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) www.durhamrcgion.com THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, JULY 21,2004 PAOC11 ©jt Canabian Statesman Clarington's Award-Winning Newspaper Since 1854 July 21,2004 infodurhamregion.i Paul Futhey â It's all about balance as /W Like most sequels, WHAII not likely to match original So the World Hockey Association, Association, Part Deux, is upon us. At least, we think it is.' Yes, thé WHA, which survived for seven seasons in the 1970s, is actually actually going to attempt to fill the professional hockey void as the National National Hockey League hurtles to a near-certain work stoppage in September. September. Hey, hey, W-H-A! Whatcha gonna do today? An optimist might smile serenely and point to the recent free agent and amateur drafts held this past weekend (after a one-week delay) as evidence the league is for real. A pessimist, pointing to rapidly mounting piles of evidence, would say; that like most sequels, this one looks like it could really suck. The fledgling league's defenders, who are-undoubtedly working very ' hard, can complain about negative press all they want. The incontestable incontestable reality, however, remains: As it is, currently constituted, this, league is begging, in the most pathetic pathetic way possible, to be made fun of. You see, this, set-up is just a wee bit disorganized. Forget about mundane mundane items like a schedule. Try figuring figuring out how many teams there are going to be first and just where they might play. By the way, Adam Berti was one of three Oshawa Generals snapped up in the WHA amateur draft held on Sunday in Niagara Falls. "I really didn't know anything about it," said Berti, property of the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL. Strangely, Berti had yet to actually actually hear from his new team when we spoke Monday. Whitby's Liam Reddox, an Edmonton Edmonton Oilers' draftee also selected by the Toros, hadn't heard from them either as of yesterday. Perhaps the Toros are too busy still looking for an arena, When the original WHA dropped the puck in 1972, the NHL owners held the upper hand on the labour scene. A nèw opportunity was being presented for players to ply their trade for significantly higher compensation. compensation. Generals' GM Brad Selwood was one of those players. In the early '70s, Selwood was a 25-year-old defenceman defenceman with the Toronto Maple Leafs making $27,500 Canadian. His bid for a $5,000 raise was soundly rejected by Harold Ballard. The New England franchise in the WHA came calling, offering a five-year deal worth $85,000 American American annually. Selwood bolted. He would stay for the entire seven-year run. "The WHA teams were an alternative alternative for players to make money," he points out. The original league went head-to- head against the NHL. This time, the new version appears to be overly reliant reliant on the NHL not being around: A foolhardy supposition, even with signs pointing to a lengthy work stoppage in a league where the bal- . ance of power in the labour battle has shifted significantly in the players' players' direction. Selwood says it would be foolish to ignore the goings-on with the new league, but acknowledges he harbours harbours serious doubts about its viability. viability. "It doesn't look good," he says. It certainly doesn't. Hey, hey, W-H-A ! Arc you gonna be OK? We know what a pessimist would say. And as for the optimist, well... \ 1 \ k\ IÏÊÊ :o( j ! | - • - - . 'iî-f- vwïàà; . ' ' " -, ^ ( -, kA <, Battle of the paperweights A.J. Groen/ The Canadian Statesman BOWMANVILLE - Blake Strong of the Clarington Gaels paperweight team tries to get past Whitby's Trent Rosza during a recent tournament held at the Garnet B. Rickard Recreation Complex. Green Gaels look to catch Lightning Jeffv ' ; McComb Open best-of-five conference final with Akwesasne at home this weekend .BY BRIAN MCNAIR Staff Writer CLARINGTON - It's likely now or never for the Clarington Green Gaels to get a grip on discipline problems. problems. Although able to overcome ongoing penalty trouble through the first two rounds of the junior B lacrosse playoffs, playoffs, the Green Gaels will probably not be so fortunate if they don't mend their ways in the Eastern Conference final, a . best-of-five series beginning Saturday in Bowmanville. That's because the Akwesasne Lightning is the team now standing between between the Green Gaels and a possible fourth Founder's Cup national title in the past seven years. The Lightning was the top team in the Ontario Lacrosse Association this season, sporting a 17-1-2 record and, led by stellar'goalie Daylan Adams, an impressive 6.3 goals-against average. In short, this is a team that will hurt you if given too many odd-man chances. When asked hovv important it Dodgers ■*CS: : Colin Baker would be to cut down on penalties for Saturday's opener and beyond, Green Gaels co-coach Jonas Derks responds quickly and succinctly: "Huge." "Any time you face a team that allows allows so few goals, one goal could be the difference," he adds. "They haven't scored too many goals this year, but their goaltender is one of the best goalies, if not in this league, then all of junior lacrosse." In fact, Akwesasne's offence isn't all that shabby, either. Paced by Brandon Francis's 91 points.and Andrew La- zore's 38 goals, the Lightning struck at a rate of 12.2 goals per game during the regular season, best in the conference. conference. The Green Gaels, by comparison, outscored their opponents by an average average of 12 to 7.3 while compiling a 14- 5-1 regular season record. "I think we're evenly matched," says Gaels general manager Doug Luey. "I think it will be a tough five- game series that could go either way. It's the same old thing for us: stay out of the penalty box." The Gaels did a decent job of such, on Friday, when they wrapped up their best-of-five league quarterfinal with an 8-7 win at Mimico in Game 4. Thanks also to a sweep of Markham in the divisional playoff, Clarington has needed just seven games to advance advance through two rounds. Akwesasne, meantime, has had more trouble than might have been anticipated, going the full five in the first round against Oakville and playing a hard-fought four-game series against Halton Hills. If Akwesasne's 10-9 overtime win in the lone regular season encounter on May 9 is any indication, this should be an interesting series. "I honestly believe we have a stronger team," says Derks. "When we're playing at our best,! think we've got the best team in the league." The Gaels will continue to rely on the likes of Jeff Tsuji and Shane Sargent Sargent for offence, Andy Glen and Marc Jackson for defence, Colin Baker's strong play at both ends and hot goalie Joel Weber to find success. Akwesasne opted to give Clarington Clarington the first two home dates - Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Garnet B. Rickard Recreation Complex.