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 8^th 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 2^nd, 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 3^rd. 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 3^rd 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, 3^rd 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 (1^st Advisor), Ryan Kirwan (2^nd Advisor), Brendon Murdock (3^rd 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).