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The Canadian Champipn, Friday Ocltober 10, 19,97, -,,-17 Milton shakes off rink rust By STEVE LeBLANO a pass from Bannan, while Special to The Champion Troy Walczak poured sait in Th MlonMrcansweeopen wounds with a shorthand- C as rusty as a junkyard scrap cd upstairs blast. heap through much of Tuesday Also drawing two assiats night's visit to Iceland Arena. each were captain Jeff Haydar But beneath their corrosive exterior lay a brilliant perfor- mance, that ultimately fought its way to the surface. Having competed just twice over the previous 17-day stretch, Marty Wiiliamson's crew came out fiat as a pani- cake againat the hometown Mississauga Chargera. A graduai yet exciting mets- morphosis however, wouid tum a two-goal deficit into a 6- 2 triumph for Uic Merchants - who now enjoy a two-game win streak and 4-1 season record. Star sophomore Darren Haydar wouid iead the come- back campaign with four points over the final 23 min- utes of play. He buried rebound.ed slap- shots by defencemen Matt Bannan and T.J. Lee and set up close-range taliies by Mark McPhaii and Randy Stolcc. Chad Blundy eut into Missisaauga's lead at the raid- way mark of the evening, on a beautiful quick-release goal off and Kicn Wiliams - wno made a noteworthy retumn after a nine-month layoff for a frac- tured hand. As impressive as their late charge was, it took a back seat to Jeremy Wenzcl's crafty goaltending. Coming off a substandard effort against Brampton, Wcnzei saved Milton's bacon for two periods with key glove saves and outstanding bottomn shelf coverage. He waa beaten by Ryan Eby and captain Matthew Dzieduszycki on two big defensive miscues. After shaking off their early rink rust, Lee, McPhail and Steve French led an effective penaity kiiling unit that thwart- cd eight Charger powerplays. Merchants notes: Troy Walczak has coliected points in ail five regular season games ..Milton has given up just three powerplay goals on 29 penalties ... Milton hosts the winless Georgetown Raiders tonight (Fniday) at 8 p.m. Milton needs to step up a notch Milton's Action Utility Trailer 'A' major mtoins opened their season with back-to-back iosses, dropping decisions to Orangeviile (6-5) and Fergus (7-1). The defending Tri County champions have moved into the tougher Harrison Diviaion and wiil need to step things up in order for continuedl succeas. Goalie Mike Sanders backstopped the Winterhawks in their 1997/98 opener with Orangeviile. The seesaw battle saw Milton crase a two-goal deficit before surrendering three more goals and their iock on the gamne. esee SEESAW on page 19 Jeremny Wenzel Ching sings those blues The Spectrum Airways AA major ban- tams broke into the win column with authority Sunday, destroying the Chinguacousy Blues 7-1. .Milton spotted their hoats a one-goal Iead before completely blanketing their attack.* It wasn't long before a Iow scoring affair would tum into a blowout - and a night for stats packiing. Leading the way in this department with a hat-trick and an assist was star Winger Jordan Jeans. Kris Beai tallied twice and drew one helper himseif while Derek Mewhinney and Bryan Shaw contributedl singles. Mike Austen, Shawn McConnell, Jacob Vanderbreggen and Chris Wulfers each posted two assista. Chris Kovachik was steady yet relativeiy idie in the cage, turn- ing aside 13 shots. Beal and Vanderbreggen set up Dave Kornack Saturday in Burlington, for Milton's only goal in a 4-i losa to the feisty Qulers. The hometown crew salted the game away with two unanswered goals in the third period. NE SE OCEi.UPMN 2