..FROM THE DESK OF MIKE HAYAKAWA..
DECEMBER 23, 2001
With the Christmas holiday season now in full swing, the Markham Waxers
might have been a little too caught up in the festivities instead of
worrying about two Provincial Junior A Hockey League contests that were
on their agenda just before Christmas Day.
Playing host to the Stouffville Spirit on Dec. 21, the Waxers were
humiliated in front of the Centennial Arena gathering when they
lambasted 11-3.
The loss also negated team management's plans for what was supposed to
be a team Christmas party later that evening in Unionville.
While the Waxers' management was hoping the loss would have sent a
message to their players entering Sunday's road contest against the
south conference-leading Wexford Raiders, such was not the case as they
were pummelled 5-1.
The two losses, which came on the heels of a solid effort last Thursday
with a 4-3 road win over the north conference-leading Newmarket
Hurricanes, dropped the Waxers' third-place south conference record to
19-15-4-1.
"It wasn't what we wanted to have going into Christmas," said Waxers'
head coach Russ Herrington of the weekend debacle. "We struggled through
October and then played well in November and up until this past weekend.
Maybe it's a good time for us to have a break."
In trying to put a finger on the problem, Herrington speculated the
culprit is an overall lack of mental determination on the part of the
players.
"One of the things that our team has struggled with all season is in
keeping their focus," said Herrington. "We definitely had a lack of
focus Friday. We planned on having a Chrismtas party after the game and
maybe it threw some of our players off.
"Tonight (Sunday) I don't know if its a lack of focus or what. Maybe a
lack of commitment. Maybe its affected the entire team? It's a learning
experience."
Not only did Herrington feel the players didn't give a 100 per cent
effort. But when a team gets into a funk, he pointed out other things
tend not to go their way such as untimely penalties, bad bounces and a
lack of team unity.
For reasons which he did not wish to disclose, Herrington sat out Mark
Menonte and Jason Duffy, both healthy scratches, from Sunday's contest.
"Adversity was heaped on us this weekend. We had some bad bounces, bad
penalties and some international decisions that had to be made.
Everything was thrown at us at once.
"We know we're a beter team than what we've shown. In our league, you
can't afford to have an offweekend or you'll get your ass handed to you.
"With the Christmas break, we feel comfortable with where we are and how
we stack up against the rest of the league."
In Friday's loss, the Spirit took a 4-0 first-period lead and padded it
to 5-0 in the second before Patrick Diotte scored to cut the Waxers'
deficit to 5-1 through 40 minutes. Diotte and Albert Ferrante, both on
power-play efforts, accounted for the other Markham goals in the final
period.
On Sunday, the Raiders scored four of their five goals on the power play
to take leads of 3-0 after 20 minutes and 5-0 after two periods.
Accounting for two of the Raiders' goals was Markham resident Tony
Rossi. Jesse Boucher, a former high school teammate of Rossi's, scored
the lone Waxers' goal on a shorthanded effort in the third period.
On a separate note, the Waxers added defenceman Mike Pain to their
roster from their midget affiliate. With Pain on the roster, Herrington
said that allowed him to move Mark Skeels full time to a forward position.
The Waxers resume league play Friday when they host the St. Michael's
Buzzers at Centennial Arena at 8 p.m.
.

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