A barn burner with the Eagles; squeaker over the Merchants The MoJacks end '89 with a pair of wins The Port Perry MoJacks bid farewell to 1989 on a posi- tive note with a pair of hard- earned victories over the Bow- manville Eagles and Little Bri- tian Merchants. The team ushered in the New Year with a four game un- defeated streak (three wins and a tie) under the belt, a streak that has helped to solidify the hold on second place in the Cen- tral Junior C League standings. But it hasn't been easy. Last Thursday night (Dec. 28) in front of a large crowd at the Scugog Arena, the MoJacks dumped league leading Bow- manville 7-5 in an exciting con- test that had abit of everything. And on the last Saturday of the decade (Dec. 30) the Mo- Jacks got a goal late in the game to nip the Merchants of Little Britain5-4. With 34 seconds left in the game, John Harman took a set up from Brad Menzies and John Lally to pop the winner. At one point in this one, MoJacks enjoyed a 4-1 lead on markers by Lally, Menzies, Ke- vin Gibson and Menzies again. But in the third period, Chris Arsenautl got called for a five minute slashing penalty and the Merchants went to work with three power play goals by Jeff Adams, Mark Tay- lor and Tyler Teel, before Har- man and his linemates settled theissue. Dwayne Mackie got his first startin the MoJack cage in several weeks and faced 33 shots. He's coming off a knee in- jury suffered in a practise back in November -Lally, Menzies and Warren Geer all had two assists in this game, with Rob Metcalfe, Arse- nault and Jim Vernon getting one each. "To use an old cliche, last Thursday night's game at the Scugog Arena between the Mo- Jacks and the first place Bow- manville Eagles was an old- fashioned barn burner. The large crowd got a taste of just about everything: fast wide open hockey, some fine goaltending, heavy hitting and a couple of spirited scraps. . And for the MoJacks and their supporters, two points in the first win so far this season over the Eagles. After giving the visitors an early 2-0 lead, the MoJacks set- tled down and went to work on the power play with Brad Men- zies and John Lally tying things up after 20 minutes of play. MoJacks out-shot Eagles 22-7 in this period. The second was just 50 sec- onds old when Lally gave the MoJacks a 3-2 lead, again on the power play as he tipped a puck past Scott Webster. Just past the mid-point, Eagle sharpshooter Glen Camp- bell converted a two on one break to tie the game at three each. But 40 seconds later, John Harman took passes from Men- zies and Danny Maw and he whistled a back-hand shot un- der the cross bar from a sharp angle. Then the MoJacks ran into a series of penalties, including a game misconduct to Harman, and the Eagles didn't waste the chance to use their potent pow- er play as Nick Dennis tied the game at 17:30. To their credit, the Mo- Jacks came right back up ice and ten seconds later, Jim Ver- non gave the team a 5-4 lead as he deposited the puck into the open corner with assists to Ke- vin Gibson and Lally. Tony Sortino came up with several fine saves early in the third period to preserve the 5-4 lead, but the Eagles tied it at 11:55 on a short-handed effort by George Pithie who drilled a rocket from the left side. The Eagles discipline be- gan to break down as they took several minors, and the Mo- Jacks were still on a power play at 12:30 when Lally got his third of the night and the game winner. Dave Burnett, in his first me this season with the team controlled the puck deep in Ea- gle territory and fed a nice pass to Lally who had most of the net to shoot at. MoJacks were not about to let these two points slip away and enjoying a two man advan- tage, Warren Geer' nailed the coffin shut at 17:38 with a hard Pee Wee house league Big V5 Scala Bros. 2 Ryan Williams opened the scor- ing for Big V on a pass from Craig Coates and Jason Brain. Later in the first, Big V's John Hall scored from Jason Brain and Craig Coates. In the final minutes of the first period, Scala's Graham Holt netted a beauty unassisted. In the second period Big V's Greg Thompson fired one from Derek Anderson. Scala's Sean Gawley shot right back with one from Graham Holt and Mike Pashley. In the final minute of the lay in the second, Big V's Derek Rnderson scored one trom Johnathan McCourt. In the third period Big V's John Hall scored from Craig Coates and Jason Brain to end the contest Big V 5, Scala Bros. 2. Larocque 3 Emiels 2 In the first period, Larocque scored the only goal, Justin Woot- ton from Jeff Fletcher. Early in the second Larocques' Justin Wootton scored his second