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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1982-09-29, Page 19P1;.ns for Sort Plans for the Sports Celebrity Dinner, scheduled for October 15 at the Royal Canadian Legion, are slowly firming up. The celebrity dinner Ls being sponsored by the Goderich Sailors Intermediate hockey club with assistance from the Goderich Minor Hockey Association. Sailor's executive member, Cliff Kennedy said that while some guests are not con- firmed the dinner should provide an en- tertaining sports evening. The popular Johnny Brent will be master of ceremonies for the evening and the headline speaker is Rudy Pilous, former coach of the Chicago Black Hawks and present coach of the St. Catharines entry in the American Hockey League, the Goderich SIGNALSTAR Celebrity Dinner firming up Toronto Maple Leafs farm team. Kennedy said the group has a com- mitment from Labatt's that a represen- tative of the Toronto Blue Jay organization will also be at the dinner -and there is a possibility that Schenleys will also provide a speaker for the event. Other potential speakers are being sought and more in- formation will be available closer to the dinner date. The main speaker, Rudy Pilous,is a renowned dinner speaker and a man who is perhaps more famous for his wit and humor than his coaching endeavors. He has always been an outspoken and witty man, a trait which many believe may have shortened his hockey career. Pilous was a successful, coach, manager, owner and public relations of- ficer who led the Chicago Black Hawks to their only Stanley Cup victory in 44 years. That was in 1961. He was fired from that job but was general manager of the Winnipeg ',Ads when they won two World Hockey Association championships. Several years before that, he was the successful coach, manager and owner of the St. Catharines Teepees in the Ontario Junior A Hockey League when . they won two cham- pionships. He has also had extensive coaching experience in the minor leagues with Houston and San Diego and he coached the California Seals when they joined the National Hockey League in 1976. But since then the jobs were few and far between for Pilous until he had a chance meeting with Harold Ballard in the washroom at the Montreal Forum. Now, at the age of 67, Pilous is back to his hockey stomping ground of St. Catharines as coach of the AHL Saints. While he is happy to be back in the Niagara Penninsula working for Ballard may be a new ex- perience. The tickets for the local sports celebrity dinner are $40 and are available from Cliff Kennedy and other members of the Sailors and minor hockey exectuive. ECFREATI 134 YEAR -39 GODERICH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1982 SECOND SECTION Official opening held The newly formed Goderich Squash Club held its official opening at the Goderich mini -community centre Saturday, which houses the club's portable court. The one -day event featured an exhibition match between London professional Sandy Penney and Canadian under 16 champion Larry Waite. After the exhibition match, Waite and Penney offered local squash enthusiasts a demonstration on basic rules and shots. Below. Penney demonstrates the proper grip of the squash racquet and. Waite demonstrates proper serving techniques. (photos by Dave Sykes) Basketball news Seniors win one in four BY TD The GDCI senior girls basketball team __managedonly. ;one _win..in..four games last_ -. week Tuesday the Goderich girls lost 47-35 in exhibition play in Strathroy. On the Wednesday, the Vikings played in a tournament in Sarnia, losing 45-37 to the same Strathroy team -and 60-15 to a strong Sarnia Northern squad. .The Vikings redeemed themselves in a good effort, winning 60-58 over Owen Sound Westhill in their final game. In the exhibition game in Strathroy Allison Graham had 16 points and, Mona ' Gleason had 10. In the tournament game with Strathroy, fr Mary O'Neill had eight points and Allison r had seven. Karyn Drennan and h Alexander added six each, Barb' Conlon and Cathy had four apiece and Anne Allan had two. Graham played well defensively, limiting Strathroy's top shooter to only three points. Mary O'Neill was strong under the boards, leading the Vikings in rebounding. . The Vikings found themselves out- classed by Sarnia Northern. Karyn Drennan, and Anne Allan led the meagre Viking scoring output with four points each. • Coach