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Sports Efje Cauabiait Statesman ♦ August 16, 2006 ♦ durhamregion.com No stupid questions Q. Why do we yell 'fore' when playing golf? A. Acccording to 'The History of Golf' by Robert Browning in the last century, it comes from the exclamation "Ware before!" which means "Look out in front!" Questions may be submitted by email to questions@durhamregion. com. For more, log on to drinfo.ca/questions. Brian McNair When it rains, it pours It's ironic and unfortunate, that while the Oshawa Senior Hawkeyes are hitting new heights on the gridiron this season, they may have to fly the coop next. In fact, football in general is taking quite a wallop these days, as the Ontario Varsity Football League has decided to pull its season-ending championship tournament out of Oshawa and give it to Hamilton for this coming Saturday. And, it seems, it's all because you can't play football in the raim At least not in Oshawa. There's a good chance the decision to yank the provincial tournament out of Oshawa was made based on what orga-. nizers saw from the Hawkeyes' senior team this season. Three times, the City of Oshawa decided decided to close Civic Stadium to the Hawk- eyes due to rain, fearing damage, to its field would affect other users. The first time, the Northern Football Conference opener on June 3, resulted in a postponement to July 10, which unfortunately turned out to be the second postponement, resulting in a 28-0 forfeit loss to the Milton Marauders. The third closure, the season finale on July 29, could have seen the Hawk- eyes eliminated from playoff contention fiad the team not scrambled to secure he Pine Ridge Secondary School field hat same day. Several players bought paint to line the.field and the Hawkeyes played and won, sending them to what's becomé an' impressive playoff run. 1 But the Hawkeyes suffered. General manager Ian Bunting estimates . the team has lost more than $8,000 due to the field closures, not to mention the fact the forfeit loss has caused them to play all three of their playoff games on the road. He says the senior team may not be able to survive due to the financial hit and the fear that more of the same will happen down the road. In fact, the entire Hawkeyes' organization, the largest largest youth football program in Canada with nearly 50 years of history behind it, is wondering about the future of the sport in the city. The OVFL, unable to get a guarantee the provincial tournament would go on, rain or shine, decided late last week to move it to Ivor Wynne Stadium, costing costing this area untold dollars in economic spinoffs as an estimated 100 hotel rooms had already been booked for the event. It's not all that unreasonable, really, that the City fears for damaging a field that is stretched so thin, also , used by lacrosse and soccer teams. But football is a game that can - and should - be played if it's raining. , Bunting points out that while the City has spent nearly $100-mi!lion on the Legends Centre and new downtown ' sports and entertainment facility, pre-, cious little has been done to upgrade the fields at the Civic. He estimates it would cost $1 million to resurface the main field with artificial turf, all but eliminating eliminating the worry about rain. That seems a reasonable enough solution. solution. \ Brian McNair's column appears every third Wednesday. E-mail bmcnair@durhamregion.com Photo by Rob Mitchell ■ Let's do the twist OSHAWA - Danielle Boudreau of the Oshawa Kicks and Pickering's Cally Bolton appear to dance around the ball during Ontario Cup Under-16 girls' quarterfinal play Saturday at Civic Fields. The Kicks won this game 1-0, but struggled in other divisions that day, as the under-13 girls' team fell 1-0 to Mississauga and the under-12 girls' squad lost 4-1 to Newmarket. Off to Brampton tonight for Game 5 down 3-1 in semifinal series BY SHAWN CAYLEY Staff Writer WHITBY - The Brooklin Redmen were, unable to finish on offence in Game 4, and because of that they are on the verge of being finished for the 2006 season. History could repeat itself as early as tonight if the Brampton Excelsiors, leading 3-1 in the Major Series Lacrosse semifinal, are . • able to shut r For more down the Red- on this story, view men sticks, just the August 15 as they did in 7- webcast °f 6 win Monday at DlUlltfl sÆ" rk Daily News The Game 4 1 loss has the Red- men on the verge of experiencing an all- too-familiar feeling: playoff elimination at the hands of the Excelsiors. Since their Mann Cup season of 2000, the Redmen were sent packing in the post-season each of the four years after, prior to missing the playoffs in 2005. Now, tonight, down 3-1, they could be three periods away from the same fate. Despite the disappointing loss on home floor Monday, coach Ian McGough remained optimistic heading to the Pow- cradc Centre tonight. ■ Jason Liebregts / Metrolancf Durham Region Media Group Jeff Zywicki of the Brooklin Redmen tries to get past Brampton's Phil Sanderson during Major Series Lacrosse playoff action Monday at Iroquois Iroquois Park. The visiting Excelsiors escaped with a 7-6 win to take a commanding commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven semifinal. "Now we'll see what the boys are made of," he quipped. "If they show up ready to go, we play our game and stick to our systems and we execute, we'll beat that team." In