The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 46

D6 THE GAZETTE, MONTREAL, FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 1994 Turgeon happy to rest Snow, rain wipe out men's super-G Elewaril upset by SasEcatcEieraii, Folic Defending world curling champion reeling after back-to-back losses just play and have some fun." In the 16th-round draw, Scott Patterson of North Bay, dropped Mike Gaudet of Charlotte-town 9-8, Manitoba's Dave Smith defeated Saskatchwan 9-6, and Brian Dobson of Saint John, N.B., slipped by Ghislain Doyon of Amos, 4-3. With the win, Manitoba, at 8-2, guaranteed itself a spot in the playoffs. Harcourt said he was thinking of playing the spoiler coming into the 15th-round game against Howard because the rinks chasing the leaders needed some help. "We were trying to help out some other guys," said Harcourt, who had the flag-waving crowd of 6,800 squarely in his corner. "There were a lot of guys out here with four losses pulling for us pretty hard.

"You also have to go in there and look after your own pride. This win is worth a lot more than one in the standings. It means a lot respect-wise." In other 15th-round play, Quebec nipped Alan O'Leary of Nova Scotia 6-5, New Brunswick topped Robert Andrews of the 9-6, and Newfoundland 4 f'M- tf CP fifth in the event a year ago in Italy and expects to finish in the top five here: "I say top-five because you never know what to expect or what can happen. It's going to be a hard, challenging race," she said. Whiteface received over 15 centimetres of precipitation, and race organizers felt the conditions would have made for a mediocre men's race yesterday.

"Because of the wet conditions, it wouldn't have been a good race. The danger factor was also quite high," said Horst Weber, event chairman and chief of racing, following a decision by the race jury early yesterday morning. The women's super-G goes at 9:30 this morning, with the men's super-G scheduled for 1 p.m. Top Canadian hope in the men's event is Kevin Wert of Rossland, B.C., who took the gold medal in the downhill Wednesday. Alain-Franck Britt-Cote of Hull is also gunning for a good result after a sixth in downhill.

Weber said the women's event, which will be run on the same course as the men's, will be as demanding as any on the World Cup. "And with the field we have, it will be similar to a World Cup race," he said. "Regardless of what they do on the World Cup, Europeans regard winning an age-group championship as an extremely important step in the development of their skiers," Weber said. shot against Ontario yesterday. CANADIAN PRESS RED DEER.

Alta. Doug Mar-court's all-farmer rink from Saskatchewan pulled off the upset of the Labatt Brier yesterday when he short-circuited robo-curler Russ Howard of Ontario 6-5. Harcourt's rink entered the game in last place, while Howard the defending world and Canadian champion was alone in second. It was lioward's second defeat of the day after having earlier lost to British Columbia's Rick Folk, 6-5. Folk also won in the 16th round with a heart-stopping 7-6 extra-end win over Calgary's Ed Lukowich to move to first place with a 9-1 record, securing B.C.

a berth in Sunday's Brier final. Howard's rink from Penctan-guishene, was left with a 7-3 record and in a second-place tie with Mark Noseworthy of St. John's, Nfld. "We walked into the last two games thinking we don't have a record," said Harcourt, 32, from Quill Lake, Sask. "We never looked at the scoreboard anymore and just said we're walking in here 0-0 and Olajuwon, Cassell fire up Rockets ASSOCIATED PRESS HOUSTON Hakeem Olajuwon had 23 points and rookie Sam Cassell sank four ROCKETS 87 pressure free SUPERSOMICS 82 throw seconds last night as the Houston Rockets overcame an early 14-point deficit to beat the Seattle Supersonics 87-82.

The victory gave Houston a two percentage point lead in the Midwest Division over idle San Antonio (.71 17). OAKLAND, Calif. Latrell Sprewell scored 22 points and the Golden State Warriors avenged their worst loss of the season by beating Portland 100-97, ending the Trail Blazers' four-game winning st rsuk INGLEWOOD, Calif. Vlade Divac had 22 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists for his second career triple-double and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks 106-101. Impact kicks off season on July 1 APSL will take advantage of 'rest days' during World Cup RANDY PHILLIPS THE GAZETTE LAKE PLACID The heavy, wet snow and rain overnight that forced the postponement of yesterday's men's supcr-G and put a damper on training allowed Quebe-cer MtHanie Turgeon to prepare for today's World Junior women's supcr-G championship by going shopping.

