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The Canadian Champion, Friday, February 6, 1998 -25 S PORTS e ir Merchants arec struggling in bone dry speli By STEVE LeBLANC Special ta The Champion Our word for the day, boys and girls, is mediocrity - brought to you by the Jr. A Merchants. Srnce turning back Rayside- Balfour three weeks ago, Milton has struggled just ta keep their heads above water. They've lost three of their last seven gamnes and haven't beaten an above .500 team over that stretch. Team president Gregg Camrgan says a lack of motiva- tion is largely ta blame for his club's recent woes. "The one ray of hope though is how *we beat Rayside- Balfour, our toughest challenge in the past eight games," he remarked. "But we stili need twa wins and a tie to clinch irst place and we're not looking like a team that's snifting out a championship." Tuesday night the Merchants dropped their seventh game of the season and first ta Hamilton, in a 5-4 decision at Mountain Arena. At a time when they should have al their ducks in a row, in preparation for playoffs, Milton was hampered with a substan- dard powerplay and terrible defence. Visîting rearguards were caught up ice half-a-dozen times. The Kilty Bees scored on three of these occasions, twice while sborthanded. A short-range snapshot by Steve French and wraparound by Kevin Crowe erased an early deficit but twa more goals against Daniel Jacques put Hamilton ahead for good. Even after Bees captain Ed McGrane sank an empty net insurance marker at 19:34 ai the third,. Merchant coachi Marty Williamsan refused tc admit defeat. He called a time out with 20 seconds left and sent out Frenchi and captain Jeff Haydar, who had each scored earlier on. His late showing of faitb was rewarded when French popped one in from a goalmouth scramble with six seconds remaining. A miracle last-second came- back was not ta be, as Milton lost a final centre ice draw, but Carrigan admired his skipper's determinatian. He stressed, "Absalutely it was the right mave. You always keep gaing right up ta the buzzer." Jacques put a first-periad clearing pass right on the wait- ing stick of Shawn Baltzer, wbo had only ta float a high wrist shot inta the visitors' abandaned cage. The Merchant goalie did set- te down after that and stapped 19 of 22 shots over the final two frames. Counterpart Jamie Bachorski came up witb the saves he needed ta, 'but was relatively untested througbaut the open- ing 30 minutes. Jeff Haydar caried the ban- ner for his family - with kid brother Darren held scoreless - potting a goal and two assists. Linemate Ron Baker drew a 1pair of helpers and upped bis point-total ta 95. Scoring for the Bees were Armes with twa and Baltzer, McGrane and Marc Gauvreau witb singles. > Milton now sits at 39-7-1 and *enjoyed a fîve-point cushion on first place prior ta last night's iBramptan-Streetsville battle. tMerchant notes: Goalie f Jeremy Wentzel is expected iback in action this weekend, recavered from knee trouble. R *.4*r41à M 1um ý a Hgh flying Darren Haydar (airborne against OakviIIe scholarship last week. He will play in New Hampshire. recently) has pild Up points ail season and secured a Photo by PETER TH-OMPSON Over one week, it ail came together for Darren Haydar By STEVE LeBLANC Special ta The Champion The smile said it ail. It was not unlike the one Darren (Mini) Haydar bas womn most nigbts tbrougbout is sophomore season witb the Milton Merchants. Only this particular grin stretcbed a little wider - just as satis- faction lying behind the I 8-year-olds' eyes ran a littie deeper. Saturday evening in Georgetown, ,iumber 17 became the Merchants' all-time single season scoring leader - with a fOve- point performance ta move past Jamie Janjevicb and is 127- point record. As was the case wben be reacbed the century mark last month, for the second time in as many seasons, Mini surpassed Janjevic's benchmark with a goal - an upstairs backband at 7:38 of the first ta be precise. The Provincial League scoring leader isn' t 100 per cent sure wbat's made hlm so successful this season, but does state that baving talented teammates and a igber level of confidence bas sometbing ta do with it. His number one fan and number one set-up man have ibeir own thearies. "here's no doubt that be's mucb stronger this year. He wins mare one-on-one battles," said father Frank. Centering a line with Mini off and on ibis season, Kevin O'Flaherty has often spoken about the right winger's amazingly quick release - noting "passing is what 1 do best and there' s nobody better ta pass ta than Darren. "Because he' s so talented bis strong work ethic is sqmnetimes overlooked, but is nevertbeless another factor (in bis success)." Wbatever the reason - or reasons - Mini bas bolted into the league's record books in a major way. Witb four games remaining he sits second on the ail-tme goal scorers' list witb 65, still enjoying an outside shot at first (75), and ranks seventb in total points with 132. He's also one of only five players, and the first for Milton, ta ever post consecutive 1 00-point seamons - an accomplishment of wbicb be is most proud. "I guess it shows my consistency. 1 tbink that's the ane see HAYDAR on page 27