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Times Advocate, 1992-12-02, Page 13SeCCnt' sectini Senior boys host tournament Panthers prep for basketball season By Fred Groves T -A staff EXETER - Most basketball teams are lucky to have one hood three-point shooter. The South Hu- ron District High School Panthers have a trio of sharpshooters on their senior boys team. Saturday, the Panthers reached EXETER - The :Exeter Curling Club -will be :the site :of the 3992 Regional 'Seagram ' VO Masters Special Playdowns this weekend. The hosting Zone .15, will ;have two rinks as Lloyd Ford, a former Exeter resident will -Skip. .the four- some from the St. Thomas Curling Club while Ken .Setterington .::and his team will represent London Highlands. Two winnersof this bonspiel will advance to :the :provincials .to: be held in Brighton.. Spectators arewelcome all week- enti at the Exeter Curling Club:this weekend. Mark Lynn hangs on to the ball against Ridgetown. the consolation final of their own tournament but were edged 43=36 by the Medway Cowboys. Ryan Stuart,' Greg Agnew and Wayne Robinson are all launching bombs and they probably will all season during Huron Conference play. "1 just noticed four of five days ago that we've got three guys that can hit, the three -pointer. We decid- ed to let. them loose and take ad- vantage of it," said Panthers' coach Terry O'Rourke. ORourke is heading to Australia to teach so will be handing the coaching dunes over to George McEwan. "I'm going to enjoy the rest but I'm going to miss the guys," ad- mitted O'Rourke. South Huron opened with a 44- 39 defeat to London's Regina Men - di Titans on Friday night. The Ti- tans eventually went to the champi- onship game on Saturday where they were beaten 61-43 by St. Joe's of St. Thomas. The Panthers came out hot in this one, jumping into a 7-0 lead by the Titans came back and it was 9-7 for Regina Mundi at the end of the first quarter. Smart paced South Huron with 13 points but the next day he really poured it on and netted 17 points against the Ridgetown Royals. panthers 43. Rovals.3Z Although it was 5-5 at the end of the opening quarter, the Panthers rattled off eight straight points and took a commanding lead. in the third quarter, South Huron held a 12 -point lead at one time but watched as the Royals came back and went up by a point "The last couple of years, the senior team hasn't been realty good," said O'Rourke of the Pan- thers. "Therhave to realize tly're not. .that p11, Dan play hiiittt teams.' Stuart hit a three -pointer at the third quarter buzzer and added a ootrple more in the fourth quarter. He had five bombs while Robinson had three, which was part of the sight -point second quarter surge. Mark Lynn, who along with Rob- inson and Keith Crawford will be looked upon to get a lot of re- -bounds, crashed the boards and 'wanted hard to get eight points against Ridgetown. South Huron has probably a little wore depth than they have in the past:and could do very well in their conference. "Some of the juniors moving up just need a boost of confidence," said O'Rourke. Cowboys 43. Panthers.36 Medway held a 21-12 lead at the half but the Panthers came on smug in the fourth quarter scoring 18 points. Agnew led the way with 16 points including one three -pointer in the consolation final while Rob- inson added six points. "They (Panthers) played good de- fence, they played smart. They made a few mental errors down the stretch." Otte advantage South Huron sen- iors may have is several of the players -were with the .volleyball team that made it to WOSSA. It's going to take Sherri a couple of weeks to get their game legs. Conditioning wise, were not in too bad of shape," said O'Rourke. Piw p'inzs:...South Huron has some exhibition games lined up in- .chtding yesterday's matchup at home Against:Mitchell in which all three boys' teams saw action. To- day (Wednesday) they travel to SL Marys...The junior Panthers host their owniournament this weekend and , !hay will tip-off against East 41141.14RFTWAY PiiOt at 043.1P. Senior 'A' hockey Chiefs a By Fred Groves T -A staff EXETER - The South -Huron Recreation Centre was very quiet Sunday night. Reason being, the opposition failed to show up. The Exeter Mohawks were scheduled to host the Walpole Is- land Chiefs but by 8 p.m., half an hour past the official game start, the Chiefs had not arrived nor had they called with a reason for their absence. no show Monday, the Chatham Wheels of the Colonial Hockey League, con- firmed -they had played -en exhibi- tion game against the Chiefs on Sunday afternoon. Brent Ladds, president of the On- tario Hockey Association said the Chiefs may be held financially re- sponsible. "The visiting team is liable for expenses, -but--well have to talk to them," said Ladds. Coming off a big 9-4 Senior 'A Cub Cadet has done it... They have made the best snowthrower value on the market... that much better. For a limited time, Beaker Farm Equipment has an offer that , will make life a lot easier this winter. Make your best deal... and with just 1096 down, make 12 