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The Canadian Champion, Tuesday, January 29, 2002-17 SPORTS w - w - - - >Hawks grrounded Mifto, WhUsdIwk EM OiS C~o (et l*Q la robbs liVCoisdmf' *btmldo whls one of hie tmsets bu-' wmu en u opputwi (abou) duin 'x uvilw mma pWqy.f motlon oit Msmot~un«Aw Sgurdq WMto k.pt the nm"4eud soidboes, btt »0 .vm.mft* efImo* h i tu gemme efor (.Ig 34 sw*da Fo« U mee, s- pop1. Photos by ffA HAM PAINE Merchants cough up late lead against G'town By STEVE LeBLANC The Champion The Merchants got their point across against Georgetown Friday. Only problemi is, they should bave collected more than one. Milton laaked ta bave victory ail sown up with their regional rivaIs, but a three-goal cusbion quickly vanished in tbe fmnal five-and-a-half minutes of play - resulting in a 4-4 stalemnate and blawn oppartunity ta, stay aheari of the Raiders. The camneback draw and an overtime win over Streetsville Saturday allawed the neighbauring juniors ta catcb Milton in the race for fifth spot, that with juat one week remaining in the regular season ia now going dowo to, the wire. Trevor Battaglia and his defensive unit buck- led down the stretch after a rather solid showing Friday - which represented the firat game against former teammnate, turned Raider Shane Remenda, one of four mnembers (two players/twa coaches) of last year's conference championship squad now toiling with Georgetown. Rick Janca and Scott Malcolm led offensively with a goal and an assist each while also scoring for the hoats were Justin Nattress and standout rookie Ricb Meloche. Captain Dan Bognar and Tristan Senior potted two assists each. While Remenda was by and large a non-factor ni the fsrst encounter against bis foroser cohorts, he did pick up an assist on goal number two- which initiated the rally. Georgetown's Ryan Robert notched goals one and four on the night while singles went to Scott MacDonald and Wayne Powell. One night earlier in Brampton, Milton struck early but went to sleep in the second period and wound up losing 7-4. Two goals in the laat two mninutes of play - courtesy of a five-minute major and a pulled net- mninder - made things a littie more respectable, but were hardly part of any legitimnate comeback bid. Battaglia and understudy Ryan McManus toak tumns getting yanked, neither pmoviding much About the only bnight spot on the night was a two-goal effort by steadily-improving rookie Dan Carcillo, who was back fromn a two-game grass misconduct suspension. Bognar and David Ovcjak were the other marksmen, while standing out for Brampton with a hat-trick was Jason Vissar. Jeif Hrtowski made it a memorable night as well by potting his 5Oth and 5 1 st goals of the season. Milton begins a home-and-homne clash with Streetsville tonight at Vic Johnston Memorial Mena. Carcillo, Meloche and fellow freshman Shawn Mole wilI represent the teamn tomnorow at the annual Future Stars Gaine in Brasoalea. *