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Page 14 ♦ THE CANADIAN STATESMAN ♦ April 19, 2006 Sports durhamregion.com regioiv com decisions' ahead Shawn Cayley Greer's next move might be his best You can bet of all the things going through the head of Whitby's Zack Greer lately, his decision to accept a scholarship scholarship at Duke University to play lacrosse has to be front and centre. Don't get me wrong, North Carolina- based Duke is one of the top athletic schools in the United States, and really, who wouldn't want to sign on the dotted line and become a Blue Devil? I know I would. Last season; everything was fine and dandy. Greer was running up and down the field oh his way-to potting 57 goals as a freshman, which garnered him national attention as one of the top university lacrosse players around, something Durham Durham fans already knew. The Blue Devils were considered one of the top teams in the nation; but fell just short of a national championship. Despite a disappointing conclusion to the season, optimism still reigned suprenie in the.south. ;vHeading...intû_.yeai...twû T .ahat elusive- national title was on the minds of many. The season began, with a goal in mind,, and as usual the 47 men representing Duke went about their business on the lacrosse field. They were pretty with a 6-2 record and things were right on course: Then it all came to a crashing halt. Last month, a rape allegation was levied levied against members of the team who had attended a party at the captains' house. When details began filtering out, games were postponed, players were ordered to submit DNA tests, then coach Mike Pressler resigned, the season was cancelled. On Monday night, two players players were arrested and charged with first- degree forcible rape, first-degree sexual offense and kidnapping. . So after a season that began with so much promise, it has all ended in the midst of an ugly scandal, with racial overtones and a black mark against Duke's name. Where does this leave each player, more specifically Greer, who, by all indications, indications, was nowhere near this party? Not only has Greer lost an entire season season of lacrosse, it'd be hard to imagine that he, along with the others, didn't suffer academically in.the wake of all the controversy. One can only imagine what it would have been like to see the entire program go down the drain in a matter of a few weeks. It wouldn't come as a surprise to see Greer, and many others, apply for a transfer. Nothing has been said - and it probably won't be for a while yet - as to the future of the, lacrosse program at Duke. It's just not fair to blame the players who had nothing to do with this party. Their names have been soiled because of the simple fact that they arc Duke Blue Devil lacrosse players. You can't blame them for wanting to move-on and leave this sordid affair behind. 1 know I'd be moving on, that's for sure. . Shawn Cayley's column appears every third Wednesday. ■ E-mail: scayley@durhamrepion.cmn Tournament provides sample of what's available to Green Gaels coach BY BRAD KELLY Sports Editor BOWMANVILLE - It was only the Easter weekend, but it must have seemed like Christmas to Clarington Green Gaels first-year head coach Rick Phillips. The new bench boss of the Jr. B lacrosse club finally got to unwrap his. presents, in this case players hoping to crack the roster, at the Green Gael Classic exhibition tournament held on Saturday that included a pair of entries from the Green Gaels, as well as the Toronto Saints and Huntsville Hawks. "Everybody wants to get going and get the season started and it's coming coming fast," said Phillips in regard to the initial week of training camp, leading to the impending start of the season at home to Huntsville on Thursday, April 27. - Last week provided the first opportunity opportunity for the Green Gaels to branch out on their own, separating from a joint training camp with the Jr. A Whitby Warriors. While the Warriors are still holding a handful of players who will eventually filter down to the Green Gaels, Saturday's set of exhibition games gave Phillips and his staff some kind of idea of what they will have to work with. Initial impressions are that the club is loaded with talent on the right side, but short on the left side. "We've got a lot of tough decisions ahead of us," said Phillips of trying to pare down the roster to a more.work- - able-number for the rest of training camp. "Overall I'm quite impressed. We haven't really had a chance to practice, it's been just tryouts, so we haven't been able to teach yet." . There was nothing definitive that could be judged in terms of strength of the roster based on the results of the 'exhibition tournament "at the Garnet ■Ron Pietroniro/Metroland Durham Region Media Group Slavko Lysyk (17) of the Clarington Green Gaels protects the ball against the check of a Toronto Saints player during action