- Complex.- in order to host the remainder. Game 3 is Friday, July 30 at 8 p.m. and, if necessary, Games 4 and 5 the next two days at 8 p.m. and 2 p.m. respectively. respectively. ' The winner will face either Elora (17-3) or Spartan (17-3) in the league final. Whitby Warriors finish up in second spot, meet sixth place Lakers in quarterfinals BY BRIAN MCNAIR Staff Writer WHITBY - After a season of impressive impressive balance in the regular season season standings, the Whitby Warriors are hoping a balanced attack will reign supreme in the playoffs. The Warriors, who opened a best- of-seven junior A lacrosse quarterfinal quarterfinal against the Peterborough Lakers at home last night (after our deadline), deadline), will continue to spread the ball around to find success, success, says coach Jeff McComb. "I really liked our balance this year," says McComb, pointing out that 10 players had more I than 20 points and six had more than 19 goals during the 20r,i; game regular season. 1 ' . "For the most part, we've been pretty happy." The Warriors closed out a 14-6 campaign with a 10-9 overtime loss to Six Nations Sunday, a meaningless meaningless result since Whitby had already clinched second place, but one that still disturbed McComb. "The effort wasn't fully there," he says of a game he hoped would serve as a playoff tune-up. "We keep trying trying to drill into the kids that it's the little things that win games in playoffs." playoffs." McComb says his players must work harder for loose balls and commit commit to playing for the full 30 seconds each time the shot clock resets. If they do, he says, Whitby is fully capable capable of going the distance and heading west to vie for its first Minto Cup title since 1999. "With the league being so close, I think anyone who made the playoffs could win," McComb says. "I think it's the most balanced season in the past 20 or 30 years." Indeed, only eight points separated separated first-place Orangeville (15-4-1) and sixth-place Kitchener-Waterloo (11-8-1), while Peterborough and Brampton were both only two games below .500 at 9-11. As such, McComb is taking nothing nothing for granted against the Lakers, even if the Warriors finished 10 points ahead and swept the two head-to-head encounters during the regular season: 10-3 in Whitby May 18 and 12-11 in Peterborough June ; i y y m <r '.'A> w ti ' ira* Mike Pochwat/ The Canadian Statesman OSHAWA - Despite having hit a home run, Oshawa Dodger Tim Smith shows the disappointment disappointment of a 9-2 loss Saturday. BY PAUL FUTHEY Staff Writer LONDON - The Oshawa Dodgers have gone cold at the worst possible time of the season. Tire Intercounty League club is in a full-blown tailspin in the season's twilight twilight stage, losers of six straight heading into last night's game in Barrie (after our deadline) against the Baycats. "We're shooting ourselves in the foot," sighed manager Troy May. "Over and.over and over." The latest setback, a 5-4 defeat at the hands of tire London Majors on Sunday, had to be especially disheartening. Leading 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Dodgers watched in dismay as the Majors scored three runs to sweep the day's doublchcader in London. London. "We're not mentally tough right now" May said. "Something bad happens happens and we fold." "We're spinning our wheels looking lor that.bad thing to happen." London won the first game 6-2, spot- ting the Dodgers a pair of runs before scoring six unanswered. Matt Tosoni was tagged with the loss. The doubleheader sweep also meant London switched places in the standings, standings, with Oshawa dropping to seventh. With seventh place comes the unenviable unenviable prospect of facing the Brantford Red Sox or the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the playoffs. May refused to believe his club was mailing it in, pointing to the most recent one-run loss as an example. "That's one thing we're not doing," he said. "We're fight there. That's what's frustrating." NOTES: At home Saturday against the Kitchener Panthers, the Dodgers lost 9-2. Starter Scott Robinson was the hard-luck loser, pitching six innings, leaving with a 2-1 deficit. The Panthers jumped all over the Oshawa relief pitching, pitching, scoring seven runs in.the final three innings.,. In the 5-4 loss to London, Adam Clarke was tagged with the loss even though just two of the five runs lie gave up were earned. 4. "Anytime you get Whitby and Peterborough, Peterborough, it's that old rivalry," he says. "They're a typical Peterborough team where they have guys who can put the ball in the net." Shawn Evans in particular. He scored six goals in second meeting with Whitby and was second in league scoring with 44-35-79 numbers numbers in 19 games. "He's obviously going to be a focus for us," McComb says of Evans. . The Warriors will look to Zack Greer (35-41-76) and Josh Colley (19-43-62) to lead an offence that was best in the league with an average average of 10.5 goals per game and Rick Passfield to continue his fine play between the pipes. Whitby was a close second to Orangeville with a 7.2 goals-against average. Game 2 of the series goes tonight in Peterborough (8 p.m.), Game 3 at the Iroquois Park Sports Centre Friday Friday (8:30 p.m.) and Game 4 in Peterborough Peterborough Sunday (8 p.m.). If necessary, necessary, Game 5 Will be in Whitby Tuesday, July 27, Game 6 in Peterborough Peterborough July 28 and Game 7 in Whitby July 29, all at 8 p.m.