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Knd I can't think of §bEtter°way to end the day than putting your elbow in a puddle of hot chocolate while you watch those little tots chase each other up and down the ice. It all serves to add a dash of trauma to an otherwise dull existence. Ican’t, and I’ve really tried, think of a better place to be on Boxing Day than at an arena. How better else to get rid of the taste of Christmas Day’s turkey than nibbling on a hot dog and side-steEping youngsters? n d l nan't thin nf 2 hnttnr mnv tn Incidentally, this column is being written in between trips to bed. ARENA-BOUND On one of my periodic forays out of the bedroom I tripped gleefully down to the Richmond Hill Arena to catch the opening day of this year‘s Rosetown Peewee Tournament. Oh well. Maybe it's a good idea to make new friends‘at the beginning of a New Year. The problem is two-fold. When I visited my mother on the weekend she sent me home with a couple dozen oranges. I‘ve been squeezing them ever since. Takes a lot out of ybu. LAUGH CLOWN Then some vistors made the mistake of laughing at one of my witty remarks. This inspired me so much I charmed them with a suc- cession of witty remarks for the next four hours. They laughed so much they could hardly wait to get out the door. ‘ Right now I’m sitting here won- dering what word is going to come next. You can do it, Fred. I keep telling myself. Just sit back and let the brilliance flow. NOT EASY You might think it’s easy writing a column. It isn‘t. For example, I had to get out of bed on Boxing Day to do thi_s‘o‘ne. It wgsn‘t easy. Talk about your losing streaks. My unblemished string of defeats makes Richmond Hill Rams‘ freshman coach Ken “Satch” Brookes; shaky start in 1977 look like mere child’s play. 1978? I just don‘t believe it. It’s suddenly occurred to me that I’ve been doing this column for something like 12 years. Me, Fred Simpson. Syndicated all over Rich- mond Hill for 12 years, Wow. I was going to make this a New Year’s Eve column but I changed my mind. As of writing, 1978 is something like five days away. You never know. Victory may be snat- ched from my grasp at the last moment. Sports E112 Mineral Wednesday, December 28, 1977 One of those nights Back to bed Classified What the hell? I don’t see why I should leave all the kissing to someone else? And this time I promise not to be the last one to leave the party; and not try to dominate the conversation with too many witty remarks, or even throw sandwiches at anyone. Hey. I feel better already. There's still a little bit of life left in the old dog yet. Besides, it wouldn’t be me if I didn't have to make a comeback on New Year’s Day. Make some new friends. Would it? Happy New Year. Say, I wonder if there is a party going on somewhere? Maybe I’ll pack the pipe away until New Year‘s Day and then start fresh. None of-that' crass anymore. in the New Year, b'loWifigV-vyjo-L-x; whistles, trying to kiss the boss‘s wi_f_e or anyone, for that matter. I‘ll sit thefe andritlllhk wise thoughts about all you people out _there trying desperately to welcome Then I sit back in the easy chair, light up, and puff sagaciously on my pipe. Now that's maturity. Later on when the big hour arrives I’ll turn the television on and watch the remains of Guy Lombardo. It wasn’t worth the aggravation of waking up the next day with half- eaten sandwiches in my pocket, of having someone congratulate you for spilling drinks on their rug, or telling your best friend you can’t stand him, or trying to do away with your host‘s budgie bird, all kinds of things like that. MATURITY KICK Nossir. That’s not for me anymore. I‘m on a maturity kick. Every time I go on a maturity kick I go out and buy myself a new pipe and some tobacco. As for me,'I gave New flavan Eve parties up four years ago. Let’s see now, the new year is rushing right in on us. At this time I should also add my best wishes and condolences to all you people out there who are in training for New Year’s Eve parties. I wish you well. It occurs to me that I should at this time pen my annual tribute to the parents who make these tour- naments possible as well as make minor hockey possible period. THANKS u I don't know how they do it. It amounts to a second job the way they work to keep the youngsters happy. Just think. If it wasn’t for you parents out there I would have probabl y never bothered to get out of bed on Boxing Day‘ Thanks a lot. fred simpson Section B “It was a good game Monday night,“ said .Rams’ coach Ken “Satch” Brookes. “It was a case of them finishing off their plays and us unable to. We had numerous chances. In fact, I This loss followed (Shirtfiéâ€"Hgéls of an 8- 4 loss to the Dixie Beehives Tuesday night of last week at the Richmond Hill Arena. The Rams, struggling, struggling. struggling, dropped a 6-2 Boxing Day game to the last-place (one position below them) Hamilton team. New Year's Eve and its hoped-for think brighter day can’t come too soon for