The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Huge test awaits Minor atoms C5ie nttasy goal was ai tiba Mi1toný lone Ol-Ler nopes 67s can upset rtdMlosA miraom an unbeaten round-robin tamr powediouse Peterborough once again ai ibis past weekend,, Niagara Tournanient. Anti thats ail dia Elgin Reit is boping history repeats itsel wbeni he ant ie thern ont of- tbe stitlinais as v% Ottawa 67is step 01110 tbe ice ai Peterborough Meinortai Fintshing tieti lot fourth C entre Tbursday ntiglt. \Vintierbawks justi nissed ativa Of tourse a sssecp of the po\verbouse Petes - like the one, ly vitîn of a tiebireaker - put Ottawa engtneereti tn ast yeat s E-aster n bearthreaking exclamation ina Conierence cbampionshtp - is 1b, ail dhiu Marebi Break performnante probability lar îoo rnch to expeci iron Ax i- C)oss t0 (laitngton ini tbe exgbîb plate 07s. two tlenied Milton entry to tht However, Reid anti tompany wer lotir. Nicholas Hlofînrlan stooi beavy uinderdlogs lasi spring as weii and ~-between tise pipes to keept tlidn't let that stop thent frorn claînutng scoreiess uii the dburci period. tbe conference titie and ant unexpected Sandwicbing ihis narrow t bertb to the Memoniai Cup. was a 2-i decisuon over Burlît And wbiie tbe experts are probabiy and a 4-2 win over Uxbridge. giving Ottawa even iess ebance of gel- Elgin Reid Connor Hailyburton backst ting by top-seeded Peterborougb in opening-round play tbis tbe \Vînterbawks 10 vietory in year, the 19-year-oid Milton defeneeman knows from per- games. sonal expenience tbat anytbungs possible. "Actuaiiy l'm glad we're piaying Peterborough instead of Barrie," said Reid, wbose 67s fînisbed oui a 29-31-5-3 regu- lar season witb a 5-4 sboot-out ioss to Sudbury Sunday after- noon. 'We piayed Peterborougb barder ibis year and know we can ai ieast compete witb tbem. Ottawa may be able to do more tban tbai, baving puied off baek-to-back eonvineing wins over tbe Petes - 5-1 and 5-0 - on borne ice midway îbrougb tbe season. But for tbe 67s to bave any bope of suceess, ibey'ii need to steai at ieast one game in Peterborought - wbicb tbey faiied to do in three trips tbere tbis year - and bring a more consistent effort tban tbey have for rnucb of the season. "We've got a younger team ibis year and iî takes a while for tbe young guys to develop tai mental maiunity ai ibis level, explained Reid, refemrng to bis teams up and down season. We ve jusi got to skate bard and hopefully take one there (in Peterborough) eariy Tbat would certainly be a buge confidence buider. Now an assistant captain, the rugged bluelîner is current- ly enboying the longesti njury-free stretch of bis major-junior career ahd finisbed the regular season wtb seven goals, 13 assisus and 118 penalty minutes in 53 games. Peterborought ended up 33 points ahead of tbe 67s and lost just ix times ai home. Game two is siated for Saturday evening in Ottawa. The Canadian Champion, Tueaday, March 21, 2006 - Al 9 Season runs April 30th - Xctober Wed. & Sunday nights @8:3Opm at Brookvilleaàrk - Guelph LUne 2 minutes north of Mohawk Siots $150. includes 2 year end banquet tickets g Moaw Inn 401 ggg OR CALL BERTAT 905-878-2908 OR GLENN TAYLOR 905-864-7003