John Geiger's girls came up with a good team effort in their two-point victory over Owen Sound. Allison Graham had a career -high 26 points in leading the Goderich team to victory. A pressure shot by Mary Beth Alexander, who had nine points, won the game with Only two seconds left -on the • clock. Mary O'Neill had eight points, Barb Conlon had seven, Anne Allan had six and Mona Gleason had four points. Juniors win six C ham"i;ionship fastball league game to be playas here Saturday night BY GEORGE TON On Monday, September 20, Bedford Hotel bounced back from a disastrous opening game to even the series with Canada Company at one game apiece. The poor conditions and. strong pitching allow- ed only three runs and Mford got two of them and the win. A two out double by Glen Falkiner scored the speedy Gary Peters with the first run of the game in the first inning. Canada Company pitcher, Dean Doherty evened the score in the second as his crisp single brought in Mark Frayne. The score stayed that way until the seventh inning when back to back singles by Brian Sower - by and Rob Plunkett combined with an er- ror on Gary Peters loaded the bases. Jim Crawford then came through with a long fly ball to score Sowerby with the winning run. Rob Plunkett recorded the six hit win while Dean Doherty took the loss allowing only seven hits. Three of those hits were earned by Glen Falkiner who is playing his best ball of the season. On Saturday, September 25, Bedford Hotel took a one game lead in the cham- pionship series as they totally dominated a sloppy Canada Company unit 9 to 4. The first of Bedford's nine runs came with two out in the second as Del Mit- chelmore doubled and scored on a Dave MacDonald single. The lead only lasted an inning as Dean Doherty's single was followed by a Mike Frayne double and the teams were even at one. In the third, however, a single by Peters, an error on Terry Austin, and a crushing home run by Bedford's most dangerous hitter this series, Glen Falkiner, spelled the beginn- ing of the end for Canada Company's hopes on this night. Two more runs in the fourth as Plunkett and Peters crossed the plate and another two in the fifth with Bill Bladc and Dave MacDonald doing the same put the -game well -out- of- Canada Company's reach. Canada Company scored two in the fifth with singles by Shewfelt and Rob' McDonald while Bedford fielder Terry Austin finished the scoring in the sixth as he rounded the bases without the benefit Of a single hit in the inning. Gary Peters led all\hitters with three while Brian Shewfelt and Glen Tigert had two hits each in a los- ing cause. John Crawford and Rob Plunkett combined for the seven hit win while Dean Doherty had the unfaaniliar ex- perience of being pulled and losing to games in a row. The Bedford celebration, however, was tempered by the loss of their fine shortstop Jim Crawford who suffered a broken col- larbone and will ' miss the remaining games. Game four of the Industrial League Championship on Sunday, September 26 looked like the final game of the series and • the season for a long time as the Bedford Hotel team came out hot. A single by Rob Plunkett to start the con- test was followed by a wild throw to right field from the usually reliable Rob McDonald which.caught everybody by sur- prise and allowed Terry Austin to race all the way home on a sacrifice bunt., Glen Falkiner shigled and was then forced at se- cond base -but not before be broke up a potential double play with a hard slide. Falldner's efforts paid off as Del Mit- re Unloaded a triple to ase Bill Black all the way home for Bedford's third run of the inning. i3edford had chances to the upset and disheartened rr crew on the ropes in both the ., and third ' gs but they failed to score men from thirdbase in both cases. In the bottom of the third, the breaks evened up. With two out and two men on, Mark Frayne lifted a harmless 1 third out pop-up into the Bedford Infie . Somehow, the ball dropped untouched to the ground while four-fifths of the Bedford infield watched. Glen Tigert who had doubled earlier raced home and . Rob McDonald rested on. third. Dean Doherty quickly singled home McDonald and Canada Company was back in the game. Bedford took a two run lead in the fifth as Glen Falkiner doubled and scored on a wild throw to fust. The run, however, was costly as Del Mitchelmore, a sure strong hitter of late was hurt