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ARTY ITE N or AN 18 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, Sept. 27, 1983 Sports The Port Perry Mo- Jacks opened their pre- season exhibition schedule last week, and even though the team failed to win a game in its first three outings, " head coach Gary Elliott says he is very pleased There has never been any love lost between the Port Perry MoJacks and Bowmanville Eagles, and Sunday night was no exception at the Scugog Arena as the teams boynced each other around in a Junior C pre-season match. Eagles won the hard-hitting affair 4-3 with two Three import rearguards signed as season opener approaches with the way the squad is shaping for the new Junior C season which gets underway for the MoJacks on October 3. Coach Elliott believes the team is going to be much improved defen- sively this season with a corresponding reduc- tion in the number of goals against. MoJacks have had a strong contingent of blue liners in camp and for the pre-season games. They have look- ed impressive so far, details) Gambler-Claremont final series especially clearing the puck from their own end of the rink and keeping opposition forwards away from the front of the net. The team has used three of its four import cards to sign defense- men Dave Rockburne, Wayne Crossen and Mike Ryan. Crossen and Rock- burne were in uniform Sunday night at the Scugog Arena as the MoJacks dropped a 4-3 decision to a big, tough™ , TARTS quick goals in the second period. MoJack coach Gary Elliott is pleased with the way his personnel has per- formed in training camp and pre-season, and he has high hopes for the blue line corps this season. (See story for One game will decide it all The championship series between Green- bank Gamblers and Claremont Legion has wound down to the final game in the best of five playdowns. Last Monday night in " Greenbank with the series tied at one game apiece, Ken Irvine and Darryl Norton locked up in a tight pitching duel which finally was won by Claremont by a score of 2-0. Both pitchers allowed only five hits but Claremont bunched 3 of their five hits together in the fifth inning to score the only two runs of the ball game. The fifth inning start- ed with Irvine striking out Bill Carruthers but then Eric Winterstein hit a wrong field triple to right. Irvine retired the second man when Gators win slow-pitch The Galley Gators went undefeated in three games to win the annual wrap-up round robin tournament on Saturday for the Port Perry Men's Slow pitch league. Gators handed the Port Old Timers a 7-4 loss in the opening game, then turned the bats loose against Sportsland for a 13-5 victory to advance to the final game against Seagrave. The game was nip and tuck with Seagrave pull- ing close in the final inning, but Galley held on for a 7-8 victory. ERE EEE ERNE RN Seagrave reached the final with an 11-10 win over Square Boy, and a close 54 victory over Forder. Six teams in two divisions took part in the event, which concluded Saturday evening with a dance at the Port Perry Curling Club. his attempted third strike bunt went foul and it looked like the Gamblers might get out of the inning without Claremont scoring. However, Jim Peddy singled to centre to score the first run and Catherwood promptly doubled him home with his long drive to right field. The Gamblers had their chances but did not hit with men on base and this was their down fall. In the first inning, Norton walked Neil Rodd, Trevor Till and Don Beaton to load the bases with only one out but Norton struck out Dennis Romeril and Steve Foster to leave the three runners stranded. The Green- bank team had two runners on base in both the fifth and sixth inning but again failed to get the key hit. The Gambler hits went to Greg Rodd with a pair while Trevor Till , Steve Foster and Ken Irvine each had one hit. Then on Tuesday night the teams met in Claremont and Green- bank had to win or it was all over and as they have done so often in the past, the Gamblers came up with a big win to send the series to a final game. Ken Goreski and Todd (Turn to page 19) 7 Bowmanville Eagle squad. Both performed well with Crossen show- ing a lot of shot-blocking skills. Also back on the blue line, the MoJacks had two "home brews" in action, Russ Jones and Vaughn McKee, and they turned in steady games for the team. MoJacks must improve defensively this season because .their goal scoring pro- duction will probably not match last year's when they had the second highest total in the league behind Lin- dsay Muskies. Forwards Jamie Bird and Tim Thompson are gone from this year's squad and they had 32 and 26 goals respective- ly. Glenn McKay, who turned the red light 23 times in 28 games, and had 11 points in seven playoff games last year, is fighting for a berth on this year's squad since he would be the fourth and last import Mo- Jacks can sign. If Mc- Kay falls victim to the import numbers game, the team could miss his scoring abilities. As of Sunday night, 'MoJacks had signed 14 players out of the 20 they are allowed to carry, including regular net-minders Clay Lover- ing and Ken Harman. They shared the duties Sunday night against the Eagles, and came up with-some good looking saves. For the MoJacks, Scott Wallace, Jeff Johnstone and new- comer Rob Nicholson got the markers. The game was a hard hitting affair with both clubs taking a raft of minor penalties. Mo- Jacks had a 3-2 lead briefly in the second period, but Eaglés scored two quick ones and then held on during the third period for the win. Eagles seemed to be a little sharper with their passing and offensive rushes, and with a big team filled with lots of seasoned veterans, they look like they are going to be tough to beat again this year. On Friday night in Lindsay, the MoJacks took a 2-1 lead into the third period against last year's league champ- ions, but the. Muskies scored three goals to take a 5-2 win. Observers say the Muskies have lost a few players from last year's fine team, but they still expect Lindsay to be ~ MoJacks strive for improved defensive play extremely tough in 1983- 84 And last Tuesday night in Port Perry, the MoJacks and Little Britain Merchants skated to a 44 draw. The Merchants, who improved vastly last season to finish fourth, look like they will have another strong team this year. For the MoJacks this coming season, scoring punch will have to come from several sources, including Scott Wallace and Bob Horton, who are both blessed with fine speed and puck handling ability. Wallace was top scorer on the team last year with 32 goals and 47 assists. Horton had 20 goals, 28 assists in 29 games. Veteran captain Todd Wilbur had 61 points last season. He knows how to put the puck in the net. And John Fusco who had 23 goals and 23 assists in 28 games last season, is a clever puck handler who should be able to improve his point production this year. Some of the new- comers who have looked good so far in this pre-season include Doug Potts, Jeff Butterworth, Brad Flaxman, Brian Prakken and Steve Nicholson. : The team hosts Lin- dsay Muskies this Tues- day (Sept. 27) at the Scugog Arena, pays a visit to the Bowmanville Arena later this week for the final pre-season game. These two games should give the coaching and management a chance to have one long, final look at the personnel before signing the six players to round out the 20 man roster. Players in the Jr. C loop can be released and signed to a card up to the second week in January, but no team is allowed to have more than 20 players signed at any one time, includ- ing the four imports. The first regular sea- son game is October 3 in Cobourg, with the MoJack home opener slated for October 9 at the Scugog Arena against the Lindsay Muskies. MoJacks have had to make some changes, but the mood around the team is up-beat and confident that this . year's squad is going to provide fine entertain- ment for Jr. C hockey fans in Port Perry this © Winter. then