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..FROM
THE DESK OF MIKE HAYAKAWA..
WAXERS
CLOSE TO LOCKING DOWN THIRD SPOT
Perhaps the best thing that could have happened to the Markham Waxers was the rescheduling of its Dec. 19 road game against the Oshawa Legionaires. Back in mid December, the Waxers were
mired in a mid-season slump. Entering Thursday's make up game, the Waxers were riding the crest of a three-game winning streak.
And upon conclusion of Thursday's game, you can make that a four-game win streak as the Waxers skated off with a 5-1 verdict and solidified their hold of third place in the Provincial Junior A Hockey League's south conference at 25-18-2-0.
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"Our puck
movement has been good lately and we're doing a lot of little things
well"
Russ Herrington |
"I guess in hindsight it was a good decision by the two general managers to reschedule the game," said Markham Waxers head coach
Russ Herrington. "It's a miracle that something worked out in our favor."
What Herrington was referring to was Wednesday's ruling by the Ontario Hockey Federation that saw former Bowmanville Eagles' forward Seth Gray go to the Lindsay Muskies instead of the Waxers.
The Waxers had originally struck a deal with the Eagles for Gray, a 20-year-old right winger and their leading scorer. The Eagles though, made a second deal and sent Gray to the Muskies.
While the Provincial Junior A Hockey League's board of directors had ruled in favour of the Waxers, the OHF reversed the ruling. "The disappointing part of it was that the OHF made their ruling on the exact same rules and precedents that the OHA made their ruling," said Herrington.
The Waxers have seven business days as of Wednesday's ruling to appeal the decision to the Canadian Hockey Association. "We haven't made a decision yet," said Herrington. But based on how Gray presented himself at the hearing, Herrington said they have reservations whether they would have welcomed him to the club with open
armss.
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| This article was written by Mike
Hayakawa and published in the Markham Economist and Sun. Minor edits
may have been performed to the original article.
This has been reproduced with permission. |
"In the end I think (the decision) will turn out to be a good thing. Our chemistry is good now and we don't want to upset the apple cart."
In Thursday's game, goals by Jason Fraccaro and
Kevin Tompkins, on a power play, staked the Waxers to a 2-0 lead after one period.
Mark Menonte and Jimmy Ball scored unanswered goals to give the Waxers a 4-0 lead before the Legionaires broke
Rick Marnon's shutout streak at 157 minutes with their lone goal of the game.
But a shorthanded goal by Robbie Burrows before the end of the period restored the Waxers' four-goal advantage and rouned out the scoring. "Our puck movement has been good lately and we're doing a lot of the little things well," Herrington said.
Not only did the victory help the Waxers inch closer to clinching third-place finish in its division, but it also put a dash in the Legionaires' hopes to claim that spot. The Legionaires still have two games in hand on the Waxers and will meet Markham again in their final regular season game Feb. 6 in Oshawa.
"I told the guys that I didn't want to come back there (in Oshawa) and have that game mean anything. "Hopefully we can continue the trend (of winning)."
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