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Times-Advocate, 1988-06-08, Page 18Page 2A Times -Advocate, June 8, 1988 Banquet ends successful Mohawk Season PLAYERS CHOICE - Mohawk captain Randy Kraul (right) accepts the Mohawk trophy again this year from executive member Bob Rowe who made the presentation onbehalfof Rowe Texaco. The players choose who will get this award which exemplifies dedication, determination, sportsmanship and being an all-round "good guy". Kraul's hockey season ended early this year after receiving a broken jaw in a game against the Lanark Flyers in Lucan. EXETER - No one knows for sure what the 1988-89 version of the Exet Mohawks will look like, but there wil definitely be a new face behind the bench. Popular head coach Jim Guenther an nounced Saturday night at the team's annual banquet and dance that he is re- luctantly stepping down. In his remark Guenther gave tribute to all his team for the effort they gave this year. The Mohawks, who use the banquet and dance to hand out their awards and thank their many sponsors racked up a impressive season with 20 wins, one loss and three ties over the regular sea- son. The team played 63 games count- ing exhibition tournament and playoff action. John Pryde, master of ceremonies, singled out several members of the Mo hawks organization who he felt gave an extra effort in ensuring a successful season. He pointed out president Gabby Mol has another important duty as well as leading the hockey club. Mol also sees action as the team's bus driver and has been called Gabby An- dretti by some of his passengers. Pryde told the audience what a typical Friday road game meant for Mr. Mol. First, the team bus has to be picked up in er. Goderich and brought to Exeter; then I. Gabby drives the team to wherever they were,playing and brings them back to Exeter. "When the rest of us are relax- - ing or home in bed, Gabby still has to • return the bus to Goderich and drive back home himself," Pryde concluded. s "It's.commitment like this that makes a team", he said. General manager Doc Campbell was next to be saluted for performing many hours of.hard work to ensure a smooth - n running season for the team. "Nobody works hader than this man," Pryde said. "In fact all of the executive were there when they were needed", he said refer- ring--tem--season-thatfirought many • more responsibilities than usual due to - the Hardy Cup playoffs. Jim Guenther received a• ski weekend vacation for himself and his family from the team in appreciation of his ef- forts this year. Although the Mohawks record this year was excellent, winning the O11A Central Senior B. Championship, many team members and those on the execu- tive will be looking beyond this when next season begins LEAGUE LEADER - Quincy Wilke,- earned two awards this season. Wilker was the Mohawk's Myr - d the leading scorer in the league. Wilker's output this year was an impressive 58 points. Presentilo the trronp ; are executive member Stu Taylor of Stu's Rec Vee Service (left) and Mohawk president Gabby Mol c` ;,.;a(1 (Exeter) Ltd. i.40. TOP GOALIE - Brian Baker, left, representing Huron Motor Products Ltd. presents the best goalie trophy to Rick Pikul who was selected as the team's MVP in the playoffs. Pikul's performance between the pipes lead the league with the lowest goals against average of 3:00. a Awards banquet honours top high school athletes EXETER - South Huron Distr High School's top athletes we • honoured Thursday evening wi an awards banquet to recoghi thcir achievements. They we also treated to words of wisdo from three South Huron gradual who spoke of • their experienc with university sports programs. Intramural chairperson Lei Soldan introduced the coaches w presented the awards for each ind vidual sport. Unfortunately, t event coincided with a band an choir trip and several of the.reci ients were not present. . After dinner principal Bruc Shaw told the crowd gathered at th recreation centre that he was im pressed with the number of stu dents who managed to find time t participate in more than one spo offered at the school. The first guest•speaker was Fa Geiser, a Senior Athlete of th Year at South Huron who went o to earn a degree in physical educe tion at McMaster University an participated in the Ontario Summe Games. She told thc audience of her ex periencc with the varsity basketbal team at McMaster and explainc the pros and cons of sports partici pation while caming a degree. "On the positive side, you're in shape and your friends are always there," Gaiser said, adding that ath- letics is a continual learning exper- ience in self -recognition. "We all have our strengths and limitations." On thc negative