Times Advocate, 1997-07-23, Page 17£PXIRTS
Bell getting his chance
to make some Jr. A noise
By Craig Bradford
• T -A Reporter
HENSALL - Mark Bell hopes the
Hull Jr. A Olympiques coaches like
what they see (and hear) on Aug.
22.
• That's when Bell, • 18, gets his
chance to make it into the Quebec
Jr. A league with a tryout arranged
• by his Strathroy Jr. B Rockets
coach, Pat Stapleton, who knows
'•Olympiques general manager Char-
. lie Henry. ,
• Bell, a big part of the Exeter Jr. D
-Hawks ',95-96 Ontario champion-
. ship team and the Rockets' assist-
ant captain during their '96-97
Western Jr. B championship sea-
son, is a stay-at-home type of de-
fenceman with the occasional. of-
fensive streak as his •'96-97 stats.
show - 51 games, 11 goals, 19 as-
sists And
s-sists'and 24 penalty minutes.
"I think I have a fairly good shot
al (making it)," Bell said.
• But those. low PIMs and' his corn=
paratively small size at 5'11" (and
a half) and 215 lbs. might make
some scouts wonder if he's up to
the physical challenge of Jr. A.
'`I'II probably have•to playa little
bit tougher," Bell said with a shrug.
"I've- got some strength' • in me.
That's how t make up forit." •
,Also going for Bell is the fact the
•Olympique are going into a • re-•
'budding year with 15•players grad=
.uatingto the pro ranks.
• His ultimate goal is making it to'
'(he NHL. and his chances are good
considering the league will expand
by, four teams by the time he's done
his Jr.-A.stint..
"if I make it (on.the-Olympiques)
this year I still have 'three years to
play (at Jr. A)." he said. "That -will
give (NHL scouts) a
good look at me."
B, ell wants to pick'.
up an university ed- have a
ucation along the okay'
"I
•
. Times -Advocate, Jiily 31997
Page 15
A future Captain Kirk?'Herisall's Mark Belt.hopes to make it
to the .NHL like his hero, Kirk Muller. A Sttathroy Jr. ,B. Rocket
last year and a former Exeter Jr: D Hawk, Bell has a tryout with
the Hull Jr. A.Olympiques`.on Aug.'22, - . '•
.
"He always. inspired rite 'by' his
style and, level of play.;' he
"He inspires people to•play at their
Bell's 'dad; 'Bill. not only gave
Bell his ' strong work
thinkr ethic. but also his h)ve
of the Montreal Ca -
fairly nadienti." The -younger
shot at Bell',s bedroom . has •
g al.,' plenty of hockey rite •
-
•morabilia. including
" his Ontario champion- _
' ship Exeter Jr. D Hawks and Strath-
coy Rockets'. Western J'r, B chainr .
pignship ('96-97) jerseys, -.but the. •
one _hanging above his bed belongs
• .to his favorite player of all time.•::
Kirk Muller.
"I hung- that up file day he .was '
_ traded." Bell said: The jersey bears
the Canadiens' colors, though the .
- then 'Captain Kirk' tial` had a few
more stops since includinj with
good
— he . hopes to be- (Makin
come,a civil engineer
some day.' "It kind 'of . • .
depends on how hockey goes. ' he.
said about his outside of hockey ea,-
reer path. . , „
To make it this far, Bell •has.had•
lots of help from people like Exeter
Hawks coaches' Dave ' Revington,
Barry. Baynh3m and . Jeff .. Dal-
rymple.
Outgoing Hawks captain Jason .
McBride has also. served as a role
model for Bell.
'New Jersey and:Toronto.
' WI ndt playing hockey: Bell'is
pro) playing soccer. either
.,rh L.rLter•s under 19 men's ti!am
.or during high school:— Bell was. a
member of.Stratlirov District -Col`
legiate Institute'.OFSA.‘ 'AA -'97
.:hampton,hip team. • •
Right now -Bell -s iocussing,on•his:
Olympiques strength conditioning
pri)gram, his Joh. at Exeter's Na-
brcu plant where he does odd )ohs
':Ind with his assistant post at Sta-
pleton's hockey •school .that will
travel throughdut the province start-
ing July 28. .
Both tfiorrtt Bev. • and "tf'ad ' arc
proud of their athletic -son..
•
- ,-1-fe•s been. our -.winter and:
summer entertainment for shine
years." Bev beamed. .
1 hope' he .gets an education.'
Bii! rddeiJ.. •'What_he acconphshes
i:.111 uP to hire. -_
Jr. D Hawks in retooling mode
EXETER - Too hot to think hockey? Not for
Exeter Jr. D Hawks president Tom McCann
and his coaching staff.
McCann and general manager/head
coach Dave Revington are busy setting the
'97-98 schedule, scouting talent and send-
ing out invitations to camp which begins
Sept. 3.
McCann said Revington is returning as
head honcho on the bench. He'll be joined
by returning assistant coach Barry Bayn-
ham and newcomer Dean
Schram who'll also help Reving-
ton with his G.M. duties. Former
assistant coach Jeff Dalrymple
remains a Hawks director but is
taking a leave of absence from
behind the bench to see to his
and wife Cassie's more im-
portant project ticking care of
their second chitdd ie Sept. 4.
On the ice then will be 13 retuming
players.
"We're going to lose a number of our top
scorers," McCann said.
Forward Chris Kennedy and defence-
man/captain Jason McBride are overage
and have left tete told. McCann said they
must choose two of these ftve overagers to
remain with the team: forwards Sean
"We're
to
num
0
sc
McCann and Nathan Bums, goalies Darren
Kintz and Rob MacDonald and defence -
man Greg Goodman.
