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THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, FEBRUARY 14,2001 PAGE 9 WHITBY'OSHAWA Dundas/Thickson WHITBY 723-8507 CELIA BRONKIIORST/ Statesman photo Bowmanville Eagles forward Andrew Smale (29) skates around Wellington defenceman Tyler Rivers during Sunday's playoff game. Bowmanville won the opening game of the series series but lost games two and three. Bowmanville must win Thursday or risk elimination Eagles fall behind 2-1 in series against Wellington BY BRAD KELLY Sports Editor In the span of 24 hours, the opening round playoff series between Bowmanville and Wellington has taken a sudden turn. And it's a turn for the worse for the Eagles. After opening the series with a 5-4 win in Wellington last Friday, the Eagles dropped the next two games of the series, series, a double overtime heart- breaker Sunday night on home ice 4-3, followed by a 4-1 setback setback Monday in Wellington. The pair of wins by Wellington gives it a two- games-to-one lead in the best- of-seven series, with Game 4 in Bowmanville on Thursday, 7:30 p.m., at the Garnet B. Rickard Recreation Complex. While Bowmanville could have taken control of the series with an overtime goal Sunday, the team must now pull out a will on home ice tomorrow night or risk elimination in Wellington on Friday night in Game 5. "We talked about that a lot," said Hodgins of trying to get his team to forget about the overtime loss. "Over a seven- game series there are going to be so many up and downs and you just have to ride them out." Monday night in Wellington, Wellington, the Eagles trailed throughout throughout the game as the home side carried a 3-0 lead into the third period before Bowmanville's Nick Stacey scored. Wellington Wellington added a power play goal later in the period for the 4-1 final. As expected, following the gruelling overtime marathon the night before, the Eagles couldn't maintain the same energy energy level needed to steal a win. "Wellington had the. momentum momentum and took it to us," said Hodgins of the 14-2 shots on goal advantage Wellington enjoyed enjoyed in the first period. "The kids are human. (Sunday's) (Sunday's) loss deflated them. We're down 2-1 (in the series) and it's not a big deal. Before this series even started we expected expected it to go six or seven games for us to win it." The Eagles had a chance to take a stranglehold on the series series on home ice Sunday, but Jordan Freeland's second goal of the game 16:01 into the second second overtime period allowed Wellington to escape Bowmanville Bowmanville with a 4-3 win. Cpry Adelman, Bill Burgio and Stacey scored for Bowmanville Bowmanville who trailed 2-0 at one point in the second period before before surging back for a 3-2 lead. Matt Lynn's goal for Wellington midway through the third period sent the game into overtime. In the opening game of the series last Friday in Wellington, Wellington, the Eagles scored five times in the second period and 1 held on for a 5-4 win. Stacey had a pair of goals for Bowmanville Bowmanville with one each to Bryan Riddell, Jason McAuley and Adam Speight. Series at a glance GAME 1 Bowmanville 5 Wellington 4 GAME 2 Wellington 4 Bowmanville 3 OT GAME 3 Wellington 4 Bowmanville 1 GAME 4 Thursday at Bowmanville, 7:30 p.m. GAME 5 Friday at Wellington, 8 p.m. xGAME 6 Sunday at Bowmanville, 6:30 p.m. xGAME 7 Tuesday at Wellington 7:30 p.m. Gillespie outlook BY BRIAN LEGREE Staff Editor Derek Gillespie's starting his first full season of professional professional golf with a new outlook. Literally. The budding pro from Oshawa, who underwent laser eye surgery in December, is currently in Myrtle Beach, S.C. awaiting the start of the Canadian Tour season, which tees off Feb. 22. "It's awesome, I can see. I see perfectly, it's unreal," says Gillespie, who has also hooked up with the same agent Mike Weir uses, Dan Cimeroni of the renowned IMG agency, to handle handle his business affairs. Better eyes, big-time agent. They're just a couple of the major changes Gillespie is undergoing undergoing as he adjusts to professional professional golf life. Gillespie, who opened eyes all over Canada when he finished finished as low Canuck at the 2000 Bell Canadian Open, is also getting used to the interior of his new GMC Jimmy. Since getting the vehicle just before Christmas, Gillespie has put more than 13,000 kilometres kilometres on it. His schedule has included playing in several Monday gets new on golf volve plenty of on-the-job learning. "My goal is to keep getting better this year, I really don't know what to expect," says Gillespie, a University of Arizona Arizona product whose home club is the Oshawa G.C. "I'm just trying to keep in shape, eat well, trying to work out." A full member of the Canadian Canadian Tour after finishing second at the fall qualifying school at Royal Ashburn G.C., Gillespie is just in the midst of finalizing his schedule for the upcoming season. He'll play the first three events in Myrtle Beach and play other events in Canada. In addiation, he'll try to qualify for some buy.com Tour events and the U.S. Open. As low Canadian in last year's national championship, he expects to play in the 2001 Bell Canadian Open championship championship Sept. 3-9 at Royal Montreal Montreal G.C. From laser surgery to Monday Monday qualifiers to criss-crossing the continent, this year is already already proving to be a real eye- opener for Gillespie. And it's only getting started. qualifiers for PGA events, where as many as 100 golfers vie for one or two spots in the field. Gillespie's numbers have been OK, but spectacular rounds get you into the field, not just OK ones. He's played in Monday qualifiers for the Tuscon Open, Phoenix Open and the AT&T in San Diego. He shot 68 in Phoenix, but 65 was the low score. A 71 in Tuscon wasn't low enough and he missed by two strokes at the AT&T. Gillespie has since left the West coast and landed in Myrtle Myrtle Beach where the Canadian Tour kicks off the U.S. portion of its schedule with four tournaments, tournaments, beginning Feb. 22 at the Tom Fazio-designed Barefoot Resort. "I just want to play right now," says Gillespie. "I'm just anxious to play and get my game where it should be." Gillespie enters the season minus specific goals - at least none he's willing to share for public consumption. 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