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Whitby Free Proua, Wednesday, Mardi 29, 1995, pagg 23 Welland too much for atoms in the Ontario final I tby's minor atem AAA hockey temi lost te Welland i the finals of the. Ontario Mior Hockey Association champin- sIpl over the. weekend. in Wel- Whitby opened tiie round-robin teurnament with a 9-5 loss te tth. rowerful host teain. Whitby then hada win and two ties and advanced -- with. better goals- for-and-against numbers -- te tthe two-game . total-goal final agair-et Welland. Wladwon the first game of the finals by a 6-2 score Bran- don McBride and Tyler Hfarison scoring for Whitby. Despite sustained pressure by Wiitby ithe~ first per*ad of tiie second gaine, Welland scored first, later added another, and then went fite a defensive shell te protect tiie lead. S ean Pitcher scored for Whitby on a geoalmouth acramble te make tei final 2-1, Welland win- 01g h asees 8-3 ta, capture the. In tii. 9-5 bs hi the opeing ame of the. teurnament, Whitbyl adcoin. backfroin a 5-O deficit te, close tii. gap te- 7-5. Welland scored twob ate. s Michael Kosiw, Ryan Tutak, Sean Hil, Patrick Lang and Ran- nie Robertson scored for Whitby. The. second gaine was a 2-2 tie with York-Simcoe- Express, Tutak and McBride scoring. Robertson, McBride and Harri- son each had two goals in an 8-0 romp over Halten. Marc Gleesan and Kyle Nova shared tii. shu- tout, James aiake and Kosiw had the. other goals, Hilb had five assista. Andrew Pigrain and McBride scored ini a 2-2 tie against Wid- sor - a gaine that determied who woubd go te tth. final. The. tde was enougii for Whitby ta advance. Otiier members of the. Whitby teain, sponsored by Fortune Financiial, that bad 25 wins,flive losses and four fies this season, are Jeff Seedhouse, Paul Ranger, Jamie Fox and.Wade Branch. David Wisiiart. Terriers* are sponsored by Tormina Homes. ovlice-s reac.. fias Brandon's big moment THERE WAS HUGE applause, and more than a few tears of happiness, from a Whitby minor hockey crowd when Brandon Merzbacher, 11, who has cerebral p4lsy, scored his first ever goal -- and what proved to be the tying goal for the Owasco Volkswagen minor atomn team ln a playoff game -- ln his five years of play ln house league. Bran do n (shown holding the puck he fired home), who also plays goalle ln lacrosse, "wasn't even supposed to skate," says his father Harry. Brandon's heart and per- severance made hlm the subjeot of The Sports Network's 'For the Love of the Game' segment a few years ago. Photo by Jeremy Dresa, Whltby Free Press The Whitby major novice AAA team n sadvanced. tatii. Ontario Minor Hockey Association cbampionsbip round with a final round-robin 3-1 victery over rival Oshawa. Thevictory guaranteed a spot ,in this weekend's tournament te b. played hi Oakville.' STii. gaine started a littie tentative as bath tearns needed tii. victory te, move on te tth. next round. Eacii teamn bad opportunities te score but eôlid goabtending at botii ends of the. ice saw tii. pexiod end without either teai scoring* > Cam VonEsciischoltz opened the. scoring in the second period of piay .on a.* pasé from Scott Morrison and Jeif Freeman te take a 1-O lead. Tii. p.riod was close ciiecIng witii few offensive oppotunitiets for eéther teain. Devin McLeod turned awvay Oshawa on every abat te end the period 1-O. Tii., third period started quickly as Whith~y took advantage of an earby Oshawa erro. Kyle Percewicz, . after a acramble in April bouts- for M4ullane April could b. abusy month for Whiby boxer James Mullane. Tii. bronze medalist at the. recent Canadian amateur chain- pionabips Mulane is scheduled te get bac i action on April 9 i Kingsten, againat an ap panent from eitiier Quebec or Buffalo, N.Y. He is also scheduled te 'do battle on April 15i Scar- borough. He wilb thon take part in tii. April 30 show ta b. staged by the. Mater City Boxing Clu b of which he ia a member. Tii. show will b. hebd in the. afternoorf at' the.Regent idown- town Oshawa, -the saine venue as the previously successful show. Kater City boxers bad twa