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J Sports M Œfte Canabian &tategman ♦ October 4, 2006 ♦ durhamregion.com Shawn Cayley Tavares gives thumbs up Knee injuries, no matter how minor or serious they may be, are always a cause for concern. ' At least they are in my eyes. Here is to hoping John Tavares is a man of his word. The 16-year-old exceptional Oshawa General says his left knee injury, sustained in July at the Canadian U18 camp, is a thing of the past, he is fully recovered and is ready to move on. "Everything feels good and I think I am back to normal now," Tavares said before . practice earlier this week. "I've got a few games under my belt now, and that really got me back into game mode, the way I was before. The knee feels good out there, . I don't have any pain, I don't.have any soreness or anything. It feels the way it should." Now that's reassuring. To an extent, any- : way. • " Brad Selwood, GM/coach of the Gener-r als, went one step further and professed Tavares to be 100 per cent healthy in terms . of the knee. "The doctors tell us he is 100 per cent, so there are no worries on our side of things," says Selwood of his prized superstar. "Now, he is wearing a brace for'phecau-^ tiojj, but we've been assured he is fine.'" Though the soreness and pain in the knee have apparently subsided, Selwood admits Tavares has been spending plenty of time on the ice trying to strengthen the area sur- : : rounding the knee. ■ : ; But again, Selwood claims to be worry, free. ■ , . "Let's face it, when your off six-to- eight weeks, things get a little weak in there," Selwood remarks. "He has got' to strengthen those muscles and tendons, but he has been working very hard at doing so. Johnny is the least of my worries."- With four points in his first three games, Tavares is showing that even while not quite in game shape, he is more than capable capable out on the ice. In watching him last week in Peterborough, I thought to myself, despite his four points, he doesn't quite look like the 45 goal scorer and highlight reel maker we became accustomed to seeing seeing almost on a nightly basis last season. . The reigning OHL and CHL rookie of the year insists he felt fine out there, and I suppose there is no reason riot to believe him. Though Tavares and Selwood don't seem to be worried in the least - on the surface. anyway - about re-injuring the knee, those who follow the Generals have to be watching watching ever so intently on the edge of their seats. For every time Tavares gets hit, labours just a little, or doesn't look like his outstanding, outstanding, old self out there, it's going to cause the Generals' nation to wonder. , Let's hope everything is as right as Tavares Tavares and Selwood say, or this 0-3 start to the season could get a whole lot worse in à hurry. Shawn Cayley's column, appears every third Wednesday. E-mail scayIey@durhamregion.com. w 80al ï Aar ° n ^ made the st °P o" this partial breakaway by Bowmanville Eagles forward David Ross (6), who^ behm^ 8 sured by Dan MacIntyre. Ross was able to score later on in the game, as the Eagles recorded a 5-0 victory. 8 P Weekend wins spoiled with , overtime loss in Cobourg BY BRAD KELLY Sports Editor • :j BOWMANVILLE - A couple of key j moments contributed to a victory for the ' Bdwmanville Eagles over the visiting Port Hope, Predators on Sunday night. Not surprisingly, one came during 1 the' course of the game. Surprisingly! 1 *" one came before the puck was even dropped. Outside the dressing room ' of the victors after the game, coach Curtis Hodgins pointed to a goal by Kyle Goodchild with just 18 seconds remaining remaining in the second period, giving his club a 2-0 lead at the time, as a key moment. On the other side of the rink, Port Hope coach Bart Crashley suggested a penalty to his team for not getting off the ice in the allotted time during . warmup set the tone for the evening. In any event, the final was a 5-(f win by the Eagles in the Provincial Junior A J*. ■BOI/SftMNVUlEi Friday, Sept. 29 Bowmanville 7 Lindsay 4. Sunday, Oct. 1 Bowmanville 5 Port Hope 0 Monday, Oct. 2 Cobourg ,4 Bowmanville 3 OT -r. ■ Hockey League grime. ■ "It summed it up when we got a penalty .for being on the ice too long "Those type of things are quite irritable. I don't know what's going on in their minds when they do something like that. I sure wasn't happy with it." The delay of game call didn't result in a power play goal by the Eagles, but it did give Crâshley an indication of the mindset of his hockey club heading into the game. "The team that'was better prepared tonight won," he said in summation. Though Bowmanville failed to capitalize capitalize on the gift to start the game, they did manage a couple of power play markers and another shorthanded en route to the victory. "We were able to get that goal late in , the second period and that took a little steam out of them, and I thought we really took it to them in the third," said Hodgins of how the later stages of the game unfolded. The shot totals reflected a 37-31 advantage for Port Hope, but the Eagles got goals from Goodchild in both the first and second period, followed by •markers from David Ross, Scott Freeman Freeman and Nicholas Diachenko in the third to seal the win. Goaltender