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PS a adhe. ag X50 8d Str RE rg Li SATE. LW Ps To =) ad oe L oi Lo - te FWA a Tre BETA eS > 2 Tn vy, EE hh) hn i NR ERG SRA We - Ta o AE ay Fh) NA Tv MEET Lee AY SAD, 12 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Wednesday, July 2, 1980 Sports with Danny Millar With Major Jr. A Knights Port Perry's George Burnett likes London Knights forward George Burnett by Danny Millar '""He's our designated forward," says London Knights coach Bill Long. "He fits in and never hurts you. That's the best part. You know he's going to do a good job." The 'designated forward' that Coach Long speaks of is 18-year old George Burnett, a well known hockey player who performed in Port Perry for ten years. Burnett was selected in the fourth round in the Ontario Hockey Asso- ciation's midget draft a year ago and spent the winter playing three forward posi- tions for the Knights of the Major Junior league. Burnett had a total of 30 points last season, scoring 15 goals and the same number of assists. For the last quarter of the year he was used as a substitute. In the early going he played a full shift because of injury problems that plagued the team, including one to high scorer Frank Nigro, who was taken in the National Hockey League Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs a summer ago. When the big name players returned, Burnett returned to a spot he is unaccustomed to - the bench. He had no complaints, though, saying he did not expect to see ice time ahead of them. Early draft choices Dave Simpson and Chris McCauley were the only first year players who saw more ice time than Burnett. : by Bob Hermann JUNIOR DIVISION June 24 in Caesarea saw Turner's Green Giants defeat David's Hairstyling 16 to 10, giving the Giants their 2nd win out of three starts. It was catch-up ball for the Giants but they whittled away at Davids lead inning by inning. With Mike Haines tightening up his pitching, several base hits and a home run by Eldon Jackson, the Giants assumed the lead to clinch the victory in the last couple of innings. Thompson's Village Market is three for three as they continue their winning streak by upsetting Davies Auto Body in what seemed to be a batter's hay day by a .score of 32-22. The win for Thompson's was attribyted to the consistent good field- Hurricanes shut out Pickering in soccer action by Cathy Collins The Homestead Furniture Hurricanes played a super game Thursday night at Port Perry by shuting out the Township of Pickering, John Carpet Sales, 3 goals to nothing. Joanne Skerrat scoring the first goal taking the ball up the field from Centre half all by herself. Terrie O'Neal scoring two in the second half. Clearing the ball well on the defence was Kim Norton and Lisa Butter. Running well on the forward line was Sandra Liston. Nicky McAllister and Jill Parry who all helped to give Marita Kerston her first shut out in goal. Next game at Ajax playing to Ajax Flower Shop on July 3 game time 6:30 p.m. artwright Minor Softhall ing by Paul Allen and numerous home runs by Gord Ireland, Kevin Gibson, Shawn Hoskin and David Akkerman. The winning pitcher was Greg Stapleton. At Nestleton a battle between the two local teams as Don Frew and Sons Ltd. traded runs with Marj. Tripp Real Estate. Tripp Real Estate had the edge up to the top of the sixth but relinquished their lead in the bottom of the inning when Frew batted in three runs and giving up only one run in the top of the 7th to win it 12 to 11. The winning pitcher for Don Frew and Sons was Karon Vertolli. SENIOR DIVISION Caesarea Fish and Chips hosted the Port Perry Kins- men on Wednesday June 25 at Caesarea. Strong pitching by Kevin Ferguson and good fielding proved to be too much for Caesarea as they were shut down 21 to 11. The majority of runs for Kinsmen came in the top of the 4th with home runs and RBI's by Jay VanCamp and Kevin Ferguson. Kinsmen are 2 for 2 thus far. Over in Blackstock we saw the biggest win ever as Haines Esso ran away with the game trouncing Breezy Acres 44 to 2. The strong hitting with home runs by Andrew Goss, Anita Haines, Carol Leverenz, three by Preston Denault and three by David Sandy is a reflect- ion of the 44 runs but more significant is that they only gave up 2 runs. This a real tribute to the sharp fielding and accurate pitching by both Preston Denault and Carol Leverenz of Haines Esso. The tightest game of the week was between All Flags Shell and Marlow Feeds in Nestleton Wednesday night. With Marlow's having a bye