Sports
November 20, 2008 08:10 PM
LAST WEEK: Friday vs. Hamilton Red Wings 6-4 win. Now 13 wins, one overtime win, two shootout wins, eight losses, 32 points. Tied for first place in Central Division.
COMING UP: Thursday at Stouffville Spirit, 7:30 p.m.; Friday vs. St. Michael’s Buzzers at Markham Centennial Arena, 7:30 p.m.
GAME NOTES: The Waxers sent Rick Cornacchia out on a winning note as their head coach last Friday when they defeated the Hamilton Red Wings 6-4. Due to his commitment in working with the Italian national men’s hockey team, Cornacchia felt it might be best if he stepped down as the Waxers’ head coach. Replacing Cornacchia behind the bench will be his brother and club general manager Joe Cornacchia. During the time Rick was in Italy, Joe did double duty as head coach and will remain behind the bench for the rest of the season. Rick won’t be gone from the Waxers entirely as he will continue to serve in an upper management position. In last Friday’s game, which was the Waxers’ fourth straight win and 10th in their last 11 Ontario Junior Hockey League outings, power-play goals by Giancarlo Iuorio, Jordan Mustard and Bryan Potts staked Markham to a 3-1 lead through 20 minutes. The Waxers maintained their three-goal cushion through 40 minutes on power-play goals from Potts and Fiore Lucente and one even-strength tally from Jordan Custorari. Waxers goalkeeper Daniel Jones stopped 46 of 50 shots to help preserve the win.
INSIDER: The Waxers played last Friday’s game without the services of forward Taylor Murphy and defencemen Chris Bain and Jack Caradonna. All three were out with minor injuries and are listed as day-to-day.
GENERALLY SPEAKING: “Right now our kids are gaining confidence, the guys are getting more comfortable in playing alongside each other and in our system. Defensively we’re playing well and we’re doing a better job on special teams and we’ve been getting good goaltending from Daniel Jones. But on any given night in this division, anyone can be beaten. We have to continue to get better,” Rick Cornacchia said after Friday’s tilt.
As for his departure, Rick felt the time he’s been logging with the Italian team has been more consuming than he had originally anticipated when he accepted the position.
“I talked to Bob (Thiessen, Waxers owner) and Joe (Cornacchia) and they are all onside with my decision. I just felt it was best that they should have a consistent person behind the bench. So far the guys have done well when I haven’t been here and when Joe has been behind the bench. I feel if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. I don’t want to mess with the chemistry that the guys have developed.
“I’ll still go to the games when I can and help Joe when I can. We will continue to make personnel decisions together. Joe will coach and still do the same job. We’re just more or less switching roles,” Rick said.
For more on the Markham Waxers Jr. A team, log on to
www.markhamwaxers.ca