34 The Chronicle March 17, 2009 By Thomas Cranston Chronicle Staff As <strong>UOIT</strong> continues to grow in population since opening in 2003, so does their varsity tennis program, which started three years later. “We’re always on the lookout for some 17-<strong>and</strong> 18-year-olds that are looking for a place to go to university <strong>and</strong> hopefully we can attract them here <strong>and</strong> get them on our team,” Crosina said. “Kane Easter <strong>and</strong> myself will be back as the coaches of our men’s <strong>and</strong> women’s varsity teams.” The coaches will be back <strong>and</strong> it looks like the majority of last year’s team will be too. “I think we have about 75 per cent of our team that will return with the thought of making the team again so we hope we can count on them for a strong foundation,” Crosina said. “And with two or three recruits on each team, we should have a stronger team moving forward.” The <strong>UOIT</strong> Ridgebacks men’s <strong>and</strong> women’s tennis clubs are both coming off tough seasons, finishing at the bottom of the st<strong>and</strong>ings, but hope for improvement next year. “I think it (last year) was probably our best year yet,” Crosina exclaimed. “I think we won the most matches yet. I think each year as the university grows in base numbers, it gives us a larger pool of students to select from so it makes our team stronger. Just the experience <strong>and</strong> the way we’ve seen our athletes train during the off-season, I think that our team is positioned well for strong improvement <strong>and</strong> good results going SPORTS <strong>NEWS</strong> Crosina looks to next year By Thomas Cranston Chronicle Staff John Tavares <strong>and</strong> his secondplace London Knights had long secured a playoff berth before the season was even close to being over while his former team, the Oshawa Generals, were left fighting for their lives right up to the regular season’s final game just to get a chance at playoff glory. Every point mattered to the Oshawa Generals, who were fighting for their lives just to make the post-season. But their road to the playoffs didn’t get any clearer or any better, following a 7-2 shellacking at the h<strong>and</strong>s of the visiting Brampton Battalion in their final home game of the season in front of 4,850 fans at the General Motors Centre on March 11. The Battalion scored three goals, two minutes <strong>and</strong> 17 seconds apart, to stick a dagger in the Generals’ hopes. The rough <strong>and</strong> tumble game saw a total of three fights break out, long after the game was out of reach. The Generals were coming off a 3-2 shootout loss to the Peterborough Petes on March 8 that drew 5,422 fans in Oshawa, the Petes avenging their 5-4 overtime loss to Oshawa in Peterborough just two weeks earlier. Needing an extra round of the shootout to determine the winner, Peterborough forward Sergey Korostin sealed the Generals’ fate in that one, scoring in the fourth round after Oshawa’s Andy Andreoff was stoned by Petes goaltender Jason Missiaen to give Peterborough the extra point. Every late-season game came with massive playoff implications for Oshawa. The Generals went into the 2009 varsity season.” Crosina said members on last year’s team are staying active, playing in the Tennis Campus Centre’s house league <strong>and</strong> are excited for the start of next season. “A lot of our varsity athletes continue to play in our house leagues, our in-house programs that we run,” he said. “Most of them are usually playing on a weekly basis. We also have some inter-club teams where we compete against teams across the GTA on Sunday nights for our men. We have about four of our students that play on those teams. And then we have one or two of our girls that com- pete with our club teams for women on either a Wednesday or Thursday morning across the GTA.” The Tennis Campus Centre has a competitive program for members of the community. Crosina said the varsity athletes that either have the time or the interest will tryout for the community teams. He added that it’s a nice way for varsity students to interact with Campus Tennis Centre members <strong>and</strong> for members to interact with the students on a competitive playing level. Even though <strong>UOIT</strong>’s tennis season was completed months ago (the month long against Brampton, tied with the Peterborough Petes for the final two playoff spots in the East Division with 57 points apiece, just one point ahead of the Sudbury Wolves. Korostin’s goal gave Peterborough the victory <strong>and</strong> that crucial extra point. Sudbury lost in convincing fashion March 