The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

MoJacks hold commanding lead in series The Port Perry ModJacks have grabbed a commanding 3- 1 lead in games over the Lake- field Chiefs and are poised to wrap the series up on home ice this Thursday evening. After losing the opening game of this best of seven affair, the MoJacks stormed back with three straight wins. They started with a 5-4 win at home last Wednesday night, followed with a 5-3 victory in Lakefield and then really turned up the heat Sunday night at the Scugog Arena for a convincing 8-1 triumph. Game five is Thursday night on home ice, and the Mo- Jacks obviously don't want to 'make another trip to Lakefield. In Sunday night's 8-1 win, the ModJacks again got a superb performance from newcomer Mike Coulson. He had a goal and three as- sists, his third four-point eve- ningin as many games. The 18-year old Oshawa native had been playing this season with the non-OHA affili- ated Pickering Juniors, but ap- parently left that team a few weeks ago over lack of ice time. ModJacks signed him and were only too happy to give him all the ice time he can handle. Not only has Coulson been able to put points (12 in three games) on the board, he has been used as a penalty killer, on the power play and for impor- tant face-offs at both ends of the rink. Though just 5'6" he plays a tough, aggressive style and has a great set of wheels. In Sunday night's game, the teams played it close to the vest for 20 minutes before the ModJacks went on a six-goal rampage in the middle period en route to the 8-1 win. John Lally gave them a 1-0 lead in the first, but the Chiefs Dwayne Spoelstra tied things early in the second. And then the flood gates opened. Greg French, Lally, with his second, followed by Trevor McIntyre, John Har- man, Mike Coulson and Warren Geer all turned the red light without reply from Lakefield. Kevin Gibson tallied the lone marker for Port Perry in the final period to end the rout. This was the best the Mo- Jacks had looked in their last four games. Greg French turned in a fine game at forward with a goal and assist, and with a little luck could have netted a couple more. Harman had three assists with his goal and Geer had a pair of helpers as did Rob Wil- letts. . Drew Campbell played a solid game between the pipes. He had no chance on the one goal that got by him and faced 27 shots. But it was a different story for Campbell in the pivotal game three in Lakefield last Thursday evening. Campbell was hot as he saw 42 pucks thrown his way. But he held the Chiefs to three goals as the MoJacks picked off ab5-3win. John Lally got what proved to be the winner early in the third, and Warren Geer added some insurance late in the peri- od. Other scorers were Coul- son, Harman and Kevin Desros- liers on a clear-cut break-away. But it was Campbell's night. In the second period, he faced 19 shots and stopped all but one. This kind of goaltend- ing breaks the hearts of opposi- tion forwards. GAME TWO The ModJacks tied the se- ries at one game each last Wednesday night (Feb. 6) at the Scugog Arena. It was anything but easy as twice they trailed the Chiefs be- fore a goal late in the game gave them a narrow 5-4 victory. In fact, the MoJacks were trailing this one 4-3 until the 15:32 mark of the third when Al Avery deflected a shot in front of the Chief net to get the equa- lizer. And at 17:57, Mike Coulson notched the winner from in close with Harman and Geer drawing the assists. It was Coulson's fourth point of the game. Chiefs took a 2-0 lead at the mid-point of the first period on power play goals Dave Evans and Dwayne Spoelstra. But the MoJacks battled back with a pair of their own be- fore the period was up. Coulson on the power play slapped in a rebound and then at 19:04, Har- man tied things with a goal from close range. Early in the second, Mo- Jacks took a lead for the first time in the series as Warren Geer got credit for a goal that seemed to go in off his skate. The 3-2 score stood until the first minute of the third when the Chiefs Jason Howran scored with two MoJacks in the sin bin. And the visitors went ahead at the six minute mark as the ModJacks coughed out a loose puck deep in their zone and Jason Borgatti was there to snap it past Drew Campbell. This was not a classic exhi- bition of hockey by any means as both teams were less than sharp. The ModJacks did well to stage the late come-back as a loss would have put them deep behind the old eight-ball. And it certainly was an auspicious start in a MoJack jersey for Mike Coulson who did just about everything but tend goal. SLAPSHOTS: In the other playoff series, Bowmanville Ea- gles defeated Little Britain 6-6 Sunday to take that one in four straight. The Eagles won 5-3 in OT Saturday in Little Britain. Most observers