Valley
East Consbec Cobras Lose Thriller In Overtime
If the first game was any indication, the
arrival of Sean Pennock, a starter with the Sudbury Cara Capitals at the
beginning of the season, will certainly add a great deal of speed and
toughness to the squad. Pennock suited up for the Cobras on November 6
against the Rayside Balfour Junior Sabrecats. Playing in front of a good
crowd, the game wasn’t decided until the 3:38 mark of the overtime
period when Sabrecat’s forward, Wade Debassige tipped a shot from the
point past Valley East netminder, Paul Pidutti.
Pennock, who stands 6' 1" and tips the
scales at 190 pounds, is a first year midget who shows plenty of
promise. He played defense for Sudbury Lockerby Bantam ‘AAA’ last
year and was selected in the 8th round by the Plymouth
Whalers’ of the Ontario Hockey League.
The contest was a typical Valley East / Rayside
Balfour contest, with no love lost between neighbours. The fans
witnessed plenty of hard hitting action for the full 63 minutes. Often,
however, players on both sides let
emotions get the better of them, resulting in numerous unnecessary and
undisciplined penalties - all part of growing up in the midget league.
Rayside took a 1-0 lead with less than a minute remaining in the first
period. Jason Kauffeldt scored on a penalty shot, just over 7 minutes
into the 2nd, but Rayside regained the lead with one minute
left in the period on another late-period lapse by the Cobras.
Persistence paid off for Valley East when Justin Ethier tied the game at
the 5 minute mark of the 3rd. Goaltender Paul Pidutti came up
with several remarkable saves late in the contest to force the game into
overtime.
Valley East has lost several heartbreakers this
season, but manager, Dan Lafrance is pleased with the progress of the
team. “We lost a couple of our games to Timmins, one of the top teams
in the province this year, and of late, we seem to be coming together.
The scores are close and we are playing over 500. I think we will end up
in good shape by the end of the season.”
As for the individual players, Captain Matthew
Restoule is among the league scoring leaders. His average of one goal
per game is the best average among all players. Jason Kauffeldt will
also find himself in the top ten all year long if he continues his fine
play.
Other members of the team include: David
Dicarlantonio, Michael Dubreuil, Justin Tessier, Shayne McCool, Thomas
Pothier, Eric Bazinet, Hawk Eshkawkogan, Neil MacDonald, Josh Bigras,
Patrick Whissell, Brent Dixon, and Steve Lalonde. The coaching staff
includes Brian McGillis, John Sauve, Darryl Lafrance, Pierre Legros, Reg
Gagnon, Dan Lafrance and Martin Healey.
The next games for the Cobras are on November
16 and 17 when they host the North Bay Trappers and the Kirkland Lake
87's. Wins in those contests could move Valley East into 3rd
place in the standings.
“September
11 Changed The World” Claims Chief Alex McCauley
Chief
of the Greater Sudbury Police Service, Alex McCauley addressed a small
gathering of residents of Valley East during the first of a series of
Community Forums. The meeting was held at the Howard Armstrong
Recreation Centre on October 22.
“We
intend to use these public forums to get feedback from the community in
order to develop a police service master plan and help with budget
deliberations,” explained Police Services Board Chair, Andy Humber.
Chief
McCauley concurred, “We do firmly belief in collaboration with the
public. It doesn’t matter to me whether there is one person in the
audience or one hundred. What you tell us is important and we will
listen.”
With
an annual budget of over $25 million and 241 sworn officers, the police
department is straining at the seams to keep up with the demands of
organized crime and constrictive legislative requirements. The force is
assisted by 89 civilian personnel assigned to various jobs around the
City.
Chief
McCauley explained that the priority issues among the public continue to
be in the areas of youth crime, crimes of violence, property crime and
traffic violations. However, he also pointed out an alarming trend which
has counterbalanced a reduction in criminal activity in the area. “The
reported crimes may well be down from past years, but the complexity of
the enforcement and administration has risen dramatically. It now takes
us 2 to 10 times as long to put cases through the system. Our officers
often arrest and charge a person with a break and enter and then by the
time the case is heard in court the person is arrested one or two more
times for similar offenses. Our court system is becoming so jammed up it
is as if nothing is moving.”
Chief
McCauley went on to explain, “I am all for the protection of rights
and civil liberties, but the civil liberties of criminals have created
so much red tape that the rights of everyone in this room (at the
community forum) are in jeopardy. The pendulum has to begin to swing the
other way pretty soon to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens and
not be so concerned with the rights of accused criminals. We have a
choice of reducing crime or being handcuffed by invasion of privacy
restrictions.”
With
reference to the September 11 attacks on the United States, Chief
McCauley stated, “New legislation and heightened security have placed
tremendous demands on police service resources. The officers are running
all over the place taking care of bomb threats, anthrax scares, and
incidents such as the matter of the sniper in downtown Sudbury with a
firearm recently. Just that sniper alone created a backlog of 80 calls
that had to be put on hold while we attended to that matter. And those
calls don’t go away. We still had to deal with them after we arrested
the person with the firearm.”
