Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 17, 1996, Winnipeg, Manitoba Id Nesbitt Burns of the Dink of Mon Rietl group at Compi Nln i Ian corporate strip Iliond 2 resp Ella lilt Call Andrew or Claire 9498018 Urf Watlam Tiv Syndiak free press sports Section Julian Rachey 6977285 c1 Scott Taylor key players leave but Cal rakes it in by Scott Taylor sports reporter was All the Effort Worth it hell yes they had every reason to be every reason to shed a for the 13 members of Canadas National women volleyball yesterdays Victory in the final of the investors group Continental cup olympic qualifying tournament put an end to a 12year drought for this but it also rewarded a group of women for their heart and ability to handle a grind that has been almost incomparable in elite International since May this team had More than 230 practices and played Only 25 there were times when the weight training and the two Day workouts were simply too there were Days when seemingly endless fundraising activities like bingos and Golf tournaments and Cable Access to auctions were just too tedious to but they made they found a and yesterday they were rewarded with a Little sum Mer vacation in head coach Mike Burchuk has talked for months about overcoming he had made it Clear that his team was underfunded and did not have Access to the Type of competitive schedule that was afforded the top teams in the Burchuk also made it Clear that there would be no excuse the team motto was a we will find a an outstanding performance by a starting six that had never played better together they Only played together competitively for three matches gave Canada its first berth in the olympics since it Hast really set in said katrina von an outside Power hitter who agreed to move inside and was named the tournaments Best i just dont know How to say has it All been Worth it for its been Worth Many of these women would have been excused if they bailed out on this for an average Finan Cial return of a they lived in subsidized housing and walked to although they Are now among the Best players in the this is not a team of rolex Calvin Klein jeans and it was simply a group of 13 Young women from to who decided they were going to live their and they took apart a team from the dominican Republic with the precision of a Neur Osur using Power and team Canada whipped the dominican team it want even and when it was they since i was 16 years old Ive played this game and endured As Many setbacks As i have Success said Michelle the tiny setter from Steinbach who was once Cut from the provincial Juve Nile Ive been told so Many by so Many that i do that i want Good enough to play on the National team or that id never go to the but its an unbelievable feeling because i often wondered what could possibly make it All this this makes All of that it makes walking to practice in 30 temperatures it makes being told you cant do it Worth i cant Tell you How great it this was a team that had to find so it could pay the Canadas olympic to put its qualifying tournament on National if the tall foreheads at our Public network were paying attention yes they make a lot of friends by donating that Money Back to the nobody deserves it the Winnipeg football club might Call itself a Community owned but some of its Busi Ness is strictly the salary of Winnipeg Blue bombers head coach and player personnel Cal will not be made team pres ident Lynn Bishop said Bishop will say Mur phys salary int half of the its rumoured to even though Murphy does make More than any player on the Murphys Deal with the bombers has become the source of increasing discussion the team needs to sell at least season tickets and have the sales trending upward by March 31 in order to continue oper last the bombers lost million million Over the past two to bring their accumulated deficit to the team will try to Cut its budget from million to million this the clubs cos cutting measures have already angered some this the bombers refused to offer a contract to Offen Sive tackle Miles one of the teams most popular As a Gorrell signed with earlier in the the 1994 cols special teams player of the Brendan signed with for the bombers would offer Rogers no More than both players were out going team ambassadors who had done As much to sell tickets As the club suggestions that Rogers had become too pricey for the Winnipeg football club prompted Many of the teams fans to com Plain that perhaps Murphy was a Little expensive for the Cash strapped according to almost a season for a head coach was riot too while Bishop would not disclose the exact amount of Murphys con he said that with his base salary and he would still make a Little less than a year if the team got to the Grey Bishop was surprised to hear that jets general manager John paddock and coach Terry Simpson make considerably less than the vast majority of the cites nil Cal makes More than any of the Bishop but i hear Don Matthews is making in Toronto and somebody told me Ron Lancaster is getting in Murphy a Man Atlanta bound team Canada demolishes dominicans on Way to securing an olympic berth by Ashley Prest sports reporter phi6t6s by Wayne Sawatzky 8 sets Ball for von Sass to Spike the dream took on a life of its own during the past four years for Canadas National women volleyball it was like another player on the another body in one of the 240 training the heart of team Canadas olympic dream beat