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Times Advocate, 1993-03-24, Page 13r; Junior 'D' playoffs Penalties hu?tHaw1s fay Fred Groves T -A staff EXETER - If the Exeter Hawks want to beat the Lucan Irish, they are going to have to stay out of the penalty'box.. Friday night at the South Huron Recreation Centre, the Irish netted five powerplays on their way to a 6-2 win in OHA Junior Develop- ment League playoff action. The win gave the Irish a com- manding two -games -to -none lead in the best -of -seven west division semi-finals. Game Three goes Wednesday in Lucan at 8:15 p.m. and returns to Exeter for an 8:30 p.m. start on Friday. It was a fairly even first period as Dan Ryan opened the game's scor- ing for the hosts but an Exeter bench minor resulted in the first Irish goal as Ed VanKerkoerle scored from the point. "We have to score sooner twist- er," said Lucan coach Ken Need- ham of the chances his team.hadon the powerplay. "We have enough guys with :hockey sense to do their own -thing." Larry Lewis let go with a -shot from -the point that .was redirected by Kurt .Roppand she Hawks went up' on a powerplay .-goal of -their own. •But.that would be ihellast Exeter goal en the night.as -Greg .DePrest tied it for the- Irish after -Clint Munn made two big saves but the:Hawks:failed to -clear the puck. -Exeter dominated :.early in -the seoondve iod:but Irish defenseman t hris'Litater.gat-what,proved tube the :winner with a shot- from -the point:Three ofihe six.! uoan gaols :oa•Htidaytwareseared by their.de- fatsemen. "We've been fighting with :the leial series -Jian'h forwards •Banti =Riddell, -ice; 'and Jason McLeod put a hit on= an: Maier ,Hawks plsyer'during Wednesday's game In .Logan. The Irish lead The merles � Pdvo games-toEnone heardIng Into tonight's ithlyd game. forwards to.get the puck to them," -said "This .game was -delayed a couple of 'times, -first when Lucan's Paul O'Shea • went down hard in front of -the=Mstrbenchaand near the begin - :ming ofihe seoard period, Exeter's .Jamie .Cornish was given a five- "xninute boarding penalty when Ja- .aton Reidhead was hit bard and d- eer laying on the ice=for over 20 minutes, was taken to the South :Huron Hospital by ambulance. Reidhead did return to the arena _dater but neither he or O'Shea are expected to suit up for Wednes- day's game. But the Irish have oth- er players who will step in. "I believe we have 23 players who are capable of playing," said Needham. Sean Kaczmarek made it 4-2 and in the third, Jason Wilson and _aitch gave the visitors a comforta- ble margin. The sixth Lucan goal came when Kaczmarek was being mauled by John Bell- who was given a ten- minute misconduct. It was the sec - .and misconduct .for:the.sts as Derek Shackleton also left the game early. Bain McInerney picked up his third straight playoff win in the Lu - can net. Wednesday night in the series opener in Lucan, the Irish were in a St. Patrick's Day spirit as they ' trailed 3-0 but came back to double the Hawks 8-4. Exeter took advantage of the fact their hosts had not played in a week -and -a -half and got to Lucan netminder Brent Lewis very early. Dan Irvine scored from Ropp just 49 seconds into the game and it was 2-0 at 1:15 on Dave Dalrym- ple's goal. Irvine and Ropp set this one up. Sean McCann combined with Shayne Robinson and Dalrymple and it was 3-0 into the game. The Irish came back and pulled to with- in a goal as Scott Riddell got his first of two and Steve Moore cut the visitors lead to one. "I thought we showed a lot of composure. It tells you these guys are pretty serious," said Needham. It was all Lucan in the second --frame as Vankerkoerle connected 50 seconds into the frame and that was followed by four unanswered goals .•off the sticks of Riddell, Leitch, DePrestand Wilson. Steph Audet scored for the Hawks from John O'Hara and Sean McCann to round out the second period scoring. The only goal of the third was by Glasser. The game became physical in the :third period when Lucan's Jim Stanton squared off with Jason ',McBride and later, Sean McCann abaWed Ryan Beliveau. Rin ette Gardner, Miners, Farquhar to nationals By Fred Groves T-Amatiff -HENSALL - Anyone who has seen tura Gardner - play , will quickly sealize . ber strong point is ber skating. But chis .pest winter. it aeemsAart- other;atrength bas been her mmmi- na. Gairdner. a Hensall resident, is a member of the London Juniors which competed in the Ontario 'AA' ringette championships in London this past weekend. That