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18- PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, March 9, 1999 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" Pitas men ~ wing) Stalims Bigg, fanny ty EER Lm ¥ Port Perry's Todd Healey takes a look at today's world of sports. hd - LEE TF CRE am manne we RANE NE WIV REE Wowk WW MRE FF BF TR RW WEI Lo SR ERT EY SR ok wy Improvements to the local soccer fields are great, let's keep them that way One of the more positive stories to break on the local sports scene recently is the upgrading of the soccer fields north of town. As anyone who has used these fields will tell you, they are nothing more | . than a glorified pasture, the uneven and rutted ter- rain more suited for mud-bogging than soccer. And this is not to lay blame, for at the time of |¢ their creation they were most likely built on a shoestring budget or had Arnold Ziffel at the helm overseeing the project or both. At any rate, "God- awful" pretty much describes the end result. However, now that the soccer fields are finally to be properly graded and seeded, let's hope that a better effort is put forth on these fields than the old ones were given in terms of proper management, and on that note, here is some friendly advice to the powers that be on keeping these fields in top shape. First EE FER Ard ro 'ey; ZIT ET YT ET EE LF IF 2 2% J LEFIF FF FEF Sa PIA BIER CHRIS HALL / PORT PERRY STAR MacMaster and Deryk Campbell did the scoring for the Predators in the opening game as it remained close until the third period when the vis- itors opened up the game with two quick goals. Midget playoff action will return to Port Perry on The Port Perry Pineridge Sports Predators have a chance to even up their best-of-five All-Ontario semi-final series with Owen Sound tonight when they visit the Crescents. The local squad fell behind by one game after they took it on the chin Friday night with a 5-2 loss on their own ice. Matt Friday (March 12) night with a 9 p.m. faceoff. - The Sound of defeat The Port Perry Pineridge Sports Predators fall behind in their All-Ontario semi-final | series with Owen Sound after a 5-2 loss last Friday night at the Scugog Arena By John B. McClelland Port Perry Star The Port Perry Pineridge Sports Predators find themselves in a new position in their All-Ontario semi- final with the Owen Sound Crescents. They're behind in this best-of-five series, one game to nothing, the first time in their playoff run this season they have been on the other side of the eight-ball. The Crescents, who have been on a playoff hot streak (just one loss in three series to date) got the jump on the Predators in game one at the Scugog Arena Friday night and went #ome with a 5-2 victory. » Game two had been scheduled for Saturday night in Owen Sound, but was postponed due to the winter storm. It will be played tonight (March 9) at 8 p.m. The Predators will be looking for better results from this game than they enjoyed on home ice Friday night. One major task facing Port 'Perry will be to solve Crescent net- minder Steve Silverthorn, who came up with numerous key stops to stake his team to the victory. In Game one the Crescents did not appear to be suffering any ill effects from the three-hour bus ride Friday evening as they dumped the Predators 5-2 in the series opener. . It was a game in which the fast- breaking Crescents never trailed and the Predators were forced to play catch-up most of the way. Owen Sound hit the score-board first with just four minutes gone in the game as Jared Armstrong found = himself un-covered at the side of the . Predator net and he was able to snap home a rebound off a shot from the left point. After a bit of a slow start, the Predators seemed to find their skat- ing legs as the opening period wore on and they tied it 1-1 with under two minutes to play. Deryk Campbell wag the trigger-man staring at a wide open cage off a rebound surren- dered by Steve Silverthorn. Matt MacMaster and McQuade drew the assists on the goal. The teams then traded goals early in the second with Crescent captain Brad Slater converting a short-hand- ed two-on-one break. Less than two minutes later MacMaster tied it again at 2-2 with a sharp-angled shot that banked in off Silverthorn's pads. But the Sound's captain scored a minute later and this proved to be the winner. He was in close and shov- eled a back-hand through Ryan Fraser's pads. The Predators again seemed to go into a slump late in the period but were able to hold the Crescents lead to a single goal heading into the Turn to Page 19 Central Ontario Junior C League Championship The Lakefield Chiefs and Uxbridge Bruins opened their best- of-seven series last weekend. And, so far, home ice hasn't been worth a dime. In the opener Friday night in Lakefield, the Bruins nipped the home town squad 2-1 behind stellar goaltending by over-age veteran Barry Crawford. And Sunday afternoon in Uxbridge, it was Chiefs' keeper Ryan Hogan's turn to shine as he back-stopped his team to a 3-0 win to square the series. Home ice no advantage in Bruins, Chiefs Finals series Game three for the Central Ontario Junior C League champi- onship is tonight (March 9) in 'Lakefield, and the teams will be in Uxbridge Friday evening for game four with the face off at 7:45 p.m. In the opener the Bruins got a late first period goal from P.J. Mabley and a second period marker from Jay White. Chris Bell had assists on both the goals. That was all the scoring they did and all they needed as Crawford put his wealth of Junior C experience to work Turn to Page 19 and foremost, fence the parking area properly so that no vehicle is able to actually gain access to the playing fields. Those ridiculous white cedar posts are neither attractive or effective in keeping vehicles off the pitch. A 4x4 out on the fields on a spring night for a little off-roading joy ride will cost thousands more for a new turf than fencing ever will. Secondly, stop hosting rugby tournaments on the fields or at the very least, wait until the ground dries up a little. Large men running amok with cleats on soft, wet turf is obviously detrimental in keeping the fields in decent shape. Now before my next statement ruffles a few feathers, any regular reader of this space will know that I am a huge proponent of volunteers. However, whoever it was that poured "Round-Up" on the turf to permanently mark boundaries at the soccer fields had perhaps the dumbest idea in modern civilization since tar pit wading. Not only did the Round-Up remove the grass, it also removed: the grass root which held the soil in place. With nothing to hold the soil, it became blowing sand and deep ruts formed where the Round-Up was poured. If that was not bad enough, the membership grew and the fields were re-designed to accommodate more games, but uh oh, now there are deep ruts running for no apparent reason right through the middle of pitches. My point here is two-fold: If you don't know what you're doing, ask; and before you do anything that will be permanent, remember that uh, that's a really long time. Finally, to the people who use the soccer fields as a really big toilet for their dogs, nice fence eh? Now Sparky will have to use something other than our children's playground to defecate in. But what goes around comes around, if you know what I mean. At any rate, here's to a new start with the soccer fields and hopefully, they'll be a source of entertain- ment and pride to the community for many years to come. Peewee Lions edge Joe's Pizzeria The Lions Peewee getting the helper. hockey team just edged Then it was Joe's turn out Jae's Pizza in their -- Matt Virtue set up a first playoff game on play to Craig Simmonds, Saturday, 3-2. Matt Roth who made a beautiful pass opened the scoring for to John Breen's waiting Joe's, assisted by Alex stick at the corner of the Herold and Caleb Atkins. net -- John made no mis- The Lions came right take and scored. The back with a goal by Luke Lions again evened the Fraser, with Peter Dutka Jurn to Page 19 o---- hd Lu AA RE Ll Se a A i he ENC hgh 4 Badd mm vu Le "oa TT eh oi SLE cal ou a