the 4745‘ Richmond Hill Provincial Junior A Rams. "NM Santa New VPQF'Q pup and its Innnnrl cm“ 6.76 .c ucwcuers recovered later on in the (Photo by Bruce Hogig)w s forsak s Rams Things were going pretty good for the Thomhill Thunderbirds in Monday night’s game at Oak Ridges at this particular point Dynes’ Cam Reston, playing for the first time in the last 15 games following an injury, got the Jewellers on the scoreboard with 6:22 remaining in the period from Dobson and Roffey. The Thunderbirds took.advantage of two early Oak Ridges penalties to lead 2-0 in the second period on power play goals from Mike Mudie and Glen Daurio. Daurio and Mike Johns assisted on the first one and Doug Owens and Johns on the second one. That’s when Dale Roffey shovelled a pass to Brent Dobson with 13 seconds to go and he rifled the puck past Dean Dorsey to sew up the victory. It was a big letdown for the Thun- derbirds who, once again, appeared to be_l_1eaded, at the least, for a 4-4 tie. The Oak Ridges Dynes Jewellers made lousy Santa Clauses Monday night as they scored a goal with 13 seconds left to edge their down-the-road Mid-Ontario Junior B hockey rivals from Thornhill 5-4. Dynes do it again to ’81de This goal was just one of many unlucky experiences for the Richmond Hill Car- penter ll’s Monday as the 1977 Rosetown Peewee tournament got underway. The Carpenters lost 12-0 to Pickering while the Cadillac-Bail team later blew a 3-0 lead and ended up on the wrong side of a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Brampton. The tourney continues till tonight. (Photo by Hogg). CLOSE The Rams made it close most of the way trailing 2-0, then 2-1, 3-1 and then 3- 2 before the Hamilton team pulled away in the final period. Ken Elson and Bill Stephenson scored for the Rams. Richmond Hill goalie Steve Latimer went all the way in the nets and came up with a fine game. FINE START Last week‘s game saw the Rams off to a fine early start with the score tied 2-2 at the end of the first period and 4-4 going into that fateful third when the visitors pulled away. Dixie‘é Steve Cfoutier opened the Then it was Dobson scoring again with two minutes remaining from Roffey and Rodo to set the scene for his own heroics with 13 seconds to go. DUMB PENALTIES “Dumb penalties killed us," observed Thornhill coach Ralph Beer. “I thought we played a good game for most of the way but we just couldn’t contain them at the end. They’re tough to beat. PENALTIES The game was rough in spots and But it was penalties finally doing the Thunderbirds in at 13-05 with Oak Ridges‘ Fred Rodo scoring from ngson and Mike Carnevale. The Jewellers came alive with only 48 seconds gone in the third period as Dobson scored the first of his three goals from Roffey and Reston. SHORTHANDED GOAL Thornhill refused to‘collapse despite walking into a penalty and it was Daurio scoring a Shorthanded goal from Johns to put the Birds into a 4-2 lead. we outshot them something like in time as Jeweller’s goalie Doug Brumwell (not seen) has a close play around the net. The Jewellers recovered later on in the A tripping penalty tojones really did it up good at 12:07 with Costello scoring Mike Fitzgerald and Tim Adams tied it before the period ended. FADE The Rams started to fade in the third period with Hansen scoring at 3:48 and Blane Thurston making it 6â€"4 at 11:23. A goal by Jones from John Hogarth and Olds gave the Rams a 3-2 lead and then Olds‘ second goal from Larry Kimble and Jones made it 4-2. Then it was Dixie‘s Chris Costellid scoring at 16:27 and John Olds tying it at 18:49 from Jones and Bill Stephen- son. scoring but Rams‘ Phil Wood got that ongbaclg from Dave Campbell at 10:28, misconduct It wasn't over yet. At game’s end Thornhill goalie Dean Dorsey ex- pressed season's greetings to the game official and he received a game ~:_â€"-_Jui from the game but probabiliyilwflv‘grvnvifié line-up for_ four or five games. Later on it was Thornhill‘s Andy McMillan clashing with Randy Irwin and receiving a five-minute penalty along with Irwin. McMillan was ejected from the game in the third for getting into his second fight. ' BUTT-END To make matters worse, it was Mike Johns being nailed for butt-ending penalty which also ousted him not only Rn“... AL- -7” ‘ When the smoke had cleared he had also received an additional five-minute penalty and a game misconduct for being the aggressor. Roffey got off with two minutes for roughing. especially on Thornhill as Captain Bud Shirley received a two-minute slashing penalty early in the game in a flurry with Dynes' Roffey. The Bramptan boys, taking ad- vantage of Richmond Hill penalties, The Richvale Block victory against Whitby saw Thornhill leading all the way with 1-0, 4-2 and, finally, a 4-3 lead which they managed to hang on to. TWO FOR FOBERT Andy Fobert led the Thornhill of- fensive with two goals and added an assist. Andy Mihalik and Eric Howson got the other goals‘ Mike Ercoli was a hot assist man with three with the others going