team won the gold medal and will now advance to the Cana- dian championships, next month in Kitchener. Other local members of=the win- ning team are Danielle Miners who scored a goal in the 7-5 win over Glouster and Kim Farquhar. Ken Farquhar is the trainer. In all, there were 36 teams in six age groups. petite, .tween, junior, belle. deb and intermediate. It's been a hectic winter for the 14 -year-old who was a member of the gold medal winning West Re- gional team at the Ontario Winter Games held in Cornwall earlier this month. And how was she selected for the west regional team? "I had a tryout. they had tryouts all over. they had one in Hensall. They just gave me a phone call and said I made it," said Gardner. There were 18 girls who made the team. 100 tried out. While the tournament in London was important, it seems the Winter Games could have a big impact on Gardner's ringette future. • There were people scouting the Games and some of the players will be invited to a tryout camp in an attempt to play for Team Onta- rio in the 1995 Canada Games. At the Ontario Games, Gardner said she met other ringette players from all over the province. Last year, a new rule was put into ringette in which a maximum of three players can now move into the opponents zone. Before defend- ers weren't allowed into the attack ing zone, nor were forwards al- lowed back Imo their own end. "It makes it go a lot faster. Eve- ryone likes it, you don't have to stop and you don't feel so restrict- ed." Piwuwy:diispiaying the provincial banner are four members of the London 'M' junior ringette team which has now gained a Berth in the national finals. front, left; Danielle ,Mfgers, -Kiat Farquhar. Back, left; Cara Gardner, Ken Farquhar. :... . • :.:' - of amen -6 EXETER - :I'ght tween teams will converge on .the South Huron Recre- ation Centre on Saturday for the Huron -Perth League Playoff Tourna -aient. Meanwhile in Hensall, the five petite teams will square off in the '13' di- vision event. From both rqund-robin events, the a p..two teams will advance to the fi- nals in Seaforth the fallowing weekend. The following is the schedule for Saturday's games. Petite division In Hensel!: 9 a.m. •.Seaforth 2 vs. St. Marys: 10 a.m. - Exeter vs. Goderich 2; 11 ant. • Seaforth 1 vs. 81. Marys; 12 noon - Seaforth 2 vs. Exeter; 1 p.m. - Seaforth I vs. Goderich 2; 2 p.m - St. Marys vs. Exeter; 3 p.m.-Seafo h 2 vs. Godcrich 2. Tween division in Exeter 8 ate. - Seaforth 2 vs. St. Marys 2; 9 a.m. - Exeter vs. Mitchell; 10 a.m. - Stratford I vs. Forest; l I a.m. - St. Marys I vs. Stratford 2; 12 noon • Ciodctich vs. St. Marys 24.1 p.m. - Seaforth 2 vs. )ixetcr; 2 p.m. - Seaforth I. -vs. Forest; 3 p.m. Siroford 1 vs. Se Marys I; 4 p.nfi. - Godetieh vs. Mitchell; 5 p.m. - Si. Marys 2 vs. Exeter; 6 p.m. - Scalorth I vs. Stratford 2. 7 p.m. -.Forest vs. St. Marys 1;•li p•m -,.SG t{rth 2 Ys > cll.; 9 ,tn. - Stratford I vs. Stratford Gardners skating ability has not been limited -to one sport as she played minor hockey for a few years but says she prefers ringette. "It's faster because you don't have to control the puck. I feel more con- fident on the ice in ringeue. That's why I like it better. There can't be any individual in ringeue." London is quickly becoming well known for its girls hockey program but Gardner said there is still the loyalty to ringettc. "I don't know any who have switched over to.hockey. This year a lot of people will have to go to hockey or Dorchester because Lon- don won't have enough players for a belle team." The belle division is for 16 and 17 year-olds and Gardner said some lose interest or take up an- other sport altogether. "They have so many other things. A --lot of them choose something else like basketball." But ringette is trying to, keep their players in the sport, that's why an intermediate division (23 -and - older) has been created. That gives Gardner a chance to play a fig, long time. Along with her desire to coach the younger players and referee, Gardner, it seems will be involved in ringette for tunny Am4Jo wine. Mohawks season was .disappointing t times, it looked as though the Exeter Mohawks were on sidelines the verge of destruc- tion. Some games, even playoff contests, they'd suit up a doz- en players. It seemed all year, it was the same dozen players coming out night after night. As a result of not being able to get everyone together, there were no practices. Workouts might have led them to beat the Dunnville Mudcats. But how do you