in the bodies of 13 women collected from across Canada who won the right to represent Canada in the 1996 summer olympic games in team Canada Defeated the dominican Republic 2 in the final of the investors group Continental cup olympic qualifying More than foot Flag waving fans were crammed into the University of Winnipeg Duckworth people packed the seats and lined the running track above the the noise level was the crowd was on its feet for the last hideout and Point of the match and were showered with coloured balloons when Canada inside of five this team will represent Canada and stand As one of the 12 Best teams in the Ive been dreaming about this for years now and its been exactly that More than a said team Canada setter Michelle a 25yearold from a lot of people said this would it happen for me or for this so it was fun to go against the Odds and become an legitimately a former National University player of the year from the University of Manitoba pointed put this the first time in a Long time that Canada has made it to the olympics legitimately not by a but by a qualification and that Canada was in the 1984 olympics under the Shadow of the soviet compared to some other coun we dont have the same we dont have All 6foot 5inch but we have some guts and some real team and that what brought us this Sawatzky Janis Canadas 24year old Power hitter from said the magnitude of the teams accomplishment will take some time to really sink i feel like Ive been holding my breath and just let it said named the tournament most of us have never been to the we dont know what its like or what it were just so we know it will probably be the biggest thing any of us will Ever go i feel a big i feel excitement and Only the few and Only the Lucky have a Chance to make their greatest dream come and katrina von Sass said the Canadian players now have that now before qualifying now for the everything is the decisions we All made to come train the Way we did As much As we its Worth every said von who was a National team member for two years before going Back to she rejoined the team last head coach Mike beaming with say enough about his players a com As Ive told the players on numerous we paid a big Price to be a part of this weve gone through a lot and that the strength i talked and it showed on the court said in his seventh year As head the polite thing to say about yesterdays final was that there were a few Good the reality was the dominicans we rent much More than targets for von Brigitte Sawatzky and Kathy Tough to dump and drive the what we found overwhelming was the atmosphere the people who came out so it was really special that we were Able to do this Here at Kelly Limp jets no match for Philly by Tim Campbell sports reporter ouch Keith Tkachuk has been suspended two games after a to Dave Ellets head wednesday see Page Philadelphia when the Best you can Hope for is a scoreless it Means a couple of you need a great and especially in the Case of the Winnipeg you need either some medical magic or some personnel assistance from net minder Nikolai Khabibulin tried his Best for the jets last night at the Cor estates forty saves want Good As the Philadelphia flyers easily dispatched the jets 30 before As for the Alexei Zham nov returned after a fou game absence because of a Back but Keith Tkachuk was forced to sit out the first game of a two game Hope for improvement on the injury situation or possible deals sounds like an and wish Ful thinking didst do anything about the jets puny offence against the Brandon son Ron Hextall recorded his second shutout of the season and the 12th of his career basically by showing he handled 17 Winnipeg shots last almost none of them dangerous and Only two in the third the defeat ended a three game Road trip at and the now in a five game wingless skid of 04 Are listing badly As they attempt to hold on to the eighth Western conference playoff they must wait until at Home against san to try to improve the we didst compete very Well in the first period but i thought in the second we did until we didst get a puck deep there and they got that offside said jets coach Terry i thought we were right into the game it was a big difference going into the third Down one As opposed to Down two in this the play in question was Sujon Podins goal at of the Sec though it appeared he took a breakaway pass already Over the jets the flyers first goal was also John Leclair hacked and jabbed at Khabibulin pad until he forced the puck in at of the Khabibulin complained he even bumped referee Terry Gregson in a futile it was under my Khabibulin no i just kept whacking at it and got a break there was no Leclair admitted with a jets defence Man Dave Manson had other objections to Greg sons in particular the 62 Power play Edge to the Home Phillys a pretty Good club but there were some pretty cheap Calls out there very Manson Kelly tips Ball Over Canada curls to Junior title Canadian press red Heather Godberson was forced into making a pressure packed draw to the Centre of the rings yesterday to claim the world Junior Curling title with a dra Matic 76 extra end win Over the scots tied the game with a steal of one in the 10th to Force the extra end after once trailing a relaxed was in Complete control of the game for the first build ing a 51 Lead Midway through the after taking a Point in the first the Grande rink pulled off Backoo Back steals in the second and ;