Sports
The Prince George Citizen - Tuesday, July 6,1993 - 13
Don Schaffer	562-2441
Sports Editor  Local 517
CFL’s Year of Risk starts with many changes
More CFL, page 14
by GRANT KERR Canadian Press
The 1993 Canadian Football League season, which kicks off tonight in Calgary, can optimistically be described as the Year of the Risk.
For instance, the CFL will not have marquee attraction Raghib Ismail to boot around after the SI 8-million Rocket was jettisoned by the Toronto Argonauts following a less-than-perfect two-year mission.
The CFL has gambled that expansion into the U.S. for the first time will recreate the renewed interest that Ismail brought to the league in 1991 when the Heisman Trophy runner-up arrived from Notre Dame with much fanfare.
This time the bugles blare for the Sacramento Gold Miners, survivors of a two-team expansion in the off-season that claimed its first victim before the San Antonio Riders could establish a CFL base deep in the heart of Texas.
CFL executives, headed by energetic
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commissioner Lahy Smith, ventured into a high-risk area in Sacramento because the new kids on the block will not be burdened by an import-player quota.
The eight Canadian-based teams are restricted to 14 imports, three quarterbacks and 20 non-import players on active rosters, but the U.S.-based Miners are not obliged to operate under such encumbrances.
The collective bargaining agreement with the CFL Players’ Association expires after the 1994 season and it’s anticipated the league will undergo major restructuring then that could result in the elimination of the import quota.
Expansion is the backbone of improved bottom lines for the CFL, reasons Smith, a Montreal native and former Alouette slotback. Already there’s talk of further expansion next year to Las Vegas.
High-risk ventures run rampant in most CFL cities this summer as teams take chances calculated at attracting fans through improved on-field performance.
The Argos have a new quarterback calling signals in inconsistent Tracy Ham. The cost was high in a record 16-player transaction with the Edmonton Eskimos. Toronto has only two players starting from the eight acquired, while Edmonton has all eight of its newcomers in the opening-game lineup.
Ham is trying to become proficient with the complicated run-and-shoot offence designed by Argo offensive co-ordinator Darrel (Mouse) Davis. Many have failed where Ham tries to succeed.
Edmonton has gambled that new quarterbacks Damon Allen (from Hamilton) and Rickey Foggie (from Toronto) will lead them past Grey Cup-champion Calgary in the West Division. The Stam-peders almost stood pat, adding only two receivers and a defensive back.
Eskimos head coach Ron Lancaster, a
Canadian Football Hall of Fame quarterback, brought in former Toronto coach Adam Rita to run his offence. That’s like having two people looking over your shoulder instead of one.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are definitely operating in the high-risk area with the return of general manager-coach Cal Murphy. A year ago, Murphy received a heart transplant and now is determined to remain at the heartbeat of team operations.
Already the crusty Murphy has fallen at training camp, breaking his arm and injuring a hip. Assistant coach Urban Bowman, who served as interim head coach in 1992 when the Bombers reached the Grey Cup, is ready for another SOS call.
The league had better be prepared for additional distress calls from Hamilton, where the financially strapped Tiger-Cats have dipped into CFL coffers for a $300,000 advance. Community-based funding doesn’t cut it in Steeltown.
Cutting it will be Don McPherson’s goal in Hamilton. The 28-year-old quarterback,
a career backup, was handed the starting job when the Ticats risked trading Allen to Edmonton.
The B.C. Lions were crossed off rival Christmas card lists by signing several free agents, once considered verboten within the CFL community. The revamped Lions are gambling their thirtysomething recruiting results in a playoff berth.
The Ottawa Rough Riders, after reaching the .500 plateau for the first time in nine years, also are flirting with chance. Ownership axed general manager Dan Rambo and replaced him with vice-chairman John Ritchie, whose background is with Canada’s alpine ski team.
All the above adds up to another perilous season for the CFL, a new chapter in the book of pro football survival.
Ed Mills is on holiday. His Free Agent column will reappear in three weeks.