to Jason DeBoer and Barry Danckert. For Whitby it was Tom Platt. Chris Williams and Gordie Van Kessel scoring. TOUGH LOSS Meanwhile it was a tough loss for the Richmond Hill Cadillac~Baif squad who dominated Brampton for the first half of the game building up a 3~0 lead before they collapsed in the final seven minutes of the game. The othe from Chris Darren Burford led the offensive with two goals assisted on the first one James and Brian McKnight second by Ian McGregor Bird. “We got adjusted for the last period and scored a couple of goals and made a good game of it. I think if we're lucky enough to meet them later in the tournament we’ll give them a better game." “Our boys were slightly over-awed by their size at the beginning," com- mented team manager Vince Higgins,” and we trailed 6-1 at one point. .1... . BIG, FAST The Major Tailorform boys ran into a big, and fast team from Thunder Bay and fell 6-3. F‘irst it was the Carpenter Peeweell's being plastered 12-0 by Pickering and then the Baifâ€"Cadillac Major Peewees building up a 3-0 lead and then blowing it in the final few minutes. They lost 4-3 to Brampton. The two other area entries â€" Thor- nhill Richvale Block and Ready Mix and Tailorform â€" fared a little better with the former team edging Whitby 4- Santa Claus left an empty sock under the tree Monday night for the two Rich- mond Hill representatives as the an- nual Rosetown Peewee hockey tour- nament got underway. other BURFORD LEADS Burford led the T with two goals. 3n the first one I ' goal McRae went to Rob Young Tailorform . He was by David and on the and Steve game and scored a goal with 13 seconds left to win the Mid Ontario Junior B game 5-4. (Photo by Bruce Hogg). The Rams are at home next Tuesday night to the powerful Guelph Platers for 7:45 p.m. game. It was hoped that Hampton, still off with an injured shoulder. was almost ready to return. Also out is Bob Else. As for the New Year? “We‘re still hanging in there," said Brookes. “Things have got to get better." As if things weren’t bad enough, the Rams received further bad news that injured defenceman Greg Hampton will like be out a further three weeks. a few seconds later. Cloutier wrapped it up_wi_t_h _argoal at the 17-minute mark. Thornhill hosts Orillia next Friday night for an 8 pm. game and are at Barrie the following Thursday night. The Jewellers are at home Monday night to Owen Sound for a 7:30 pm. game. He's opén to trades or anything else that will get the team ready to “go all the way in 1978.” Artemchlik is still looking to strengthen his team at certain positions and “this also means doing some re§huffling.” Absent were Steve Sherman, Dennis Limoges and Tony Robinson with suspensions. Doug Pollock had the flu and left the game early. Artemchpl} thoughf goalie Doug Brumwel], Blair Lewis and Dobson “played very well”. Oak Ridges coach Pete Artemchuk was naturally happy at the outcome particularly since he was missing some key players due to expenses from the previous game against Owen Sound which ended in a 5-5 tie. The grand chafiupionship game will be held at 8 pm. Another game saw Kitchener downing Oshawa 6-3. FINALE The 16-team tournament ends today (Wednesday) with the B championship game set for 5 pm. and the A cham- pionship for»6:r30 p.m. Stouffville beat Bradford 5-3 with Bryan Todd and Barry Smith scoring two goals each and Mark Murphy 3 single. For Bradford it was Duane Eldridge. Peter Woodhead and Jim Skerratt scoring. Unionville downed a éfiéfthanded Kingston team 3â€"1 on goals by Shawn Ferdinand, Peter Dermastia and Pete Tomaiudo. Chris Scott got the lone Kipgstgn goal. Don Mills put it to Toronto Aeros 10-0 with Peter Gacser getting three goals and two each to Garnet Willoughby and Jeff Farkus. Singles to Kenny Attard, Tim Reffle, and Clarke Pineo. Richmond Hill removed goalie Chris Austin in the final seconds but were never really dangerous. Other results saw: Bay Ridges thumping the Carpenters 12~0 led by the four goal scoring effort of Scott Ramsay with Cliff Whiffin getting two and singles to Mitch Turner, David Hunter, John Hagg, Garnet Whelan, Darren Mason and gill Hachey. Another Richmond Hill penalty saw Mike Thususka tying the game with 2:29 left and then a quick shot by Rick Arnaud won it for them. It was 3-2 when Kimble Hoebjerg scored with six minutes remaining and there was no stopping Brampton after this one. It looked like it was all over for Brampton when Richmond Hill’s Mabley grabbed the puck on the face- off and whipped it home right at the start of the final period. BIG RALLY Then the Hill walked into a penalty at 8:32 and Dave Bridgewater poked the puck home from a scramble and it was Then it was Derek Merilees hitting paydirt with a high hard shot which caught the comer from Ed Devlin with 32 seconds left and the local fans were cheering. Richmond Hill's Wayne Cai‘véil opened the scoring at 8:01 of the second period from Eric Mabley and Robert Strang. simply took over and it was all over