interest-free monthly payments! D reemunt visa FARM EQUIPMENT - EXETER, ONTARIO Sales, Service & Rentals since 1932 (519) 210 1.00-Z6&'-2121 Gib Qidet FAX (519) 235.27191 for game win over Creemore the tight be- fore, the Mohawks were searching for .wiry number nine Against the Chiefs. "On the surface it appears to be a forfeit," said Ladds of the final out- come of the game. Sunday was a disappointment in more ways than one for the Mo- hawks. Only a couple of dozen fans .showed -tip, their money was -re- Continued on page 15 Qhosts ofi hockey past haunt Irish I s this the year??? Is this the year the Lucan Irish ignore the ghost of OHA champi- onships past and win the big tate. It's not up to 'them to tell you the truth, it's up to those who are in the other division. Lucan can win the west but they can't beat the east. sidelines b� Fred G roves The Irish brass constantly have one goal in niind, to win the.pro- vincial Junior 'D' title. Nothing wrong with thrit's a good objec- tive. Shoot high, you can't miss. But for the past four years the .green -and -white have -gone to the finals and have come home being number two. What's the problem? Is it a jinx.? Is there a mystical force called the Evil Spring Demon which says, "no boys, forget it again." Each year the Irish glide through the regular season with relative east, mind you, last year the Mitchell Hawks gave them quite a bat- tle to be the top dog. Then they get tough and win the division fi- nals. Two years ago it was the Exeter Hawks pushing the Irish to the wire (what a final game in Lucan that was), then in 1992, it was the Hawks from Mitchell in another great series. But after that, once the Irish go to the biggie, the wheels seem to fall off their machine. I know a guy who once used the speech to his players, "I'm the mechanic and you're the engine." Ken Needham may be the me- chanic but it takes a lot of pistons to keep this machine running smoothly. There are only eight players returning to the team that had to set- tle for second last year. Junior 'D' players come and go but this is a big turnaround. Maybe it's for the best. Cast off some of that bad luck and bring in some new. Heh, the twins, Jeff and Jim Stanton won OMIIA midget titles in Ilderton last year, let's hope some of that rubs off. There are some startling facts about this team which may hurt a few to read. Veteran Greg DePrest takes a pounding every night on the ice and after the first 15 games, led the team in scoring with 39 points. That's his job, to put the puck in the net and get manhandled doing it. But the last stats 1 did on the Irish, there were 14 points between DePrest and the next scorer, Steve Moore and then nine more to Jim Stanton and ScoU Riddell. Basically, as Needham and I have discussed, this team needs more of a balanced scoring attack. DePrest is not that big, and if someone gives him a good shot, or even a dirty one some night, he could be put on the shelf for a while. Bang, goodbye offense. If you are going to have a team that wants to make it to the OHA finals, you need balance. Not just one guy. When the Irish had their exhibition games the best line they could ice was Andy Ross, Steve Snider and Chris Haskett_ These guys have been broken up because of their lack of ability to put the puck in the net. Mind you, they do contribute. Ross is a great leader, Haskett is big and stroqg and Snider is a playmaker. But those qualities don't show up on the score sheet talharyisam .With a great lrbtory, dices are gannets as the aioset. Bob Szabo Was one of the best go&ies-the league every saw and I didn't think there would be anyway he could be replaced. But by some magic, Needham and his staff have found 15 -year- old Eoin Mclnerney who played for London 'AAA' bantams and Brent Lewis, not only a veteran of the Junior 'D' league with Lamb- eth but a puckstopper with the Georgian College Grizzlies. The maturity of Lewis is really being shown as he allowed Just 13 goals in the first full seven games he played. Needham rotates these guys every game and they have come up big. They play in front of a defensive defence led by sixth year man Kevin Leitch. veterans Chris Chafer, Ed VanKerkoerle and Keith Robson. Interesting note, of the eight returnees to the Leant, four of them are blueliners. I guess that's why the Irish have got the best goals against average in their division. Maybe the fearsome foursome can shake the ghosts of hockey past. festive and Coral Christmas treasures Cof.Lecti6les... Santas, angels, birds, colonial candies, potpourri gibbons ere Bows.... velvet, paper, plastic, cottons and the 'newest' wire edged fabrics Trees.... ornaments, garlands, tappers, tights, siticstems `1 Book.... Christmas, childrtns, floral Fresh Greens.... the thickest cedar roping ev r, pine boughs, balsam, wreat and holly's Si&and Fresh Arnangements.... wreaths, ask ts, t 3 mugs, door swags i�� Christmas Craft Kits... adutt turd chiifdrens and much, mach more (0 UN TRY ftOKR5 orf , main 4roGt • eYetor • 0.0fi•0yo Where Christmas Mos Srsin Slt1/iacKipn vwilnlied• fiPOdlHetfr!%lA fY~,iw