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THE HERALD Wednesday May Page 15 1989 HONDA CIVIC GEORGETOWN Si lowcoST Georgetown leasing SALES SERVICE 873 1818 DOWNTOWN FAX SERVICE Evenings Saturdays Too VOUnCS D A PHMIflMKV Downtown Georgetown 877 Gendron goes to league champion Peterborough in sixth round Cull Pasma crack top 10 at OHL priority draft By PAUL SVOIIODA Herald Sports Editor A pair of Georgetown athletes took their first major steps towards realizing dreams of play ing professional hockey Saturday in North York Trent Cull and Rod graduates of the Georgetown B Raiders cracked the top the first round of the annual Ontario Hockey League priority draft at the North York Centennial Arena When the call came it came ear ly as Cull was selected seventh overall and first by the neighbor ing Guelph Platers Just two selec later it was the Cornwall Royals using their first pick ninth overall to choose The pair became the second and third Georgetown all defencemen to be selected in the first round of the OHL lottery the past two years Last year Adam Bennett was chosen second overall by the Sudbury Wolves A third member of last year s Raiders left winger Bryan Gen dron was also nabbed days draft The defending OHL champion Peterborough Petes made Gendron their seventh pick 89th overall in the sixth round Cull was ranked and Pasma 18th heading into Saturday draft and while each was projected as a first rounder both were surprised where they ended up It was a complete surprise I had no idea would pick me said an elated Cull minutes after mounting the podium to acknowledge Guelph selection likewise expressed some surprise in being chosen by Corn wall I was a little bit surprised they took me We had talked before the draft and we had it narrowed down to Cornwall and Peter borough Raider coach Peter Sturgeon a spectator at Saturday s pro ceedings was obviously a proud mentor as his charges donned jerseys from their respective new teams Not bad for a pair of stumble- bums from Georgetown quipped Sturgeon They re both pretty good kids with a lot of poten tial They ve got the tools They both improved their skating and and their intensity improved all year They re a credit to the community and the GMHA They ve been given the ty and now it s up to them GMHA retains AA status A motion to apply for status within the Ontario Minor Hockey Association was soundly defeated by the Georgetown Minor Hockey Association at a special meeting Monday The motion had been tabled at an executive meeting two weeks ago suggesting the GMHA con dropping its doubleA status in an effort to have rep teams become more competitive and to attract more players to the pro gram According to secretary Judy GMHA president Carson Mimnch checked popula figures prior to Mondays meeting and it is doubtful whether Georgetown would even have qualified for status centres include those with populations of between 2550000 while covers communities of between 1325000 Trent Cull thanked his family and coaches Rod Pasma chatted with Cornwall Royals officials and the pair eventually congratulated each other at Saturday OHL draft Herald photos Sturgeon cited the fact all the Raider will be moving to strong clubs with long histories of winning Both Guelph and Cornwall have won Memorial Cups in recent years and Peter borough captured the league playoff championship this past While Cull and Pasma possess vast potential in the skill areas of the game both are well aware of their size as being a major factor in their bemg selected so early At only of age Cull already stands 6foot 2 and tips the scales at 185 lbs while Pasma 17 cur rentry goes 204 I m aggressive and I like to handle the puck as much as I can said Cull assessing his biggest at tributes I m going to work on get ting some pucks in the net and I m going to work on my shot said he hopes to give Cor nwall some offence and also con tribute to an already strong defence In camp I m going to carry the puck a lot and I going to hit he said I going to work on my lateral movement and I d like to be a bit faster Cull plans on pumping some iron this summer and he 11 also play as much summer hockey as he can 1 11 do the best I can he said of next fall s Guelph camp Being close to home in Guelph will be an added bonus for Cull Yeah mom and dad will be coming to watch me he said will be farther down the road in Cornwall but he says he s looking forward to going there and he hopes to add another five to pounds of solid muscle before he hits the Ice in the fall I met Orval Tessier Royals coach and he a Continued on Page 17 Three reasons GMHA motion wasnt answer Pauls Call Paul Svoboda Hank Sporti Editor There are three obvious reasons why the Georgetown Minor Hockey Association shouldn have been con a drop from AA to A within the Ontario Minor Hockey Association Georgetown s burgeoning population Yes with the expected growth continuing in town the question wilt actually soon become as Georgetown will not come close to meeting the population requirements for a centre Apparently it doesnt now Past success in the Yes GMHA secretary Judy Pries mentioned after Monday s special GMHA meeting in which the motion to consider applying for A status was defeated that it would be unlikely the OMHA would consider approving of a drop to A for Georgetown due to its reputation as a good hockey town Presence of a Steam Yes the fact the Raiders are a competitive B squad which promotes the use of local players would also factor in a decision to drop classifications But the three biggest reasons why the question should never have been considered were to be found at Saturdays OHL draft Adam Bennett Trent Cull and Rod Pasma On June Bennett a GMHA product will be drafted in the first round likely within the top 10 of the NHL draft On Saturday Cull and Pasma both GMHA products were first round picks within the top 10 the Ontario Hockey Leagues draft They cut their teeth on doubleA hockey in Georgetown Would they have made the same strides against competi Hon As GMHA president Carson said last week good players will be discovered where ever they play True To an ex tent But it s much easier to get noticed playing in tnpleA and double A tournaments and playoffs Peter Sturgeon head coach of the Raiders has spent his life playing hockey at highly com petitive levels A Boston Bruin draft choice a member of the now defunct Colorado Rockies and a journeyman pro in just about every North American minor league you can name As Sturgeon has said in the past it s tough enough for an kid to make it to junior hockey Scouts pay the most attention to AAA less to AA and even less to A Competitively an A team will not get invited to AAA tour naments with the frequency an AA team will Sure the GMHA is concerned with every kid not just the tial stars And registration has dropped off But the kind of attention at traded by guys like Bennett Cull and Pasma will do more for pro moting hockey in Georgetown than any renewed success in the playoffs Perhaps new avenues need con sideration The AA vs A question is redun dant anyway New answers must be considered