8 to the Ottawa 67’s, 6-2 in Ottawa, allowing Peterborough to leap-frog over them into the eighth <strong>and</strong> final playoff position. While Oshawa lost to Brampton on March 11, Peterborough did themselves no favours, falling 4-0 to Belleville. The loudest cheer of the night came as the out-oftown scoreboard announced Peterborough had been shut out in Belleville, leaving the Generals <strong>and</strong> Petes tied in the st<strong>and</strong>ings despite Ken Crosina <strong>UOIT</strong> tennis coach both teams losing badly. Brampton captain <strong>and</strong> Canadian world junior goal medalist Cody Hodgson was dominant, scoring two goals <strong>and</strong> adding two assists as the game’s first star. Oshawa really had no answer for Hodgson <strong>and</strong> another member of Brampton’s top line, Evgeny Grachev, who combined for three goals <strong>and</strong> seven points. Brett Parnham scored both goals for Oshawa to hit 50 on the year, trailing only local hero John Tavares for the league lead. The game picked up intensity as the evening went on but after the Generals fell behind 3-0 early, they could never recover <strong>and</strong> turned the game into a slugfest. The active second period recorded two separate misconducts, two fights <strong>and</strong> season ended in October). Some people would assume once a season is complete, the coaching staff would get time off. Not Crosina. The workload may be less dramatic but it doesn’t look any easier. Crosina remains responsible for running the Tennis Centre during the offseason. “My responsibility is primarily with our membership base,” Crosina said. “We have about 330 members so we’re making sure that we run programs <strong>and</strong> keep them busy. As well, we have a full junior program for lessons. We have about 200 kids a week that come through the doors.” He is in charge of organizing the lessons, coaches <strong>and</strong> putting together the lesson plans. And of course, dealing with any problems that may arise. Crosina said they are also gearing up for the start of summer camps, hopefully in excess of the 650 students they had last summer. He remains optimistic about next season, hoping the men’s <strong>and</strong> women’s teams can both uncover a gem. “Ideally, we’d like to find a diamond in the rough,” he added. “We need to have one a flurry of goals, six to be exact, in the period alone.The score was 3-0 after the first period, <strong>and</strong> after the second, the goal scoring was done, Brampton leading 7-2. Former Generals captain <strong>and</strong> current London Knights forward John Tavares’ three-goal night was announced over the PA system strong female that will join the university varsity team <strong>and</strong> one strong male. That will just make our team stronger throughout <strong>and</strong> it will push our strength down a little bit. If we can get one superstar on each squad, I think we’re going to see a huge improvement in how our team makes out.” He said students may feel overwhelmed when they’re first starting out but after a few games, they usually find their groove <strong>and</strong> go on to have great seasons. “For anybody that plays a varsity sport there’s a lot of uncertainty, so when they first get out there, they’re not sure what to expect,” Crosina said. “But as they get into a comfort zone, they become more comfortable <strong>and</strong> they’re used to the level they’re playing at. I think our first match or two, we were kind of shell-shocked but then they get comfortable. Particularly on our girls team, I think we had a couple rookies on our team that were really unsure what to expect but when they got out there, they were pleasantly surprised how well they could compete.” Crosina believes that as the season progresses, students will find their comfort levels <strong>and</strong> he hopes to continue helping them do that as coach for as long as he can. “As long as they’ll let me,” Crosina said with a laugh. “Ideally, I’d like to be here for probably another 20-23 years or something like that. I’d like to go through to 65 as long as I can keep my wits about me, <strong>and</strong> keep my youthful exuberance, I think I should be fine.” The varsity tennis season starts back up in September. Generals in tough until the end against Peterborough to a thunderous ovation by Oshawa fans. Tavares had just become the OHL’s alltime leading goal scorer by potting the winner as the Knights edged the Spitfires 4-3 in Windsor. He passed Peter Lee’s career record of 213 set from 1971-76 when Lee was a member of the Ottawa 67’s.
The Chronicle March 17, 2009 35
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