey is a groat way to while away the winter here and as home-grown as it gets, as Canadian as toques and slots and sudden -death overtime. It is our culture, our heritage. .It will endure all this latest nonsense. - But all . these "back -room boys", "spin -doctors". and "snake -oil salesmen" aren't doing us any favours by of- fering three "A"s on a sweater instead of two "Cos and a "D". lt's a free country and triple A •is' here. .A lot of things can happen between now and then, and in hockey it usually does. Politics is the narne of this other game. Power play des- cibes it. - But these triple A emperors have no c1(ithcs.-- There isn't any . so-called development - "gap" around Seaforth, never has been. Let the buyer -beware. (The author, is a reporter /photographer with The Huron Expositor. He has been on the .executive of the now defunct senior Seaforth Seahawks, a - house league coach in the Seaforth and District Minor hockey As- sociation and on the executive of the Seaforth Centenaires Junior "D"evelopment Hock-. ey Club at various times for the last 15 years. He has been general manager of the Cen- tenaires for the past six seasons. The opinions are his own( Seaforth Agricultural Society Annual Meeting etz Banquet Saturday Feb: 24t1i 6:30 p. m. at the AAriplex Guest Speaker: _, - Stan Malcolm Tickets from Directorsor Call 527-1687 EVERYBODY'S DON' iT INTREPID SNOWMOBILER Engineered For The Way You Ride. 'SALES - • SERVICE • ACCESSORIES 1 1;4 Miles North of Seaforth 527-0120 r Your ARCTIC CAT JK •rro1041 i 345-2248 )N COUNT' ROAD 411 SNOWMOBILE COUNTRY STRATFORD CYCLE CENTRE Where Service Counts! YAMAHA The Power To Satisfy 20 Dover St., Stratford 271-8911 Open 6 Days a Week By: Nicholson CYBERSLEDDING by Craig Nicholson -(C1995,by Craig Nicholson. All rights reserved.) . Cybersledding. Computers and snowmobtling? 1 first heard the term from CCSO (Canadian Council of Snowmobile Associations) President Don Lumley. Is nothing -sacred? Will computers Invade our sleds too? Certainly computer-based technology has influenced developments under the cowling, but to my knowledge only Polaris has had a computer chip on board in a limited production EFi. But wait until next season. Many 1996 Sea-Doos are equipped with chip -coded -tether cords that render a machine unstartable without the compatible key. Word is that this computer technology will hit the snow on Bombardier's 1997 sleds. rendering them vir- tually theft proof as ride-aways. Each dealer will program a code number in at the time of purchase and issue the appropriately Coded key to the buyer. Hopefully. there won't be MAC/DOS incompatiblity or no one will ever get to go riding! The chip also contains warranty and other information that dealers can access or send over phone lines. Inevitably, the next step will be engine computerisation similar in many. respects to our automobiles. Try fixing that on the trail! .According to a recent OFSC survey. about 60% of snowmobile clubs use computerized membership lists. With over 30% also into financial software. we can expect both the clubs and the OFSC to become more computer-on- ented than ever before. In fact. the OFSC has a new Internet address for snowmobiling web browsers: http://www.tFansdala.ca/ofsc/index.html. Snowmobile dealers have been computerized for several years. at least for their inventory control and parts ordering. It's important to know faster what's on back -order! - Don Lumley of the aforementioned CCSO has been championing a new software package being developed by the same outfit that brought the suc- cessful "Boat Pro" safety course to the Canadian Power and Sad Squadron. Reciently given the go-ahead by the CCSO, this user-friendly, hands-on tuto- rial could be the basis of a hew national snowmobile safety training program and/or incorporated into existing provincial initiatives. Whatever the:case, there's no doubt that within a year or so. safely will launch a new era in cybersledding. Meanwhile. back at the club house. Although a few Yuppies have tried to snowmobile with their laptops, our sledding has remained comparatively low tech Sure• there's the occasional celluar phone, but no mode s riding with a computer. Or are they'' The Global Positioning System (GPS) reties on computer Chips to store pre- programmed information and pinpoint locations on the trail using -signals bounced oft satellites. Beats bouncing oft trees. I guess. Although I've had more experience with the latter. The Near North Trails Association has plotted thea trail system with a club - owned GPS unit Not only does this process tell them exactly where their trails really are las opposed to map approximations). but helps with trail inventory and development too. Some snowmobllers, hunters and anglers as well as utility companies have embraced this technology for the ease and accuracy with which it permits travel in the wilderness. But it kinda puts a crimp in good old-fashioned. seat -of -the -pants adventure. 1 .mean if Columbus had had a GPS. he would have known we blocked his way to the Far East and would never have left Portugal. Lest you fear that I'm becoming a computer nerd before your very eyes. rest assured that Eve reached the terminus of any computer misinformation 1 know. Except that without my MAC, you'd either not be reading this column or sorting through as many spelling -mistakes as there are snow flakes. Until next time, happy trails and remember to Ride Responsibly: Leave Tracks, Not Trash. Bring A Buddy to Snowarama. For club or driver training information. contact the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) at (705) 739-7669. To plan your Ontario tour. call 1.800.263 -SLED. For Snowarama call 1.800-461-3391..