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> se rl ti wl alii " I Ee --------. a a SRI A 22 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, January 4, 2000 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" the lop line Jor your truck 1670 Simcoe St., N. 579-6868 caps and lids Van & Truck World. "Canada's Premier Accessory Centres" 1051 Brock Rd.. S. 426-5509 www.vanandtruckworid.com . un POOR PLAY: Things didn't get any better for the Port Perry Mojacks last Sunday night (Jan. 2) when they dropped a 9-4 decision to the Lakefield Chiefs, the same squad who humiliated them 14-0 only a few days earlier. After a promising December that saw the team string CHRIS HALL / PORT PERRY STAR standings, the team has since began a downwards spiral, collecting just one point in their last eight games. Coach Tom Thornbury hopes to straighten his squad out tonight in practice before they host the Bobcaygeon Bullets on Thursday and travel to Uxbridge on Friday. The annual together a number of decent games and a lift in the All-Star Games will be held Saturday and Sunday. MoJacks taking a beating It's been a rough Holiday Season for the spiralling Mojacks who followed up a 14-0 drubbing in Lakefield with a 9-4 loss to those same Chiefs Sunday night By John B. McClelland Port Perry Star Port Perry MoJack's head coach Tom Thornbury will try to lighten things up this week when his guys hit the practice ice, even though the team has staggered through its last four games, taking just one of a possible eight points. "We're going to have some fun (at practice Tuesday night) and at the same time work on a few things that need some work. There's no point in skating them to death now," said Thornbury after the Mo)acks suffered a 9-4 loss on home ice Sunday night to the first-place Lakefield Chiefs. The Chiefs, who have lost just once this season, have owned the MoJacks in six outings, winning all six including several by lop-sided scores. Coach Thornbury is looking ahead to this Thursday and Friday evenings when the Mojacks play two hugely important games that he hopes will put an end to the bleeding that took place over the Christmas-New Years holiday. "We need to get back on track, back to where we were 10 games or so when we put together a pretty good (winning) streak," he said. The MoJacks host Bobcaygeon this Thursday night (Jan.6) and Friday they travel to Uxbridge to meet the Bruins. In the coach's mind, these are two critical hockey games for the Port Perry Mojacks, a team with a delicate confidence level right now. That's why he plans to let them have some fun (and work hard, as well) at practice this week. It's just not the time to be pouring on the mustard. In Sunday night's game against the well-oiled Chiefs, the MoJacks allowed the visitors to open a 4-0 lead in a first period marred by several scuffles and player ejec- tions. The MoJacks put up a spirited effort in the second frame to claw their way back into the game, and at one point had cut the lead to 4- 2. But fine netminding by the Chief's Ryan Riel, some very erratic shooting by the MoJacks and an "unfortunate bounce off a linesman's skate prevented the Mojacks from catching the visitors. Adam Jones got them started at 1:28 of the second when he pumped home a rebound with help from Dale Drummond and Shane Norton. Two minutes later on a power play, Norton fired a pass through the Chief crease that bounced off a defender's skate and the lead was cut in half, 4-2. Drummond and Jeff Clarke got the assists. The Chiefs ran into several minor penalties and the Mojacks took the opportunity to buzz all around the net, but they could not get one by Riel who has a very quick glove hand and acrobatic style. The visitors took full advantage of a puck that hit the linesman at centre ice and bounced directly on a Chief stick for a two-on-one break against Jeff Mackie. That goal made it 5-2 and really beat the wind out of the MoJack"s efforts to fight back into the game. An example of the kind of ill for- tune the MoJjacks had occurred late in the period when Riel went wan- dering from his cage and Adam Jones found himself with the puck in the slot with a gaping net. His Turn to Page 23 La rge... do Port Perry's Todd Healey takes a look at today' Ss world of sports Hitting the target, and your goals With the turn of a page, a new 'millennium ushers in countless lists: the best of the year, the best of the century, the best of the best of the century and so on ad nauseum. But for all their materialistic, nostalgic, and capitalistic overtures, these lists give us something that we need and that is a targetto set our goals upon; a bar at which greatness rests. 'Hockey has of course not been immune to-such lists, nor has it been spared the inevitable "sugges- tions" on how to make the game even better in the next century. :: Let me tell you: a story. 'When I was a kid, | bugged after harrassing him to the point of insanity, he. relented and agreed to teach me how to shoot. Aftera lengthy speech on gun safety, he handed the 22 over with what must have been cautious dread, I 'was about 40 yards away from the target, and after observing proper safety rules, loaded, aimed and remembering to exhale and squeeze, not pull, the trigger, fired. Missed. No, not just missed. Missed by a mile, missed. Didn't even hit the target paper, missed. "Maybe you should move up a bit," offered my dad, biting his lip. = Ok; so twenty yards seemed much more inviting anyway. | steadied the barrel, looked down the iron sight, lined up the bead (hence the term "getting a bead on it") on the end of the barrel and squeezed off another round. Nothing. Not a mark on it. Now | was beside myself. How could I be missing by that much from that close? My dad instructed me to do all the things I would do if | were going to fire the 'gun, without loading it, and he would watch to see if I was doing something obviously wrong. It turns out that | was. As | was taking aim, my dad said, "hold it. You've got the wrong eye shut!" Which I did. Instead of looking down the sight, | was looking across it. To this day, | have to fire a gun lefthanded because I can't close my right eye. The point is this: As long as we are all aiming at the same target, we will eventually hit it, and those of us who keep missing will be shown how by those with better aim and more knowledge. Hockey has been given targets by the kids who play it and the fans who watch it. Let's hope the powers-that-be who are running hockey can see with one eye closed. and bugged my dad to let me start hunting and Maple Lodge Atoms trounce Bowmanville for the "D" title The Port Perry Maple Lodge Atom team travelled to Peterborough for an Atom House League Tournament on December 28, 1999, and came home as the 'D' champions. In the first game, the boys came out flat and were defeated 7-2 by St. Alphlonus "A". Scoring for Port were Steven Larmer from Brent Henry and Mark Gibson, and the second goal was by Tommy Whiteway, assisted by Jesse Durward and Dustin Parker. In game #2, Port played a Northminster C team. Port opened the scoring in the first period at 43 sec Turn to Page 23