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_ 20- PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, February 25, 1997 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" _ Mi i EE ---- Sror < - | Pp PORT PERRY STAR 4 OT thriller sees Techstar squad stay in series The Techstar Bantams arrived in Belleville on Sunday, Feb. 23 for a thriller game. This was a strong end to end perfor- "mance, and despite infuri- ating calls, our team made us proud as .they contin- ued to play with determi- nation and dignity to come up triumphant in over- time. Belleville scored first, but Port answered back with three goals in the first period. Goals in the first: Bill from Scott C. and Steve; Kam from Wade and Bill; Russ from Kam and Scott C. Port had no scoring in the second, but Belleville picked up two to tie up the game. Nail biting action ensued in the third, with Belleville scoring twice early in the period. The Port team would not give up and on a neat play from Kam to Steve, the puck was put onto Bill's stick and sent home. With just 23 seconds in regulation time, Joel T. passed to Wade, who tied the game. Overtime action had our boys fired up and just 23 seconds into OT, Kam popped in the winner on a pass from Joel T. and Bill. What a proud, heart- warming victory. Please show your sup- port by attending the next playoff game in Port Perry Arena, Friday, Feb. 28 at 9 p.m. Hoopsters advance again Three local students have advanced to the Knights of Columbus Regional Freethrow Championships as a result of victories last week in district competition in Ajax. The newly crowned district champions are: a 10'year old girls - Rebecca Will of Prince. SPECTACULAR SKATING: The Port Perry Figure Skating Club was well represented at the com- bined Oshawa Invitational / Unicorn Fair at the Oshawa Civic Centre during the Feb. 14-16 week- end.. Marc Desmarais earned a bronze medal in the Juvenile Men's flight of the Oshawa Invitation- TS al while Dana Jewell, Elana Eun, Joanna Eun and Gina Eun competed In the Junior C Ladies catego- ry of the Unicorn Fair. Aimee Foster placed fourth in her Intermediate A Ladies flight while Ashley Faux won a bronze medal at the Cobourg Invita- tional. Tween B's finish round robin tourney The Port Perry Pharma- The first period saw a cy Tween B girls played well balanced Pickering in their favor. very commendable job, In the second action was Pickering found them- Albert; 0 11 year. old girls - Samantha Stevenson of Greenbank, and 0 14 year old boys - John Burnett of R.H. Cornish. All three winners will compete in the Regionals on March 1 at Monsignor John Pereyma Secondary School in Oshawa with shootouts beginning at noon. their last round robin game this past Sunday against Pickering. Previ- ously we had gained a win, against Ajax and a tie, against Whitby. To be as- sured entry into the cham- pionship game they need- ed a win or a tie. team move the ring very efficiently and created many scoring opportuni- ties but Jill was equal to the task. Our girls seemed to be fighting the ring and were having difficulty picking up the pass. With only one referee, who did a selves shorthanded sever- al times. Port put on the pressure but could not break the armor of the vis- itors netminder. Finally with less than three min- utes left in the first Picker- ing scored on a fast break and the period ended 1-0 back and forth. The girls had many scoring chances but couldn't raise the ring over the goalie, shooting might be on the agenda for the next practice. With time running out and still Turnto Page 21 Disbanding ends long-running success Gamblers folding; no ball in Greenbank this year By John B. McClelland Port Perry Star : There will be no mens fast- ball in Greenbank this summer. The Greenbank Gamblers, a highly successful club for whi, two decades, has folded and will not field a team in 1997. Gambler general manager Rod Foster told the Star last week the decision was a tough one, as it marks the end of an era. "We had a real good run over the years," Foster said, noting . the club enjoyed much success on the diamond and had a solid following of faithful fans who rarely missed a Thursday night home game at Ianson Park, and often travelled with the team to out-of-town tourna- ments through the summer months. But the decision was inevitable, Foster said, as sev- 'eral veteran players decided for various reasons they would not be suiting up in their famil- iar white, gold and black uni- forms. Foster mentioned Don Beaton, who is retiring due to age; Greg Newell and Steve Durham, who have moved away from this area; and broth- ers Trevor and Brian Till, the former troubled with ongoing injuries and the latter for per- sonal reasons as he's in the middle of building a new home. "They were the first five guys in our batting order," said Foster. "It would be just too much to try to replace them and start to rebuild at this time." The problem of getting top quality players did not just start with this coming season, he continued: "For the last few seasons we sometimes had trouble putting nine guys in the field." And he cited several reasons. The decision a couple of years ago in which the Junior age was raised to 23 means com- petitive players are staying with their Junior teams longer, rather than joining a senior squad to spend a couple of sea- sons waiting to crack the line- up. The huge popularity of slow pitch also hurt in an indirect way. Quality fastball players are now turning to slow pitch when their playing days are over. In the past, many of them devoted their time, talents and knowledge of the game to coach- ing and managing younger players. The community of Greenbank itself used to be a "feeder system" for the Gamblers through its minor program, but that is no longer the cdse. And in a general sense, play- ers these days have many other responsibilities -- family and employment to name two -- that cut into their ability to make the total commitment to fastball from early spring to late autumn. Some names that come quickly to mind when thinking of the Gamblers include the hard-hitting and slick fielding Till brothers, who could knock a ball out of any park; the equal- ly hard-hitting Beaton; Russ Korbak, a fireball thrower -- one of the best in Ontario in his prime -- known to his team mates as "Mule;" and three Goreskis: Ken and sons Mark and Paul. Ken pitched, then turned to coaching; Mark, a hard thrower, hit for power (three out of the park in one memorable game) and Paul, his battery mate. And others: Neil Rodd, Greg Warriner, Steve Foster, Steve Durham, Don Phinney, Greg Newell, Dennis Romerill, Ken Irvine. While Foster said the deci- sion to fold the club was a very painful one for himself, long time sponsor Lloyd Lee and the players, they can look back with great pride on a storied history since 1980. "We have won every league we ever played in -- North Durham, Oshawa City and District and the Peterborough City -- finishing first 10 times in the last 16 years." On two occasions the team played in the prestigious invi- tation only Bulova Watch tour- nament, held annually during the CNE in Toronto. They TurntoPage29