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~§, Eagles down to the wire ~ Juniors defeated 5-4 / 24 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, March 10, 1987 Guys Just ran out of steam in overtime loss to the Uxbridge Bruins MoJacks bow out of Junior playoff by John'B. McClelland The Port Perry MoJacks gave it their best shot. But it wasn't quite good enough as the team bowed out of the Crowley Division Final in the Central Junior C Hockey League, losing 2-1 in over- time to the Uxbridge Bruins in a heart-stopping game played last Friday evening in front of a packed house at the Uxbridge Arena. The win gave the Bruins the series four games to two, and they now ad- vance to the Junior C round-robin final against Lakefield Chiefs and the Bowmanville Eagles who defeated Ajax 54 in the seventh game of that series Sunday night. For the MoJacks, the end came 5:14 into the sudden death overtime period and it was Bruins captain Todd LaRoche who won the game 'and the series for this team as he took a centering pass near the goal- mouth and drilled the puck past Brian Tarleton in the MoJack cage. Battered, bruised and with several key players out of the line- up due to injury, the MoJacks put up a gallant fight, but they were simp- ly out of steam by the time the over- time rolled around on Friday night. MoJack goaltender Brian Tarleton smothers a loose puck during Junior C playoff action last Thursday night at the Scugog Arena. The Mo- Jacks won this one 5-3 to close the series with the Bruins to three games to two, but the Bruins put an end to the MoJacks season the next night in Uxbridge as they scored in the final minute, Netminders Joe Risk and Brian Tarleton were outstanding in this game as they kept the score tied at zero for just over 50 minutes of regulation time. Midway through the third, MoJack captain Andy Sutch gave his team a 1-0 lead when he took-a pass from John Hartsford and snapped a wrist shot from a sharp angle that somehow got through the Bruin netminder. . The Bruins tied the game with two miriutes left on a power play as Lee Brown fired a high, screened shot which set up the dramatic overtime. The Bruins almost ended the . then again in sudden death for a 2-1 victory. It was a disappointing end for the injury-riddled and dog tired MoJack squad, but head coach George Burnett had nothing but words of praise for the all-out effort put forward in the playoffs by his team. (See story and comments on the sports pages this week). by Hillis Wilbur The Grant Menzies Midget Eagles won the 3rd game of this series 4 to 1. This game was - hard hitting with end to end action ~~ The Eagles opened the scoring on a great effort by Dave Culbert set- ting up John Harman who tucked the puck away in the top corner by Sherry Harris On Sat. March 7th the Sportsland Juniors hosted Mariposa for their second playoff game Port skated well and picked up their passes, but this wasn't enough to hold back the Mariposa squad The final score was 5-4 in favour of Mariposa . Gananoque came back and tied it up at 1-1, until the Eagles managed to put them away on goals by Mark Barkey, Rob Baker, and Warren Geer. Picking up assists on these goals were Brad Menzies with 2, Mark Barkey, John Harman and Steve Connors. Bill Eade had a solid game in goal Scoring for Port were Jen Pelow. 2 goals and Sherry Harris, 2 goals Assists went to Michelle Beare and Sherry Harnis each with 2 and Cin dy Harris and Kim Caudle with 1 each The next game 1s Tues March 10th at 8 p m in Prekering against Ajax In the 4th game of this best of 5 series the Eagles jumped ito a 4 to 1 lead early in the first period, but then they just seemed to stop skating and watched Gananoque score 5 unanswered goals to win the game 6 to 4. Scoring for the Eagles were John Harman, Brad Menzies, Warren Geer and Steve Durham Picking up assists were. Derek Dexter, Dave Burnett, Steve Connors and Steve Durham, Stacey Ballingall and Bill Eade shared the goaltending chores The fifth game of this series goes on Wednesday night March 11 1n 'Port Perry at 8:00 p.m Hope to see lots of fans out to cheer the boys on as they need to win this one or it's all over for them as this is the deciding game of the series. Support the Eagles and Minor Hockey ' game in the dying seconds of regula- tion but Brian Tarleton made two fine stops on point-blank shots. Both teams played cautiously through the first ten-minute straight time over time period, but it was ap- parent that the MoJacks were near- ing the point of exhaustion. The MoJacks forced game six by virtue of a gusty 5-3 victory on home ice the previous evening. Facing "elimination, they fell behind 2-0 ear- ly in the first. But they refused to ~ quit and Chris Nicholson and Andy Sutch tied the game with two quick goals and Rob Phinney gave the team a 3-2 lead. " The Bruins made it 3-3 at 2:04 of the second, but two minutes later Greg Warriner scored the winner on a nice effort with assists to Sutch and Nicholson. Dave Burnett added . some insurance midway through the third with a perfect shot from the left side as