PAGE 22, WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAYI DECEMBER,9,-1987 Eastern Canada divisional qualifiers from the Whitby club f WHITBY FIGURE SKATING CLUB mem- bers advancing to the eastern divisional cham- pionships which begin this Thursday in Quebec are (left to right) Steven Sears of Whitby, novice men; the novice dance team of Chris MeLean of Whitby and Betty Harbaruk, Nor- th York and Scott O'Neill of Whitby, senior men. Free Press photo Whitby wins in league first-place showdown Whitby major atoms took sole possession of first place in the lakeshore league after winning a showdown with Peterborough 3-1 over the weekend. In what Whitby coach Mike Primeau described as a "good, hard-fought game," Jeff Mon- taigue, Adam Parks and Wayne Primeau scored for the winners while Montaigue and Parks also had an assist each. Stephen St. Amand was in net for Whitby. "The kids felt pretty good about themselves," said Primeau, whose team now has 10 wins, a loss and a tie in league play, compared to nine wins and two losses for Peter- borough. "They're starting to come together," he said of his defending Ontario champion AA atom team. "They've got a long way to go yet, but the steady improvement is nice." Whitby had earlier last week defeated Pickering 4-2 and then Ajax 5-4 in other league games. Paul Dillon scored a hat trick and Parks had the other goal against Pickering. Primeau had three assists, Paul Brooks two and Jim Brown one. St. Amand was in net. Kelly Gray, Whitby's other solid netminder,,was in net against Ajax. Primeau scored three goals while Andre Marois and Parks had the other goals. Gavin Tackney had two assists. Keith Primeau of Whitby, who recently celebrated his 16th birth- day by scoring his first goal as a Hamilton Steelhawk in Ontario junior A hockey, will soon begin ac- tion with Ontario's under-17 team. Primeau, a centre, made the final roster of 20 Ontario players who will compete in the Quebec Esso Cup Dec. 28 to Jan. 3. Ontario is one of five regional teams from Canada in the inter- national tournament. On Dec. 28, Ontario will open the tournament against Sweden and the following night will play the Soviet Union. On Dec. 20, Ontario faces U.S.A. West and on Jan. 1, Canada West. All of Ontario's aforementioned opponents are in the Imperial division. The Atlas division has teams trom Finland, Quebec, U.S.A. East, Atlantic Canada and Pacific Canada. Primeau is one of 14 major junior A players in the Ontario starting lineup. His Hamilton teammate, Velanoff rink gets act together at Sun Life If there was ever a time when Dave Velanoff needed a lift, this was it. Just two weeks after the Kit- chener foursome had seriously con- sidered a split, Velanoff regrouped and his rink played superbly to win the final event and the 13th annual Sun Life bonspiel at the Whitby Curling Club Sunday night. Velanoff had a big two-ender in the eigth end and proceeded to steal two more in the ninth en route to a 6-3 victory over defending cham- pion Rich Bachand of Ottawa Rideau in the final. "It was really bad for a while," says Velanoff, 31, an insurance representative. "There was no cohesion and, generally speaking, we just weren't getting along to the point we were ready to throw in the towel." The win at the four-day in- vitational bonspiel was worth $7,000. "It's getting better already," says Velanoff. The Kitchener rink, which also includes vice John Thompson, second Bob Serviss and lead Bill Tschurhart, lost to Ayr's Kirk Ziola but rebounded to oust Whitby's Stu Bennett, two-time winner Jim Sharples of Dixie, Tom Cushing of Peterborough and Roy Weigand of High Park. Oshawa's two representatives also figured in the money. Brian Suddard, with vice Rich Vesey, second Doug Freeman and lead Mike Trudeau, beat Orillia's Steve Brown 6-2 while Bob Turcotte won the third event with a 7-5 win over Derek Devlin of Toronto Royals. Curling with Turcotte were vice Doug Munday, second Dick Howson and lead McLeese. Whitby's, John Brotherhood also curled well over the weekend, but fell to the shotmaking of Royals' Dale McKenzie 6-5. Brotherhood and vice Gord Carroll, second Murray Moynes and lead Jim Booth lost their first two games to Cushing to and John Base of Humber Highland but rebounded to defeat Bayview's Scott McPherson and Royals' Art Lobel. Jeff Gardiner, a left winger, is also on the team. Brian Kilrea, coach of the Ottawa 67's majorjunior team, coaches the Ontario team. Top ten finishes for swimmers Members of the Whitby Iroquois Swim Club had top ten results in the seventh annual Youth Cup at the Etobicoke Olympium Dec. 3, 4 and 5. Wendy Primeau ied the club with a fourth-place finish in the 100 freestyle, fifth-place finishes in the 400 freestyle and 50 freestyle, and a sixth in the 200 freestyle. She com- peted in the girls' 13-14 division. Leslie Dowson was fifth in the 200 backstroke and sixth in the 400 freestyle for girls 10 and under. She was also eighth in the 200 individual medley. In the same class, Molly Morrice was sixth in the 200 backstroke and ninth in the 100 backstroke. For boys 10 and under. Sa,(v Mark was eighth in (th 200 backstroke, ninth in tlie 200 freestyle and loth in the 11001 freestyle.. Mark Kelly was eighth in the 5'0- freestyle for boys 13 and 14. ie Primeau prepares for international match