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J New % digs Oshawa sports and entertainment facility promises to be spectacular i " ; , : v. '■■■/': . ' *. ,■ BY BRIAN MCNAIR Staff Editor OSHAWA - It's not a stretch to use the term 'awe' when predicting the type of reaction the: opening of the new Oshawa sports and entertainment .facility will evoke in November. The only question might be, who will be more blown away: the fans or the performers? . Mike Richardson, general manager of the facility, is predicting both. "I think the thing I'm most proud of is how much thought has gone into making it the best multi-function facility in Ontario. And it really is," Richardson says. "The John Labatt Centre (in London) is gorgeous, but everything has to happen off-site for any convention hall space and things like that. We've got 20,000 square feet and 500 seating for the secondary pad. That can be converted into anything." As for the primary pad, which will be Home to the Oshawa Generals, it's most appealing aspect will be the. open concept, allowing large events to retain a community community feel. "It's supposed to have very much a community feel (o it, but it still has the major events capabilities," Richardson Richardson explains. "With the 6,000 seats, you can host almost any Canadian national event of any sport." Richardson reports that construction is right oh schedule schedule for. the Nov. 1 opening of the new facility, which will be followed two nights later by the Generals' • first home game in their new digs at Mary and Athol streets. As the primary tenant, the Generals have had a big say . in a number of areas, and have ponied up an estimated $l-million_to ensure the dressing room area will be unrivalled in the league, if not the country. "Spectacular," is how Gens owner John Davies describes it. "I think the dressing room will be as good as any NHL dressing room... We could have done things less expensively, but in the long run, we've signed a 25- year lease. "The city has gone all out to make this a world class sports and entertainment facility," continues Davies, explaining the team is simply following suit. "This is going to be the prototypical major junior facility in the country." V: The Generals used their own design team for the dressing room area, and relied heavily on the expertise of head trainer Bryàn Boy es, who has seen pretty much all there is to see in junior hockey. The actual dressing room is a 30-foot circular rotunda with a 16-foot ceiling and plenty of room for 22 players. It will be surrounded by offices and every imaginable, amenity, including state-of-the-art training, laundry and storage facilities. Richardson, who, works for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., says the dressing room area is nearly nearly as big and just as impressive as that of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The facility as a whole is set up operationally similar to the ACC. Richardson says it will have the same level of finish as the Labatt Centre, but have a much more open concept, similar to the Sarnia Sports and Entertainment Entertainment Centre. In addition to 5,400 seats, there will 23 private suites, four group suites, and suite-like seating in two levels of restaurants. Richardson says it can easily be adapted . to allow for more than 8,000 spectators for big events, such as, say, the 2008 Memorial Cup. The facility will also include the Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame, a pro shop, and an outdoor plaza whose focal point will be a fountain and reflecting pool that will convert into a skating rink in winter. Between April 2005, when construction officially began, and this coming November, Richardson says some 1,500 workers will have made a mark in making it all possible. Events already confirmed or in the works include a Toronto Rock exhibition game, concerts, an ice show, horse show and the 2007 world baton championships. "The rest of 2006, the first 60 days, will all be focused on having different types of events and showing off every aspect of the building," Richardson says. Jason Liebregls/Metroland Durham Region Media Group Construction at the new sports and entertainment facility was right on schedule earlier this month, as the interior of the building was starting to take shape. If everything goes according to plan, the building will have an official opening on Nov. 1, with the Oshawa Generals taking to the ice for the first time in the new rink on-Fridny, Nov. 3. Brad Kelly Hodgins hedging about coming back Curtis Hodgins knows a thing or two about how to win hockey games. He does, however, fall a little short in the category of keeping a good story alive. Back in the spring, during the last conversation to close out a very successful successful 2005-06 campaign, Hodgins hinted at the fact that this upcoming season may be his last behind the bench of the Bowmanville Eagles. At the time he was undergoing some personal personal changes, with a newborn baby added to the mix. And we all know that when the first little one arrives, the 'me first' way of life is not only altered - it disappears completely.. So here we sat, during the third period of Sunday's exhibition game against the Peterborough Stars, about •to delve into the prospect of this training training camp being his last. His last regular regular season. His last playoff run. Turns out, ending his coaching reign with the Eagles is the last thing on his mind. "It's not that I want to give up coaching," coaching," says Hodgins of his mindset at the start of a new junior hockey campaign. campaign. "I love coaching and I really want to stay. "But my life has changed, and I have other commitments and'responsibilities and'responsibilities now. I am just going to wait and re-evaluate everything at the end of the season. I'm pretty proud of what we have accomplished here and want it to keep going." Who could blame him for wanting to stay? s When he first returned to the Eagles for the start of the 2000 season after a couple of years as an assistant with the Oshawa Generals, things weren't as rosy as they are today. The club struggled to three straight seasons of finishing seventh in the East Conference, Conference, bowing out of the playoffs in the opening round on each occasion and mustering just two post-season wins against 12 losses in that time frame. Then, things changed. "It was five years ago that things started to turn around for us," recalls Hodgins. "We weren't winning on the ice, but we started to make some decisions off the ice that really helped us." He deflects any accolades from himself himself to GM Perry Bowles and the president president of the hockey club at the time, Terry Lynch, for implementing things off the ice that allowed the club to win on it. > Of course, Bowles and Lynch would credit Hodgins for the good fortunes if sought for comment, but there just isn't the space in this column for them to gush about their coach, no matter how deserving. In the last three" seasons, the Eagles have won the East Conference championship championship twice, and based on the number . of returning players and new recruits this season, could be poised for anoth-'. cr run at the title. "It's funny," says Hodgins looking back. "For years we never won a playoff playoff round, and then one season we win three (2004) and wc have just moved forward from there." It's hard to imagine the team moving forward without Hodgins at the helm. It's even harder to imagine the team enjoying the same measure of success without him. Brad Kelly's column appears every third Wednesday. E-mail hkelly@(lurhamreyion.com Lew leads wire to wire at junior golf championships BRAMITON - Timothy Lew jumped out to the first round lead at the Canadian Junior Golf Association's Nike Golf Junior Championship and never relinquished the lop spot in earning the title last week, After posting two rounds of 73, the Courtier resident held on with a 7 ( ) in the third and final round to collect the 17-19 age division at Lionhend Golf and Country Club in Brampton. Lew, who finished the tournament at 1-9 for the tluve rounds, was eight strokes better than Ryan Corbin of Niagara balls, who finished with a 233 total (il 7). "It wasn't pretty today, Definitely some final round jitters," admitted Lew moments after the final round. "It Icels good to gel the win. I was starling to doubt myself so a win helps that." Bowmanville's Buz llowcrman-Ritchie finished fourth in the Girls' Division with rounds of 83-76-80, 14 shots hack of champion Brittany Henderson of Smith Falls, who won the title for the second consecutive year,