..FROM THE DESK OF MIKE HAYAKAWA..
HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE NOT WON IN SEPTEMBER
But if the Markham Waxers are fortunate enough to win the Provincial Junior A Hockey League title next spring, they can attribute part of that success to setting a positive tone early in the season.

Last weekend, the Waxers, occupants of first place in the southern conference, extended its winning streak to six games after registering home ice decisions over the Vaughan Vipers 3-0 Friday and the Wexford Raiders 8-2 the following night.
"It's (the winning streak) nice," Waxers head coach Russ Herrington said of the club's recent success. "We'd like to build on it and take the wins when you can get them."

Since Herrington took over the reins of the team, he noted it's the best start the club has gotten off to. "It's one of the best pure winning streaks that we've put together. We've had a couple of good stretches last year with a nine-game unbeaten streak and we were 15-4-1 at the end of last season. But I don't think we've ever gotten off to this good a start since I've been here," he added.

In its win over the Vipers, the Waxers received a stellar netminding effort from Paul Guthrie, who handled 31 shots en route to recording his first shutout of the season.
Bobby Fitkin, Jason Fracarro, on a shorthanded effort, and Mark Menonte, each scored once for the Waxers, who led 1-0 through one period and 2-0 after two.
On the same ice surface the following night, it was Dan Leclair's turn to shine in net as he stopped 33 of 35 shots directed his way to lead the Waxers to a resounding 8-2 win over the Wexford Raiders.

Jesse Boucher directed the attack with two goals, including a shorthanded effort for the Waxers, who nursed leads of 1-0 through 20 minutes and 5-2 through two. Fitkin; Eric Kleine; Jason Duffy; Menonte; Kevin Tompkins; on a power play, and Kevin Cribari, added singles.

Defeating the Vipers and Raiders brought an extra sense of vindication for the Waxers as both teams had their number last season. The Vipers eliminated the Waxers in the second round of the playoffs while the Raiders won three of its four head-to-head meetings last season.

While Herrington revealed revenge weighed on the minds of the coaching staff and returning players from a year ago, he still feels his team is continuing its upward curve of progress.

"We had a good feeling coming into this weekend that we could do well," Herrington said upon conclusion of Saturday's contest. "We hadn't seen Vaughan or Wexford play during the preseason, but we like the way our team plays. We've gotten better each night out."

While the winning streak is nice, what's caught Herrington's attention, particularly through the last three outings in which they've allowed just three goals, has been the club's commitment to playing sound hockey in its own end.

Much of that success, he said, has been the performance between the pipes by Guthrie and Leclair. Based on how the pair performed on the weekend, Herrington said he intends to rotate them for the time being.

"We're comfortable with both Paul and Dan. Tonight (Saturday) we came out sluggish and looked tired. But with a fresh goalie one of Paul or Dan can keep us in the game early and that's what happened tonight when we went with Dan after using Paul the night before.
"Wexford looked frustrated because they held most of the play in the first period and we were still up 1-0. Goaltending was the difference."

Not only has the club received good goaltending, but the overall work ethic has also been evident.
"Vaughan is a tough team to play because they sit back and wait. But we outchecked them," Herrington said of Friday's win.

In its game against the Raiders, the Waxers beat a physically bigger Wexford squad to the puck and eventually wore them out in the final period. "If you don't sacrifice and pay the price it doesn't matter. Our biggest and smallest guys will go to the pit and get their first," said Herrington. "When you work hard and we have the skill, our transition game jumps in. We turned the skill game up and we got some pretty goals tonight," Herrington said. "As the game went on we turned things up a notch and deserved the goals that we got because we worked hard.
"We talked about having that killer instinct and it showed up in our last three games."

Tompkins acknowledges this year's version of the Waxers is one that hardly resembles the unit of a year ago. "I like this team. Last year we just had a couple of guys that could score. Now any one of our lines can score. And we're a lot quicker than we were last year."

After yesterday's game against the Huntsville Wildcats, the Waxers will return to Centennial Arena this Friday to face the Pickering Panthers at 8 p.m. On Sunday, the Waxers will play at St. Michael's at 7 p.m.

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