Page 5 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 11

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1215 Pitt St., Cornwall, ON K6J 3T3 Proud Equipment Manager
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Cornwall Wildcats Season Review

battle for the Wildcats in the OVFL. at this level of football but they Those game changing plays
By Vincent Cama
Despite having a large geographical weren’t football players yet.” would usually come from a pair of
othing breeds greater public area to draw from, they have the The Cats prospects during the explosive Quebecois twins from
Ninterest than success. All eyes smallest population base in the Sainte- Lazare, Alex and Serge
season seemed sketchy after losing
were on the Ontario Varsity Football 22-team league. Competing with Pilon. Alex, a wide receiver, tallied
in grand fashion to the juggernaut
League Cornwall Wildcats in the the still growing and already Riders 56-0 in the first week of the 425 yds. and 7 TD’s on just 14

spring of 2013 as they posted a 7-3 traditionally strong areas that the receptions. Running back Serge
season. Camplin said that losing
record; their best ever since being Myers Riders and London Mustangs like that may have lit a fire under rushed for 609 yds. with 7 TD’s

established just three short years franchises draw from may never be of his own on just 58 carries – an
his team as they would rattle off
ago. In addition to that milestone, in the cards. That they were able to average of 10.5 yds. per carry. The
six straight wins in the following
they made it to, and won, their first be so pesky in 2013 is a testament weeks before losing a tight contest twins were lights-out on special

ever playoff game and they had an to the hard work and dedication of teams as well, Serge collecting
with the Kingston Grenadiers 20-17
all-star at every position. Camplin and his staff of coaches, in their last regular season game. another 888 combined kick and punt
For Cats head coach Kirby and, of course, to the players return yds. and an additional 5 TD’s
Camplin, who’s been with the themselves. “This year we just found ways with Alex adding another 423 and

club since its inception, first as “We’ve improved continually,” to win,” said starting QB Jeremy 2 TD’s. If that weren’t enough of a
its defensive coordinator during said Camplin of his team’s progress Pike, who threw for 1267 yards and contribution from the Pilon family,
the inaugural 2010 season and the over the years. “The level of 18 TD’s and was one of the team’s the twins’ younger brother Nicola
head coach since the year after, coaching and the players have all-stars. “If a game would be tight served as the Cats’ full- time kicker.
the outlook for varsity football in improved every year. Kids are more we would make some momentum All three Pilon’s were selected for
Cornwall just got a lot brighter. fundamentally sound. We knew we changing plays to turn the game the all-star team.
It’s always going to be an uphill had athletes here that could play around and get the win.” Continued on page 24

Game On

By Richard Waldroff

Well it’s September, we all know what that means to hockey folks. By the time you read this you will have
purchased and/or upgraded the equipment required to take to the ice. If you have forgotten about this, take a ride
to your local arena, pull yourself up a seat and reminisce while looking at the smiling, nervous faces that display
feelings not much different from what your own children were experiencing way back when.
The other wonderful thing you may notice is the faces of the bench staff, many of them also like the same smiling,
nervous ones of the past. I can’t express what this “giving back” does to me. It shows the impression that has been
made and the quality of citizens the game of hockey builds.
I honestly believe the game is evolving, and in the direction chosen by the users. We must remember it is a
consumer sport. By a consumer sport I mean its future and success are dependent on how many of your children

it can attract. To do so, the custodians of the game find themselves making what may seem to be crazy knee-jerk
reactionary changes to playing rules and player movement in an effort to improve retention numbers or attract
non-registrants. Every now and then I meet up with an acquaintance from my past hockey life who manages to
grill me on “what to heck are these ------- people thinking about don’t they know any thing about the game”
A few years back I had the privilege of attending a Hockey Canada summit to deal with retention and recruitment.

Wow, what a discussion this is when you discover how vast and diversified our great country is. From the huge
populated areas and their demographics, to the rural spots (I call small town Canada) with a declining birth rate, all
wishing to maintain what once existed. I sometimes wonder how we didn’t see this coming, but I have convinced
myself that we or the custodians of the game are so busy with the day to day operation that most have lost site of any preparation for the future.

One thing that stuck with me was the conflict with other sports: How can we work with other sports in a manner that would benefit our own? Many are
offered in a season that is parallel to ours but for only a portion of the length of ours. A good example is football or skiing

Well I will share with you an idea that came from the summit: split seasons. I know, where do we find the time to do this? There are many benefits to

offering the programs in this format and there are those who think a shorter season would be best, suggesting things like reduced cost, new friends and
improved opportunity for our youth.
I believe it not to be as complicated as you may think, but it must be a controlled pilot project with parameters for measuring results. I have some ideas
as to how this can be done and would enjoy working with anyone who wants to give it a try.
Keep you stick below the waist.