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Brooklin vs. St. Regis Last night at St. Regis Thursday at Brooklin if necessary Brooklin led best-of- five series 2-1 Whitby vs. Peterborough Last night at Whitby Tonight at Peterborough Friday at Whitby Best-of-seven series tied 1-1 Oshawa vs. Barrie Last night at Barrie Tonight at Oshawa Thursday at Barrie Barrie led best-of-seven series 1-0 2006 ♦ durhamreyioa.com Shawn Cayley Gee, Weber playing like a former Warrior Goaltender has a knack for getting offensive . In 1999, the Whitby Warriors were the beneficiary of a pass happy goal- tender in Gee Nash, who led the way te a Minto Cup championship. Nash, the stellar backstop who now plies his trade with the Colorado Mammoth Mammoth of the NLL arid the Brooklin Redmen of the Major Series Lacrosse league, ended up tied for third in team playoff scoring with an astonishing 35 assists in 13 games, including' 13 in the Minto Cup finals. Seven years later, we are seeing shades of the past. On Sunday, Joel Weber stood tall in guiding the Warriors to an 11-5 victory over the Peterborough Lakers in Game 2 of their OLA Jr.'A semifinal. Ohj arid along the way he picked up assists on the first, third, fourth, sixth, 10th and 11th goals. Yep, Weber had six assists, which gives him the team lead in points through the first two games (last night's . Game 3 was after our deadline) of the 'series, with eight, While that doesn't come as much of a surprise, as McComb has been touting Weber's playmaking playmaking . abilities abilities since before training camp in late April, it,has forced the coach to do a little reminiscing. reminiscing. • "When we look back to our Minto Cup days and look at what Gee Nash was doing, I think we see what kind of style we need and like to employ," says McComb. "I think when it was over, Gee had something like 35 assists and finished fourth in team playoff scoring." scoring." He was tied for third actually, but you get point. Basically what McComb is getting at is that Weber has what.it takes to be the catalyst of this team's playing style and he'll ultimately determine whether or not they are still playing at the end of this month in Six Nations at the National Championship. Nash knew how to control the ball and was very quick to react in finding an open teammate for the break. In watching Weber, the same can be said. Having that ability bodes well against Peterborough because they arc a team that thrives in creating opportunities off of loose bails. With Weber gobbling those up and feeding the players ahead, it's allowing allowing the Warriors to play their strategy perfectly.. Need a little evidence? On four of Weber's six helpers on Sunday, he picked up the only assist on the play. If lie doesn't make those plays, the Warriors arc probably trailing in this series. McComb, the rest of the Warriors and their fans can only hope Weber continues continues to display his Nash-like abilities over the next couple of weeks to give them a chance to compare the entire team to the 1999 squad, not just the goaltcnders, Joel Weber Shawn Cayley's column appears every third Wednesday.. E-mail scayle\'@durhamrejiion.com. Ron Pietroniro/Metroland Durham Region Media Group Out at the plate PICKERING -- Clarington Orioles catcher Dillon Corcoran dives and tags out Robbie Heard from the Pickering Red Sox during the second game of a doubleheader at Brockridge Park in Pickering. The teams play in the Minor Bantam AAA rep division. Redmen coming together at right time Roster nearly intact as Brooklin seeks long playoff run BY BRIAN MCNAIR Staff Editor . ■' ; ' v" ' v ' :• WHITBY - The Bro'oklin Redmen are hoping there's enough time to jell to take a serious run at a Major Series Lacrosse title. Sunday seemed to provide a good first ■ step. Playing with as complete a lineup as they've enjoyed this season, the Redmen exploded for five unanswered goals in the third period to defeat to St. Regis Indians 9-5 arid take a 2-1 series lead in their best-of-five quarterfinal. Gavin Prout, who missed the first two games of the series while running a , lacrosse camp in Colorado, returned just in time to lead the Redmen with five pojnts, including two goals, while captain captain Shawn Williams had a hat trick and . one helper. The third-period outburst ended an otherwise frustrating weekend against St. Regis goalie Mike Thompson, who led his team to a 9-1 win on Cornwall Island Friday before finally succumbing to a 64-shot barrage at the Iroquois Park Sports Centre Sunday. "The guys finally got to him," said Redmen coach Ian McGough, who is pleased with the growing state of his roster. "It's a little different when