"I need some time to relax a bit. I've been on the go so much this season," said Turgeon, who skied to a bronze medal in the downhill Wednesday. "But I'll be ready for the race." The 17-year-old from Quebec City, who this month captured the Europa Cup over-all title, will be in some fast company for the super-G, the second of four events at the championships at nearby Whiteface Mountain. In addition to Suchet of France, who won the downhill here and is ranked third in downhill on the World Cup circuit, the women's field has been augmented by the arrival of at least one heavy hitter from the big circuit. Germany's Hilde Gerg arrived last night after a third-place finish in a World Cup super-G at Mammoth Mountain in California.

Gerg won one of two runs in the women's giant slalom in the Olympics and is third in the World Cup over-all super-G standings. "It's going to be a pretty close race," predicted Turgeon, who was Schneider earns ASSOCIATED PRESS MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. -Vreni Schneider of Switzerland set the pace with a blistering first run on the slalom, then backed it up on the second for her 50th World Cup skiing title yesterday at Mammoth Mountain. The victory moved her ahead of Penilla Wiberg of Sweden in the over-all World Cup standings with only races at Vail, next week left on the tour. "Obviously, it was very special to win for the 50th time," Schneider said through an interpreter.

"It's unbelievable." Schneider had a combined time of one minute, 1 8.52 seconds, more than a full second ahead of Katja Koren of Solvenia, who was second FRIDAY MARCH 11 THOROUGHBRED RACING (INTERTRACK) Gulfstream 1:00 p.m. Santa Anita 3:30 p.m. HARNESS RACING (LIYE) Blue Bonnets 7:30 p.m. Doors open: a.m. Vast Iik parking oih Inlmmotiw 739 241 NAMUR Shuttle Seve Decane acf Jea Talon during the Saskatchewan game.

He was involved in a verbal exchange with a British Columbia fan who Howard said was distracting him. season, Montreal will take part as the only North American team in an international tournament in Hamilton May 22-29. The four-team tourney includes three Scottish Premier Division teams: Celtic, Aberdeen and Edin-borough Hearts. Expansion has brought the total of teams in the APSL from seven to eight. There are new franchises in Houston (Force) and Seattle (Sounders).

The Toronto Rockets replace the the Toronto Blizzard, and the Tampa Bay Rowdies have suspended operations for the 1994 season. "The situation is stabilizing in the APSL in terms of teams," Asaro said. "We're looking for further expansion next year and could see a 10-or 12-team league. "From our perspective, the APSL is very good and is reflecting our expectations," he added. Randy Phillips up the men's Quebec University Basketball League crown with a win tonight over McGill at Sir Arthur Currie Gym.

Game time is 7 p.m. The Stingers took the first game of the best-of-three series 87-73 at Concordia Tuesday. If a third game is necessary, it will be played 1 p.m. Sunday at Concordia. The winner advances to next weekend's Canadian Interuniversi-ty Athletic Union national championship tournament in Halifax.

"We really want to end this thing so we can have the weekend off," Concordia centre Frddtiric Arse-nault said. "The key. for us going into (tonight's game) is to forget all about what happened in the first game." 50th Cup title in 1:19.55. Martina Ertl of Germany was third in 1 :20. 1 8.

Lacasse of Brossard was the only Canadian and she did not finish the first run. Schneider has won seven of the 10 World Cup slaloms this year. In the draw for start order, she intentionally picked the No. 1 spot. 47th Q.A.S.A.