getihe''gS ottt''3hen it's a 10 p.m. prac- tice and they have to drive 30 or 40 miles. "That's a good question," said veteran defenseman Barry Baynham. "It was a tough year for the whole league, not just us." Ingersoll showed up with seven skaters one night, Walpole Island folded and there was some rumblings that Dorchester may not be around. However, with the Dolphins from Dorchester, the fact.they made it to the 'B' final may mean they will take a more active interest and stay in the Southwestern Ontario Senior 'A' League. In the past, the Mohawks had as many as 40 players trying to crack the lineup. This year, there was about half that at the fall training camp. "We had trouble getting guys out at the start of the year," said Baynham. The Mohawks had trouble drawing fans all year, but all sports events were down this past year. With only a few com- mitted players, being eliminated in the league finals and fail- ing even to make a bid to defend their provincial crown, will there be a Mohawks team in 1993-94? "I would think by the sounds of things there's a lot of inter- est," said Baynham. All the Mohawks' players are veterans of college, junior or even'professional hockey and they've been used to being told when to play and where to play. That means practicing is a must and if no practice, no play. But in a situation such as the Mohawks are in, that's nearly impossible. It's nearly a miracle they could still win without practicing for so long. "It is a commitment and practicing at 10 p.m., you're not getting home until 1 a.m.," said Baynham. A sure fire way to get everyone out to practice would be to make certain all the players are local. But unfortunately, if that was to happen there would be no Tim Shields, Joe Scher- er, Rick Pikul, etc. and the number of games the Mohawks would win would drop quite a bit. Nothing against the Local talent, but h©wmany.guys playing rec league in town would want to playlor.the Mohawks. The time not only for games but travelling is pretty tough and with the current Mohawks, many of them are used to it be- cause of their past hockey careers. When Baynham speaks of interest, he is no doubt talking about the general public who keep the team going. The execu- tive, the sponsors and those devosed= fang who--oanmo out game -after -game. Looking back on the season the defending champions -had, to say the least it was a disappointment. In the final game against Dunnville at the South Huron Recreation Centre, there was a large crowd but it would have been nice to see those numbers a little earlier. And what about next year? Well, the time has to be drawing close when a few of the guys like Baynham, Ron Elliott and Pikul finally say enough is enough and pack it in. It's time the Mohawks go out and beat the bushes real hard for some local talent. The Junior Hawks may provide a few players and the step from junior to senior is not a big one. This year the Mohawks had a couple of rookies in defense - man Cory McKee and goalie Trevor Hunter who did a great job. McKee was a steady offensive defenseman and Hunter was a very competent netminder who could be the Mohawks goalie of the future. by Fred Groves Sedlak fires four EXETER - Andrew Sedlak scored four goals to lead the Exeter Blues to a 7-1 win over the Parkhill Blues to win 'B' title at the recent Exeter Mi- nor Hockey Association Tyke Tournament. Also scoring for the winners were Michael MacLean with three goals while Chad Taylor had an assist. llderton Rangers skated to a 4-2 win over the Thedford Bears to win the 'A' title of the eight -tear[ tournament. The Exeter Blues opened with a 9-3 loss to Thedford as Sedlake had two goals And MacLean netted the other with an assist from Jordan Darling. •In their second game, the Blues handled Stephen Township 9-0. MacL- ean led the way with five goals with singles from Sedlak , Etik Denomme, Michael Cooper and Mitch Hontuth. Assisting were Taylor and John Fra- giskatos. Hawks split games: The Exeter Tyke Hawks beat Stephen Township 6- 3 in their opener as Nick Anstett had three goals with two from Shawn Murray and the other by Michael Nedra. Jason Thompson scored all three for Stephen. In their next game the Hawks had trouble with Medford, losing 12-2. Anstett had both goals for Exeter with an assist from Adam Johns. Dying to oft up was just as hard as looking for the puck f some tyke players on Friday night. As the season winds down, the Exeter Blues and the Exeter Hawks met at the South Huron Recreation Centre.