wins in Cabbagetown on March 18. Dave Hume, 12, won a aplit aecisian overJames- Gardner aof Bramalea BoxingClub in tii. 85-paund division. R-andy Barden, 12, won a unanimous decision over Laslo Kzaso of the Bramabea club in tii. 112-pounqd division. Jin Dimitrovski, 4A, of tii. Mater City club batÏ a unanimous decision te Ralpii Papi.st, 24, aof the Cabbageown club in tii. 165-pound division. Dimitrovskdin h is second flght, knocked down Papiest in the, firat round and tiie remain- der aof theii.fgt was a slugfest. front of the Oshawa neot punched home the. second goal of the. gaine for Whitby and a 2-0 lead. Kyle MusSelman and VonEschscholtz were aiso in on the ecramble and collected the assists. Just three minutes later, Oshawa flnally got on the scoreboard.- Oshawa continued te press for the equalizing goal but the Whitby squad refused te break. With only 1:38 remai*ning in the gaine, David Arnold, in another scramble in front of the Oshawa net, slape home the third Whitby egoal" healt &itory.' Greg Williams and. Musslmanpicked up the. assista. Wihitby and'Peterborough will represent the. Eastern AAA i the OMMA finals. Oakville. and two other teama (not yet known) will also participate. * Whitby, Mskaters MntoplO0 Three members of the Whib Figure Skating Club competed at the Eastern Ontario section interclub championships in ftrt Hope, March 5-6. Erin Cameron, 156, skated te a ninth-place finish i bronze artistie ladies, with ber rendition of a ' A Hit in the Head Sends Fan te theMajor Leagues! She is coached b~y Sandra Moloney. Michelle Koslag, 8, and brother, J.ff, 12, skated te a seventh-place finish in the preliminary dance event. They skated two compulsory dances, the canasta tango and the willow waltz. They are coached'by Rob Pollard. Bray .prepares for outdoor season By IL Wayne Geom For Amnie Bray, racing bas ita own place an bis list cd priorities. It isut at the. top, but it la far froen the bottom. ii. veteran Whitby racer wil not contest the entire outdoor Cen-Arn TQ Mfidg.t Racing Club sciedule thia summer. H. wiil istailrace in s.bected events that are dloser te home -- Peterborough, Sunset (Stroud, Ont.) and Barrie Speedway are the. threecboset fracha iiostng tiie midget cars this summer. "It deponda if the oquipinont h e says. "M ge tht %er, attend al ü?fe idowever, held a h Niagara Fala Convention and Civic Centre. In the firet eveit, bock i lcember, b. sufféed ovenheating problems on bis n.w car. In the. second race, in January, h. placed third in tiie 50-ap feature after starting ltb. On March 18, Bray drove his way te a slxth-place finish after starting lltii. Hie also captured a ciiecker.d flag in bis heat race. "TUs is a lot tougiier than (racing) outdoora," ho mys aof the one-sixth mile ider track tlat in on a concret. floor, witii a spraying aof brake fluid and a coating of resin added to give it a aticky surface. "One car went by me, butlIwas sort of baxed ni" h. commented (20 cars' started tii. 50-lap feature). Bray triedrnnngtii. 670-pound car a bit=brdrbut found it had a tendency te, go up on two wbeebs.* Another disadvantage that Bray faces each time out is bis size. Màst drivera are siiorter and lighter. Bray estimates the. cars might reacii around 50 miles per bour (80 kilometres per hour) on the short straightaways. "I was pleased (with tii. race), becaus. they weren't puling away froin me," h. add.d. Tii. race wassblowedby ared flag and numerous cautions. "Tiiey (cautions) didn't iebp I fat, durng the' red flag <al cars must come te a complote stop), bis car "absorbed too mucii heat."t Athough'Bray was able te pick up a number cf spots early in the. race, h. play.d it cautiaus i the latter stages ai' heevent. loiws' gaing te take any chances, becaus. thon tbey would just frnefgit-train me (moving hum te the. back of the pack).- Tii. outdoor seasn starta at the end aof April in Lancaster, N.Y. Racers wffl b. i Peterorouh six turnes -- May 20, June 10, July 29, Aug. 20, Aug. 26 and Oct. 8; at Sunsot on M4ay 21, July 22 and Sept. 3. and at Barrie June 3. July 8 and Sept 9.