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That final six seconds cost Ram’s goal Mitch Lovelock a shutout which must have made him happy. It came with Ajax's goalie out of the nets in favor of a sixth attacker and Ken Clarke put it home on a pass-out from the corner. Sunday‘s encounter w1th Ajax saw the Rams in little real trouble most of the way as they built up a 20 lead in the first period and maintained it until the final six seconds of the game. What he meant was that Larry Kimble, just back from a suspension, was on another two or three game one as the result of a squabble at Wexford Saturday night. It could hardly be described as a drive for first place but four wins in a row was just what the injury-andâ€" suspension wracked Rams needed. “We finally got most of our players back in the line-up," said coach Carl Brimblecombe, “and that’s worth a few victories in itself." He went on to shrug his shoulders in resignation: “At least we did have a full lineâ€"up.” The resilient Rams made it four games in a row without a loss Sunday night here when they edged Ajax 2-1 at the local arena after previous wins by 4- 3 over Wexford, 8-2 over Newmarket Flyers, and yet another 6-2 one against Wexford. RICHMOND HILL â€" The Richmond Hill Rams have been hitting more high and low notes than an average or- chestra this season but right now they’re on a high. “Unfortunately the minority of parents are totally biased, defen- sive. rude and have _strong resem- blance to the avid wrestling fan who is using this hockey game to somehow justify name calling aimed at the players on the opposing team. Little Johnny “This invariably occurs when that player has administered a beautiful hip check to ‘Little Johnny’, or threats of violence to the referee who has just penalized ‘Little Johnny' for attempting to remove his opponent’s limbs with his stick. He provides a lengthy preamble to the meat of his disenchantment which states his reasons for becoming a referee in 1971, his reasonable competence as a referee, and his general good feeling for most of the young players and spectators. The crunch Then he gets into the ‘cruncher’ part of his letter which follows: Call me... “Some parents have called me ‘stupid, blind, crazy, homer, dumb, He also sent copies to an E. McFadden and H. Saunders who I presume are connected with the OHA. Griffith. obviously fed up, writes in hi$ letter to Albert Watkins, Supervisor of OMHA Referees, that, in a word, he’s through. Simply because I received a copy of an interesting letter as penned by Carl R. Griffith of Oak Ridges who is (or was) an OMHA referee and has been for the past six years. I’m going to be kind to everyone this week (including myself) by shutting up. For,the most part, anyway. Edge Ajax 2-7 Hockey Rams on sudden ’high’ I m I“! “'31 Section B Sports Classified Carl Griffith ...ex referee Wednesday, January 12, 1977 The worm turns When the hockey got going so did the Rams as they rapped in four unan- swered goals in the same period The number also included eight Raiders who were banished to the dressing room with 10 misconducts each for leaving the bench during the altercation. A free-for-all ensued at the 9:20 mark when Raider Kevin Shotbolt charged in to goalie Stankiewicz. When the clouds cleared Raider Dan McDonald and Rams” Kimble were banished from the game with double fighting majors. Maybe a little of both on some occasions because. after all, refs are human like most of us. Scapegoats I sometimes get the feeling, though, that refs are handy scapegoats to hang losses on whenever your favorite team can‘t do the job itself. Not all the time, but more than enough I suspect. Rams 6, Wexford 2. Wexford came out of the gate quickly Saturday night in Wexford scoring early with Olds in the penalty box. ' Sunday’s first period goals saw Dave Robson scoring at 3:10 from Ron MacDonald and Ed Saffery; and Danny Jones popping it home at 7:05 from John Olds and Ken Paraskevin. That was it. “I‘ve got a lot of faith in these youngsters," said Brimblecombe. “They struggle some but when they start winning they get the taste and there’s no stopping them That‘s what a young team is like. “We‘re still a long way from hitting our peak but this is a good team. We're not afraid of anyone in this league. If they keep working hard and stay away from mistakes we‘ll surprise a few more people.” Brimblecombe thought Lovelock played a “steady game