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Thursday‘s opening game will be a battle of teams from sea to sea as defending champion University of Victoria Vikings meet St. Mary‘s Huskies of Halifax at 7 _ Then at 9, the host Warriors meet the Brandon University Bobâ€" cats in opening round play. _ _ Vikings, Bobcats and Warriors are ranked first, second and third, respectively. Huskies are ranked fifth. *"The right teams are here," said Warrior coach Don McCrae, who knows the action has to be fastâ€" paced from the start. "The semiâ€"finals in almost all tournaments are the best," said McCrae. "Out of the two games, you‘re going to get a dandy, guaranteed." Consolation final is Friday night at 9 p.m., the same night an allâ€"Canadian team will be anâ€" nounced. The CIAU championship game is set for Saturday at 2 p.m. Vikings, who advanced from regional play with an 83â€"67 pasting of the Alberta Golden Bears, have to be considered the favorite. They Steve Atkin (55) has the reach but teammate Paul Boyce is in front of him as two Warriors try for offensive rebound during exhibition game against Toronto Estonia. o Steve Atkin, Peter Savich and Paul Van Oorshot generally lead Warriors, who lately have had good walkâ€"on performances from a number of players. We have enough players who come to the front and lead us," said McCrae, "but we have some players whose play is erratic. But to have a number of players come forward like that is a good qualiâ€" ty." Warriors enter the national finals coming off an 86â€"66 loss to Toronto Estonia, one of the best senior clubs in the country. The game Saturday night saw Estonia solve Warriors‘ offence and cause frequent turnovers. *‘"What we took out of that game is a reminder that we have to be firing on all pistons to be successâ€" ful," said McCrae. This is the sixth time Warriors have been to the CIAU final under the guidance of McCrae. They won in 1975 and have finished third three times. Richard O‘Brien photo Waterioo Tiger president Paul Puncher (left) tries a Tiger hat on new field manager Wray Upper Monday. With Upper now on board, Tigers can focus their attention on fielding an exciting, competitive club for the fastâ€"approaching 1983 season. Rick Campbell photo Survival Backed into a corner, Tiger fighting instinct helps keep Iâ€"C club afloat Chronicle staff _ The news of his signing has to be an ‘"Upper.‘‘ If for no other reason, it offers a huge ‘"Wray‘" of hope for a club drifting sans rudder all winter iong. Rick Campbell But you can bet that by signing Wray Upper as their field manager for the 1983 season, Waterloo Tigers are looking for much, much more than a "Pun"ching bag for headline writâ€" What they‘re looking for is a downâ€"toâ€"earth, grass roots baseball man to turn the onâ€"field operation of the Interâ€"County Major Baseball League club around â€" and to spend several hours in the same room as Upper is to know that‘s exactly what Tigers have landed. The announcement today of Upper‘s signing, effectively ends weeks and even months of speculation as to the future of the local unit, which was as late as last week prepared to ask the Iâ€"C Major executive for a year‘s leave of absence to reâ€"group. But strong encouragement from a players‘ faction early last week at a group meeting and the relentless beating of the bushes by Tiger president Paul Puncher finally proved fruitful when Upper agreed to come aboard. With the club in capable hands and players indicating their strong desire to make a go of it, Puncher is now confident of the team‘s future as it prepares to open an early April training camp. _ Because of the signings, Puncher Tuesday notified league commissioner Reuben Halpern of Kitchener that an emergency league meeting scheduled for later that night would not be necessary. Presumably, Tigers were ready to ask the league for a year‘s leave of absence. Bob Schnurr, the third of three Tiger managâ€" ers last season, indicated both last fall and as late again as a board of directors meeting Feb. 28 that due to commitments he could not tackle the job again. Tigers were 10â€"24 in regular season play last season, but played some of their most inspired ball in years in advancing to league semifinals before being ousted by Toronâ€" to. ‘"We had really gone full circle with this thing,‘" said Puncher, who all winter long conducted an exhaustive search for both a general manager and field manager. ‘‘And to be fair to everyone concerned, to the league, to our players, to our board, to our fans, we felt it imperative to come forward with our probâ€" lems...we just didn‘t see how we could operate a Upper will be joined by Don Oberholzer in the capacity of coach. Oberholzer, long a familiar baseball man in Waterloo, has most recently helped coach Waterloo Junior Expos. club under the cireumstances.‘"‘ So on Friday, March 4, at a full meeting of the Tiger board, a decision was ‘"extremely" reluctantly made to ask for permission to uwnd operations for the upcoming season. ‘"We were basically facing the reality of the situation â€" but that‘s not to say there weren‘t people on the executive who kept working on a hope against hope basis," said Puncher. _ _ After Halpern was notified of the club‘s intentions and called a meeting for Tuesday night, some Tiger players rallied together at a meeting 10 days ago with several directors and indicated strong interest to continue efforts to keep the season alive. Puncher then called another board of direcâ€" tors meeting for last Sunday, where he was given unanimous approval in rescinding the previous week‘s decision to not operate â€" and was also given full blessings to sign the former Iâ€"C star as field manager. "The players showed a definite interest in working on behalf of the club to make a go of it...it gave us some reason for optimism," said Puncher. Upper, who reportedly was sought out by Tigers‘ late owner Merle (Champ) Glassford when the club returned to Iâ€"C competition in 1978, brings with him a wealth of Interâ€"County experience in the playing, coaching and scouting ranks spanning a period of 24 years. Primarily a third baseman with Galt Terriers, he also toiled in Kitchener and Brantford after a threeâ€"year stint in the New York Giant organization from 1950â€"52. That optimism swelled Tuesday night when a former Iâ€"C operator, an individual for which Puncher has the utmost respect, pointed in Upper‘s direction. Continued communication led to his agreement to take the club. manager was signed _ , Upper was already on the phone making contacts to get the ball He is a former record holder of six Iâ€"C marks, including most hits, runs, and total bases and for many seasons was voted to allâ€"star status in the league. The past few years he has been a scout with the Chicago Cubs organization. . _ "I had the chance to see Wray in his playing days and was always impressed by how hard and how well he played the game," said Puncher. ‘"He‘s dedicated, he has the leadership qualities a team looks for to build around, he was a cornerstoneâ€"type ball player who day in and day out came to the park to play ball and play it hard."‘ Of immediate concern is to make contact south of the border to bring the club vital support in the areas Tigers are lacking most, pitching and hitting. In the very meeting the Notes: Tigers are slated to open training camp April 9â€"10 at Bechtel Park, weather and grounds conditions permitting. They have an exhibition doubleheader May 8 at Bechtel against Toronto, and open their regular schedâ€" ule at home Sunday, May 15 against Toronto Maple Leafs...Tigers have expanded their baseâ€" ball committee to five from three, charging the group with the responsibility of conducting the managerial duties for both Tigers and the junior Expos, whom the senior club have taken under their wing.