from Jeff Fletcher and Matt Baker. Emiels Jon Jamieson " scored from Jason Brown to put Emiels back in the game. Late in the second, Larocques' Scott Swain scored from Justin Wootton and Jeff Fletcher. Emiels tried hard to even the score but had to settle for only one more as Stewart Bruce scored from Matt Brown and Jon Jamieson. Final score: Larocque Electric 3, Emiels 2. slap shot from the deep slot area that caught Webster going the other way. Brad Menzies enjoyed a fine game with a goal and four assists, Dave Burnett had three assists, and Connors had a pair. The real story for the Mo- Jacks was the play of John Lal- ly. Along with his hat trick, he added one assist, and was pug- . nacious in front of the Eagle net and in the corners. Late in the game, he tan- gled with Bowmanville's rather ! large captain Dean Baum- hauer, and the two of them flailed away with both hands. - Though he probably gave away 26 pounds to Baumhauer, Lally more than held his own in the boxing department and eventually tugged the captain to the ice before the officials got them separated. The undercard to this scrap had Danny Maw and Glen Campbell squaring off in what was a pretty good punch-up. Referee Don Daigle sent a steady stream of players from both sides to penalty box as tem- pers were running high throughout. This was a big win for the MoJacks psychologically. They played it tough, scored five pow- er play goals, and out-shot the visitors 46-30. They also got some out- standing work by the penalty killing units, holding the Eagle snipers to just one power play goal. ModJacks were really hurt- ing along the blue line with three regulars out of the line-up (Chris Edmonson, knee; Rob Willetts, elbow, and Paul Wil- kins, ankle) When Steve Con- nors got tossed in the second on a very "iffy" call, the team was down to three blue liners: Met- calfe, Arsenault and Geer. They had abig part in the victory. In the four meetings to date, Eagles have won two, Mo- Jacks one and one ended in a draw. These two teams hook up again twice before the end of the regular schedule. And if, as some league ob- servers predict, they wind up facing each other in the final playoff round for the League Crown, watch out. That could be some kind of series. SLAP SHOTS The MoJacks have a break in their schedule this week, but on the weekend, they have two veryimportantgames. Saturday night (Jan. 6) the team journeys down the road to meet the Bowmanville Eagles who no doubt are still smarting from the 7-5 loss to the MoJacks December 28. And the next night, they host rival Uxbridge Bruins at the Scugog Arena for a 7:30 faceoff. Last time these teams got' together just before Christmas in Uxbridge, the game ended in a 2-2 deadlock after a late goal by Steve Connors. To say the MoJacks and Bruins don't much like each other would be an under- statement. ~ ModJack forward John Lally has been playing fine hock- ey for the Junior C squad so far this season, getting his share of goals and assists, taking some hits and dishing a few out each time he steps on the ice. In photo above, he was in perfect position to tip a shot by Bowmanville net- minder Scott Webster last Thursday night as the MoJacks defeated the Eagles 7-5. Lally had a hat trick in this one. (see story for details) Novice League Davids 2 Re/Max 1 The first game of the day saw Davids and Re/Max having one of their close checking fast skating games. Re/Max opened the scor- ing in the first period on a neat goal by Justin Sheehey assisted by Scott Willman and David Gainey. - Davids wasted no time on get- ting that one back, scoring only 25 seconds later to tie it up on an unassisted goal by Ryan McQuade. There was no scoring in the second period which was a tribute to the goaltending. At the 11:14 mark of the third period, Scatt Sanderson scored the eventual winning goal assisted by Brad Monsma. In goal for Davids was Chris Orr and Scott Cunningham played in goal for Re/Max. Port Perry Printing 5 Van Camp 0 In the second game Port Perry Printing opened the scoring at 3:27 of the first period on an unassisted goal by Scott Harper. At the 9:49 mark of the second period Mark Delaney scored assisted by Glenn McCready. Derek Reid scored unassisted. With four seconds left in the se- cond period, Glenn McCready scored his second goal of the game, unassisted. In goal for Port Perry Printing was Mike Versage and Jonathon Chambers was in goal for Van Camp. Team Port Perry Printing Re/Max Realty David's Hairstyling Van Camp Construction NOVICE HOUSE LEAGUE STANDINGS W L T Pt GF GA 9 4 0 18 37 24 7 5 1 15 50 34 6 4 3 15 33 32 1 10 2 4 27 57 a