..FROM THE DESK OF MIKE HAYAKAWA..
NOVEMBER 6, 2001
Through its last five games, Russ Herrington has been happy with the way his
Markham Waxers junior A hockey club has played.
The Waxers head coach feels his club has been playing disciplined hockey and
is happy with the effort his charges have put fourth on the ice.
Although the club has won just three and lost twice in those outings,
Herrington feels the club could easily have been victorious in all five.
What's needed, he suggests, is for his forwards to make the most of their
scoring opportunities.
In Friday's 4-1 win over the visiting Oshawa Legionaires, Herrington felt
the score could have been more lopsided than what it was.
And in Sunday's heartbreaking 3-2 loss to the host Aurora Tigers, who
recorded their ninth straight victory and are unbeaten in their last 12
outings, the Waxers could have at least come out with one point if they had
put the puck in the net.
"If we want to make a charge in the standings we've got to realize when we
need to score and that's something that teams like St. Mike's and Wexford
(the top two teams in the south conference) do. They don't need 45 scoring
chances to get eight goals. They capitalize when they get their chances and
we're not," said Herrington, whose club is currently in fourth place in the
Provincial Junior A Hockey League's south conference with a 9-10-1-1 mark.
"It just comes down to execution, doing the little things. Hopefully we can
learn."
While Herrington noted that some of his players have been "squeezing their
sticks a little too hard" during even strength opportunities, such hasn't
been the case on special teams.
In the two weekend games, the Waxers struck for three power-play goals
against the Legionaires and two in their loss to the Tigers.
"Our special teams are doing well," Herrington acknowledged."We've spread
our scoring around on our power play and our penalty killing has been good
too. But it would be nice if we could score a little more during even
strength chances."
Ryan Steane and Patrick Diotte accounted for the power-play goals for the
Waxers in their loss to the Tigers, who overcame a 1-0 Markham first-period
lead with two goals in the second and one to start the third period.
"We had lots of chances to score," Herrington said of Sundayıs outing."We
just didn't score when we needed to. The effort was there and we're playing
well without the puck. We're just not opportunistic enough. It was one of
those games where Aurora good a goal when they needed to."
Jason Duffy, Mark Menonte and Pat Porretta each scored power-play goals for
the Waxers in their win over the Legionaires. Jesse Boucher scored the other
goal for the Waxers, who led 2-1 after one peirod and 3-1 through two.
The Waxers play in Oshawa tonight and return home this Friday to host the
Thornhill Rattlers at 8 p.m.
The Waxers played the weekend without the services of several players who
were nursing injuries. Albert Ferrante has a chipped bone in pelvis and will
be out at least one more week, Mark Skeales will be out a couple of weeks
with a shoulder injury; Travis O'Rourke is out with a day-to-day injury and
Kevin Cribari, who was out with since the opening game with an ankle injury
has medical clearance to play and should be back within a week.

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