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Times Advocate, 1994-12-14, Page 18Page 18 Times -Advocate, December 14, 1994 This Week in Sports... • Minor hockey - page 19 • Riddell returns - page 20 Sidelines By Fred Groves Hard work 1 wonder if he will change. Early in 1995, South Huron District High School graduate Randy Johnston will head down by the old Mississippi River to do what he does best, throw the javelin. The high school gold medalist will no doubt pick up a tittle bit of an accent down there but he'll alsc pick up a free education thanks to his skill in throwing the javelin. Monday morning, he called me with some great news - he's landed a full track and field scholarship at South East Mis- souri State. For us Canadians, that's a Division I school where the competition is of the highest caliber and the air smells of her- itage. "It was a pretty cool place," said Johnston bubbling with en- thusiasm, excitement and maybe even a little bewilderment. "It's only got about 9,000 (students). The architecture is nice, it was founded in 1873." When he made those com- ments, I was a little bit sur- prised. He didn't mention a lot about the track program al- though he did say room and board, tuition, books, etc. are paid for. Travelling 13 hours by car to get to where you're going to compete in United States college sports, you hope the atmosphere is going to be nice and in John- - ston's case, South East Missouri sounds like a great place. A couple of weekends ago, he and some friends from the Exet- er area made the trip and John- ston was made to feel right at home. "A couple of guys on the track team showed us around. i only talked to the coach for half an hour. He had to go to St. Louis for a track thing, he writes books," said Johnston. He starts school, general stud- ies at first and then maybe mar- keting, on January 7, and when he starts, Johnston will just be stretching his legs around cam- pus and getting used to the place. "The outdoor season starts in March. During the March break the coach is taking us to the Gulf of Mexico to train." Gulf of Mexico, not a had spot to spend during the break. Al- though some may prefer Florida, Johnston won't mind bending thc muscles and preparing to un- leash that powerful arm of his. "i've been training since Sep- tember. i've been lifting weights five days a week." Johnston threw the javelin in high school for five years with his most successful triumph coming in the spring of 1994 when he won the OFSAA senior boys gold medal. It was something he had worked on for a long five years and those hours of pain which ran threw his arm paid off - he's going to the hig time. GOOD LUCK. Tournaments continpe at SHDHS The Panthers boys basketball teams have been very busy lately EXETER - Basketball, basketball and more basketball. The wooden floor in the main gym at the South Huron District High School continues to be a very busy place as this weekend will see the third consecutive boys tourna- ment held at the school. South Huron seniors will host their Huron -Perth Christmas tournament on the heels of the junior eve tit which was held this past weekend. After winning their conference opener (see attached sto- ry), the junior Panthers lost twice while winning the third game on the weekend. They opened with a 69-46 loss to the Medway Cowboys on Friday afternoon which saw Lukc Sims hit for 14 points including going 9 -for -10 at the free throw line. Dave Far- quhar added six. Saturday morning in their second game, Sims had six points in a 48-29 Toss to Petrolia. That put South Huron out L.A1 a chance to go to the consolation final. Later on Saturday the Panthers took on league rivals Sea - forth and carne away with a 53-40 win. The hosts trailed 16-15 at the end of eight minutes, were down 30-23 at the half but managed to outscore the Bears 18-4 in the third South Huron's_ Dave Far- quhar with the ball, at left, was tangled up in Saturday morning's jun- ior toumament game. At right, Panthers David Robinson goes up for a fancy two points. For more basketball see page 19. quarter. Against Scaforth, Trevor Boersma had 12 points with 11 from Jeff Mason. Winning the tournament was St. Joc's'who defeated Med- way 51-38 while Stratford Northwestern edged Petrolia 51- 50 in the consolation final. This weekend the senior Panthers will host their eight- teani pre -Christmas tournament and in their opener will take on Northwestern at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night. Action begins on Friday when Wingham's F.E. Madill takes on St. Marys. Ex -Wings ready to come to Exeter Saturday night they'll face off against the Junior 'D' Hawks By Fred Groves T -A staff EXETER - One of the greatest players ever to lace on the blades will be in Exctcr on Saturday. Former Detroit Rcd Wing great Alex Delvecchio who played in 1,549 games and scored 456 goals (last week's trivia question answer) will be in Exctcr on Saturday as' part of a very busy weekend for the local OHA Junior Development League Hawks. Friday they open with a game against the Lambeth Lancers at 8:30 p.m. will host the Rcd Wings Alumni team featuring Delvecchio on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and the following night host Mitchell at 7:30 p.m. in another league game. When asked if the Hawks arc ready to play some ex-N}IL'crs, Exeter coach Dave Rcvington said, "I'm sure thc guys arc. I'm looking