SPORTS CALLS
Soccer streak unblemished
Youth team retires on three-year streak
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen Staff
It’s the-tale of the undefeated jerseys and a little bit more.
Houle Electric has gone three seasons with out a loss — two seasons in the women’s soccer league and another season in the youth soccer league as an under-16 year old team.
Monday evening’s women’s final was no different Houle defeated another youth team, CKPG, 2-1 to take their second title in a row and kept their amazing streak alive.
It’s a streak that is over now because the team, like the jerseys, is folded. But unlike the jerseys, which will likely collect dust in some box, the girls on the team will play again.
They will be dispersed throughout the league in the next year’s draft because they are too old to be on a youth team any longer.
“It’s going to be sad in a way to see the team break up,’’ said Houle Electric coach Dave McWalter, who has coached the team for six years. “It’s given me a lot of pleasure over the years, and I think it’s given the girls a lot of confidence in themselves — they realize they can be winners.”
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It’s a team that had its beginnings six years earlier in dismal losses at the Interior championships in Kamloops and then went on to narrowly miss a provincial championship as an under-15 team.
“After three years we came a long way,” said McWalter, who will likely coach a senior women’s team next year.
“It really is the cream of the crop . . . it really is a select team, it’s the best of the high school athletes.”
In the final Monday, it was fitting that two of the team’s best got the last two points ever for their team.
Kirsty McWalter scored early in the first half and Naryn Watt got the game winner in the second half.
Licsle Dyck scored for CKPG in the 24th minute of the first half.
“I think it was a good game for both teams,” said Watt, who was shadowed by CKPG midfielder Meredith Bogle throughout the game.
Citizen photo by Chuck Nisbett
Klrstln Johns of Houlo (centre) tries to shake the checking of CKPG’s Lelsle Dyck (left) and Meredith Bogle (3).
“It’s amazing,” said Watt. “I’m really happy — I’ve never played on a team that’s had a perfect season.”
She said the fact that it was their last game together made the win special.
“For our team this was the last one.”
“I think it was by far the best game our girls played,” said CKPG coach Gary MacLean. “It was anybody’s game right until the end.”
“I think we were pretty evenly matched,” said Bogle, who at 25 is the
one senior player on CKPG. “It’s just unfortunate — someone had to win.”
Even though the playoffs arc over and the Houle Electric youth team is no more, many of the girls will have one last chance to play together again.
The Prince George Lasers — an under-19 team combined from Houle Electric and CKPG — are off to avenge their under-15 defeat at the provincial championship in Kamloops this weekend.
And as luck would have it, they will get a second shot at the team that beat
them last time — the Oak Bay Redcaps from Victoria.
■ In the consolation final Monday, Dom-ino’s-O’Grady blanked B.X. Pub 3-0, which dropped B.X. to fifth spot.
Earl’s finished fourth by edging University Mazda 3-2, while The Pas defeated Myatovic Construction 2-1 in a shootout to take seventh place.
■ Niners Diner and Honda North played to a 1-1 tie in North Cariboo senior soccer action at Old Rotary Stadium Monday.
SIDELINES
Baseball
AL
Chicago 4 Toronto 3 Texas 5 Milwaukee 4 Cleveland 5-6 Oakland 6-2 Minnesota 13 Detroit 3 Kansas City 7 Baltimore 1 New York 6 Seattle 3 Boston 4 California 3 (11 ings) NL
St. Louis 10 Houston 4 Cincinnati 6 Pittsburgh 4 San Francisco 10 Montreal 4 Philadelphia 9 Los Angeles 5 San Diego 12 New York 7 Atlanta 9 Florida 7 Chicago 10 Colorado 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — As 6,000 athletes — including 229 Canadians — converge for the World University Games beginning this week, police are taking extra security precautions in the wake of recent terrorist plots in New York City.
The Olympic-styk*. games are being held for the first time in the United States.
The games are the world’s second-biggest athletic competition after the Summer Olympics, making the event a prime target for potential terrorists, authorities said.
