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THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, NOVEMBER 21,2001 PAGE 15 Eagles get three of six points B ï ; EVERYONE WELCOME! Join us on Thursday, November 22 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. MARDIS GRAS THEME! ENJOY LOTS OF FOOD A PRIZES GoodLife 905.623.9977 Bowmanville Mall, 243 King SI. E. Busy weekend results in win over Bancroft, tie against ! Peterborough and narrow loss to first place Wellington It Y IIR AD KELLY Spoi ls Editor i BOWMANVILLE - Three games in three nights can significantly significantly alter a team's place in the standings, depending on the results. The Bowmanville Eagles completed such a stretch this past weekend and emerged relatively unscathed. With six points available, the Eagles managed to get three of them, maintaining their hold on fifth place in the Eastern Conference Conference of the Provincial Junior Junior League. The results got progressively progressively worse for the Eagles as the weekend wound down, winning winning 7-l in Bancroft Friday, coming from behind for a 5-5 tie in Peterborough Saturday and concluding with a narrow 2-l loss to the division leaders leaders from Wellington on Sunday Sunday at the Garnet B. Rickard Recreation Complex. ' Despite getting half of the points, coach and general manager Curtis Hodgins had higher expectations. "You can't be happy. This league is so tight you have to get the points," when you can, he said following Sunday's setback. ; "Right now we arc a frus trated team. Our first period is our problem. We arc behind in each and every game." That disturbing trend continued continued Sunday as Wellington scored a power play goal in each of the first and second periods for a 2-0 lead that held up until the final minute of the game. With goaltcnder Darryl Bouchard on the bench in favour of an extra attacker, Nick Stacey scored with 48 seconds left to narrow the gap to 2-1, but that's as close as the Eagles got. "Tonight was a tough game because (Wellington) arc the class of the league," said Hodgins. "They are in first place for a reason. After the first 25 minutes we played them pretty hard and took the play to them. "Discipline cost us tonight. Some of the penalties we took, there is no excuse for. Come playoff time those arc the little things that separate the winners from the losers. "We're not that far away from Wellington. They are at the top of their game and, we're getting there." The weekend leaves the Eagles Eagles with a record of 10-9-3- 2, three points ahead of sixth place. Peterborough in the Eastern Conference. An encouraging sign from the weekend was the fact the Eagles were able to ice close to a full line-up, something that has eluded the team due to injuries and suspensions thus far. Hodgins deemed the first 20 games as a "nightmare" because he was unable to set any line combinations. "Usually you spend the first five to 10 games experimenting experimenting and we Haven't been able to do that. Now we're in the experimental mode, moving moving guys around." The Eagles will have another another busy schedule this weekend with three games in four nights. Thursday, the team travels to Kingston; Friday, the team is in Lindsay before closing out the weekend at home Sunday Sunday against Cobourg. Sunday's Sunday's game will be a matinee affair with the face-off at 2:30 p.m. as opposed to the traditional traditional 6:30 p.m. start. The earlier start time is to avoid a conflict with Sunday's Grey Cup football game. THE SCOOP - Goaltcnder Darryl Bouchard will carry the load in net. after Joel Whitmarsh was signed by the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL. The Eagles have also set up an affiliation with Sudbury. Sudbury. The arrangement should provide Bowmanville with a backup goaltcnder. Since Whitmarsh left, the team has been using call-ups from the .minor hockey Toros as a backup to Bouchard...Jason McAuley has returned from playing junior hockey in British Columbia, but will not rejoin the Eagles. The team's leading scorer from last season season was traded to Newmarket in a cash deal...Missing from Sunday's line-up were Wade Branch and Josh Rutledge...Jon Ross, the team's player of the month for October, has taken over the team scoring lead with 15-20- 35 totals, 10 points ahead of September's player of the month Colin Baker who has 15-10-25 totals. The Bowmanville Eagles managed to collect three of six points daring a stretch of three games in three nights for the hockey chib this past weekend. The team opened the weekend with a win in Bancroft, battled back for a tie in Peterborough and was edged 2-1 by the Wellington Dukes on Sunday night at the Garnet B. Rickard Recreation Complex. ANDREW 1WÂNOWSKI/ Statesman photo