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durhamregion.com THE CANADIAN STATESMAN ♦ DECEMBER 29,2004 ♦ PAGE 11 Eljc Canadian ^tatcslman ♦ December 29, 2004 ♦ durham sgion.com Brad Kelly Changes ahead for junior league? When the puck drops for the start of the 2005/06 Provincial Junior A Hockey League season, the landscape of the league may have an entirely different composition than the one currently in place. While there are no immediate plans to scale the league down from its current state of 35 teams -- which, ultimately, should be considered to develop a tiered junior hockey system that would make things more competitive, but won't happen happen -- the league may take on a different different look through realignment. According to officials with the Bow- manville Eagles, a committee was. established back in the spring with representation representation from six teams in the league to discuss and look at some different scenarios in terms of realignment that would help improve the league. Another meeting was held in August, with all interested teams asked to submit a proposal proposal under which new divisions and conferences could be established. Some teams like things just the way they are and passed. Some took the opportunity to have some input. Some did neither; *" "' v v ' ~ The Eagles, who are one of the teams that would welcome some form of realignment, submitted a proposal that would divide the league into two conferences, conferences, with three divisions within each conference. A schedule would include s(x games against each team within the division (three home and-three away) as well as a home-and-away with each of the teams in the other two divisions in the conference. Their plan would call for the top 16 teams in each conference to make the playoffs, with the three division winners seeded one through three, and the other 13 falling into line based on points. On a couple of different fronts, realignment realignment makes sense, particularly in this area. It should come as no surprise, both from an economic and geographic standpoint, that the Eagles would be one of the main proponents of a shift. Their preference is to be part of a division that would include the other Durham Region entries -- Oshawa, Pickering and Ajax -- and ultimately, be rounded out by teams in the eastern part of Toronto. That kind of realignment would certainly certainly be budget friendly, eliminating lengthy bus rides currently taken to Syracuse, Bancroft and Kingston.. A balanced conference and divisional alignment would also help to alleviate alleviate a complicated playoff scenario that now exists. With a current format that includes 10 teams in each of the East and West, nine in the South and only six in the North, an Internet printout from the league's Web site is needed at season's end to try to figure out who qualifies for the post-season and which teams go where to help balance things out. While executives from each of the 35 teams arc considering the options that have been submitted to date, any changes changes recommended by the teams would have to be approved by the league's Board of Management and then ratified by the league's Board of Governors. Though no date has been set as of yet, it's expected teams will get together again in late February to decide whether to forge ahead with the next step in making changes, or keep the status quo. - Scoreboard - c-mail game reports to bkclly@durhamrcgion.com Walter Rassarella/ The Canadian Statesman Orono OHLers host free skate ORONO - A pair of local OHLers, Bryan Bickell of the Ottawa 67's and Justin Caruana of the Peterborough. Petes hosted a P free skate at the Orono Arena last Thursday. Admission to the event, which included an autograph SonJ wasa^aompe^able food item. Bickell is in his third season with the 67's, while Caruana ,s a rookie with the Petes. McGill handed his Rookie coach fired by reeling Oshawa Generals BY BRIAN MCNAIR STAFF EDITOR OSHAWA -- It wasn't the merriest Christmas for Bob McGill. Nor Brad Selwood, for that matter. McGill was told by Selwood Monday that his rookie season in thé OHL would come to an end just 32 games in, as he was fired as head coach of the 10-21-1-0 Oshawa Generals. "Our record is definitely a factor right now," said Selwood, the team's GM and, now, interim head coach. "I didn't feel warm and fuzzy about our chances of get- ■ ting better. I didn't feel in my stomach it was going in the right direction." Selwood said he all but made the decision decision to fire McGill during the Dec. 19 game against the Plymouth Whalers, a 6-3 home-ice loss that sent the Generals into the Christmas break on a six-game winless winless slide and 13 points back of a playoff spot in the Eastern. Conference. Specifically, Selwood was upset when the Generals, trailing 4-2 in the second •period, were assessed a too many men penalty -- the sixth bench minor of the season -- and then, during a brief period of the penalty kill, iced only three skaters. skaters. Although he was. tempted to pull the trigger right after the game, Selwood took a few days to make sure he wasn't just acting on impulse. "I thought long and hard about it and had a lot of sleepless nights," said Selwood. Selwood. "I didn't want to be a complete ogre and min the guy's Christmas. Mine was already mined." McGill, who signed a three-year con- Backgrounder Bob McGill's previous coaching experience included a two-year stint as an assistant in the American Hockey League, as well as two years as a head coach in the East Coast Hockey League. Before coming to Oshawa, he had spent the three previous seasons in theYork-Simcoe minor hockey system, system, winning an OHL Cup Championship. 