LP) 22 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, February 8, 2000 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice What's annoying us in the world of sports these days Winter just keeps drag- ging on, with no let-up in sight, which is enough to put this page in a grumpy mood (and you know what happens when this page is out of sorts). That's right. It's time to slag all those who annoy us in the world of sports. Let's start with those braying Leaf fans who keep paund- ing the war drum about Curtis Joseph being the league's MVP. Give your heads a shake. Did you see that charming Disney bit during the intermission of the All-Star game, the one where Howe, Gretzky and Lemieux traipse through the bush discussing hockey when lo and behold, they magically come upon a frozen pond with Jagr, Lindros, Bure, and Kariya playing shinny? The symbolic passing of the torch. I looked all over but I didn't see Curtis Joseph anywhere near that pond. Maybe he was the guy they got to shovel it off. And while we're at it, the Leafs aren't a legitimate Stanley Cup - contending team. | know, | know, they got by two injury-riddled teams to get to the Final Tour last year, but then when they met up with a healthy team in the Sabres, they can ride on an exercise bike in lieu of practice), on game day, he is allowed to skip morning shootarounds, and he gets to show up a half- hour later for games than the rest of the team. If the Dallas players really are a "team," they'll walk off the court the minute the circus were beat like rented mules. The Leafs just simply have far too many soft perimeter players who won't pay the price that must be paid to win in the playoffs. Period. The NBA just continues to shoot itself in the post-Jordan era, doesn't it? What does it say about the league when one of its teams recruits a 38- year-old out-of-work boozehound whose hard living has been tabloid fodder for his entire troubled career, a career which everyone in the free world thought was over? With the signing of Dennis Rodman, not only have the Dallas Mavericks made a mockery of the league, but have ripped apart every team-concept belief known to mankind. Where to start? Let's try Rodman's contract. There are claus- es in place to ensure that Rodman doesn't have to lower himself to practice with his "teammates" (he side-show that is Dennis Rodman steps on it. If the league can't or won't stop the owners from flagrant prostitution, then it's time for the Player's Association to stop playing the role of the pimp, because sooner or later, a line will be crossed that will eventually cost everyone in the sports their jobs. Finally, to all the guys in our fam- ily football pool to whom | lost money this year: Just wait 'till next year. Every year | say this and every | year | finish so far behind everyone else that they have a lantern out looking for me, which makes me crazy. | thought | would try a differ- ent approach this year by picking the teams which were geographi- cally closest to the Canadian border. Didn't work. But | have a new plan for next year. I'll modify the system by choosing the city I'd prefer to dump the bodies of my competitors in. It's worth a try. Minor Hockey fundraiser Feb. 19 Port Perry Minor Hockey Association is holding a fundraising dance later this month at Trillium Trails. The event, which will be held Feb. 19, beginning at 8 p.m., will be held at the Trillium Trails in Raglan, located just off of Simcoe St. Raglan is locat- ed just south of Port Perry. All proceeds from the fundraiser will go towards PPMHA tournaments, sweaters and other events and items. Please join in the fun and enjoy an evening of dining, dancing, prizes and great music. There will be plenty of door prizes and spot- dance prizes, a cash bar and a cold buffetat Il p.m. For tickets, please con- tact Amanda Toguri (985- 3264), Angie Dezan (985- 2365), Ollie Pehlemann (985-7568), Anne Zochodne (985-3896) or pick them up at KCI Gas and Variety. Tickets are $20 each. Port Figure Skating Club to 'host Pineridge Interclub 'Competition on March 4 . The,Port Perry Figure Skating Club i is hosting the Pineridgg, Interclub Competition on March 4 at the Port Perry Arena. It has been 10 years since our club has hosted this competition in Port Perry. This is a very exciting opportunity for our club, its skaters and the Port Perry business community. There will be approximately 225 skaters attending this competition. Raffles will be held with donations from local busi- nesses. The event will run from 7a.m. to || p.m. and admis- sion is $3 for adults and $2 for children. Merchant series could determine MoJacks' playoff opponent From Page 21 tage of penalties with three power-play goals en route to the 6-1 victory. The MoJacks had their share of power plays but were unable to score, especially in the second frame when the outcome was still very much in doubt. The. Bruins waited just 16 sec- onds to take a 1-0 lead and were ahead 2-0 after 20 minutes in a period in which they really out- played the MoJacks who were lucky to only trail by just two goals. But Jay Simmonds made it 2- | early inthe second as he buried a rebound behind lan Watson with Derek Tindall and Bill Beaulieu collecting assists on the goal. That seemed to spark the MoJacks and they began to take the play to the visitors until they ran until some serious penalty trouble just past the half-way mark of the period. Bruins' Cory Turchan made it 3-1 on a power play at 14:47, but the goal that really buried the green and white came in the final minute. MoJacks classy forward Adam Metheral, who plays a tough but clean brand of hockey, was called for boarding. It appeared to be a clean check against Bruins' star Stu Parish, who