at it as a fundraiser, the guys arc keen." With such a busy schedule, they play again on Tuesday, the Hawks could have a little trouble getting themselves pumped up for the big game with the Wings. "An hour before the game it will kick in. I look forward to the games," said Revington. As of press time, Wings spokes- person Dennis Hextall said he was 99.9 percent sure Delvecchio was going to be making the trip to Exet- er. Others scheduled to come arc Gary Bergman who was on the fa- mous Canada Cup team in 1972, Nick Libett, Arnie Brown, Eddie Mio and Dwight Foster. "Those are the Red Wings we'll have and we have some other for- mer NHLers," said Hextall. The Wings, like other alumni teams keep a pretty busy schedule and even Hextall doesn't know which former Wings will show up "We have fun, the whole thing is to have a good time and raise money." in the various communities. "We draw from what players arc available. We play 20 to 25 games a year." The NHL lockout means hockey fans are going without their NHI. fix. When asked if it had any bear- ing on how his team was drawing, Hextall said he didn't think it made much of a difference. "1t comes from the product we have," he said of always drawing Targe crowds. "We have the ability to play against anyone. Two years ago we played Detroit Compuware (Ontario Hockey League team) and gave them a lesson." While Saturday's game will no doubt see some fine displays of hockey talent by the ex -pros, its main purpose is to raise funds for the Hawks. Hextall pointed out that while his team will receive a $2,000 fee, when they return home with that, it goes into a general fund and they have five charities they contribute to over the year. "We have fun, the whole thing is to have a good time and raise mon- ey," he said. Hextall, who played centre with the Wings, will not be coming to the South Huron Rccrcation Centre but his family is a very hockey or ientated one. His father Bryan, Sr. played in the NIIL as did his brother Bryan, Jr. Hockey fans could be more fa- miliar with another Hextall, the goalie Ron who is Bryan, Jr. son. "I think we're the only family that has three generations that played," said Dennis. Local hockey fans may tend to cheer on the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Montreal Canadicns but the Wings have a tradition of winning as they wcrc a member of the orig- inal six and won the Stanley Cup in 1943, 1952, back-to-back in 1954 and 1955 but haven't won it since. Here arc some interesting tid-bits about those Wings you may see this Saturday. Gary Bergman - played 12 pro seasons with the Wings, Minnesota and Kansas City. In his 838 games he had 367 points and 1,249 PIM. Bergman, a defenseman, retired in 1976. Nick Libett - played 14 pro sea- sons with the Wings, Kansas City and Pittsburgh. in his 982 games, the forward had 505 points and 472 PiM. Libett retired in 1981. Arnie Brown - played 12 seasons with Toronto, the Rangers, the Wings, the Islanders and. Atlanta. Brown had 185 points in his 681 games and he retired in 1974. Dwight Foster - he played 10 years with Boston, Colarado, Ncw Jersey and Detroa in his 541 pro games, Foster had 274 points in- cluding 111 goals. He retired in 1987. Eddio Mio - this goaltender played seven seasons with the Wings, Edmonton and the Rangers. He won 83, lost 85 and had six shutouts to go with his 4.01 aver- age. Mio retired in 1986. This week's trivia - still lots of tickets to give away here at the Times -Advocate. This week's qucs- non is how many penalty minutes did Delvecchio have during his 1.549 games. Here's a hint, he won the Lady Byng Trophy three times. Drop off you answer to the T -A by Friday at noon or FAX it 10 235- 0766. Hawks pick up a pair of wins Shayne Robinson, Ray Cousineau and Chris Kennedy all had lots to contribute offensively EXETER - Two weeks ago the Exctcr Hawks wcrc in a slump, on the weekend they did an about face winning two games to improve their OHA Junior Development League record to 12-7-2. Friday night at thc South Huron- Rccrcation Centre, the host Hawks had little trouble clowning the North Middlesex Stars as they won, 9-2. The next night in Belmont, they doubled the Bombers 6-3. While they only led 2-1 after 20 minutes of play on Friday, Exeter exploded for five unanswered goals en route to a very big win. Chris Kennedy seemed to have regained his offensive touch he had earlier in the season as the netted three goals and set up two more. Veteran centre Ray Cousineau had a hat trick while Shayne Robinson netted a pair and the other went to rookie Craig Corrivcau. Captain Scan McCann had four assists. Just 24 hours later, Cousineau had his second hat trick in as many games as he also drew one assist for a big seven point effort cwt. - two games. Robinson also had three tallies against the Bombers while Ken- nedy, Brian Gardner and McCann each picked up two assists each. Exeter dominated the opening period on Saturday night as they led 3-1 after the first period but they ran into a little penalty trouble which resulted in the hosts scoring twice and ticing the score. But the third period belonged to Exctcr as they picked up their 12th win of the season. Cousincau's third of the night went into the empty net with just 1:01 Icft to play. Exctcr rookie goalie Darren Kints picked up his third straight win between the pipes and in the past three games has a 2.34 goals against average.