2004-05 Record 10-21-1-0 10th place, Eastern Conference' Bob McGill Newcastle juveniles climb above .500 NEWCASTLE -- The Newcas-; tie Stars juveniles are finally over the .500 mark after back-to-back wins over first place Orono 2-1 and fourth place Douro 5-3. The wins improved Newcastle to 7-6-2. The Stars will be looking tq improve on their record by winning their final game of the regular sea-; son against Bewdley on Monday,; Jan. 3. The Stars will then begin their playoff run on Monday, Jan, 10. The team has finalized all their sponsorships, including George Moore Electric, Masood Vatan; doust, Reedtronics Security, Heart 2 Heart Flowers, Uppercuts Hairdo esign, Hometown Auto Sales, 907! Landscape, Newcastle Coffee Time, Durham Bumper & Fender, Andrew Street Oldstars, Steeves Auto Sup; ply and the Newcastle Firefighters.; Vandelay novices rolling after road victories CLARINGTON -- The Clar- ington Vandelay Toros novice AAA team has won three straight heading heading into a Christmas tournament in St Catharines. the Toros defeated Peterbor : ough 6-5, Lindsay 6-2 and Oshawa 7-2 all on the road. Michael Bergman Bergman and Brett Otterbein played strong in goal over the stretch. Scoring for the Toros were Brody Munroe (1a), Liam Osborne (2a), Tyler Gaulton (2a), Michael Hibbard (2a), Alex Woodcock (2a), MacK- enzie Miles (3a), Zack Cole (4a),j Madison Badeau (1g,1a), Mitchell, Burghardt (2g,1a), Conner Whitley (3g), Ostop Mostowy (2g,2a), Cody Kean (2g,5a) and Mitchell Marner (8g,3a). MacKenzie Morissette and Bran-; don Hoskin continued their strong defensive play. ! York-Simcoe minor ; atom AE: Halenda's ; streaks to success • over opponents tract at the start of the season, was understandably understandably upset when reached at home Monday, but, in keeping with his nature, offered no excuses. "Obviously I'm disappointed, but that's the nature Of the beast," he said. "You re paid to win hockey games and I obviously didn't get the job done." McGill came to the Generals fresh off a three-year stint with the York-Simcoe minor hockey system. Prior to that, he had spent two seasons as an assistant under Bob Hartley with the AHL's Her- shey Bears, followed by two seasons as head coach of the ECHL's Baton Rouge Kingfish, where he compiled a 63-62-10- 5 record. When asked if he had any regrets about bringing in a coach with no junior experience, experience, Selwood didn't hesitate in saying, "Not at all. "We thought it would be great for the coaches and players to grow together, Selwood added. "I have no regrets about hiring him." Trouble was, as far as Selwood was concerned, concerned, that growth wasn't taking place. At the time of the firing, the Generals were tied for last in the entire OHL and sat 19th out of 20 teams in both power play (15.6%) and penalty killing (74.9%) efficiency. On the other hand, McGill rarely had a stable roster and lost a good chunk of offence when twins Tyler and Justin Donati left the team and demanded a trade. When asked if he thought he was given a fair shake, McGill said, "Who's to say? It was one of those things where there had obviously been a lot of personnel changes. The Donati situation, where you lose some scoring punch, doesn't help matters when you need to score goals. "I'm certainly thankful for the opportunity," opportunity," added McGill, who had yet to decide on Selwood's offer to stay with the organization in a different capacity. ' I m not going to bash anybody. It's not my style." Assistant coach Greg Quattrin was also dismissed, replaced for the time being by Michael Oke, the team's director of player personnel. Selwood and team owner John Davies met with former NHL'er Randy Ladou- ceur last night in Ottawa, where the Generals Generals faced the 67's. An assistant coach with the Carolina Hurricanes from 1996 to 2003 and now a scout there, Ladouceur is "high on the list" of possible replacements for McGill, Selwood said yesterday. 1Y1UV1U, Wliu oifciivvi ll UHVW 1 v n ' Minor peewees tie first-place Quinte CLARINGTON -- The Ron Robinson minor peewce AAA Toros posted a 3-3 tic against first place Quinte in recent play. Scoring were Reed Bell from Brian Bunnctt, Ryan Ford from Matt Lintncr and Matt France from Andrew McCann and Tyler Ganhao. Aaron Cormier was solid in net facing numerous shots. Also in recent play the Toros posted losses of 6-1 and 6-2 to Whitby and 6-0 to Quinte. Scoring in those games were Court- land Black-Araujo from Chris Albertini, Black-Araujo from Matt Lintner and Bradley Down from Justin Nesbitt. CLARINGTON -- The Glaring-] ton Halenda's Toros went 3-0-1 irv four recent York-Simcoe minor atorri AE games. j The Toros downed the Rich-; mond Hill Stars by a score of 9-1 r Brody Warren had a pair of goals for the Toros with singles from Dear> Staikopoulos, Jake Walker, Jerriclv Bahor, Quinten Carfagnini, Conner! Hart, Zachary Bellisle and Josh-! ua Barker. Walker collected three) assists, Ian Colby, Barker and Hart, a pair each while Calvin Lepizzera,- Marshall Campbell, Staikopoulos,! Bahor, Bellisle and Warren had one! each. Spencer Lindgren went the! distance between the pipes for the) Toros and played well. The Toros then thumped the; Ajax Knights by a score of 7-1. Bel-; lisle fired the hat trick while Staiko-! poulos, Bahor, Barker and Camp-! bell had one each. Hart recorded a! pair of assists with singles to Bark-! er, Conner Smith, Warren, Colby,; Campbell and Walker. Steven Gait-; ens handled the netminding duties; and recorded the win. ; Lindgren backstopped the Toros- to a 2-2 tie with the Stouffville! Clippers. Hart and Warren had the! goals for the Toros with assists to; Bellisle and Smith. ! Fancy new mask and all, Gait-; ens recorded the shutout in a 5-0- win over the Ajax Knights. Bahor,! Barker, Hart, Warren and Colby! picked up a goal each. Assists went; to Lance Lemon, Lepizzera, Bahor,. Barker and Hart. ! The Canadian Canadian Statesman CALL 905- 579-4400 2004 Bulck Rendezvous HOT BUTTON J *25,998 *419 /mo Payments and niicing exclude applicable taxes, admin, tegistiallon and licence. 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