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F 26 - The Canadian Champion, Fniday, November 9, 2001 Fmt se up (m)U2 tM AdM Divers Merchants spanked <~by steel-town rivais Team suffers disastrous ti-p to Hamilton By STEVE LeBLANC The Champion The Merchants choked down another bitter pili of reality in Hamilton Monday. Hammered 9-2. Milton suffered anoiber painful rerninder of jusi boss far they sijill bave to go hefore legitimately challenging the West Conference front-runners. It was s'ety disappoiniing.' said bead coach Dave Gagner. "Man-to-man we iiîst wereîî't able to contain them. We've got to work on soute tlîiîgs iii order to starn miniîîîtLîng iteir chances. The Mercliants stere paticularly tîteffective ai slîuîiing dosvî their bosis'top line -whicb exploîicd Sean Samuel for fisc eoals. rl'ie rîîokîe puck stopper iurned back 13 of 15 firsi-period shots bcfoie the flood- gales ivere busted wide opetn. Offensivelv. Miltloti generaied plenty of scoring chances but exlîibited halte f inish ,tid were lield under the tbree-goal mark for the seventb time titis season. Jason Harshaw and Justin Natircss scored laie powerplay goals, while assisi- ing on both efforts was Rick Janco. Single helpers went to Michel Bond and Jacob Vanderbreggen -who picked tmp his second point since joining hjs homne- town club laie lasi month. Progress touch and go While Milton lias shown signs of improvement sinice its whole-sale coachîing changes, setbacks like ihe (one iii Hamniltoin Monday haventi exactly been rare - sorneîhiig that concerns -We need to sui gettîng a con- sistent effort oui ot escryrtue. Then we cati work on tactical inistaikes.* Anytbing resembling at saiisfactory effort should be enough for- the local juniiors Io mlaintain their playofl spot over the nexi isso weeks -during svhich they do haîtie wiîb the division's boitom tbree teans. Befytre thai tbey 'll play Iîost tUt ex-assis- tant coach Mike Kalapaça aîîd the Georgetown Raiders tonighi. ,vKala pac%-%a joins Raiders Photo by GRAHAM PAINE 'Skimming the surface Kristen Mcllray surfaces for air while competing in the 12 ta 1 8-year-old women's 1 00-metre backatroke during Sunday's Milton Marlin Fali Invitational Swim Meet ut the Milton Leisure Centre. For meet resuits, see page 27. Milionian Mike Kalapaca wiil be back behind the bench ai Memorial Mena tonigbî - only ibis tinte around ii'll be with ihe visitors. Lessthan a inontb after being axed by thse Merchants - alongaide skipper Glenn Walsh snd feilow assistant Dan Sales - Kalapaca bas been bired as tse new bead coach of the neigbbouring Georgetown Raiders. Tlhe West Conference rnaisiay, wbo spent several yeara bebind Use Sireetsville bencb before joining the Merchanis' for Useir division tile ton hast year, wiil take over for inierimn coacb Charlie Hatnan - who beld Use reigns foliowing John Frencb's release. Milton, Georgetown sud Streetsville ail flred Useir coach- es wiibin a iwo-week period in October. E"Stcs. lae 01 INllIIHAIV 78u8111 629 Main St. E. Milton- * Mits Kalapaca SPORTS