side, Geiser not- ed that athletics is time consuming and that dedication to one sport has its drawbacks. "It was really monotonous hav- ict ing to play one sport for eight re months of the year," she said. But th . above all, Gaiser described athletics ze as requiring guts. re "It takes a lot of failure to learn." m Dave Bogart, the second gucst cs . speaker, was familiar to most of the es audience as the coach of the Exeter Junior D Hawks this season, but he gh spoke of his time spent on the. ho hockey team at Wilfrid Laurier Uni- i- versity where he earned his bathe - he lor's degree in phys. cd, later achiev- d ing a master in phys. ed and sports p- administration at Ohio University. He told the audience of the intirni- e dation he felt during pre -season ,fry e land training at Laurier. There were - always a few athletes who appeared - superior to the rest. o 'These guys would never sv.pit," rt said Bogart, batt explained that �► . `c would be the first to quit oi Fay • from the team. c Bogart -also saic: it was ha,,t `pis n rookie year to gc' any is •ime - when bigger, more e, n • r d iors were needed to %, . N. r "There were t — have brought a p - the best scat joked. d He explair -1 that ntvcrkrt'v hockcy is qu.,. different from the minor league philosophy of empha- sizing I v--orin "It's n„xL icfensivc philospo- phy ar i it < L. ' to get used to, that, 1>r) art c ,id While I aumr played only 22 games in the season, there were 122 practices. Bogart stated the hardest adjustment was finding and manag- ing the time to accommodate that schedule. "You have to make a lot of sacri- fices,” he said. Nevertheless, Bo- n , should Ill ,se 1had twu,e," he gart said it gave him great pride to be on Laurigis first championship team and he said he made many life- long friends b} participating in var- sity athletics. The third guest speaker, John McAllister, spoke very differently of his experiences after leaving South Huron ;ts thc Prendergast award winncr. He found himself a position on the University of Guelph basketball team while he studied for a degree in agriculture. He said his athletic ca- reer was not as illustrious as Gais- er's or Bogart's. He later described it as a failure. "Don't wait for things to rrome to you. Go after them," was McAllis- ter's first message to the audience. He said this especially applies to university athletics where many players are promised positions on the team ahead of time. "Try -outs are a mcre formality," he said, adding that recruiting bud- gets keepscouts in urban areas. Players rom rural areas have trou- ble attracting the attention of uni- versity coaches. McAllister also described the tac- tics used by his coaches to intimi- date and humiliate the team to gain control of the players. He spoke of verbal abuse and debilitating work- outs. "You're told you're not worth any- thing, and this is to make you play better," he said. After McAllister felt his confi- dence fail him in his final year, he left the Guelph basketball team. He explained this lack of confidence was also hurting him socially off the court. But McAllister claims he would do it all over again because univer- sity athletics "popped thc bubble" of his high school illusions. 'McAllister said he often hears the term 'athletic career', but he doesn't see it that way. "I would prefer thp term athletic hobby," he said. "Athletics are for fun." Among the special awards pre- sented later in the evening was the Mike Prendergast Memorial Award, reserved for senior male and female basketball players who also excel in academics. It also includes a $100 scholarship. Beth Sweeney and Rob Bileski were the 1988 Prendergast recip- ients. Mark Lomas received the John Peters Memorial Award for his dedi- cation and contribution to the over- all basketball program. Liana and Nicole Rosie received recognition for their contribution to South Huron athletics while they attcnd the school. They will be re- turning to New Zealand in Decem- ber. Junior athletes of the were Kim Vandongen and avid O'Connor. Senior athletes of the year were Laurie Forrester and Rob Bilcski. The Panther award for contribu- tion to athletics throughout a stu- dent's high school career was not awarded this year. Ron Bogart ex- plained no candidates had shown the necessary dedication to the entire sports program over their secondary school careers. "We did not feel that there was anyone who was worthy of this award this particular year," said Bo- gart. 1 MEMORIAL AWARDS - Rob Bileski (left) was selected for the Mike Prendergast Memorial award Thursday evening. Beth Sweeney was the fe- male recipient of the award, but was not present. Mark Lomas received the John Peters Memorial Award.