Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • 10

Sports CALGARY HERALD Tuesday, October 7, 2003 C5 CURLING NOTES Kleibrink's new squad still perfect NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE A-LEAGUE Niendorf arranges new team IV MURRAY RAUW Calgary '-J JW v'7. ALLEN CAMERON Calgary Herald Shannon Kleibrink's new curling team apparently didn't need long to gel. Kleibrink, Amy Nixon, Glenys Bakker and Stephanie Marchand curled just once together last season, winning a major cashspiel in Regina, prompting Kleibrink's eventual decision to part ways with long-time teammates Judy Pendergast, Deb Pen-dergast and Cheryl Meek, despite finishing second at the provincial Scott Tournament of Hearts last season. The new foursome made its 2003-04 cashspiel debut on the weekend in Vernon, and just like in its first outing in Regina, finished on top. Kleibrink Herald Professional soccer will be relaunched in Calgary next year.

"Absolutely, it's 100 per cent certain," said Thomas Niendorf, the mastermind behind the formation of new ownership which will keep Calgary in the A-League. John Torode and Juergen Hanne, two Calgary developers, are financing the start-up of the team, which will give soccer another chance and replace the Calgary Storm, which reverted to A-League ownership from Michael Van-dale on July 1. Torode will be club president and Hanne will be the club chairman. Niendorf takes on the role of technical director and is a strong candidate to be the coach. "It will be a non-profit organization," said Niendorf.

"It will be a management group taking the franchise rights that will allow the community to be involved. The team should be able to tap into financial support that hasn't been available." That opens the way for government support and lotteries. The still unnamed team has met all financial obligations. All that's left is finding a date for A-League executive director David Askinas to travel to Calgary to participate in the formal announcement. That is expected before the end of October.

Niendorf says the initial cash will be available to cover day-to-day business and more money will be available to upgrade the talent level "I'm more than excited about it," said Hanne. "It's a fast-growing sport and both of my kids play in Calgary." Turning avid players into fans is the trick. Participation in soccer has been booming for years, but the task now is to reach that population and attract them to dilapidated Foothills Stadium. i i Tampa Bay's Mike Alstott is tripped Chris O'Meara, Associated Press up Monday by Colts' Raheem Brock. Colts stun Buccaneers and crazy finish in wild Herald News Services Canadian Mike Vanderjagt's 29-yard field goal with 3:47 remaining in overtime capped one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history and gave the Indianapolis Colts a 38-35 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.

Peyton Manning rallied the Colts from a 35-14 deficit with four minutes left in regulation, sending the game into overtime on Ricky Williams' 1-yard touchdown run with 35 seconds to play. Marvin Harrison, who had two touchdown catches, set up the tying score with a 52-yard reception to the Tampa Bay 5. Harrison scored on second-half receptions of 37 and 28 yards, the latter trimming Tampa Bay's lead to 35-28 with 2:29 remaining in regulation. Indianapolis (5-0) became the first team in NFL history to win after trailing by 21 or more points with less than four minutes to play in regulation. 'Give your tickets away' Jeremy Shockey doesn't like losing or, apparently, New York Giants' fans who leave with the game still on the line.

bounced Penny Shantz of Kelowna 10-4 in Sunday's women's final of the Asham Curling SuppliesPrestige Inn Classic. "You're always happy to win, but Shannon Kleibrink we've only played two bonspiels together and we've won both," Monday. "I lucky." marvelled Kleibrink on guess were just kind of The win was worth $4,000 to the Kleibrink squad, which had Tasha Pancoast filling in for Nixon, who had another commitment. En route to the final, Kleibrink eliminated Calgary's Diane Foster in the quarter-final. Foster settled for $1,000.

Other Calgary teams skipped by Cheryl Bernard and Sandra Rise-brough failed to reach the money round. The win was a nice tuneup for the Trail Appliances Autumn Gold women's 'spiel, which kicks off Friday at the Calgary Curling Club. It also gives the Kleibrink quartet a head up in the race for the B.CAlberta berth into the $150,000 Canada Cup in January at Kamloops, B.C. "It's great, but I don't know what it does for us in the standings," said Kleibrink, referring to the new prorated point system being used to determine the Canada Cup berths. "We just want to win as much as we can and then see what happens." Meanwhile, Calgary's Heather Rankin foursome finished out of the money at the Montreal Open women's 'spiel, going 2-3 in round-robin play.