what could only be : considered a stark contrast from the last time the team's played at Iroquois Park,and com bined for 29 goals, the offence suffered quite a drought this time around. Brook- lin's Gee Nash and Brampton's Brandon Miller traded save for save, but it was a couple of heartbreaking goals in the middle frame that made the difference. With ; 9:09 to go in the second, Pat McCrcady fired a shot that Nash handled. quite well, however, the rebound caromed caromed off of Corey Leigh and into the back of the net, making it 5-3 Brampton. Brampton. Gavin Prout then took control, scoring scoring a pair in just under two minutes, the second of which came on a breakaway to draw, the Redmen even. Howevèq the momentum killer came with less than one second remaining in the period, courtesy Blaine Manning. The clock was winding down and the Brooklin defence did a fantastic job of thwarting the repeated attempts by Brampton to get the ball to net, but a slight letdown saw Manning with the ball at the side of the net and he proceeded proceeded to stuff the ball past Nash at the buzzer. Aside from trading, a goal each in the third, Brampton was able to shut down the Redmen attack, which was something something that put a smile on Brampton coach Troy Cordingley's face "We're happy with this win," said the former Redmen bench boss. "Our defence played exceptional, and I think their defence did as well. It was a battle and we just happened to come out by one." NOTES: Gavin Prout ended up with three goals and an assist on the night, while Shawn Williams added five helpers. helpers. Mike Aecursi, Mike McLellan and Ashton McLean added single tallies... Josh Sanderson had four points including including a goal for Brampton, while Colin Doyle had four assists and Dan Teat notched two goals, including the winning winning marker... Should the Redmen force a Game 6, it will be Friday night at 8 at Iroquois Park. Durham riders shine at Chance Stables Bowmanville hosts r Regional Finals BOWMANVILLE - The Central Ontario Regional Pony Club Show Jumping Finals look place recently at Chance Stables .in Bowmanville and there was plenty of local content among the winners, Pre-Entry Division AI Dalton Wright of the Durham Pony Club won the medal class on Pollyanna, with Alexandra Gannon of the Good- wood Pony Club second on My Stanley Cup, and B rigid Goulem of the Kawnr- Iha Pony Club third riding Precious Poco, In the single round plus jump-off class, Goulem was second and Wright came in third. Pre-Entry Division A2 Kassandra Sloan of the Oshawa Pony Club took first place in thé medal class on Royal China, while Chelsea Geer of the Uxbridgc-Scugog Pony Club second second on Tequila Sunrise and another Uxbridgc-Scugog entry, Kailey Rigel- hof, came third on Jelly Beanz. In the single round with jump-olf, Rigclhof took top spot, with Katherine Earle of the Ajax Pony Club second on Van Gogh and Mary Reynolds, also of Ajax, third on Spice of Life. Pre-Entry Division B Kaillin Devoe of the Ajax Pony Club won the medal class aboard Aladdin, with another Ajax rider, Jessica Clarke, second on Natasha and Lauren Bridle of the Waitssnodne Pony Club third on Skyler. Devoe also won the single round with jump-off, with Mcaghnn Lloyd of the Durham Pony Club second on Cab- fare and Samantha Lobbczoo third on Ride' cm Harley Style. Pre-Entry Schooling Division This new Division had only two entries in the Finals. Julia McGill of the Durham Pony Club finished first in both classes riding Dressed to Kill, with Carolyn Russell-Poliquin of the Oshawa Pony Club second in both on Mr. Zoodles. Entry Division Cori Barnes of the Uxbridgc-Scugog Pony Club won the medal class on Sure Da Count, with Rebecca Simmons of the Durham Pony Club second on Mott Chocklat and Rachel Goodman of the Whitchurch Pony Club third on Chestnut Chestnut Hill Tiffany. Simmons took top spot in the single round with jump-off, with Jazmyne Woolley of the Centaurus Pony Club second riding Timbil and Barnes third. Starter Division In the medal class', first place went to Jane Stephenson of the Uxbridgc- Scugog Pony Club and her mount Merrylegs. Emily Gillies of the Ajax Pony Club took second (Aboard Rambling Rambling Rose, and Dawn O'Neill, of Ajax, placed third riding After Finals. Gillies won the single round with jump-olT, with O'Neill second and Stephenson third. Beginner Division Jennifer Me Keen of the Oshawa Pony Club won the medal class riding Mya. Second place went to another Oshawa rider, Meagan Christou riding Favor Sierra while Oshawa's Johanna McK- een was third on Mitigate Bravcheart. McKcen also won the single round with jump-olf, Rebecca Adrian of the Kawartha Pony Club placed second on Narhan's Gift, with Christou third. Novice Division Stephanie Crawford of Durham placed third on Black Edition in the medal class, while in.the single round with jump-off, Andrea McGill of Durham placed first on Phoenix Rising. Crawford Crawford was third. Intermediate Division There were only two entries in this Division and Katie Murray of the Durham Durham Pony Club won all three classes riding Pennywise. Advanced Division Jenna Paterson of the Pine Ridge Pony Club won the medal class and the single round with jump-off riding^Mr. Ed, and Jcnnalyn Webber of the Uxhridge-Scu- gog Pony Club placed second in these classes on My Prince Charming. MW1Œ m. :'B ' i;,.. ? : i MK Uili.iit 1 :;» wms