Pat Payton
Sports Editor
Coach Phil Westman says he will dress eight to 10 veterans “or possibly less” in Stratford Cullitons’ two pre-season games this weekend against St. Marys Lincolns of the Western Conference.
The teams play Friday night at the Allman Arena and Saturday at the Pyramid Centre in St. Marys. Both games start at 7:30 p.m.
“We have to make a few decisions, so you have to give some of these kids some Jr. B playing experience,” Westman said Monday night as the Tribe opened camp with about 40 skaters in attendance.
“You want to see some of these kids in game situations, and you want to be fair to everyone.”
Scrimmages continued on Wednesday night.
Cullitons have also scheduled exhibition games against London Nationals (Aug. 27-28) and Strathroy Rockets (Sept. 2-3). “By the Strathroy weekend, we’ll be pretty close to our team,” Westman said.
He also noted that six players will be heading to Ontario Hockey League camps the first week of September.
• The Under-16 boys Strikers captured their division in convincing fashion at the Festival Cup soccer tournament this past weekend, going undefeated in five games.
Strikers, coached by Frank Soares and Martin Butler, defeated Cambridge 3-2 in Sunday afternoon’s final at Packham. They scored 10 goals in the tournament and allowed just two.
Overall, the U-16 boys have scored 56 goals and given up just seven to date this summer, with three games to play.
• The Avon Thames Tsunami Aquatic Club (ATTAC) is holding registration for the upcoming season on Saturday, Aug. 28 at the Pyramid Centre in St. Marys from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
• A couple of area athletes helped the Huron Region women’s basketball team reach the consolation final at the 2010 Ontario Summer Games in Sudbury last week.
Bridget O’Reilly, of Stratford, and Shauna Simpson, of St. Marys, were members of the Huron squad, which lost by just one point, 53-52, to Niagara.
The Huron team, coached by Tim Doherty and Steve Goforth of Stratford St. Mikes, finished with a 3-2 won-loss record for the week.
O’Reilly is going into Grade 10 at St. Mikes in the fall, while Simpson will be starting Grade 9 at DCVI.