Suzanne Gaudet of Charlottetown won the $8,000 top prize, beating world champ Debbie McCormick of Wisconsin 8-7 in the final. Other and Meat Shops Women's Curling Tour stops next weekend are in Regina and Winnipeg. Morris in the money John Morris was the lone Calgary skip to reach the money round in the men's portion of the Vernon 'spiel. For the second straight weekend, Morris, third Kevin Koe, second Marc Kennedy and lead Paul Moffatt lost in an extra end in the playoff quarterfinal, bowing 7-6 to Bert Gretzinger of John Morris Kelowna. A week earlier, Morris and Co.

dropped a 5-4 decision to Dave Boehmer of Petersfield, at the Wheat City Curling Classic in Brandon, Man. Morris pocketed $3,500 in Vernon, boosting his team's season winnings to $8,000. Edmonton's Randy Ferbey knocked off Greg McAulay of Richmond, B.C., 6-4 in Monday's final to earn the $8,000 top prize. Next week's World Curling Tour stops are in Regina, New Westminster, B.C., and Arlesheim, Switzerland. Scholarships for pair Calgary's J.D.

Lind and Grande Prairie's Nicole Siebert are the first recipients of the Calgary 2002 Brier Scholarships. The scholarships are worth $10,000 each, and are paid out over two years. The money is part of the legacy fund left from the highly successful '02 Nokia Brier at the Pengrowth Saddledome. In addition to his curling prowess lind won a bronze at the Canada Winter Games earlier this year the University of Calgary student also spends time volunteering as a curling and golf instructor, and also tutors students in ESL and physics. Siebert, meanwhile, is an accomplished junior curler with appearances in provincial Alberta Winter Games and Arctic Winter Games competition.

She also attends the of and has devoted her spare time to volunteering with street people in Vancouver, gypsy children in the Czech Republic and helping build homes in Nicaragua ACAMERONTHEH ERALD.CANWEST.COM I. II Seau may not play Dolphins linebacker Junior Seau has a strained left hamstring and initially will be listed as questionable for Miami's game at Jacksonville. Seau underwent tests Monday for an injury that happened in the fourth quarter of the Dolphins' 23-10 win over the Giants on Sunday. Coach Dave Wannstedt said Monday that Seau will be evaluated on a day-to-day basis. "Junior's gotten better every week.

He had 16 tackles (against New York)," Wannstedt said. "I think he's getting more comfortable with the defence and he'll continue to get better." Moulds strains groin Eric Moulds was walking slowly and stiffly Monday on a strained groin and his status for Sunday's game with the Jets remained uncertain. "He's sore but it's really still too early to tell," coach Gregg Williams said of his star wide receiver. Williams wouldn't say whether Moulds would be healthy enough to practise on Wednesday, when the Bills return to the field to prepare to face the Jets at the Meadowlands. a list of such prominent Hamiltonians, including my personal favourite Martin Short.

"It is clear that the CFL, which I love, is working very hard to keep the current status of the team a secret. And for that reason I will not comment publicly about the speculatioa All I will say is I will not officially eliminate myself as an investor in the team." Young will take over a franchise that has struggled mightily this season, on and off the field. The Ticats have a league-worst 1-15-0 record and the team's average attendance is around 15,000 spectators, cutting into the bottom line. Young's biggest challenge will be not only injecting much-needed money into the team but also establishing a reconnection between the community and the franchise. The Ticats have a solid core of fans who attend games, but need to branch out in the outlying communities such as Oakville, Burlington and St Catharines.

For the Storm, it was a tough sell. The concept of the new organization is to operate a community-minded, non-profit organization that will work with Calgary minor soccer groups across the city. "You have to be in soccer. You have to understand the game. You have to have your heart in it," said Hanne, who moved to Calgary from Germany in 1980.

"It will be a non-profit organization because you will never make a profit from soccer anyway." Niendorf was instrumental in the formation of the Storm, which began with great success in the Premier Development League before proving a disaster in the A-League. Niendorf was fired midway through his first A-League season. "I wouldn't think about this if Thomas wasn't in," said Hanne. Niendorf still believes pro soccer can survive with the proper public face. "I can put my name behind this because we all know this is not a money-making proposition," said Niendorf.

