Times Advocate, 1991-09-25, Page 17Pearce will make
a good coach
How can you not like
this guy who flashes
you a big kid smile
and gains respect for
what he has done although he is
only 22 years old.
Saturday night, I hovered over
Jamie Pearce, the new assistant
coach of the Lucan Irish Junior
'D' Hockey Club and let him do
most of the talking.
If this is a future head coach of a hockey club there should be a
few others smiling. A coach has to be a teacher, whether or not
Pearce is a teacher is yet to be seen. But a coach has to have a per-
sonality, and this guys got one.
A defenceman for the Irish the past three seasons, he's big and
tough and gets the job done. Now however, he's stepped into a dif-
ferent role and it's a difficult one.
Pearce will have to tell his old teammates, what's what. It's like
one Sutter brother coaching the team and the other playing on it.
Time to draw the line and say okay, buddy, this is what you can get
away with.
"I'll be looking after the defencemen basically once the season
starts," said Pearce.
He said there is pressure on him because of the age factor and he
did play with several players a few months ago.
"I've already spoke with most of the guys that are returning, not
all, and we've already agreed to terms. Each individual is different,"
said the London native.
"I've handled a couple of things already. They were nerve wrack-
ing at first that I had to do that," he said about discipline.
Three years as an Irish and many hours on the ice with the high
school Clarke Road Trojans, not being a player is going to take
some time to adjust to. _
"I'll be having to bite my tongue not to get a few penalties on the
bench this year."
From player to coach for some, is a natural movement. Terry
O'Reilly did it with the Boston Bruins and Montreal's Bob Gainey
are just a couple who did it at the pro level.
"If I enjoy it this year it's definitely a start. They (Irish) are going
to send me to coaching clinics this year."
Pearce said he had aspirations to do some reffing but decided not
to. As far as being on the ice, that will be limited to skating with the
Irish during Monday night practices.
He just might however think seriously of turning his defensive tal-
ents to the senior ranks. But that's kind of on the shelf right now.
The burly defenseman liked to get mixed up in the offensive part
of the game and teaching his old mates how to play defensive, could
be tricky.
"If there is a Paul Coffey or a Ray Bourque on the team you have
to take that in stride. I got in trouble for pinching and going up the
ice last year."
The Irish are keen on having Pearce behind the bench, he's mature
and will be a big asset to the coaching staff.
In the summer when head coach Ken Needham announced Pearce •
would be an assistant coach he was very excited.
"His duties will be being my assistant in every _capacity," said t -'
Needham: .
"He's going to be my right .,.
A young face behind the benchi.of,the Irish is something new but
it's good to see a junior hockey club keeping some of their own
boys involved in the organization after they've graduated.
Maybe for Pearce it's a chance to give something back to the
team. Unfortunately he wasn't on a provincial champion when he
played for the Irish, although he did come close.
Who knows maybe he has what it takes to help build a champion.
sidelines
by
Groves
Big thanks to my designated hitter Ray Lewis for filling in for me
while I was on vacation. I read his 'Off the head' column as soon as
I got back and had to chuckle when he wrote about the dead zone.
Ray, just hope I don't take a week off in April buddy.
While on vacation, Ray and I were among a group that saw the
Canada Cup semi-final between the United States and Finland and
while watching the game, I thought about what I had written about
there being no magic.
My thoughts unfortunately remain the same.
Hodgins tosses perfect game
Royals win openinggame of finals
Outfielder Jim Lewis was called out on this play at second Sunday afternoon in the first game of the South Perth Men's
base but he Exeter Royals still beat Sebringville Juniors 5-0 Fastball League final.
Nesbitt has big home run
plus four runs batted in
• SEBItINGVILLE =mss to'ft.•
powerful bat and some good solid
pitching, the Exeter Royals are just
18 innings away from winning the
South Perth Men's Fastball League
championship.
Sunday afternoon, catcher Gra-
ham Nesbitt went 3 -for -4 and
drove in four runs as the Royals
blanked the host Sebringville Roy-
als 5-0. Last Tuesday, Derwyn
Hodgins pitched a perfect game as
Exeter advanced to the finals by
beating the St. Marys Selects 1-0.
Exeter will host the Juniors in
game two Thursday night at 8 p.m.
at the South Huron Recreation
Centre.
Although the Juniors are players
under 21, they can not be taken too
lightly as they finished second
overall in the league standings.
"This is a good fastball club.
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finishetf third or fourth in the
jt for eliminations last year," said
Exeter coach Fred Cook.
When asked if the Royals would
sweep the best -of -five series in
three straight Cook said it was dif-
ficult to predict but he did say his
club has the edge because of the
depth.
That depth shone through Sunday
as lefthanded pitcher Dennis Carty
hurled four innings allowing just
three hits and no runs. Although
Hodgins has been getting all the
work on the mound, Carty came up
with a quality start.
"Dennis isn't the kind of guy that
needs a lot of work to keep his con-
trol. I told him to go out there and
throw as long as he could and as
hard as he could," sai4k.
tarty did just that and offensiv-
ley came just a few feet away from
puting one out of the park 89 50-
bringville's Dale Levy made a goody
catch at the fence.
Hodgins came on to finish the
game and struck out 14 -of -16 he
faced.
The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the
first inning when Kevin Lightfoot
led off with a walk and eventually
came home on Nesbia's single. It
was 2-0 in the sixth when Nesbitt
put one over the centrefield fence
which hit up the light pole by at
least 15 feet.
Juniors' pitcher Rob Scott had his
troubles with the veteran Nesbiu.
"Graham sees the ball really well
off him. He hits him hard and today
was no exception," said Cook.
The Exeter bats got hotter in the
eighth when Darren Neil Iead off -
with a single, Dan Heywood had a
base hit and they both scored when
Nesbitt tripled. He scored on Jim
Lewis's single.
Last Tuesday night in St. Marys,
Hodgins pitched a perfect nine -
inning game as the Royals gained a
berth in the league final.
Hodgins seemed to throw harder
as the night went on, striking out
21. The right-hander struck out the
side in the second, third, fifth, sixth
and ninth innings.
The only time it looked as though
the Selects would get on base was
when John Urquhart punched one
to right field but Darren Neil made
a knee high catch.
Heywood led off the game with
a high bouncing single to the third
baseman and advanced on Neil's
sacrifice bunt. A passed ball saw
Heywood go to third and score on
Brian Noyes' single which scored
the only run of the game.
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