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1 page 14 THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, APRIL 7,2004 www.durhamregion.com Eïjc Cmmbtmt Statesman infodurhamregion.com The end was 'crushing 1 Brian McNair What does the future hold for George Burnett? Should he stay or should he go? That question, when used in reference reference to George Burnett, will be answered answered soon, either by Burnett himself himself or John Davies, whose purchase of the Oshawa Generals should be finalized finalized later this month. Until such time, let's tweak it a little bit and try to answer it: does Burnett deserve to stay based on the four years he's put in to date? The answer is 'yes', but it's not one easily arrived at. Who's kidding whom: Burnett has not delivered the results expected expected by most when he was introduced 'in 2000 as the coach and general manager and given a five-year contract contract by John Humphreys, who will soon be the ex-owner. After all, he came in with an impeccable impeccable coaching resumé, one that included back-to-back OHL coach of the year awards with Niagara .Falls, a Calder Cup championship tjwith the AHL's Cape Breton Oilers, ; a stint - albeit brief - in the NHL with Edmonton, and an OHL championship championship with the Guelph Storm. Since coming to Oshawa, however, however, Burnett's record has taken a serious serious hit. His teams are 28 games below .500 in regular season play (with overtime losses considered losses) and have won just a single playoff series - and that coming only after a fluke goal by Brandon Nolan in the dying moments of Game 7 in Peterborough a year ago. Whether desperate to find answers answers or simply trying to justify his GM role, Burnett has made countless countless trades during that span: some good, some bad, but most indifferent. indifferent. So, why then, does he deserve to carry on? For this season alone. Apparently using smoke and mirrors, mirrors, Burnett managed to keep the team at the .500 mark despite losing five players who combined for 132 goals the previous year and starting the campaign with 10 rookies on the roster. The Generals were probably one marquee player - can you say Nathan Horton? - away from being the best team in the Eastern Conference this season, and even without him nearly upset the Mississauga IceDogs in the first round of playoffs. More importantly, the team now seems well set up for the next year or two, with Dan Turple emerging as one of the league's best goalies, Tyler Donati looking like a future 100-point guy and most of the other freshmen making tremendous strides, None of this, of course, will stop the rumour mill from churning, especially especially with Burnett being associated associated with the new owners in Belleville and Davies being close to Newmarket Newmarket Hurricanes' coach/GM Brad Sel- wood. According to Davies, Sel- wood has already expressed an interest interest in a position with the Generals. Considering Burnett and Davies have yet to meet, and likely won't until after the sale is finalized, perhaps perhaps there's something to the speculation, speculation, But Burnett should want to - and deserves to - finish what he started. Playoff run comes to a halt for Bowmanville Eagles BY BRAD KELLY Sports Editor BOWMANVILLE - In a word, Bowmanville Eagles' coach Curtis Hodgins summed up his hockey club's elimination from playoffs for the entire organization: "crushing." The magical playoff run came to an end in Toronto Saturday night. Nursing a one-goal lead on a James Neal marker through two and a half periods, the Eagles couldn't hold oil the St. Michael's Buzzers, who scored three times in the final 10 minutes to win 3-1, ending the best- ' of-seven series in six games. "It was Game 7 for them and they didn't want to come back to our rink for obvious reasons," said Hodgins, whose team battled back from a 3-0 deficit in the series to within a game .at 3-2. A victory Saturday would have forced, a seventh and deciding game Sunday in Bowmanville, a scenario scenario that would have surely favoured the Eagles considering the momentum and support received from local fans. But St. Michael's avoided that predicament, scoring scoring midway through the third, and then converting a giveaway into the game-winner with just 58 seconds left in regulation time. An empty-netter seconds later finished finished off the Eagles. Eagles. "(St. Michael's) made the most of their opportunities all series and Saturday was just crushing the way it unfolded," said Hodgins. With a couple of days to digest the loss, Hodgins noted the disappoint- Curtis Hodgins ment of that final game was starting to fade, and the accomplishments of the team starting to become more prominent. Among the highlights were finishing finishing second in the East Conference with a 31 -10-4-4 record, and winning a playoff series for the first time in nine years. The Eagles overmatched the Syracuse Stars and unusually passive passive Cobourg Cougars in four game sweeps, and then unseated the defending defending league champion Wellington Dukes in seven games in the East Conference final. In the Provincial Junior A Hockey League semifinals against the South Conference champion St. Michael's, the Eagles came within"10 minutes of rallying from a 3-0 series deficit to even the series. "The effect of the loss is starting to wear off and the magnitude of what we accomplished is starting to sink in," said Hodgins. "None of us will ever forget what happened this season. We finally put Stick to the puck Jason Liebregts/ Statesman photo the team on the map after a lot of lean years around here. "Things have started to change for the better the last couple of years'.