everybody's everybody's there and all our leaders are on See REDMEN, page B3 CALGARY - John Tavares hopes this isn't the beginning of the SI jinx. Tavares, the 15-year-old Oshawa Generals phenom" featured recently in Sports Illustrated as a can't-miss prospect, was forced to pull out of the National Summer Under-18 Team Selection Camp in Calgary after sustaining sustaining an injury to his left leg during an intra-squad game Sunday. Although .he now won't be able to play for Canada at the Junior World : Cup in Europe this month, Tavares should be ready to go by the start of the Generals' season, reports Brad Selwood. Tavares spoke to Selwood from . the. airport in Calgary Monday, telling his coach/GM he had a second degree sprain of the medial collateral ligament, which should require four to six weeks of rehab. He was headed home to Oakville for further evaluation. evaluation. "The good news, obviously, is it doesn't look like he needs surgery," says Selwood. "We're going to be 100 per cent sure he's healthy before he gets involved with anything this year." The Generals open camp on Aug. 29, taking to the ice the next day. The first exhibition game is Sept. 5 and the first regular season game Sept. 22, two days after Tavares's 16th birthday. Tavares was the OHL and CHL rookie rookie of the year in 2005-06, registering 45-32-77 numbers in 65 games after being allowed into the league a year early as an exceptional underage talent. talent. John Tavares Tavares sprains knee in Calgary Knocked out . of U18 tourney should be ready for Gens' season to race Ron Pietroniro/Metroland Durham Region Media Group COURT1CE- B.J. Cunlifle has qualified for the North American Youth Thick and Field Championships in Hershey, Pennsylvania. That winning time is then compared to others within the region, and only the fastest time gets to go. In this case, Cunliffe's time had to be better than those ran in Ontario, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. As it turns out, his time of 4:44 was tops, a time he set in Oshawa on the Civic Stadium track back in late-June. "It's the last year I can' go to the meet, -so it's nice to go down again," COURTICE ~ Good news always' says Cunliffe, who will be too old next seem to follow BJ Cunliffe when he's year when he turns 15. on holidays. ' During his first trip to Hershey in Two years ago, while on a summer '04, he collected a bronze in the 800m. vacation with family, he phoned orga- This time around, he's looking to once nizers of the North American Youth again have a podium finish. Track and Field Championships in "Competing against runners from all Hershey, Pennsylvania to find.out if he over North America, and the whole met the qualification standard to get atmosphere is nice," he says. "There in. are so many people from all over the Turned out he did. . United States and Canada, and that's This summer, same kind of scenario, pretty cool." only this time he returned home from As for.how he will stack up against vacation to an awaiting message on his the rest of the competition, it doesn't answering machine. worry him in the least. He's going Again, it was good news. For the sec- there to run his race, and forget about ond time, the Courticc resident is off to who is flanked on his left or right at the Pennsylvania to compete in the presti- starting line, gious event for track and field athletes. "I'm never worried about who I am In 2004, it was the 800m that he lined competing against. I don't get that up for. This-time out the 1600m (or nervous," he says confidently, mile) is the race of choice. And with good reason. "1 knew 1 had a good chance to qual- Earlier this summer he set a new ily," says the 14-year-okl, who runs Minor Track Association record in the competitively lor Courticc Kids and 1500m, breaking the old mark by more the Durham Dragons. "We checked my than three seconds with a time of time, and in past years it would have 4:22.4. been good enough to finish second at Cunliffe, who graduated from Dr. the meet. So 1 was happy when l found Emily Stowe and will enter Grade 9 out 1 was going." at Courticc Secondary School next Cunliffe will be representing Canada month, expects eight to 10 other run- arnl the Great Lakes Region at the ners in his race on Aug. 5. meet. The process to qualify ensures In its 29th year, the meet amm- that only the elite make it through. In ally features more than 500 of the best order to make the team, an athlete first young traek and field athletes in North has to win the state or provincial meet. America, runners in Pennsylvania Courtice teen making second trip to compete at North American Championships BY BRAD KELLY Sports Editor -,