Wednesday, November 29, 2006 · Page 18 HOCKEY HIGHLIGHTS Fuerth leads Essex past Belle River BY KEVIN E. NEELS Defenceman Matt Fuerth, not usually counted on for his offensive abilities, paced the 73's to a win over the Belle River Canadiens last Tuesday in Essex. Fuerth set up three of the Essex goals on the evening. "I didn't do anything differently, I guess the puck was just bouncing my way tonight," he said. Essex held a slim 1-0 lead after one period of play, compliments of a Cory Hamilton breakaway goal. The visitors played a solid second period outshooting the 73's 17-10, but came out of the period trailing 3-1. R.J. Hotts, and Hamilton with his second, handled the Essex scoring. The 73's put the Canadiens away in the final frame with another pair of goals for a 5-1 final. Wes Tan and Ajay Sweet rounded out the scoring. "We have had good success against Belle River this year due to our ability to score and our size," Fuerth said. "Add the fact that Eddie Wheeler is between the pipes and we have a pretty solid team. Even with the number of players out of the line-up at any given time, we have confidence that any of us can play in any position and get the job done. I don't know many teams that have that flexibility." "We were not quite as strong tonight," said Tanner Gallant. "We had to rely on Eddie to help us out more than usual. We had a few shifts where we got caught running around, plus we took some stupid penalties; that did not help. Having a week off will help us out, as we have been playing a lot of hockey." Essex will play two games in the next week. Saturday they will meet up with the Comets in Kingsville, before coming back home to host the Dresden Jr. Kings on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. DRAG RACE YEAR ENDS Several local area drag racers were honoured at recent award banquets for their top finishes this year. Chris Gubinski, pictured above, earned his fourth straight Junior Dragster Track Championship. The 17-year-old Essex High School student won the first race of the season in his 2002 KCS at St. Thomas Dragway and never looked back. Gubinski will move up to a full-size quarter mile car for the 2007 season. Other top finishers include Windsor's Meighan Bonnett who finished in fifth place in Junior Dragster. Bill Ward of Leamington took his Chevy to a fifth place finish in Modified. Tecumseh's Bob Beaudoin rode his Ski Doo to a fourth place finish in the Bike/Sled class. At the Grand Bend Motorplex, the 1972 Ford Gran Torino of Mark Gubinski finished the season in fourth in Modified Eliminator. Joe Piper's Harrow based Mercury Comet came in second in the Street Class. Novice A Drs Hager/Kniaziew A slow week on the schedule had the team skating hard for three practices and playing host to Southpoint on Saturday night. The first period exhibited great end to end hockey with hard work and scoring chances by linemates Brady Rickeard, Brendan Jones and Grant Quinlan. Late in the first, Southpoint took advantage of the powerplay to go up 10. The second period started with pressure around the opposing net by Carly Davison, Luke Mahon, and Jake Watters, but all opportunities were stopped by a sharp Southpoint netminder. At the 1:28 mark of the second, Southpoint would go up 2-0. The team played a tight third period. With 4:41 remaining, a shot off the post by Jake Watters was picked up by Brady and sent over to Brendan whose goal brought Essex to within one. At the 2:45 mark, the fast moving trio Brett, Dylan and Jared would storm in on the Southpoint goal, but were unable to find the back of the net. In the final minute Essex pulled their goalie providing an extra attacker with a faceoff deep in the Southpoint zone. The Ravens never quit but were unable to come up with the tying tally. Adam and Josh both provided key saves to keep the game close. The team is looking forward to a trip up the 401 for a tournament in Fort Erie this weekend. On Friday, our Ravens played against a tough LaSalle opponent. LaSalle came out fighting and was able to get a quick goal on the power play to take the lead. This set the tone of the game, keeping Essex on the defensive throughout all three periods. Our boys had some difficulty controlling and clearing