went into the boards heavily, but bounced right back up none the worse for wear. And, as often happens, it was Parish who fired home a rebound 30 seconds later to up the score to 4-1. That goal seemed to knock the starch out of the MoJacks' sails and the third period belonged pretty much to the Bruins who added two more for the 6-1 final. It was the first win in six games for the Bruins over the MoJacks. MoJacks got Game one of the showdown weekend off on the right foot Friday night with a gutsy 3-2 win in front of a large crowd in Uxbridge. Like the other wins this sea- son over the Bruins, this one was far from easy. In fact, for a while in the opening period it looked like the Bruins might be in a for an easy time of it as they jumped to a quick 2-0 lead with a couple of power-play goals. The first came just 15 seconds into the game from the stick of Stu Parish, and the second from Cory Turchan at the 7:44 mark. The Bruins opened the game with a man advantage after the MoJacks took a bench minor before the puck had even been dropped. Apparently, there is a new rule on the books where two minutes goes up on the clock after the warm-up and the play- ers have just one minute to vacate the ice. A couple of MoJacks were still on the ice beyond the one minute and the bench minor was called. Down 2-0 before the mid- point of the first, the MoJacks appeared badly rattled and off- balance, giving up numerous pucks to the Bruins with poor passing and generally sloppy play all over the ice. They were lucky to escape the first trailing by just two goals as the Bruins could easily have put two or three more on the board. Perhaps feeling the reprieve ormaybe the wrath of head coach Tom Thornbury, it was a different MoJack squad that started the second and 4:42 in Matt Thurston cashed a rebound off a shot by Adam Jones on the power play. Then just past the mid-point, the MojJacks came up with a strong penalty kill that had them two short for almost a minute and one short for four minutes. Mark McPherson got tagged with a questionable interference minor and then a misconduct for protesting the call. On the way to the box, the big blue-liner flattened a Bruin skater and got another two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. But the MoJacks held the fort while playing short-handed and as is often the case, that was a major turning point in the game as the team began to play with much more confidence and was soon taking the play to the home- town guys. Adam Jones got the tying marker late in the period as he finished a two-on-one break with Ryan McQuade who held on to the puck just long enough for netminder lan Watson to commit himself and then passed off to Jones who made no mistake from 15 feet out. The third period pretty much belonged to the MoJacks as they out-worked and out-played the Bruins almost from the opening face-off. In fact, the period was just 35 seconds old when John Werry got what proved to be the winner after he exchanged several pass- es with Adam Metheral inside the Bruins' line. The trio of Werry, Metheral and Thurston turned in a strong game for the green and white creating their own scoring chances with some tenacious checking. And Metheral showed his all-round savvy with some fancy puck-handling in the Bruin zone. Parish eventually got the puck away from Metheral by hacking at his skates and was nicked for a two minute minor for his troubles. Jeff Mackie, who had another strong game in the net, caused some anxious moments on a couple of occasions when he vacated the crease to track down a loose puck and then had to scramble back into position with Bruin shooters bearing down on the wide open net. It added some extra excite- ment to an already very exciting and tense hockey game as both teams went all out to get those two points. Along the MoJacks' blue line, Kelvin Coates, Jeff Ashton and Darrin Forbes had strong games as did forwards Derek Tindall and Bill Beaulieu, who never stop working. SLAPSHOTS: Coach Tom Thornbury was disappointed that his club could not sweep the Bruins, but noted the MoJacks had played some great hockey to win four in a row. And he said sooner or later spotting a team like the Bruins two early goals is going to catch up, as it did Sunday night. The Merchants have had the MoJacks' number all season, so these two up-coming games will be anything but a walk in the park. The MoJacks won Friday night's game over the Bruins, said the coach, by working very hard in the second and third periods, and in Sunday's loss, he said the Bruins were effective in shutting down the MoJack power play. And just as the MoJacks got a huge effort from Jeff Mackie Friday night, Bruins' netminder Watson was strong Sunday evening, said the head coach. The MoJacks will be without Jon Froates for two games as he was involved in a late game scrap with Ryan King and both were tagged with the second fight rule. Mark McPherson and Jim Mitchell were already scrapping when the Froates-King fight broke out. And forward Jay Simmonds will sit out two games for a gross misconduct as he went after someone on the Bruins bench during the'same melee late in the game. The team will also miss cap- tain Jeff Clarke until the start of playoffs. Clarke, a store supervi- sor with Nike, was transferred to Montreal and missed both Bruin games. Despite the 6-1 loss to the Bruins, Thornbury said he's more than happy with the overall per- formance from the blue line corps over the past several games. This coming Thursday night (Feb. 10) the MoJacks host the Merchants at 8:30 p.m. On Saturday night, they travel to Little Britain for a 7:30 p.m. start and then wind up the regular schedule hosting Bobcaygeon Sunday night with the faceoff at 7 p.m. I ----