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Youth no longer an excuse for this year‘s Siskins Siskins were forgiven a lot of ’I‘::islakes last year because of their youth. But they won‘t get the same conâ€" sideration from Siskins coach and GM "The older ones are going to have to come to the front this year," said Harrigan. "Last year we were an averâ€" age age of 17, and hopefully they can If they don‘t, the Siskins will have some tough decisions to make. That includes more changes to the roster, and nobody‘s position is safe. "Hopefully we come out stronger than we were," said Harrigan about his sixthâ€"place club last year that bowed out in the first round of the playoffs to Owen Sound. "I know we are, I know we are better than last vyear." By Bos VREANAC Although it was only exhibition, the Siskins handled the Elmira Sugar Kings easily Sunday night in a 3â€"1 vicâ€" tory to finish the preâ€"season. leading scorers returning to the squad with John Thiel, Jeremy Ostapuk and "Even though we did play scramâ€" bly tonight, we‘re a bigger hockey team," said Harrigan. "A year makes a difference to some of these young The will be joined by Bantam hockey grad Paul Mcliveen who opened some eyes at camp, and Eric Grenier who will look to build on a strong secondâ€"half last year. On defence the Siskins will have the veteran presence of Rich Weiler, Jordan Fox and Adam Crechiola to go along with a mix of new faces led by Waterloo Minor Hockey grad Kyle Sonnenburg, who tried out for the Ontario Underâ€"17 team this vear. The Siskins have three of their four The Waterloo Warriors dropped their first game of the season after being steamâ€" rollered by the McMaster Marauders 34â€"3 Saturday at University Stadium. The Warâ€" riors went with Miro Hadjinâ€" ian at quarterback, pictured above, but he didn‘t have much success against the Marauders swarming defence. The Mac Attack also spent most of the day dissectâ€" ing the Warriors‘ defence compiling 405 yards of Warriors get run over by McMaster 808 RBANAC PHOTO In goal the Siskins will wait to see if veteran backup Craig Lizun has the makeup to be a No. 1 goalie, or if he‘ll split the duties with one of the four goalies that the Siskins still have in "It‘s wide open" said Harrigan. "We‘ve got some good young talent out here. You don‘t win (champiâ€" onships) in September, so we‘ll see what happens." However, he expects better results than last year, and isn‘t satisfied with simply finishing in the top four to secure homeâ€"ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs. "We want to go right to the top," said Harrigan. "I want to challenge for first place and I won‘t be happy with anything else." The Siskins open the regular seaâ€" son in Kitchener Sept. 14, before returning home to face Orangeville Sept. 15. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Rec Complex. fter sitting dormant for A:l;nost a year, city staff finally chosen a proâ€" posal that would reopen the Rink in the Park. incensed local hockey support ers as the Granite Club of Kitchener has been tapped to convert the facility into a curlâ€" ing venue. They argue the city has missed an opportunity to bring an unique hockey facility to the city, and address the demnands for better skill development. It‘s a demand not met by the city‘s dwindling ice time available for Rink in the Park fight expected at council And they lament the loss of another ice pad which was never really replaced when the city tore down the Waterloo Memorial Arena. The Rink in the Park became surplus recreational space last September when the Kâ€"W Skating Club moved to its new training facility at RIM Calls for expressions of interest in the site went out at the same time, and six groups stepped forward. However, the decision has By Bos VRBANAC Chronicle Staff The Siskins‘ Kyle Handsaeme drives the net on Elmira Sunday night Groups included the Granâ€" ite Club, the Skills Innovation Group, the Waterloo Minor Hockey Association, the YMCA, Wilfrid Laurier University and the New Hope Community By May those six candidates were whittled down to two, with the Granite Club and the Skills Innovation Group putting together separate busiâ€" ness plans for the site. Both groups met with city staff in May to answer quesâ€" tions about their vision for the cityâ€"owned facility. A final recommendation was supposed to be made to council by May, but wasn‘t revealed until last Friday when Andrew Freidel, who chaired the request for proposal comâ€" mittee, contacted the Skills Innovation Group to tell them city staffers were recommendâ€" ing the Granite Club bid. That recommendation will go to city council Sept. 16 for final approval. But it won‘t be passed without some fireworks from local hockey groups. "We were told that the staff favoured the Granite Club, and gave that report to the senior management team (at the city}," said Peter Brill, one of the www.rwwaterloo.com CLICK HERE Yolkswagen New & Cortified Preâ€"owned Cars "I asked what that decision was based on and I was told that the Granite Club better positioned itself with the comâ€" munity." That stunned Brill, a former Waterloo Siskins‘ player and general manager who currentâ€" ly runs the Cambridge Winter Hawks in the Midwestern Junior B league. partners in the Skills Innovaâ€" tion Group. "They‘ve endorsed the staff recommendation. Brill said his group had supâ€" port from both the Waterloo Minor Hockey Association and the Waterloo Girls Minor Hockâ€" ey Association for their bid, representing almost 2,500 playâ€" "We had a bunch of user groups interested in our proâ€" posal from the minor hockey groups to adult groups, we had everything going for us," said Brill. "They claimed that there was no curling facility in the city to meet that need so they went with the Granite Club." Not to disparage curling, The group also had some interest from Wilfrid Laurier Unviersity to run some of its intramural programs out of the Volkswagen Waterloo Continued on page 24