“You prepare obviously for the worst, and hope for the best,” said Thomas Coyle, who heads the FBI in Buffalo.
About 50 law-enforcement agencies in New York and Canada are participating in security efforts.
At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Arab terrorists at the athlete’s village.
That memory, plus the recent terrorist bombing of the World Trade Centre and the arrests of terrorists who plotted to kill U.S. officials, have prompted the security measures.
More Games, page 15.
TODAY
■ BASEBALL: The Chicago White Sox visit the Toronto Blue Jays at 4:30 on TSN (cable 16). The Cincinnati Reds visit the Chicago Cubs at 5 on WGN (cable 25). The Atlanta Braves visit the SL Louis Cardinals at 5:30 on TBS (cable 24).
WEDNESDAY
■ BASEBALL: The Cincinnate Reds visit the Chjcago Cubs at 12:10 p.m. on WGN (cable 25).
Sloppy Jays help Sox stymie Hentgen
by STEVE McALLISTER Canadian Press
TORONTO — Pat Hentgen must have known his roll would stop at some point. But he wouldn’t have figured that his teammates would help put up the roadblock.
The Blue Jays showed Monday night why the club is mired in its lengthiest winless drought of the season. The Chicago White Sox took advantage of Hent-gen’s sluggish start, the Blue Jays’ sudden offensive woes and some dismal defence for a 4-3 victory.
Despite going the distance for the first time as a big-leaguer, Hentgen (11-3) suffered his first defeat in 10 starts. And the Jays, who looked forward to being home after a nine-game road trip, dropped their fifth straight decision to match their worst skid of last year.
“There’s definitely a fatigue factor,” said Joe Carter, whose mental lapse in the outfield led to the White Sox’s eventual winning run. “We were just on the road for 10 days and getting in at four in the morning (Monday, on a flight from Kansas City), that’s no fun.
“But there’s only six or seven games
More baseball, page 14
CP photo
Pat Hentgen couldn’t believe his luck.
before the all-star break (next week) so you just have to keep going.”
The Jays played like a team which was already on vacation in front of an equally sluggish full house of 50,508 at the Sky-Dome. Hentgen, who should still plan on pitching next Tuesday in Baltimore when baseball’s best gather at Camden Yards, was raked for eight hits in the first three innings.
Frank Thomas’s 18th homer, one of the hard-hitting first baseman’s three hits, put the White Sox in front 3-0 leading off the third. Darnell Coles then zigged when he should have zagged on Robin Ventura’s liner to left, turning a flyout into a double.
With one out, Carter caught Bo Jackson’s fly ball and, after jogging a few steps, rolled the ball towards the infield. Ventura was running all the way from second and scored easily.
“Those things happen,” said Carter, who knew he’d committed the same faux pas in the past but couldn’t remember exactly when. “It was a mental lapse on my part, that’s all it was.
“Nobody feels as bad as I do.”
Carter wasn’t alone. Tony Fernandez attempted to steal third with nobody out in the fifth and the Jays trailing by four runs.
Ed Sprague lifted a fly ball to shallow right field, and by the time Fernandez located the ball, it was far too late to avoid a double play.
“We’ve always been aggressive,” said Cito Gaston, whose club has only scored 10 runs in the last six games. “If you make a mistake by being aggressive, that’s OK.”
Chicago skipper Gene Lamont might beg to differ. Ozzie Guillen tried to throw out Sprague — who represented Toronto’s third run — after grabbing Coles’s routine grounder in the ninth. Sprague was safe and Coles ended up at second with the tying run.
“I think you saw two really smart ball players, for whatever reasons, make mental errors,” said Chicago manager Gene Lamont in reference Guillen and Carter’s miscues. “They’re both usually such heads-up players.”
Roberto Hernandez got his 16th save in relief of Wilson Alvarez (8-4), but it wasn’t easy. With the winning run at first and two out in the ninth, Ventura intercepted a liner off Roberto Alomar’s bat that was headed for left field.