expected that series to go more than four, but the Eagles are obviously in top gear to knock off a tough, rugged Merchant squad. Uxbridge pounded Ajax twice over the weekend (8-2 and ModJack netminder Drew Campbell gets some help from defenseman Bill Lawrenson to keep puck out of the net in game two of the playoff series with Lakefield Chiefs. The Mo- Jacks won this match 5-4, then took the next two by scores of 5-3 and 8-1, thanks to some fine netminding by Campbell. The story for detalls) 10-2) to lead that series two games to one. Games three and four goin Ajax this week. If the MoJacks can put Lakefield away, and the Bruins can handle Ajax, it almost cer- tainly will mean a Port Perry- Bowmanville get-together for the semi finals. Uxbridge team officials say they will take the second round bye should the Bruins defeat Ajax. And if the MoJacks prevail, that would set up a repeat of last year's classic final series be- tween these clubs that went seven games and played to ab- solute full arenas in both towns. ModJack goalies Drew Campbell and Dwayne Mackie won the league award for least goals this season. (141 over 36 games, one better than Ux- bridge Bruins) That's about a 3.6 average per game, which is outstanding in the wide-open Junior C hockey. The MoJack defense deserves a lot of credit for its work this season. Captain Brad Menzies fin- ished second in the league scor- ing this season behind Steve Black of the Merchants who 'also won the MVP. Menzies has not seen ac- tion in the Lakefield series and is a doubtful starter for Thurs- day night's game. He's been out with a bruised leg and with a 3-1 lead in games, the coaching staff does not want to hurry him back until he's over that injury. They want a healthy captain for the next series. Rob Willetts, the talented defenseman has had knee prob- lems the latter part of the sea- son. He played very well Sun- day night, but had to be helped from the ice late in the third af- ter injuring the knee again. LOCI NW I TO UL UN OL UN DLT NINN UE NN A He's facing surgery on the knee event , but likely will see action again this playoff. Game time on Thursday evening at the Scugog Arena is y could end the series here on Thursday evening. (see 8:30. Games six and seven (if necessary) will be Saturday night in Lakefield and Sunday at the Scugog Arena at 7:30 PM. Midget B's have Uxbridge on the ropes The Port Perry Canadian Tire Midget B's have Uxbridge on the ropes with back to back victories in the quarter final playoffs. On Saturday, February 9, the Canadian Tire team hosted Ux- bridge. It was a hard fought game but by the third period, Port Perry turned on the jets and took control. Uxbridge took the early lead but Darrell Vanderligt tied it up from Nathan Brown and Ryan Picard. Uxbridge pushed ahead again but this time Andy Wilson found the mark assistea by Dar- rell Vanderligt and Nathan Brown. Not to be outdone, Ux- bridge pulled ahead again, but Jason McBride answered with a goal assisted by Noah St. Amond. It was a 3-3 tie at the end of the second period, but Port Perry came out ready to roll. Brad Moase scored the go-ahead goal assisted by David Volman and Scott Airey and Andy Wilson fired in the clincher with Darrell Vanderligt assisting. Noel Lover- ing played the game in net and made some super saves especial- ly in the second period, when he was HOT! The second game of the series was a more convincing victory with the Midget B's playing one of their best games yet. The decisive 8-2 win was well deserved and the team was really up for this. Scott Airey tallied the opening goal assisted by Jason McBridge and Nathan Brown. The second period was all Port Perry's with 6 goals; Stuart Dyer from Mark Andrews and Craig Leask, Jason McBride from Scott Airey and Noah St. Amond, 2 by Brad Moase from Scott Airey, Jason McBride, Nathan Brown and Darrell Vanderligt and a shorthanded ef- fort by Darrell Vanderligt. Brad Moase chased down an Uxbridge forward to create a loose puck and Darrell capitalized by steal- ing the puck to break in on the goalie with the defense all over him. Super goal! The third period resulted in 2 more Canadian Tire goals - Jason McBridge from Brad Moase and Brad Moase from Jason McBride and David Volman. Congratula- tions on your hat trick Brad! Mike Tripp did a fine job in net allowing only 2 to get by him. Penalty killing was a key to the control of this game with Darrell Vander Slagt, Brad Moase, Noah St. Amond and Jason McBride handling their assignment par- ticularly well. This was a really fast-paced game and the smooth change-ups on the fly kept Port Perry in control and ready for action. The Canadian Tire team hopes to clinch this series on Saturday, February 16 at 9:00 p.m. in Port Perry - this should be a good one!!! " a a _ - lo sa a a Sa ag A EY aaah - > ~~