the puck from our zone, with an end result of several goals scored against us. Were it not for the excellent goaltending by Dustin Ridley, then Brady Heil to wrap up, the score could have been much higher in LaSalle's favour. On Saturday, we traveled to Belle River and got a glimpse of the team we knew we had! Belle River, a tough opponent in past games, got blindsided by the drive and teamwork of our boys. Our first goal came within the first minute of the game, a beauty scored by Eric Lee unassisted. But Essex wasn't yet done showing their stuff: Cody Spitse, assisted by Eric Lee, scored our second Midget Major CAW Club 200 Pee Wee A Tim Hortons goal less than three minutes later, putting Essex ahead 2-0. Belle River retaliated with a goal of their own to end the first period 2-1. Not to be outdone, Essex came back quickly in the second period, finding the back of the net on a goal scored by Mitchell Carswell and assisted by Evan Bechard and Spencer Smith. Belle River was able to put two more past our outstanding netminder Brady Heil, to even up the score 3-3. The Belle River goalie made an outstanding save that robbed Brandon Flood, on a pass from Luca Acchione, of the winning goal. Strong defensive plays were made by Colin Ellis and our defensive line and intense pressure from our forwards made this a game to The game remember. ended in a 3-3 tie, proving that teamwork and effort always pay off. Great job boys; keep it up! Good luck next weekend in Fort Erie! On Saturday, November 25 Chatham visited Essex Arena in hopes of breaking the Ravens' winning streak. Essex started off the scoring at 8:48 of the first period. Jesse Durocher assisted by Paul Cote. Just over a minute later Essex struck again with Josh Klein from a beautiful pass from Lucas Gallant. Then with nine seconds left in the first Michael Sauve scored an end to end with assist going to Tyler "Soupy" Campbell bringing the score to 3-0 at the end of the first. The second period was littered with 97 minutes of penalties between the two teams. Chatham started the scoring with a powerplay goal. Brit Garon scored with the assist going to Jesse Durocher. Two minutes later Dan Bacon scored with help from Brad "Chop" Quinlan and Spencer "Stallion" Woltz. Chatham responded 20 seconds later bringing the second period to a close at 5-2. In the third period Essex came out strong just 10 seconds in by Nick Fournier assisted by Jesse Durocher and Paul Cote. At 12:40 Brad Quinlan scored from Rads, Heaters, Gas Tanks, Air Conditioning & Tires Get your vehicle under coated (oil spray, no drip) and let us inspect your cooling system. If you need a winter boost or get stuck in the snow, we offer 24 hours towing service. Brit Garon. Chatham scored at the 11 minute mark. Our boys were relentless scoring again at 9:40 from Michael Sauve with assist going to Dan Bacon. Great job by all our boys. Final score Essex 8, Chatham 3. On Sunday, November 26 Essex Ravens travelled to Chatham to play on what they call the lake. The game started off slow. Sean Bear, the Ravens' goalie, did a good job keeping Chatham from scoring. The second period was slow until Paul Cote put on the sniper show assisted by Tyler "Soupy" Campbell. The boys came out in the third hungry for another goal. At the 10:57 mark Lucas "Bruiser" Gallant ended his scoring drought assisted by Kyle McCamon. Lucas "Bruiser" Gallant wasn't done yet scoring again at 3:13 left on the clock with the assist going to Brad "Chop" Quinlan. Congratulations to Sean Bear on his shutout and to the boys for continuing their winning streak bringing it to five games. Final score Essex 3, Chatham 0. CRIMINAL DEFENCE LAWYER Impaired... assaults... threats... traffic tickets Criminal Pardons at a reasonable cost. Countryside Upholstery "For all your furniture needs" · Foam for cushions · Furniture Reupholstery · Repairs · Antique Restoration · Pick-Up & Delivery · Free Estimates Why miss work or school for court? CHRISTINA SWEET 519-776-1361 or 519-776-9237 (towing) 51 Gordon Ave., Essex, ON So come see us or call us at Cottam Radiator Weekend and evening appointments in Essex 253-0140 Res. 776-8983 Barrister-at-Law 737-6720 Proprietor Tom Collins "Serving the Community for Over 30 Years"