Bryan Scott rebounded from a shaky start in Lindsay on Friday when he was pulled early in the second period and the Eagles trailing 4-2 before rallying for a 7-4 win. • While things, are progressing along ' nicely on the ice for the Eagles, they have some off ice issues to deal with. They have a surplus of bodies right now, and some moves are going to have to be made to pare down the roster. What form those moves take hasn't been decided yet. . "We have two bodies too many right now," said Hodgins of being forced to make some healthy scratches for each game. "Hopefully we can get something done. We're not sure right now how that is going to be. , "We try to be fair to the kids. We don't want too many in the stands. We're not big fans of that." THE SCOOP -- The pair of weekend •••'■ wins were spoiled on Monday when the Eagles fell 4-3 in overtime to the Cobourg Cougars. Scott Freeman had a goal and two assists to lead the attack, with Craig Woods and Kyle Goodchild also scoring. Goaltender Jesse Pisch- lar made 24 saves on 28 shots...Ben O'Connor has returned to the Eagles after spending a season with the Windsor Windsor Spitfires. The 18-year-old native of Sheffield, England was a member of the 2004-05 team that finished third, losing out to the Trenton Sting in the first round of playoffs...Bowmanville is in Oswego on Friday and hosts Lindsay on Thanksgiving Monday in a matinee start at 1:30 p.m. power up in win Courtice's Peter MacKellar nets one in victory ÉY BRIAN MCNAIR Staff Editor WHITBY - It's going to be a long season for opponents who take penalties against the Whitby Dunlops. And, it would appear, a fun one for fans who like to watch magic weaved on the power play. The Dunlops converted on four of 12 power-play opportunities and shut down all eight of the Norwood Vipers' chances en route to a 5-2 win to open the Eastern Ontario Senior A Hockey League Saturday Saturday at the Iroquois Park Sports Centre. Centre. The top line of Ron Baker between Peter MacKellar and Justin Cardwell accounted for much of **the damage, scoring twice with the man advantage before the game was six minutes old and combining for nine points all told in the game. E Peter MacKellar "It's something that's going to help us win hockey games if the power play is clicking," says Baker, who was named first star with two goals and an assist. "Points-wise, we have fun with what we do, but it's more important that it contribute contribute to the bottom line: winning... Our main goal is to get out to the big show (Allan Cup) again." The terrific trio spent some time together during the Dunlops' inaugural, inaugural, campaign, when Cardwell won the league's scoring title and was named senior A player of the year. Last season, without Cardwell, MacKellar MacKellar finished tied for first atop the scoring scoring list, while Baker was tied for third. "When they're on the ice, they domi nate with their speed, puck handling and passing," says coach Mike Posavad. "They're certainly going to be a force all year." Without an exhibition game under their belts, it was the first time the Dunlops played under the For more on this story *< WATCH VIDEO durhem regkxvoom so-called "new rules', where referees referees have been asked to crack down on obstruction obstruction similar to the NHL. In light of that, there were fewer penalties than one might have expected, but a positive sign that the Dunlops' special teams were so See DUNLOPS, page B3 Courtice runners win top MARKHAM - After finishing in second place at last week's harrier meet in Port Hope, the Courtice Secondary Secondary School Cougars travelled to Markham in hopes of moving up a notch to a first place finish and they didn't disappoint. Both Grade 9 teams finished in the top spot while the senior girls' team, which finished fifth last week, moved up to a second place standing beating beating local rival Pine Ridge Secondary School in the process. On an individual basis the team had a very impressive showing, as Evan Essclink extended his season winning streak to four as lie destroyed the Grade 9 hoys' field and the course record as well. Essclink beat the second second place runner by an incredible 50 honours seconds and broke the course record by five seconds. Other top performances performances were turned in by BJ Cunliffe and Brad Beaumont, 4th and 9th respectively respectively in the Grade 9 race. On the girls' side, Kaleigh Robinson, Shaima Little and Vicky March all recorded top-15 finishes for the Grade 9 girls' team. The senior girls were once again led by Sarah Healy with a 7th place finish. The team has one more invitational .meet before the LOSS A Championships Championships on Oct. 26 in Pickering. At the Championships the top two teams will earn the right to represent the region at the Provincial Championships, which will be held in Thunder Bay in November. November. The three Cougars teams will have their sights set firmly on one of those qualifying spots, A.J. Groen / Metroland Durham Region Media Group Volleyball is back at Courtice COURTICE" Courtice's Mike Vemmich made a valiant effort to get this ball during a recent league game. The action CC ^ HUBUrS Jun wr 1111111 lost 2-0 Either Leo J Austin Catholic Secondary School in LOSSA volleyball d,