he used Lee Wilbur as the decoy on a two on one break. ~ Game 4 on March 3 in Uxbridge was the only "bad one' the MoJacks - had in the series as the Bruins roll- ed to an easy 104 win. They never trailed in this one as the MoJacks simply were not able to contain the Uxbridge squad. Bruin captain Todd LaRoche did most of the damage with four goals. Darren Nesbitt had two for the MoJacks. SERIES ANALYSIS Most hockey fans who jammed * the Uxbridge and Scugog Arenas for the six games in this series agree the two teams provided some of the best and exciting Junior C hockey ever seen in these communities. Aside from the one "blow-out" in Uxbridge which the Bruins won 10-4, _ the five other games were very close with two of them decided in ] double overtime. ~ This observer believes the turning point in the series probably happen- "ed way back in game one at the "Scugog Arena in which the MoJacks owned a wide margin in play, out- shot the visitors 56 to 30, but still lost the game 3-2 in 6Vértime on a deflec- tion. That win had to give Uxbridge a huge lift, and although the Mo- Jacks played tough, gutsy and hard- nosed hockey to push the series to six games, the Bruins seemed to pick up the momentum and they were very efficient on their home ice. Injuries were also a factor in this series. Craig Menzies, a clever set- up man on the MoJacks power play, saw no action. Brian Prakken, pro- bably the team's best defensive checker, popped a shoulder in game two and was finished for the season. Sean Bradley limped around on a gimpy knee for a game, then he had to pack it in. Dave Sims, a tough defenseman played in pain with an injured back. Several others were also playing hurt through this series. While the team was able to call up players like Lee Wilbur, Rob Baker, John Harman, Karl Durham and Dave Burnett, the injuries forced regulars like Greg Warriner, Dar- ren Nesbitt, Rick Wilson, Brian - Stevenson, Clap Dempsey, Andy Sutch and John Hartsford to log an enormous amount of ice time in a short series, and it showed in the back-to-back games Thursday and Friday nights. Goaltending was another key in this series. Aside from the one blow- out game, the MoJacks got fine per- formances from Brian Tarleton and Paul Goreski. But the Bruins Joe Risk was probably the individual star of the series. Time and again, he came up with outstanding stops, the kind that break the hearts of op- position shooters and inspire con- fidence in team-mates. Home ice was apparently a factor. The MoJacks won both their games at home (and should have won the first game) and the Bruins took ~ three out of three in their back yard. Who knows what might have hap- pened had a seventh game been played in Port Perry. . And finally, a lot of credit is due the Bruins. They are a good team ~with a lot of speed and fine puck handlers up front and a defense that is steady and solid. Throw in the hot goal-tending of Joe Risk and they presented a formidable opposition. As for the MoJacks, despite the bitter disappointment they felt about mid-night last Friday, the players can look back on this season with a lot of pride. The team finish- ed first in the division, had an easy time with Lindsay in the quarter final, then pushed a relatively healthy squad to six games, losing two of them in double over-time. As 'one astute hockey observer com- mented, the team a lot for Junior C hockey in this town over the season. Coach Burnett is very pleased with the effort Port Perry MoJack head coach George Burnett said he was *'very disappointed' when he left the Ux- bridge Arena last Friday night after seeing his team ousted by the Bruins in six games, but in an interview later with the Star he had nothing but words of praise for his tired and bruised troops. He said he was "'very pleased" and "proud of the effort' on the part of the players who suited up for the tough, grinding series with Ux- bridge. which included two over time games. While stating he didn't want to 'make any excuses," Burnett said that having seven players out of the line-up during the series 'did not work to our advantage ~~ He noted the loss of Craig Menzies to injury hurt the MoJack power play in the Uxbridge series and Brian Prak ken's injury hurt the checking and penalty killing "1's unfortunate that the injuries had to come at this time of the year. It was really the first time all season that we had so many guys out of the line up," he said. He said the 3-2 over time loss suf- fered by the MoJacks in game one may have been a turning point. but he suggested that. hockey fdns "could not seé a finer game" than game six in Uxbridge which was scoreless for 50 minutes and wound up a 2-1 win for the Bruins in sudden death over time. 'Burnett told the Star that when he and assistant Ed Olsen began to assemble the team back in the fall with just a handful of returning players from the previous year, he felt that a 500 season would be realistic After a month or so as the team began to gel and put some solid *vins in the books, he felt the team could reach the divisional finals and by (Turn to page 2 5)