..FROM THE DESK OF MIKE HAYAKAWA..
OCTOBER 17, 2001
Successful hockey teams are those that find ways to win hockey games.
The Markham Waxers wish they could be in that situation.
But in recent days, they've found ways to lose contests.
On Monday, the Waxers went down to defeat for the third straight time and
fell below the .500 mark in the Provincial Junior A Hockey League's South
Conference standings when they dropped a 5-3 road decision to the Vaughan
Vipers.
With the score knotted at 3-3 through two periods, the contest appeared to
be headed for overtime until the Vipers scored the eventual game-winning
goal with just 1:56 remaining in the third period.
The Vipers iced the contest shortly after when they potted an empty net
goal.
"Right now we're in a situation where we're finding ways to lose games,"
said Waxers head coach Russ Herrington. "We hope to turn that around soon."
The first opportunity for the Waxers to make amends will be this Friday when
they host North York at 8 p.m.
The Vipers took a 2-0 lead in the first period before the Waxers replied
with goals from Jesse Boucher and Pat Porretta on a power-play to tie the
score through 20 minutes.
The Waxers took its first lead of the game in the second stanza on a goal by
Patrick Diotte.
But the Vipers replied to tie the score entering the final period.
Not helping matters for the Waxers was a manpower shortage as several
players were out of the lineup to injuries including Travis O'Rourke, Kevin
Cribari, Steve Nobili and Jason Duffy. Mike Fish was serving the second of a
two-game suspension that he incurred in last Friday's loss to the
Stouffville Spirit.
The Waxers began the game with 10 forwards and two bantam call ups in
forwards Ty Raine and Dan Domingues.
"Overall, I don't think we played that bad," said Herrington. "We outshot
Vaughan 40-16 but their goalie stoned us. When you're in a slump it makes it
tough to score and I just think we ran out of gas a little bit in the third
period.
"Right now though it's time for us to regroup. When you have a three-game
losing streak you don't want a fourth."
While the loss dropped the Waxers' record to 6-7-1-1, Herrington insists
there's no need to make any drastic changes with his roster.
"This is the team that will still be there in the end," he said. "We're not
looking to make any wholesale changes."
On a separate note, the Waxers made a move Monday that sent forward Corey
Smith to the Syracuse Crunch in a cash transaction. Herrington noted the
move should help Smith as he's originally from Syracuse, New York and wanted
to be closer to his family.
"It's the best thing for him," said Herrington of the move. "I think he
needed a change of scenery."
With Smith going to Syracuse, Herrington revealed Mark Skeales will log more
ice time.
"He's a guy who'se been the hardest working player," Herrington said of
Skeales. "He's improved a lot and we need to reward him a bit. He provides a
high energy level."

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