Times Advocate, 1996-12-23, Page 22Times -Advocate, December 23, 1996
This Week in Sports...
• Glavin makes Junior 'B' All-Star Series - page 23
• Community coaches sought for award - page
`AAA' hockey players adjusting to league
The 26 local youths playing for the Huron -Perth Lakers give "AM" hockey top marks, coaches say it's a building year
\/ irIget
Jeff Glover
Stephen
Michael
Stephenson
Varna
Brad Brown
, uri
Jarrett
Jeffrey
Zurich
Christian
Stuckless
Stephen
.'✓Irl/. t (i,it(1ll1
Jon Keys
Hensall
No photo
available
Ryan Groot
Hensall
Mill. Bantam
Barry
Parsons
Exeter
Brandon
Martin
Hensall
Jeff
Flnkbelner
Stephen
Township
By Chris Skalkos
T -A Reporter
HURON COUNTY - Although
most teams are lacking a winning
record, the executives, coaches and
players involved with the newly
formed Huron -Perth Lakers 'AAA'
hockey organization are already
calling their inaugural year a suc-
cess.
When the Ontario Minor Hockey
Association recognized Huron -
Perth as a `AAA' zone last year it
didn't take long for minor hockey
officials to form a club to represent
the 31 hockey centres within its pa-
rameters.
'AAA' hockey is an advanced
level of hockey consisting of the
most competitive and highly skilled
minor hockey players in the prov-
ince.
Calling themselves the Lakers,
and adopting the colors of the Col-
orado Avalanche NHL team with a
logo similar to that of the New
York Islanders, Huron -Perth plays
in the East Division along with
Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge,
London East, Hamilton and Brant-
ford. The Clinton arena has been
designated as their home ice.
A large number of young hockey
players showed up for the first
round of try -outs last summer and
coaches had no trouble filling the
Atom, Peewee Bantam major/
minor ranks as well as the one Mid-
get team.
There are 27 local youngsters
playing 'AAA' hockey for the Lak-
ers representing the communities of
Exeter, Stephen Township, Central-
ia, Zurich, Hensall, Dashwood,
Varna and $rucc.field.
All of them agree that it's a fast
level of hockey consisting of.highly
talented players. As a result, all of
them agree they are becoming bet-
ter hockey players.
"It's almost twice as fast as the
hockey I played at my home cen-
tre," said Kevin Overholt from Ex-
eter who plays for the Minor Pee-
wee team. "It's also a lot tougher.
The players are stronger, they know
more about the game and you have
to think fast before you make a
move," he said.
Overholt said his team is strug-
gling with more losses than wins,
and he admits the players needed
some time to adjust to the league's
style.
"At first it was tough getting used
to it because the players on other
teams have been playing 'AAA'
hockey for years," However, he
said he has noticed an increase in
his endurance and speed since he
began playing.
Jeff Finkbeiner, from Stephen
Township plays on the Minor Ban-
tam team.
He said he enjoys the faster pace
because it has increased the speed
of his own game. He also likes the
intensity of the game and how the
talent is evenly distributed among
all the teams.
"It's a lot more intense and the
games are close. You don't see too
many blow -outs," said Finkbeiner.
The Minor Bantams are enjoying
a successful season and are current-
ly ranked secondin the league
standings. Finkbeiner said his
team's winning record is a surprise
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262-2832
for many who didn't think a team
in its inaugural year could muster a
winning formula.
"We weren't expected to be in
the top 10," he said adding they
have already defeated last year's
defending champions 7-2.
Midget player Brad Brown from
Zurich said he expects all the teams
will mark more wins later in the
season when the players have had
more time to adjust to each other.
"We're getting better now. At the
start of the season it was difficult
because we were getting to know
how everybody plays, but now
we're starting to come around,"
said Brown adding the team is
marking more wins than losses.
Brown is currently tied for third
place in scoring with Christian
Stuckless from Stephen Township
and Jarrett Jeffrey from Zurich all
with 13 points. Jeff Glover also
from Stephen Township is leading
with 22.
"We're all suddenly getting a
scoring spurt."
Brown also agrees the game at
this level is much faster, but this is
something the players expected.
"We're coming from small cen-
tres and suddenly we're playing
guys who are big and fast and have
been playing together since the
tyke level."
He said the most difficult aspect
of playing 'AAA' hockey, and
most players agree with him, is the
mental capacity required to be com-
petitive.
"You have to think faster and
move quicker. It's not about skat-
ing and scoring you have to think
'About the plays," said Brown.
The coaches in the "AAA" Hu-
ron -Perth Lakers say attitude is the
biggest adjustment players had to
go through because many of them
are not used to playing on an equal
level as everyone else.
"The kids are used to doing it all
themselves because they used to be
the best in their home centres, but
here all the kids are talented and
now they have to play within the
system," said Dave Wilkinson head
coach of the Minor Peewee team.
Art Larivee, head coach of the
Minor Bantams echoed his Com-
ments.
"The biggest thing they have to
learn is to trust their teammates.
They can't rely on two guys to car-
ry the team," said Larivee. "The
gap between the best player and the
worst player is narrow here."
"The kids here are used to being
the hot-dogs of their centres and
coming into this level of hockey is
like culture shock," said Mike Hen-
ry head coach of the Major Bantam
team. "We (the coaches) are trying Nick
to get their speed and conditioning Haberer
up to a level they're not used to." Zurich
Dick Lord, head coach for the
Major Peewee team said the adjust-
ment doesn't stop with the players
+' Continued on page 23
Pee Wee
Alex Kemp
Exeter
Aaron Lobb
Brucefield
Brayden
Lord
Stephen
Township
Pc() it/e[)
Daryl.
Bourne
Exeter
Cam
Becker
Zurich
Kevin
Overholt
Exeter
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Bedard
Zurich
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Best Wishes to one and all for a
Happy holiday, eason ,rlrt;;1,;-,
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Hensall
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Exeter
235-2262
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