and he's helped us a lot." He pointed out that regular goalie Brian Stankiewicz was still hurting from a previous injury, I’ve éertainly' heard lots of coaches and-or spectators do so. But I really don’t know if they're right or wrong. My only comment is that I‘ve never felt competent enough to criticize game officials so I generally keep my mouth shut. The “majority of parents are fairly knowledgeable, although some are not up to date, wish to see good, clean hockey, and want their offspring to have fun and a somewhat successful game." fred simpson I should emphasize that Griffith did go to some lengths earlier in his letter to commend the majority of the players and parents. Majority good The players on the whole “are respectful, quite knowledgeable and most are very talented, regardless of age. They are driven by a desire to participate; a desire to win and, unfortunately, a desire to please a parent or parents.“ It would be interesting to find out how may refs andâ€"or linesmen feel the same way. Very few of them (none that I can recall) have ever answered their tormentors back in public. Done best “Myself: I feel I have done my absolute best every time I hit the ice. I feel I have been fair, strict and absolutely accurate with my calls and the handling of penalty situations. “Unfortunately, too many good officials of late, hold the same feelings. Regretfully yours. . . Carl R. Griffith, Card No. 1072. Disenchanted Not much you can add to that letter. Just about says it all for Griffith. Disenchanted but good. “But, because of my almost un- controllable desire, recently, to leave the ice and engage in fisticuffs with the aforementioned type of parent, I feel I must stop officiating at once. “However, as a 6’1”, 210 pound father of five boys, all of whom are, or have been in hockey, I take ex- ception at being called Gâ€"Dâ€"Aâ€"H â€", queer, faggot, stupid donkey; at being spat upon by mothers and threatened by some 5‘1”, 120 pound father who feels big while standing in they back row, yelling with a tone of voice which completely demoralizes his son and his team- mates and severely hurts the game of hockey.” idiot, etc, which I feel is part of the job â€" I suppose? Whip Wexford David Poore. (15) of Langstaff Secondary School Seniors goes up for a shot while unidentified Richmond Hill High player looks courtesy of two by Frank Nigro and one each by Saffery and Old; Wexford got one back in the second but goals by Paraskevin and Olds settled the issue. Rams outshot the Raiders 42-38 on the game. Richmond Hill's Stankiewicz came up with some brilliant saves and his teammates some accurate sniping to Rams 8, Newmarket 2. This Thur- sday night game at Newmarket saw goaltending making the difference as the Rams jumped into a 5-1 first period lead. Thunderbirds celebrated their second straight win over the Mid-Ontario Junior B league-leading Oak Ridges Wexford Raider goalie Vince Fiorelli kicked this one out with Richmond Hill Rams Mike Walker (11) and Dave Baker Thunderbirds d0 wn D ynes Bomb Newmarket RICHMOND HILL â€"- The Thornhill Up she goes Stay away from my door on concernedly in York County basketball Friday. Richmond Hill won 55-39 for first win in four starts. Kimble got one in the second unassisted and goals by Jones and Nigro finished it out in the final 20 minutes. Bryan Alexander and Steve Novis scored for Newmarket. Scoring for the Rams: First period, Ken Paraskevin from Bill Stephenson; John Olds from Stephenson and Saf- fery; Mike Walker, unassisted; Walker again from Greg Hampton and Kimble; and Paraskevin from Olds and Bill Colville. They celebrated by ’lbsiné 5-4 to Orillia Saturday night in Orillial But they had a good excuse. Dypes Jew‘elrlers Thursday night make the difference Rams 4, Wexford 3. There was less Nip WeXford 4-3 (20) breathing down his doorstep but he didn‘t get to do it on enough of them. The Rams downed the Raiders 4-3 Tuesday Photo by Hogg In the same instance he felt his team just “didn't have that mental uplift going for us. That mental attitude going into a game is all important. We were just beaten by a team that wanted to win more than we did tonight.” He noted that Thomhill was playing with six players brought up from “their minor system but I don‘t agree that necessarily hurts you all the time. Those guys are trying to prove It was the same Johns who added insult to injury with a little more than a minute remaining and