last week this was their first game of the season and they gave it their all but were edged out by All Flags 11 to 10. All Flags Shell took the lead in the bottom of the 1st and retained it right through to the top of the 7th making it unnecessary to take their last bat. This match was a pitcher's duel with the honours going to Clyde Brewster and Steven Hudson of All Flags Shell. Burnett and his father Jim attended the draft meeting last year, and George went into it hoping that he would be chosen by the Knights. He was in luck because London owned two picks in the fourth round, and they used the first one to select his (playing) rights. He was taken just behind Simpson and Mec- Cauley. HOPED FOR LONDON The biggest reason that Burnett wanted to go to London was because he had heard from local players Eddie Olsen, Barry Heard and Basil McCrae that it was a good organization. It turned out to be true. "Bill Long and everybody in the whole management treated me great," says the designated forward. "It couldn't have worked out any better for me," Burnett says. He pointed out that if he had been selected by a closer team, say Oshawa or Peterborough, then he wouldn't have been able to concentrate on hockey enough, because he would be so close to home. Long and the team management have plans for Burnett to step into a full time role next year when the likes of McCrae, Dino Cicarelli, and Nigro move on. "Hopefully I'll be able to pick up the slack the big shooters left." There may be a hitch in the plans though, because Long has publicly indicated that he may move upstairs and take over solely as general manager. But Burnett isn't worried, saying 'If there's a new coach I'm going to have to prove myself that much more." He says he didn't really have much trouble adjusting to the change in lifestyle of London from Port Perry. He missed being near his family and friends, which in his own words, "is natural". The biggest aspect that he missed was his basketball playing. He was an excellent Zoet named to Olympic squad Port Perry native Jim Zoet was named to the Canadian Olympic basketball team in Montreal on Thursday, June 26. Of course, the team will not be making the trip to Moscow because of the Olympic boycott. Zoet played basketball at Port Perry High School under coach Arend Dekker. He has been touring with the national team for several years. He also spent time playing in Europe. Members of the team will be meeting in Toronto in forward a year ago, the highest scorer and reboun- der with the Port Perry High School junior team. He didn't play on the school basketball team because he couldn't make the daily practices, what with playing hockey and all. He did have a chance to compete on the golf squad, leading the school to a 3-3 record. Burnett says that working with the golf team gave him '"'a chance to play many of the courses in the London area." This summer "I'm just going to play as much as I can," he added. Burnett's golf playing time will be cut down as he is working as a recreation counsellor at St. John's School in Uxbridge until he goes back to southern Ontario in the fall. "I always had good coach- ing," he said in recollecting his Port Perry days. He called 1976 his best minor hockey year when Doug Scott led his Bantam team to the provincial champion- ships. That win 'opened doors" for him. He was able to get tryouts with bigger, out of town teams after that. Two years ago he starred with the Newmarket Flyers of Tier Two Junior A league. His marks in school did not suffer this year by the exten- sive travel. They were on the semester program there so Burnett could use the extra time during spares to study or catch up on his sleep. In fact he claims he missed more school during his last year at Port Perry High School, where he combined basketball, golf and hockey, than he did this year. George will complete his grade 13 graduation dip- loma next year and if he remains in London will attend the University of Western Ontario, at the expense of the OHA. Because of the NHL's decision last year to allow the selection for under-age (Turn to page 13) August for an awards banquet. There they will be given a team uniform and possibly a special medallion that the Canadian Olympic Association is considering striking to commemorate the occasion. Zoet and other Olympic team members were selec- ted through the normal channels just as if Canada was sending a team to Moscow. Had the plans gone through they would have attended a pre-Olympic training camp in West Germany. AZ %