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J The Canadian Statesman Section B, November 29, 2006 B gà £r *i £ i liL j 'W The Canadian Statesman • Sports Editor: Brad Kelly • Phone 905-579-4400, Ext 2254 • Fax 905-579-1809 • E-Mail bkelly@durhamregion.com COLUMN bmcnatr@duihamregion.com Durham Region's junior hockey blog: catch the latest on all of the area's junior hockey teams, including live period updates from Generals'home game From the netotk Brian McNair Clark ready to Rock the house Apparently Barry Johnson knew full well what he was doing when he tried to woo Glenn Clark into the coaching ranks. A few years after Clark won his second Mann Cup with the Brooklin Redmen in 2000/ Johnson, the team's general manager, tried to convince the defensive stalwart to return to the team in a coaching capacity. But, the timing wasn't right for Clark then. It is now, albeit not with the Red- men. Clark, who grew up in Pickering and cut his lacrosse teeth with the Whitby Warriors and Redmen, will be behind the bench at the General Motors Centre Centre on Friday, as the new head honcho honcho of the National Lacrosse League's Torpnto Rock. The Rock checks into foe .Oshawa arena for an exhibition tilt with the Arizona Sting, a rematch of the 2005 NLL championship game won by Toronto. And this is a homecoming he's look-, ing forward to. "I think it's going to be a great atmosphere," atmosphere," Clark says of playing in the new 5,500-seat venue. "It's situated in the middle of one of the best lacrosse communities in Canada." Clark should know. He helped make it so. After finishing his junior season with the Warriors in 1990, Clark stepped right info the Redmen ranks and experienced the thrill of winning a Mann Cup immediately. He soon realized it wasn't so easy, however, as it took another 10 years for a repeat performance. "Redmen is still very close and dear to my heart," says Clark, who intended to retire from the amateur game after the magical 2000 season. "I had a lot of injuries and my body had taken a lot of abuse." But the lacrosse gods had a differ-, ent plan, one that has worked out extremely well for the 36-year-old. Being a high school teacher with the summers off, he said yes when offered a spot on the Coquitlam Adanacs, adding another Mann Cup to his resumé in three seasons out west. And now, soon to be moving to the Barrie area, he has returned to the Major Series and will continue playing playing with the Barrie Lakeshores. In the professional ranks, meantime, he was able to retire with no regrets, winning five NLL championsliips with the Rock and playing in two all- star games. "I was at that point in my career where I was in a swing stage," he says of his decision to quit playing and start coaching. "It was too good an opportunity to pass up on." Clark made his debut as the Rock's head coach Friday in Halifax, guiding guiding the team to a 10-8 pre-season win over the Philadelphia Wings. This Friday's game will feature plenty of other familiar faces, as foe Rock boasts such local talent as Dan Ladouceur, Matt Shearer, Derek Sud- dons, J.J. Dickie, Scott Campbell, Matt Carroll and Nate Andres, while the Sting has Oshawa goalie Mike Miron and former Redmen players Peter Lough and Rob Blasdell on the roster. Brian McNair's column appears every third Wednesday. E-mail bmcnair@durhamregion.com / Jason Liebregts / Metroland Durham Region Media Group For more Andrey Lange of the Russian Selects, left, tries to get past Team DHL's Cal Clutterbuck of the Oshawa Generals in Game 4 of the on this story 2006 ADT Canada Russia Challenge at the GM Centre ini Oshawa. The DHL team won 4-3. & WATCH VIDEO durham ragfon.com It was a OHLeeks out 4-3 win over Russians By Shawn Cayley . scayley@durhamreglon.com OSHAWA -- It wasn't quite 1972, but foe battle between Canada and Russia became really interesting interesting Monday night in Oshawa. Team OHL registered a hard- fought 4-3 victory in Game 4 of the 2006 ADT Canada/Russia Challenge in front of 5,655 at foe General Motors Centre. The game featured a little bit of everything and added a pretty impressive chapter to foe ongoing Canada/ Russia hockey rivalry. "It was probably foe most intense game I've played in all season," said Oshawa Generals star forward John Tavares, who picked up an assist for Ontario in the win. "You can see why at the end of the games there is so much passion and pride for both countries. countries. It was a great experience and a great opportunity." The end of the game, foe theatrics theatrics of which Tavares was referring referring to, included four player ejections, ejections, a cross checking major and four match penalties. However, those incidents aside, foe liveliness liveliness of foe crowd spoke volumes of just how exciting the contest was. ; - Tavares for one was just as thrilled to be a part of it. Not only did he relish foe chance to battle foe Russians in front of his home fans, but the winning feeling and playing with the likes of Bryan Little of foe Barrie Colts, Ryan O'Marra of the Saginaw Spirit and Sam Gagner of the London Knights seemed to re-energize foe star pivot. "It's awesome. Those guys, they're foe best for a reason," he said. "They know what to do. They do foe little things right, they See TEAM, page B2 to remember What a difference a day makes 'It sucks losing, especially like that. It's not like we came, out and played a great game and deserved to win. We blew it, we took stupid penalties, we didn't do little things right, we left. (goalie Anthony) Peters out to dry, we were terrible in our own zone. It was just terrible.' John Tavares, after his Qshawa Generals lost 7-3 to the Owen Sound Attack on Sunday night. 'It's awesome. .Those guys, . they're the best for a reason. They know what to do. They do the little things right, they get the puck to you and they are just so good at every aspect of the game. We got four beautiful goals, we worked hard, finished our checks and everything was positive.' John Tavares, after Team OHL beat Russia 4-3 Monday in the Canada Russia Challenge in Oshawa. Baxter a blue-chipper on the blue-line Defenceman evolving with Bowmanville Eagles By Brad Kelly 'bkclly@duihamicglon.com BOWMANVILLE - Sometimes when a player is faced with some adversity, it can make them bitter or better. Matt Baxter made the choice to follow the path of the latter, and it certainly shows. The blue-liner has evolved into a top flight defenceman for foe Bowmanville Eagles this season, and he readily readily admits that a failed attempt to crack the roster roster a couple of seasons ago inspired him to get better. "It was probably the best thing that happened to me because I was able to go down to the Toros and really work on my game," says the 18-year- old of needing another year of seasoning in the Clarington minor hockey system. Matt Baxter He improved enough that the Eagles kept him on the roster last season, where he established himself as dependable despite his rookie status, totalling 2-9-11 numbers in 40 games. But foe minutes he played were valuable in his development, and by the time playoffs rolled around, he was a key performer performer in the team's East Conference championship. championship. Building on that solid campaign, he has already banked 2-19-21 totals this season, and is playing in all key situations as evidenced by his 13 assists on the power play. "Matt has done an unbelievable job," praised coach Curtis Hodgins. "We knew he had a lot of potential and was a real blue-chipper when he came in because he is smart. He sees the ice real well and that's something you can't teach players. "It was a matter of him getting confidence and he did that last year. 1 le was a key guy in the playoffs playoffs and this year he has taken it to a whole new level. See BAXTER, page B2 Get up-to-date on all your local teams... from our team . .... • f.' V-' ' ' v q.-yr -Vm' ; T'-u. Tiv' V.' ■■ v. ' T" lion-corn Skew* Cay1*V