his team playing Shorthanded. He scored again from Bud Shirley. Dynes over. Good game “They played a good game and they were up for it. You can't take anything away from them," was the way Dynes‘ coach Peter Artemchuk phrased it. “We were hurting, said Beer, “but the six replacements from the minor system in Thornhill came up with a fine game and almost pulled it out for us.” It looked like Oak Ridges was going to make one of its patented third period comebacks when Steve Sherman scored around the seven minute mark of the final 20 minutes from Dale Roffey to tie it at 3-3. But Johns put any such notions out of the Oak Ridges minds when he broke in on a power play goal and blazed a ringer to the top corner behind goalie Doug Brumwell. Steele got the assist on the plays than seven minutes left Tuesday night of last week in this one with the score tied 3-3. A goal by Dynes’ Carnevale in the second temporarily tied the game but Thornhill’s Bob Hunter made it 3-2 from A] Cook and Mark Steele. Wexford removed its goalie in the final seconds but Stankiewicz, helped by some hard work by Olds. came up with some key stops despite being shaken up in one of the scrambles around the net. “We outshot Orillia something like 18- 3,“ said coach Ralph Beer, “but we just couldn’t get the puck in." [Injuries A combination of injuries and, yes, suspensions plus a player or two who couldn’t make the trip, added to the Thornhill problem against Orillia. Thornhill led 2-0 at one point on a first period goal by Takeuchi from Scott Howson and Bruce Clatworthy; and Takeuchi’s second goal seconds later from Rob Browning and Howson. On the injury list was Glen Daurio, Ed Stankov, and Greg Chappel; Rocky Pantalone and Kerry Pimm were still sitting out suspensions; and Ernie Takeuchi couldn‘t make the game. Rally Despite this, the Birds rallied from a 4-1 deficit to almost catch up. Whip ‘Ridges It was a different sequel Thursday night of last week at Richmond Hill Arena as the Birds chalked up a 5-3 win over the front-running Jewellers. That's when Rams‘ Jones pounced on a loose puck in the Wexford end and sifted it home for the winning goal. The Birds were playing without six of their regulars. Despite this, almost came up with a final period rally to win it all. The score was tied 1-1 at the end of the first period on a Robson goal from Nigro and Stephenson for the Rams. Avllulunlu The Jeweller’s got back in the game said with two minutes remaining in the The gan same session with Jim Clement scoring later date on a power play from Greg Bogaerts and Mike Carnevale. No comeback night of last week at the Richmond Hill Arena in Provincial Junior A action and the win was the start of a four-game streak. Coach Beer agreed that “my team was up for the game against Oak Ridges but why not? You always like to beat the top guy. It's always a bonus point when you beat someone ahead of you.“ Coming up Coming up for the Birds is a game next Friday in Midland and a home game Monday against Owen Sbund. For the Dynes: They are in Owen Sound next Saturday and back home Monday to Orillia. The following Tuesday they go right back to Owen Sound. Artemchuk has addved juvenile Shawn Parker to his defence stating that “Shawn’s a big, rugged kid and we need the muscle back there." Doing fine Artemchuk, however, feels his team is going just fine adding that “when you lose you have to ride with it. Maybe it’s good for you to lose sometimes. It keeps your head screwed on right." RICHMOND HILL â€" That snowstorm we had Monday, remember, caused a couple of cancellations of junior hockey games in the area. To wit: ' Midland was slated to play at Oak Ridges in a Mid Ontario Junior B game. Owen Sound was tabbed for a cbntest at Thornhill‘ against the Birds in the same league. Wexford tied the game at 3-3 on a low screen shot at 4:49 of the third by Conrad Wiggin. Wexford’s Jim Wells replied The Rams moved into a 3-1 lead early in the second on two goals by Olds but Wexford’s Mike Collings got one back. something, they're hungry, and they can kill you.” Olds managed to hit the post shortly before Jones became the hero. Coming up: The Rams are at Ajax tomorrow (Thursday) and at North York the following night and. yes, at North Bay next Sunday before coming home Tuesday night for a game against Royal York at 7:45 pm. Wow. The games will be rescheduled at a Midland and Owen Sound? Enough Mike Johns .gets winner Photo by Hogg