Page 11 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 61

www.sportsenergynews.com Issue #61 December 2017 11

Continued from page 10
Cornwall Mazda
presents...

Athletics + Academics = A Winning Combination

Gobi Mohanathas Grade 12 Jake VanderBurg Grade 10

St. Lawrence Secondary School Char-Lan District High School

Participating Sports: Participating Sports:
Canadian left winger.
Volleyball Volleyball
Steven’s other sports passion is ball hockey. He
Badminton Basketball won ten scoring titles when he played in the extremely
Basketball Soccer competitive Cornwall Men’s Ball Hockey League.
Tennis Badminton Greg Harps is following in his father’s and
his grandfather’s footsteps. Greg, this month’s
Favourite Sport: Favourite Sport:
Budda Boom Athlete, has a long, long list of
Basketball Basketball
accomplishments to his name, and, really, he’s just
Favourite Subject: Favourite Subject:
getting started. The twelve-year-old Tagwi student
Science Mathematics is a goalie on the NGS Peewee B Rep Hockey Team.
I look up to this sports I look up to this sports When he’s not between the pipes in the winter, he’s
personality: personality: Kevin Durant on the floor, playing ball hockey, just like his dad,
Lebron James Sport achievements: and like dad, he’s winning scoring titles, although
he’s doing it at the atom level of the Cornwall Minor
Sport achievements: 2017 OFSAA pole vaulting competitor
Ball Hockey Association.
Male athlete of the year 2016/17 Academic achievements: “I play because Dad played,” explained Greg, “and
Sports Energy
Academic achievements: Honour Roll he was good at it.”
Honour Roll 2016/17 Gold Award So, apparently, is Greg.
Greater Cornwall & Areas Community Sports Newspaper

Sports Energy presents Sports Panel

Greater Cornwall & Areas Community Sports Newspaper

So Panel, how bad are the Habs and how good are the Leafs?
Sports Energy
What is your theory for success and failure?
Greater Cornwall & Areas Community Sports Newspaper

Gilles Gaudet - Sports Enthusiast -The Habs are very bad, and I don’t see them turning it around this season. I think that Bergevin will be
gone before season’s end, because his master plan is failing miserably. He traded for Shea Weber thinking he would be the piece that would
put them over the top. Despite Weber playing well, the rest of the team hasn’t followed. Max Pacioretty has also got to go, he’s not a captain,
and he needs a change of venue to get his mojo back. Actually if Montreal sent Weber and Pacioretty to the Leafs for draft picks and blue
chippers, it might be exactly what the Leafs need to put them over the top. The Leafs are good, but could use an experienced scorer and a
dominant defenceman to complete their line-up. I think that they’re good enough to win a playoff round or two, but need help to take down
Tampa Bay and whomever represents the West this year.

Jake Lapierre - Conditioning Coach - For the first time in several years, Toronto fans are enjoying a great hockey season thanks to a
handful of talented young players and a team who is having fun lighting up Budweiser mugs all over the city. Shanahan has made the right
moves in developing the team, creating good opportunities for new players and truly believes in his team which resonates right through the
organization to the players.
The Habs game on the other hand, in my opinion started skidding out of control when Subban was traded to Nashville. Montreal’s problem
started upstairs with Bergevin & Therrien, who for some reason managed to pull the wool over Geoff Molson’s eyes in believing they were
creating a better team by trading Subban. There is no doubt the Habs have a great goal tender but goalies don’t score goals; Carey Price is
backed by a team with little depth, struggling from game to game to put points up on the board. Michel Therrien has since been omitted from
the organization but unless Geoff Molson starts looking for a new general manager soon, I don’t believe the Habs will be steering out of this
skid anytime soon.

Jim Riddell - Seaway Karate Club - The Toronto Maple Leafs have executed a proper rebuild and the results are coming along as planned.
They are at this point, a very good team but still a year away from elite. With several of the young players requiring new contracts, the
challenge will be to fit them into the team budget and still have enough cap space left for the right group of supporting players to win the cup.
The Montreal Canadiens have had a slow start and are an average team. That slow start has part of the fan base wanting a “tear down and
rebuild”. The Habs already have 7 picks in the first 5 rounds of the 2018 draft so that may still be an option. The Habs are not an elite team
but it’s not appropriate to put them at the bottom either. If this average team can somehow make the playoffs and a healthy Carey Price is on
his game, anything can happen.