on and forced to leave the game. Glen Tigert started the heroics for Canada Company in the fifth as he turned. a single into a double with some good hus- tle. Rob McDonald added his first big hit of the night to score Tigert and was then sent home when a very happy Mark Frayne finally connected for a clutch hit to tie the score at four apiece. . In the crucial sixth inning, Bill Tigert provided his own heroics as he started the inning with a single. Fate took a hand as Brian Shewfelt's Sacrifice bunt attempt turned. into a hit as a close call at second went Canada Company's way and apassed ball quickly put both men in scoring posi- tions. A fly ball by Mike Donnelly was not deep -enough to score Tigert... With -one -but and the game's outcome obviously on the line, Bedford manager Del i .rtchelmo. e had Glen Tigert intentionally walked to load the bases. A good decision consider- ing Tigert has been the only Canada player to hit Bedford's pitching well all series. The strategy shattered, however, as Rob McDonald smashed a clean single through a drawn in infield to score two runs and Canada Company in the lead for the first time in the game. The 6 to 4 win went to Dean Doherty who allowed nine hits while. Rob Plunkett took the tough loss allowing only one more hit than Doherty. Glen Falkiner led all batters with three :hitS.and only a sparklingdefen- sive play by thud haeemarrblike Donnelly prevented Falkiner from having a perfect night at the plate. The question that remains to be answered now is this: Can Bedford recover from this loss and win without two of their fine starters, Jim Crawford and Del Iii itchelmore in the line-up. That ques- tion will be answered this Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Agricultural Park as one of these two excellent ball teams will become the champions of 1982. Don't miss it! , • • Junior Vikings football team score 42-22 victory BY TD accounted for both, the first on a 17 yard The GDCI junior Vikings scored a 42-22 reverse, the second on a third -down and come -from -behind victory over the Nor- three gamble pass from John Thompson. A well Redmen in the opening game of the Thompson to Grant Garrow pass gave the Huron -Perth Football Conference Thur- Vikings a two point conversion of the first sday in Palmerston. major but the second convert attempt The__ Vikirn s_.. trailed_ 22-14 = with five -failed minutes left in the third quarter but then Kevin Feagan, who rushed for over 150 racked up 28 straight points to take the victory. Norwell jumped off to an early eight point lead in the first quarter before Kevin Beattie ran 35 yards on a reverse for the Vikings' first touchdown. John Thomp- son's convert left the Vikings down a point, but Norwell scored a second quarter touchdown on an 80 yard pass play and then addeda two point conversion. BY TD The GDCI junior Vikings girls' • basketball team finished their pre -season exhibition schedule with an impressive six wins and one loss. The Vikings' sixth victory came in a close 36-34 overtime verdict over Strathroy in Strathroy Thursday. The game was won late in the overtime on a play in which Kim Fritzley drove down the centre and passed off to Mary Margaret Murphy who swished the clutch basket. Fritzley topped the Viking attack with 30 points. Cathie Gallow, Chris Stapleton and Murphy had two points each. The Vikings led 23-19 at half-time and the game was tied at 34 at the end of regulation time. The Vikings will be hosting the seventh annual Viking Junior Girls' Tournament on Saturday, October 2. Vikings coach Phil Bugler, the tournament organizer, has lined up eight strong entries. The Vikings open at 9 a.m. against London Lucas. At 10:30 London Westminster goes up against Medway, followed by a noon match -up of Sarnia St. Pat's and Grey -Highlands. The other two teams, Stratford Central and London Clarke Road tip-off at 1:30 p.m. The consolation final is slated for 7 p.m. with the championship game set for 8:15. ings foot ‘. w TD There will be BY couple of unique features about the GDCI senior Vikings football home opener here Thursday against Stratford Central. One will be the playing of the first games on the new athletic field at the GDCI complex. The other will be the fact that the Vikings are going into the game with a losing record following their 9-8 loss to the Norwell Redmen hi the season -opener Thursday in Palmerston. The