HIGH SCHOOL PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS PROVINCIAL HOCKEY V1SSER BASKETBALL (Boys) MacLEOD BASKETBALL (Girls) Friday, March 11 Saturday, March 12 8:00 a.m.-8:00 p.nu Hosted by the John Abbott College Athletic Department (St. Anne de Bellevue, Que.) Tickets at the Door $4.00 Adults Good for all games $3.00 Students at both events Stingers angered by omission of all-star Bye League-leading scorer inexplicably relegated to second team in coaches' vote B.C. skip Rick Folk reacts to important routed Alberta 10-3. Glenn Howard, the Ontario third and younger brother to Russ, was livid about the heckling he took "Rest days between games in the World Cup have allowed the league and us to squeeze in some early games," Asaro said of the club's home opener, another home game against Seattle July 6, and a road game in Toronto July 1 5. The Impact's schedule of 10 home games and 10 away will see the club play eastern teams four times and western teams twice.

In addition, there will be no back-to-back games as there were last season. "That change gives the players a better chance to recuperate," Asaro said. The Impact will conclude the regular season at home on Sept. 25 against Toronto. The top foui clubs qualify for the playoffs.

The semi-finals, scheduled for Oct. 1-3, will be two-game, home-and-away series. The APSL final goes Oct. 1 5. In preparation for the coming Cindy Francoeur and goalie Liane Mayer, both of St.

Laurent. Bye made the second squad along with Elaine Bldard on defence and goaltender Marie-Claude Roy, whose 1.29 goals-against average was the best in the league. Roy split the season with Lisa Jordan. Completing the second team were defenceman Nancy Robitaille and forward Ginette Deschenes, both of St. Laurent, and forward Caroline Gdinas of Trois Rivieres.

Concordia hopes to send a message about their dismay over Bye being left off the first all-star team, when the Stingers play host tonight to St. Laurent in trie deciding game of the league final. The best-of-three series is split at a game apiece. Top-ranked Concordia can wrap Id enncunca the 20 games) alette HSel SGHOllfKriiDr tff lPl scfioiarshCps to be awarded at I fitif I 341 A MA I TM'yitT I Taking advantage of so-called "rest days" during the World Cup, the Montreal Impact will kick off off its second season in the American Professional Soccer League July 1. The Impact will play host to the expansion Toronto Rockets on Canada Day at Claude Robillard Stadium.

Impact general manager Pino Asaro said yesterday the team will play a total of 20 regular-season games, with the busiest part of the season coming in September when the club plays eight games. Originally, the league wasn't to start the season before July 22 because of a request by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to avoid a conflict with this year's World Cup in the United States. The World Cup, international soccer's premier event, runs June 17 to July 17. CAMPUS SCENE Randy Phillip ular-season mark. The team scored 100 goals and allowed only eight.

Two Concordia players did make the first team in the voting by coaches, who weren't allowed to vote for their own players: defence-man Lisa Davidson and forward Martine Berabe who was third in scoring with 14 goals and 1 3 assists. Also named to the first team were forwards Jessica Daneau of Trois Rivieres, second in scoring with 22 goals and nine assists, and Stephanie Grenon of CEGEP St. Laurent, along with defenceman Ije I KJ I I Tnree a Concordia's women's hockey team obviously hasn't won friends or influenced too many people this season. How else to do you explain forward Karyn Bye's absence from the Quebec Women's Intercollegiate Hockey League's first team of all-stars? Bye lead the four-team league in scoring with 17 goals and 23 assists in 15 games. "It's a slap in the face," Concordia head coach Les Lawton said yesterday.

"How do you ignore the top player in the league? "I don't know if it's because the other teams have something against us or what, but something like this shouldn't happen." Concordia had a perfect 1 5-0 reg- TIid Dollcrd prcrJ first M.A.H.G. fcstivzl (a tznz cf The M.A.H.G. method of teaching hockey is designed to educate children on the ice. The Global Education Fund Program assists parents with children off the ice. Come and encourage our children as they learn about fun, friendship, team playing and education.

VFi rP. mm racing is back for action xrT Saturday night at Hippodrome Blue BonnetsX glP J'n US 3t "eW 7l3 P0St tlRie' iTW2iW i Bet on action and enjoy our special Saturday 0' buffet at the restaurant Le Centaure. i Reserve your table right now I Ijr I I Vast free parking Information (514) 739-2741.