Appleby College - Argus Yearbook (Oakville, Ontario Canada)

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1st Basketball Team SEATED: Tate, Collins, Casperd, Mann 1, Choy. STANDING: Mr. Larsen, Havill, Hwang, Jennings n, Kaunas, Roberuon, Polakowski, Mr. White. At the beginning of the year we didn ' t expect to have a great season. We had about three or four exhibition games and they did not do much to garnish any optimism, but the team kept plugging away in the hopes of improve- ment. We had no real planned offense going into the first league game against TCS so we tried to compensate with a pressing, but more importantly hustling, defense. The defense of the entire team kept TCS off the board and also gave us opportunities for easy shots, most of which, fortunately, we made. At the end of the game the team realized that it had potential and it brought the morale of the team up sky- high. We won our first three games by large margins and the team was playing well together and looking forward to other league games. Then the team went into a dismal shooting slump. It wasn ' t the result of overconfidence but rather just bad timing as it coincided with three league games all of which we lost. Throughout all this, the defense, which had been strong, continued as such and kept the scores down. The only excuse for losing the UCC game was appalling shooting, as the low 24-17 score would indicate. Against Ridley we shot well enough to lead 25-16 at the half but later were out- hustled by an inspired Ridley team who held us to one point in the entire second half. The third loss was to a good SAC team whom we would have had trouble beating even if we had played well. That was our last loss for sometime. After that game, Mr. White designed an offense that enabled us to create weaknesses in a defense and then take our pick of ways to attack m W! ' k i -m ' HiltHH ' H V mC w t f - ' wkSu ■I ' lEP ' fY ' - -- --cs m

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Oui left wings were Keates, Beasley, and Slade. Keates (13 pts. ) over- came skating difficulties with ex- tremely tough checking in the cor- ners, and his hard work produced excellent results. Although Beasley ' s size and appendix were disadvantages on occasion, his intelligent play- making was a great asset to the team. Slade (18 pts. ) was the surprise of the season: although not our best skater, he had the knack of being in the right place at the right time, and his thirteen goals were the deci- sive factor in many of our games. At centre we had Slattery II, Bielski, and Runyon. Jim Slattery (21 pts. ) was the spark plug of our offense. He never stopped skating, and his fearsome checking and constant en- thusiasm invariably stirred the team to greater effort. Bielski was a pro- ficient skater, and his fore-checking and backchecking were a great help, especially to the defence. Runyon skated well, but only in fits and starts. His great performance at Ridley was a chief factor in our vic- tory there. Our right wings were Durrant, Free- man and Grimm. Durrant (15 pts. ) initially had scoring problems, but he subsequently found the range and his passes into the slot often set up goals. Freeman (10 pts. ) found great difficulty in scoring with the puck in the crease, but on the whole I think he was the most improved player on the team. Charlie Grimm was a fearless checker for his size, unafraid to hit anything that moved. The defense consisted of Pritchard, Webb, Doherty, and McAlister. McAlister worked very hard both in practice and games; Doherty ' s ska- ting improved, and although he failed to score a goal, he assisted on a fair number, and was a competent defenceman. Webb I (13 pts. ), a late addition, displayed great ability in controlling the play, and he handled himself very coolly in our zone. The mainstay of our defense, and indeed of the team, was our captain, Doug Pritchard (15 goals, 9 assists). His brilliant rushes, vi- cious shots, and obvious overall ability were a vital reason for our success. Doug was also a confident, yet humble, leader, and he has everyone ' s thanks for all he did for this team. Our goalies were Smiley Smith, whose confidence and ability in- creased as the season progressed, and Peter Lyall, our starting goaltender, without whose excellent play (2:31 G A Ave. in 16 games) we would have been doomed. Time and again he came up with impossible saves in close games, and one cannot say enough about his contribution to this team. The journeymen players were Tim- mins, Gibson I, Green II, Stuart I, and Eagleson. Timmins substituted both on left wing and defense, and his bullish rushes tended to soften up the opposition. Gibson I was a good skater and checker, but a broken arm shortened his season. Buzz Green II learned the meaning of offside and developed a shot, and should see more action next year. Eagleson was often ill, and thus saw little ice time - maybe next year. One other person helped to make this a winning season - our incredibly competent and ' vocal ' manager, Paul Crosbie. His antics on the bench provided humour and encouragement, and the team would not have been so cohesive without him. It was indeed a very good year, and 1 wish to thank all of you for the hard work you put forth, for it achieved excellent results. Many moons will probably pass before I have another group of such good calibre players. Played Won Lost Tied

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it. In the five game winning streak that resulted, we revenged our earlier loss to UCC quite convincingly 67-47 and won a close game against Ridley on the merit of our good foulshooting. We beat TCS again but didn ' t play well, consistently leaving us vulner- able to a good team which would take advantage of such lapses. Such a team was SAC and we weren ' t able to come back from a dismal first quarter that found us down 24-8. We eventual- ly lost 56-48. This season was a break from the tra- dition of past seasons as we won as a team and lost as a team. There was no dependence on one or two men for scoring, thus putting opposing defences at a disadvantage. When we won, it was because of a well-balanced effort by everyone in the game. When we lost, we usually lost badly due to a breakdown of the whole team and not because of only one man. All in all it was a very rewarding season for the players as we improved steadily during the year and compiled the best record for the First Basketball Team at Appleby in many years. The success of the team is due almost entirely to the dedicated coaching of Mr. White whose practice sessions enable a player to improve tenfold during a season if he attacks them en- thusiastically. This, combined with his preparation of the team for games, was the major factor behind our suc- cessful season and we give him our hearty thanks.