Much
of the legislation which has been passed in recent years has had the
result of demanding higher standards and increased certification as
police officers move from “generalist” to “specialist”. However,
this legislation is placing restrictions which make it difficult for
officers to deal with urgent day-to-day matters. We have all heard
horror stories about the construction project which ground to a halt
because the carpenters were not certified to change a light bulb. They
sat around all day in the dark until an electrician could be found to
unscrew the old bulb and put in a new one which was stored in a nearby
cupboard. Some legislation is having a similar impact on police
services.
While
not intending to frighten the audience, Chief McCauley was very clear
about the fact that most of the crime in the area municipalities today
is caused directly or indirectly by organized crime. He indicated that
there about five or six persons identified in the region who control the
criminal activity locally. “This is not something you see on
television. It is here in Sudbury and it is taking a lot of work to try
to get a handle on it.”
The
audience left the building much more informed about the situation with
respect to police activities in the City of Greater Sudbury. It is not
likely that they felt more protected, but they were assured by Chief
McCauley’s declaration that, “We know we have a lot of work to do to
protect the rights of law-abiding people, but we won’t be frightened
and we won’t let the bullies push us around!”
The
Community Forums will continue throughout the region during the next
several weeks.
Team
Goodall Wins Valley East Men’s Slo-Pitch ‘A’ Championship
Members of Team Goodall don their award jackets
moments after accepting the hardware which goes with being named the
Valley East Men’s Slo-Pitch ‘A’ League and Playoff Champs for
2001. Team Goodall defeated Auto Depot 3 games to 2 in an exciting final
series to win the title from the defending champs. MVP of the ‘A’
Division playoffs was Cory Farmer.
For coach and manager, Larry Pederson, 3rd
from the left at the back, the double championship capped a perfect
season as in his final year as League Commissioner. Pederson has been
involved in the running of the league for over 20 years, serving as
Commissioner for as long as anyone can remember. Under his leadership
the Valley East Men’s Slo-Pitch League has become the premier league
in the City of Greater Sudbury, providing summer recreation for over 300
men from Valley East. This year he decided to retire from the political
side of the league. Jim Levac, another long-time member of the board,
was elected to the position of Commissioner for 2002 during the annual
meeting held on November 5. Rounding out the 2002 executive are Chris
Hein (1st Advisor), Ryan Kirwan (2nd Advisor),
Brendon Murdock (3rd Advisor), Marcel Miron (Treasurer),
Gates Poitras (Recording Secretary), Shawn Rose (Stats), and Dick
Decosse (Umpire-in-Chief). In other business during the annual meeting,
it was decided to give all players until January 31, 2002 to submit any
suggestions for rule changes. About 40 people attended the meeting.
In the “B” Division, Buddies won the League
Championship but Hanmer Bowl took the honours in the playoffs. MVP for
Hanmer Bowl was Rolly Dubreuil.
Nor-Tech won the ‘C’ Division League
Championship with Champions winning the playoffs. MVP for Champions was
Dan Giroux. The “D” Division Playoff Championship went to
Desjardin’s Food Basics with Pablo Gil-Alfau named as MVP.
During the award ceremonies held at the
Centennial Arena on October 20, all teams announced the winners of their
Most Valuable Player and Most Sportsmanlike Player awards.
The Most Valuable Player Awards went to: Ralph
Walker (King Sports); Louis Mayer (Popcorn Video); Don Davlet (Long
Shots); Tim Goulet (Gonga’s Grill); Pablo Gil-Alfau (Desjardins);
Terry Richer (CML); Chad Lacelle (Kwik-Way); Stu Croteau (Champions OTW);
Mike Lacasse (Team Goodall); Rob Rowlands (Auto Depot); Jim Kuca (Hanmer
Bowl); Marcel Miron (Buddies); Kelly Jones (Seal X); Chris Jones (Caza’s
Auto); Darryl Lafrance (Clearview); Marty Kirwan (Dupuis Auto); Glen
Polsky (Nor-Tech); and Barry Dufour (BT Paving).
The Most Sportsmanlike Player Awards went to:
Guy Chattlin (King Sports); Jim Scott (Popcorn Video); Perry Rietze
(Long Shots); Bob Moncion (Gonga’s Grill); George Young (Desjardins);
Richard Lachance (CML); Reg Poitras (Kwik-Way); Rob Noel (Champions OTW);
Jason MacIsaac (Team Goodall); Brian Beaupre (Auto Depot); Mark Smith (Hanmer
Bowl); Mike Auger (Buddies); Mike Kavangh (Seal X); Derek Dupuis (Caza’s
Auto); Paul Innocent (Clearview); Pete Chenier (Dupuis Auto); Pat
Jackson (Nor-Tech); and Claude Despatie (BT Paving).