from the Green Gaels Classic exhibition tournament that was held at the Garnet B. Rickard Recreation Recreation Complex on Saturday. The tournament included two entries from the Green Gaels, with the Saints and Huntsville Hawks rounding out the field. B. Rickard Recreation Complex. For instance, the Gaels No. • 1 team beat the Saints 8-6 to start the day's activities, activities, but the Gaels No. 2 team lost to the Saints 9-4. The opposite occurred against Huntsville though, with Gaels No. 2 winning 5-2, but Gaels No. 1 dropping a 10-4 decision. From Phillips's perspective, he was more interested in what each individual individual player could bring and was quite clear to the more than 30 prospects about what he was looking for. "I told the guys the first night out that I'm looking for character guys. You don't have to be the most talented guy or the most gifted lacrosse player, but if you bring character and hard work, in Whitby drops Allan Cup debut 5-4 BY BRIAN MCNAIR Staff Editor . POWELL RIVER, B.C. - It took the Whitby Dunlops a period to get their legs underneath, them in their Allan Cup debut yesterday, and it ended up costing the .game. , Thanks in large part to falling behind 4-1 through one period at the Senior AAA national championships in British Columbia, Columbia, the Dunlops fell 5 : 4 to Saskatchewan's Saskatchewan's Weybum Devils. Whitby fought back to tie the game early in the third period, but lost when Weyburn's Kerry Biette wired a slap shot high past Joel Whitmarsh's glove with 3:09 remaining. 1 • "They (the Devils) played a hell of a game," Dunlops coach Mike Posavad said afterward. "They worked hard, they come out flying, so you've got to give them all the credit. Obviously we liked the second and third a lot better than the first period." Whitmarsh was certainly not to fault, as he entered the game for Matt Baiser with Whitby trailing 4-1 and made several key saves to make a comeback possible. "That was tt pro shot, that one," Posavad said of Biette's winner. "We never quit, we kept coming, coming, coming, coming," he added, looking for positives. positives. "That's our strength, forecheck, forecheck, forecheck. Wc knew when we were down three goals we were still in it." Photo by Doug Mathieson Whitby Dunlops goaltender Joel Whitmarsh watches a puck slide past while a couple of Weyburn Devils players crash the net during Allan Cup play Tùesday night in Powell River, British Columbia. A late goal in the third period sunk the Dunlops, as they dropped a 5-4 decision. They return to action tonight against the Trail Smoke Eaters in the second of two round robin games. ■ The Devils started quickly, with Christian Christian Cote scoring just 1:24 into the game and Ken King upping the lead with a power-play goal less than four minutes later, Bob MeQuat appeared to put Whitby back in the game with a powci-play tally 1:51 later, but King notched another with the man advantage to restore the two-goal lead just past the midway point of the period. Cote added to the Weybum lead with 5:25 remaining in the period and drove Baiser out in the process, that's what I want." ; The Green Gaels are coming off a season in which they finished first in the Mid East with a 16-4-0 mark,I bounced Barrie in three straight in the; opening,round of the playoffs but were eliminated in the quarterfinals in the fifth and deciding game against Akwe-* sasne.. . ! opener Corey Bricknell cut the Whitby deficit to 4-2 with a nice wrist shot from the highj slot, seconds after Weybum goalie Corey McEachran made a remarkable save on Peter MacKellar, one of many against the Whitby captain. But MacKellar wasn't to be denied, filially finding the net with a high blast on the power play with 31 seconds left in the second period. The Dunlops' power play started slowly but turned out to be effective, as Matt Armstrong tied the game with the man advantage 2:45 in to the final frame, his third point of the game. Ron Baker, the Dunnies' playoff point leader, earned his third assist of the game. Whitmarsh stoned Weybum's most dangerous dangerous player, Don Sauter, on a clear-cut breakaway with the game still tied late, but .he couldn't stop Biette. Whitby had a glorious chance to tie thé game again, but failed to capitalize on i major penalty to Corey Koski with 2:22 remaining. T As the farthest travelling team in their division, the Dunnies had a bye Monday).' while Weybum dropped a 4-2 decision tq B.C.'s Trail Smoke Eaters. In the otheç division, the host Powell River Régals opened with a 4-2 win over the Fort Hotel Chiefs last night. Whitby and Trail play today at 7:30 p.m EDT. *7watch wdeoI ■t dinhimragion.oom 13 2006 jftiv m MITROLAND DU Basketball Classic Gr. Presented by MITROLAND DURHAM REGION MEDIA Call sports editor Brad Kelly for information. 905 579 4400 ext. 2254 1 Ills Week t Caiiiitnan felfltfB'niiin • \l ws ADVI HI ISIR • Eiiiifs-jloiinwl • durhamregion.com