^ There are a lot of Durham Region- players who are interested in coming, to Bowmanville to play. "Even getting some exposure irr Toronto has opened some eyes thereabout thereabout our program." If there is a downside to all the) success, it comes in the form that- teams won't regard the Eagles as. pushovers anymore after languishing, near the bottom of the standings the, past eight seasons. As defending East' Conference champions, the reputation reputation they built this season will follo\V ! them to every rink next season. .1 But even that can be considered a positive, noted Hodgins. "That's a good thing. You want that kind of respect. "Teams will definitely be gunning for us and I would rather have that than being satisfied finishing seventh or eighth all the time." ' OPG novices : light it up: in LINDSAY - The Clarington OPG Orange Crush novices brought home the A Championship from the Canadian Canadian Tire house league tournament in Lindsay. q In the first game against the Lindsay Lindsay Wild, OPG came away with a 1 victory. Mitchel Gogolin led the offence with three assists. Nicholas Hogarth and Anders Nielsen each scored two goals. The Peterborough Bruins were no match for OPG in the second game as Clarington won 6-0. Malik Yas-r sein had a strong game in net, stop T ping several breakaways to record his 11th shutout of the season; Nielsen led the offence with four goals, with singles going to Deacon Barbour and Taylor Campbell'. Mathew Plouffe had two assists with singles going to Jordan Gerber and Barbour. In the championship game, a solid team effort led OPG to a 7-3 win over Barrie. Nielsen scored a hat trick with two goals going to Riley Meehan and Hogarth. Two assists assists went to Gerber and Kody Sloos, with singles to Daniel Ryan, Eric Fedak, Matthew McHugh, Matthew Jung, Meehan, Hogarth and Nielsen. AJAX - Brandon Staal (12) of the Clarington minor atom AAA Toros battles a Hamilton player for control control of the puck during the OMHA Championships in Ajax over the weekend. The Toros didn't manage to make it through to the gold medal game, which was won by Whitby 4-3 in overtime over Hamdton. Speed skater on fast track to success Jillian Coôlidge represents Clarington club at North American Championships BY BRAD KELLY Sports Editor COURTICE - Don't question the toughness of Jillian Coolidge. Despite suffering a minor ankle sprain in a fall during a practice session session the night before the biggest races of her young life, the resilient teen wouldn't be kept off the starting line at the North American Speed Skating Championships. "I just taped it up and skated," she says of the precautionary measures taken to ensure she. would get the opportunity opportunity to represent the Clarington Speed Skating Club at the prestigious event in Cambridge. Though her results fell short of a storybook ending - she finished 17th overall among the 18 skaters in the Junior 15-16 age category - it didn't take away from the valuable experience experience she gained. "I was happy with my results because because it was a new experience for me," she says. "At least I learned how to race against other high-end skaters." The fact the Courtice resident even qualified for the elite competition at all was reward enough, considering she is only in her second season of speed skating with the local club. With eight years of figure skating with the Oshawa club serving as the base of her on-ice activity, following her brother to speed skating offered something different. "I thought it was neat," says the 15-year-old of her first couple of laps around the ice with a pair of awkward looking skates strapped to her feet. At the beginning of this season, she looked into the possibility of competing at the North American Championships, but felt qualifying wasn't within her reach. "At the start of the year 1 looked at the qualifying times and thought they were too fast. But over the year, I improved improved my times enough to qualify." The road to the North Americans was paved by racing fast enough at a couple of age group competitions to qualify for provincials in Barrie, When everything came together at provincials - Coolidge finished fifth overall in the 500m, 777m, 1,000m and 1,500m events and won gold in 4 relay - her times were good enough to advance to the North American Championships. "There were a lot of faster skaters: (at provincials) so I had to chase them," she says of meeting the qualifying qualifying standards to compete at the next level. Not content with her accomplishments accomplishments this season, Coolidge is already already eyeing a return to the North Americans next year, hoping the experience experience gained her first time out will pay dividends. "1 hope to get faster," she says of her goal, "Next year 1 hope to get back to the North Americans again." A.J. GR0EN/ Statesman phot(k Jillian Coolidge, of the Claringjï ton Speed Skating Club, raced ;5 at the North American Cham pionships. 15 200 4 Basketball ! ! i! : M M METROL Presented by METROLAND DURHAM REOIOM MED8Â GROUP Call Canadian Statesman sports editor Brad Kelly for information. 905 579 4400 j V ,n V />: V Community t Newnpepen \ In Eduoetlon J This Week • Canabinn Statesman • NEWS ADVERTISER • Œimcs-jlournat • durhamregion.com