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I should have guessed it the minute I walked in. Few smiles, a couple of curt hellos, and then a voice from the side corridor. "I don‘t believe a word you say. Sure it was just an ardent fan, something we in this profession have to deal with in our daily writings But that offâ€"theâ€"cuff comment, joke or no joke, was just the tip of the iceberg. I was soon to find out Sunâ€" day at Waterloo arena that the intense cold was not entirely generated by the brutal weather outside. All right. T‘ll disâ€"pense with the susâ€"pense. More than one individual connected with Waterloo Siskins seemed irked by the supposition made on these pages last week that Stratford Cullitons could conceivably wrap up the Midwestern Ontario Junior B pennant by midâ€"January For some peculiar reason, the statements made were obviously interpreted as a personal affront to Siskins ability. Which they were not meant to be. Good heavens. for the vast majority of the time, this year‘s Waterloo Siskins have been and no doubt will continue to be one of the most exciting and enterâ€" taining units iced locally since the glory days of Bobby Schnurr, Mark Thiel, Dean Woefle, Barry Musselman and the boys in the midâ€"seventies They play it hard, they play it clean (for the most part), and they play it adroitly, the way it should be played with accent on offense yet with enough defense emphasized to stay out of trouble It‘s fun to watch, even when those mysterious thirdâ€" period lapses have contributed to the greyâ€"hair count on coach Jack Egers‘ head. In fact. as I‘ve gone on record before as saying,. when played to its capabilities, there is no better game in town than Junior B hockey. _ That‘s why this column is not an apology about anyâ€" thing. or to anyone. As far as I‘m concerned. what was said in last week‘s story stands Waterioo Siskins will not win the Midwestern Junior B league title this year â€" unless they beat Stratford TERRIFIC TRIO: Waterloo Siskins highâ€"scoring line of Grant Musselâ€" man (16), Brad Lund (behind Musselman) and Dana Saunders, (in backâ€" ground) provided nightmares for Listowel goalie Kevin Newbigging Rick Campbell Whoa! No one is criticizing Siskins Veq vo t rpw 6e Cullitons in the two remaining games between the But just a reminder for those who might have missed it â€" that hypothesis was not laid down by me, but by Stratford coach Jack Nairn. I just happen to agree with him. clubs You have to go back to 1974â€"75 to find the last year Siskins won the B pennant, in the then Waterloo Wellington loop. What‘s happened since then, you might ask. The next year, Cullitons joined the league, and have finished in first place ever since. Granted,. Siskins came up with a super eff&'t in 1976 to beat Stratford in the playoffs and go on to become provincial semiâ€" finalists, but not once in the past four seasons have Siskins finished ahead of Cullitons in the standings. There have been some good Waterloo teams in that span, and some not so good. But the main reason why Cullitons have maintained the upper hand is because in headâ€"toâ€"head competition with Waterloo, Stratford has proved to be superior. Just like what has happened this year. Siskins have played some simply outstanding hockey against the Festival City club, yet have two out of a possible eight points to show for it. _ At this Tuesday am. writing, Waterloo was five points behind Stratford at 17â€"5â€"2 with one game in hand on the 19â€"3â€"3 Cullitons. I could hear the gales of laughter coming from the bowels of Waterloo arena last week when the torrid Elmira Sugar Kings knocked off Cullitons. That‘s fine, but the odds were in someone‘s favor to end Stratford‘s unbeaten streak (16 games) sometime soon anyway. And there will be nights in the future when the redâ€"hot Siskins suffer a similar fate. Since the beginning of November, Siskins have lost twice, once to Cullitons and once when they blew a big lead at home to Owen Sound. Over the same period of time. Cullitons have lost just the once. So it is easy to Which makes the summit meetings in January beâ€" tween the two clubs so important. â€" â€" Sunday night, as Musselman sets to pot his first of three goals. in acâ€" companying column. sports editor Rick Campbell says these three players comprise without a doubt the strongest line in the Junior B. see by projecting a similar pattern over the rest of the season, Siskins would in fact lose ground unless they beat Stratford. The ironic twist is, I think this year‘s Siskin club is more capable of dunking Stratford than any other in the past four years. O o They may not have the brilliance of a Don Beaupre in goal, but by allowing only one goal in two weekend games, Ed Takamatsu has helped boost his mates Dave Barrett and John Conrad and himself into seâ€" condâ€"place in the goals against department â€" behind Stratford â€" 10 goals behind. which isn‘t bad at all On defense Eric Calder has blossomed tremendousâ€" ly along with Tom Abbott and they combine with the robust Craig Frank and Wilf Rellinger and eager rooâ€" kie Todd Loveday to give Waterloo a solid blueline. Up front Siskins were dealt a big blow through the loss of Brad Schnurr (hernia operation ) but the recent acquisition of university castoffs Bob Hague and Jeff Clark, both averaging at least a point a game. has helped fortify tremendously. It goes without saying that the best line in the leaâ€" gue is composed of Waterloo‘s Dana Saunders, Brad Lund and Grant Musselman. It seems it is not whether Muss will score but when, as he is comfortably at the top of the scoring race with Saunders lodged in seâ€" Lund is also in the top 10 averaging two points per while the inspirational play of youngsters Mike Copâ€" polino and Roy Russell has also lifted th(; c‘lubA o â€" Yup, in terms of overâ€"all balance and depth, this year‘s edition of Waterloo Siskins appears to have everything going for it. _ e I suppose there are those who claim finishing first in league action is of little importance as long as you come out on top in the playoffs. And to a certain exâ€" tent, 1 agree. But the only thing that Siskins do not have going for them this year is a statistical advantage over Stratâ€" ford. Oh, and as a result. a psychological advantage Who was it said 90% of the game is in the mind?