"That is going to be tough," McCann said.
Expected to fill the leadership roles are
forwards Chris McDonald and Jeff Glavin,
though Glavin may choose to go to Brock
University instead.
Retuming behind the blue -line are Dan
Taylor and Bill Hodge. Dave Farqhuar and
Geoff Mayer have graduated from midget
and are expected to make the
team. Another questionable is
Craig Corriveau who also may
snake the jump to college.
Though he's shooting for a re-
peat of their division -winning per-
formance in '96-97, McCann said
the Hawks won't be as dominant
this season.
"We potentially have a good nucleus
coming back," McCann said. "There is a
certain amount of rebuilding, though. The
boys (coaching staff) are scouring the
back roads for some talent."
Revington said it will be more of a re-
tooling year than a rebuilding one.
"We have to replace a few key people,
that's for sure," he said.
The season starts tentatively on Sept. 28.
going
lose a
ber of
ur top
orers. "
Von, Conroy and No Fences
set to rock the Motorplex
GRAND BEND - The Grand
Bend Motorplex will be a whole lot
country this Civic Weekend.
Country singers Patricia Conroy
and Judy Von will aie the main at-
tractions at the Civic Holiday
Weekend Open Air Country Con-
cert sponsored•by BX93 and CKTY
AM 1110.
Conroy received the '93 Ca-
nadian Country Music Album of
the Year Award and the '94 CCMA
Female Vocalist of the year. Von,
born in Parkhill, has opened for
Chris Cummings, Tammy Wynette
and Billy Ray Cyrus.
Conroy and Von will be joined
by the Garth Brooks tribute band
No Fences.
Dragster action begins at 6 p.m.,
Aug. 2 with the Funny Car Fox
Hunt including 215 tnph fuel Har-
r~ •
leys ridden by John Russell and
Mike Romine and 1et and alcohol
funny cars featuring Pat Davidson
and Jerry Roting. On Sunday, the
Hot Street -Car $hootout featuring
Mike Moran's world's fastest street
car begins at 1 p.m. Gates open for
the country concert at 7 p.m., Aug
3.
Advance tickets for the concert
cost $15 for adults and S2 for chil-
dren age 6-12. available at all Tick-
et Master locations or by calling
238 -RACE (7223). Tickets at the
gate cost $ 18 for adults.
Saturday race admission costs
$20 for adults, $2 for children.- Sun-
day race. costs $15 for adults, $2
for children age 6-12; race and con-
cert admission costs $25/adults, $2
for children; all weekend race and
concert cost is $45.
Pony
moves
Gaming fun. Brookehaven
Farms (Clandeboye),stu-
dents had fun and per-
formed . well at the recent
• Gymkhana (game show)
there. rop photo, left to
right: Mic"elhs Malek (on
Firelight), Sandra Gregus-
(Michael Bear), Steven.
Gregus (Judy), Cindy Gre-
gus (Belle), Katie Veinot
(Magic Dragon), Brittany
Veinot (Chico) and Scott
Gregus (Champ). 'Qottom
, photo.' Brittany Minot on
Chico performs the Five
Flag Race. The show was •
open to junior riders, on
ponies -14:2' hands tall
• ' . • ' and -under.
Irish solid going into '97-98
LUCAN - 1 -he Licari Jr. D lrrsh Frcem:u) :aid the league is drop-
hiockevf team hopes to"•huild'on last - ping interlock play because of all
season's second -place finish and the travel involved and'be;:ause it.
has few holes to till going into the . tailed to generate bigger crowds' in
season: - . games versus teams such as Lang -
Irish manager Ken Freeman said tun:-Hagersvllle .ui(1 St. George.
most of last. year's squad should he - -Lucan hegrns training camp to
returning to the fold this year. .>ug. 25.
"1 think everyyearis a rebuilding'
'sear but three- quarters of our warn `
is coming hack he said.- We
should befairly good. . •
The Irish will have to till centre
',ion Thompson;s spot after he was -•
drafted by the Ontario • Hockey
League's London Knights. And Lu
can can only keep two of their five
overage players —, centre, Mike
Robb. wingers Steve Hudson and '
Janie Lighttoot; defencetnan farad
Henderson and ' goalie Nathan
Maudtlev. ,
'One notable returnee is defence -
man Jeremy. Lambuurn, Freeman
said. and there's a good crop of
graduate ,midgets. to choose from
including defencernan 'Pat Conlon
4nd forwards Ryan Carroll and'
Chad Greenlee.
Co -coaches Jason Bukala and
Bill Bourne will be back on, the
bench providing stability.
.Freeman -said the league is rimy-
- •rng-away-from-itis-two--year in
luck experiment and is going with 5
40-gatne more division -based
schedule. Lucas will play each
teats in its Moreno. Divisium (Exet-
). Parkhill. Mitchell and Seaforth )
tive.times and Thomas Division ri-
vals (Belmont, Lambeth, Mount
Brydges: Port Stanley and Tha-
rrresford) four times. two at home
and two away
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E.M.H.A.
CORRECTION
Girls Hockey
Registration
Extended - open to all
Phone 235.0581
ir
Hensall Minor
'_ Hockey
Registration and
Coach Sign Up
August 16
Lobby of Hensall Arena
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
We are nOw offering
t'retyke - Bantam
Also: 2 levels of girls
hockey. Don't get caught
sitting on the' bench this
year. Come join our..
teams. For additional
information please '
contact Randy Parker at
262-3226.
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