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Wednesday, October 4, 2006 · Page 18 HOCKEY 73's gain first wins of the season HIGHLIGHTS Piroski's squad outplays Kingsville, Mooretown "We have a good bunch of players here which will only get better," Sweet said. "We had a better work ethic tonight than we did last week, but we need to get better defensively, and, we need to adapt to the new rules quickly." Cory Hamilton is new to the Essex 73's but not to Junior hockey. He once played for the Wingham Ironmen and is thrilled to be an Essex 73. "I love the atmosphere here, this place rocks. This league is much faster than the league back home, and I'm looking forward to playing more teams, not the same one every other game," he said. About himself, Hamilton says, "I consider myself an all around type of player. I know I can score goals, but the rough style is my type of game." One area the 73's need to improve on is giving up early goals. It happened twice against Kingsville and the opening period in Mooretown was no different. Just 1:13 in the club found itself in the hole once again. A huge turnover deep in the 73's zone cost them dearly. Making frequent trips to the sin bin did not help the club in the early going either as they were whistled off for three minors in the first five minutes, giving the Flags an early advantage. To the 73's credit, they weathered the storm with exceptional penalty killing and held the fort until they could get back on even terms. Mike Roach slipped past the defense and slid the puck five hole on Mooretown goaltender Jeff Steadman with under three minutes remaining on the clock in the opening period. Period two was a whole different story as the visitors took total command of the play, hemming the home team deep in their zone for most of the period, forcing the Flags to take numerous penalties. Unfortunately for the 73's, goaltender Steadman had something to prove, and that he did. Essex shooters fired 27 shots during this onslaught and only Cory Hamilton could find the back of the net. This gave the home team a chance to regroup during the intermission and possibly steal a win in period three. As it turned out, Essex would have none of that. R.J. Hotts deflected a point shot past the netminder a mere 31 seconds into the frame to pad the lead. Essex went into forecheck mode after this and did not give the Flags any good opportunities the rest of the way. Cory Hamilton added his second of the night into an empty net to seal the Flags' fate. Mooretown did come back to add a goal in the dying seconds but it was too little too late. Final score 4-2 Essex. After the game, this season's captain Rob Shepley said, "The dump and chase worked. This is the way we have to play. You could see they were getting frustrated as the game wore on. We are slowly getting into the groove." BY KEVIN E. NEELS The Essex 73's roared back from their opening night loss by doubling up on the Kingsville Comets and Mooretown Flags this past week. On Tuesday, the club played host to division rival Kingsville before striking out on the bus for their first road game of the season on Saturday in Mooretown. In hosting the Comets last Tuesday the team was looking to improve their game and get win number one under their belts. The visitors wasted no time showing they were not going to make it easy for the home club. Just 1:11 after the opening faceoff the Comets silenced the crowd by jumping on a loose puck deep in 73's territory and burying the puck over the shoulder of Essex netminder Eddie Wheeler. Late in the period the home team evened the score with a similar type goal, coming off the stick of newcomer Cory Hamilton. Period one ended dead- locked. The second frame started much the same as the opening period. The 73's defense coughed up the puck behind their own net, and bingo, it was behind Wheeler before he knew it. The Essex power play took over the remainder of the period with a pair of very quick markers. Three minutes later, just six seconds into the man advantage, rookie Evan Stibbard had his first of the year, and before the ten minute mark, first year defenceman Anthony Iaquinta ripped a shot past Comets netminder Rob Cupit just five seconds into a power play for the 73's first lead of the game. The clubs headed to the dressing room with the score 3-2 for the home team. Essex's Ajay Sweet added some insurance seven minutes into period three with a nice move on the Kingsville defense and slipped the puck past Cupit for a two-goal cushion. This wrapped up the scoring in this contest as the home club held on for the 4-2 win. Asked if his role has changed since he has donned the "C" this season, Shepley said, "It's just a letter, it doesn't really mean anything, other than I get to speak with the referees. My role has not changed a bit. All the veterans are leaders ... We make the rookies feel welcome ... help them in any way we can." "The veterans are really helping out, and the coaching staff is incredible," said rookie Tanner Gallant. "I feel we have a good blend here; the rookies and veterans are meshing really well." Gallant has played the past few seasons for the Red Raiders high school club. "This is good hockey, much quicker than high school," he said. The 73's continue their busy month of October with a pair of games in the upcoming week. First they will travel to Blenheim on Sunday for a 7:15 game then return home on Tuesday to meet the Mooretown Flags once again. Game time is 7:30. Bantam AE Facca Construction On Sept. 30, the Ravens headed east to play against Chatham. Essex came out strong with good defensive plays, shots on net and great goaltending by Alex Rawlins. Despite the team effort, the first period ended scoreless. The Ravens pressed on. Fans were on the edge of their seats in the second as shots were fired in hopes of ripping one by the Chatham goalie. Finally the Ravens' team work was rewarded. hris Laliberte scored the irst goal of the game assisted y Awstin Pettit and Alex erryfield. The Essex fans were hrilled to see the Ravens core again close to the end of the second period. That second goal came from Awstin Pettit assisted by Matt Conley and Chris Laliberte. In the third period our Ravens continued to play well. Chatham started to crank it up hoping for a rally. Goaltender Alex Rawlins showed he was up for the challenge as he stopped one shot after another. The boys worked hard but Chatham scored two goals close to the end of the period. With the game tied, the team dug deep and played on hoping to put one more past the Chatham goalie. In the final second of the game, Chatham managed to score one more. Although there was some debate as to whether or not the final goal had actually been scored before the clock ran out, the final call credited Chatham with the goal and the scoreboard read Chatham 3, Essex 2. The coaches and players will continue to practise hard and look forward to playing Southpoint next and then hosting Chatham on home ice Oct. 7 at 6 p.m. On Sept. 21 we played a hard game against Southpoint. We were only able to get one beautiful shot by Eric Rawlins past their goalie. There were some great defensive efforts made by Carter, Cody, Matthew, Alec, Clay and Alex Smith, but we were unable to shut them down and lost the Atom AE Ram Contract Carriers game. On Sept. 24, the team hosted an exhibition game against the Tecumseh Minor AA team. Tecumseh came out hard-hitting and fast scoring. Our offensive line-ups including Zack, Tyler and Luke, Eric, Gerard and Alex and Aidan, Anthony and Danielle tried their best and gave a real good effort but were unable to score on Tecumseh. Our goalies Emily and Kane are working hard. Tougher competition for EDHS Essex District High School's sports teams will be facing tougher competition this season, according to the school's head of physical education. Joe Amicarelli said the school experienced a growth in enrollment this year, bringing the student population to more than 900, and moving its sports teams from the A/AA league to the AAA/AAAA. "The quality in the athleticism is better in the AAA/AAAA," Amicarelli said. "The competition is stronger." This year, the Raiders will face teams from more populated schools such as St. Anne Catholic High School, Sandwich Secondary School and WF Herman High School. On Sept. 30, the team traveled to Chatham. Our Essex players came out flying with awesome defensive moves by Clay and Luke and amazing saves made by Kane. Unfortunately, Chatham was stronger than us and won the game but the score did not reflect our players' efforts. Coaches say they are seeing improvement in our players and it won't be long before they start reaping the benefits. Fall Rates Monday to Friday 9 holes $10.00 18 holes $15.00 Not valid with tournament or golf outing play Advance tee times available please call 519-726-6176 1 - 800 - 267 - 5595 cpratt@tilburychrysler.com 76 Mill St. W. Tilbury, ON N0P 2L0 Chris Pratt Large Selection of New and Used Vehicles (All Makes) "Finding you the right vehicle for the right price is my pleasure."