victory was the first-ever for Norwell over Goderich since they began to play in the Huron - Perth Conference. . all oe opener R • Ray Donnelly, coach of the perennial champion Vikings, gave credit to Norwell, calling thein a respectable team that came to play, but was obviously not happy with his own team's play. "We did not execute the basic fun- damentals," said Donnelly. Another problem area for the Vikings was the ineffective play of their specialty teams, usually the key to much of the Vikings' success. The Vikings were unable to return a punt for more than 1C yards all afternoon. Converting third down and short yar- dage situations into first downs was a key difference in the game. Norwell did it consistently, but the Vikings had no suc- cess at all. Fumbles also hurt the Vikings' cause. The stats showed Norwell with only a slight edge in yards gained. The Vikings led early in the game on a first quarter touchdown by Jeff Feagan on a two -yard drive. Joe Melady kicked the convert. In the second quarter, John McClennan kicked a single to put Norwell -on the scoreboard. the Redmen took the lead with a con- verted touchdown in the third quarter. Darrell Beyer went over on a two yard drive and McClennan kicked the convert to put Norwell nn top 8-7. With only 35 seconds remaining in the half, Trevor Erb got the Vikings' second major on a three yard blast. Thompson's convert attempt was good, making the half-time score 16-14 in favor of Norwell. A Viking fumble on the Goderich 20 yard line gave Norwell a chance to score their final touchdown. It came on a 12 yard reverse mid -way through the third quarter. The Vikings began their impressive come -back withtwo touchdowns in the last five minutes of the quarter. Kevin Beattie yards for the Vikings, scored two fourth quarter touchdowns. The first came on a 70 yard crossbuck, the other on an eight yard drive. Quarterback John Thompson ran in a two-point conversion following a bad snap on the Vikings' final convert attempt. The improved play of the Vikings' of- fensive line, especially the blocking of Rick Haas, had a lot to do with the Vikings' second half resurgence. John Thompson had an outstanding game at quarterback. His understudy, Steve Bugler, ran the team well in the fourth quarter when Thompson was injured. Vikings coaches, Bill Garrow and Bruce Baker have decided to get the best of both here in their home opener Thursday with Stratford Central by starting Bugler at quarterback and moving Thompson to the tailback slot. Defensively, the Vikings were able to shut down Norwell late in the game. Thompson and Grant Garrow intercepted passes and Kevin Beattie recovered a fumble. Goderich Sailors will open another season of hockev ursday The two teams exchanged single points in the fourth quarter. McClennan kicked Norwell's and Melady booted the Viking single, malting the final score 9-8 for Norwell. Thursday's game here which will be preceded by the junior contest beginning at 1:30 p.m. will pit a no -doubt aroused group of Vikings against the Stratford Central Rams, a team rumoured ass uch improved this season. In their first game of the season, the Rams lost a low -scoring 2-0 game to the league's other annual contender, the Exeter South -Huron Panthers. The Goderich Sailors are about to open .nether season of Intermediate "C" hockey in the near future. To bring, fans and prospective players up to date, the new executive. consists of John Doherty, president; Harry and Jane Kerr, financial and corresponding secretaries; Cliff Kennedy, assistant general - manager; Tom Dixon, general manager; Tom Hill, coach and Jim Frayne, executive co=ordinator. Coach Hill brings with him a tradition of quality; winning teams and with a full year'' ahead of him to instruct his charges, big advances seem imminent,, Coach Hill, is im- patiently awaiting the start of the hockey season, which for the Sailors begins with the first practice of the year Saturday, October 2 from 4 - 5:30 p.m. and Sunday, October 3 from 7 - 8;30 p.m. Obviously, it is imperative for those hoping to play intermediate hockey this year to be in attendance as a thorough evaluation of tale is of prime importance. Tom is • ooking forward to the return of the trusted veterans and the emergence of the new faces that will combine to provide a contending and entertaining team. Further details of the home opener will appear in weeks to come.