MRAUWTHEHERALD.CANWEST.COM MORN IX BRIEFING Sports Editor Contact To contact Calgary Herald sports editor Tom Maloney, call 235-7578; associate sports editor John Down, call 235-8764; assistant sports editor Mike Reimer, call 235-7376; sports department fax 235-7313 or e-mail (text only) at: morningbriefthe herald.southam.ca. Tune in to The FAN 960 weekday mornings at 7:25 for a review of the Herald sports pages. www.canada.com To Do AJHL HOCKEY 7 p.m., Father David Bauer Arena. Bow Valley Eagles at Calgary Royals. HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER 4:15 p.m.

Girls' Division I. Bishop Grandin vs. Henry Wise Wood, Glen-more AP; William Aberhart vs. St. Francis, Foothills AP; Crescent Heights vs.

Forest Lawn, Forest Lawn AP; Central Memorial vs. Ernest Manning, Glen-more AP. HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL 5 p.m. Senior Girls' Division I. Churchill at Henry Wise Wood; Bishop Carroll at St.

Francis; William Aberhart at Central Memorial; Lord Beaverbrook at Bowness; Bishop Grandin at Western Canada. 5:30 p.m. Senior Girls' Division II. Lester B. Pearson at Bishop O'Byrne.

6:30 p.m. Senior Boys' Division I. Sir Winston Churchill at Henry Wise Wood; Lester B. Pearson at St Francis; William Aberhart at Central Memorial; Lord Beaverbrook at Bowness; Bishop Grandin at Western Canada. HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL 4:30 p.m.

Junior Division II. Lord Beaverbrook at Central Memorial; James Fowler at John G. Diefenbaker. Junior Division III. Bishop Grandin at Father Lacombe; Ernest Manning at Forest Lawn; Bishop O'Byrne vs.

Crescent Heights, Shouldice AP. TVRadio BASEBALL 6 p.m. (Ch. 22 and 27, FAN 960) NLCS: Florida Marlins at Chicago Cubs. HIGHLIGHTS 11:30 p.m.

(Ch. 7) Global Sports. CANADIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE Young owner for restless fans Less than 24 hours after one of the best games of his career, the all-pro tight end vented some leftover frustration from a 23-10 loss to Miami by criticizing fans who left the stadium with six minutes to play and the Dolphins ahead 16-10. "Give up on us if you want to," Shockey said, his lower lip bulging with chewing tobacco. "If you want to leave, leave! Leave the game! Don't even come to the game! Give your tickets away!" Shockey, who tied his career best with 11 catches for 110 yards, spent Monday pondering missed opportunities with the rest of the Giants (2-2).

Pennington throws New York Jets quarterback Chad Pennington threw Monday for the first time since being injured in a preseason game. Pennington threw about 50 times in a 20-minute period. "It felt good," Pennington said afterward. "I'm very giddy and very excited just to be out with the team again, putting on a green and white jersey. I haven't had a chance to do that since Aug.

23." The Jets are 0-4 without Pennington, who has been replaced by veteran Vinny Testaverde. league's richest owners. Both sources said Young, who is the chief executive officer of Lulu a company based in North Carolina, is a billionaire. Young was not available for comment Monday. Young began being mentioned as a potential Ticats owner shortly after the franchise was taken over by the CFL in August when McDonald and Grant, both Toronto businessmen, failed to meet a player payroll.

But so had comedian Martin Short, Tim Hor-ton's founder Ron Joyce and Hamilton businessmen Ron Foxcroft and Lou Franciosa, all of whom subsequently denied having an interest in owning the struggling CFL club. Unlike the others, Young never ruled himself out but he also didn't confirm that he was the Ticats' buyer. "I have read the reports in the press speculating about my name in connection with the Ticats," Young said in a statement to The Canadian Press last week. "I am flattered to be included in DINO FOOTBALL Because of an an errant whistle during Calgary's attempt at a last-second field goal by Matt Nirnik, which was wide, the officials initially gave the Di-nos another chance. Nimik's kick was good, tyini; the game 37-37.

Upon further deliberation, however, officials reverted to their ini Hamilton native has deep pockets DAN RALPH The Canadian Press TORONTO The CFL will unveil Hamilton-born businessman Bob Young as the new owner of the cash-strapped Hamilton Tiger-Cats today. Two league sources requesting anonymity confirmed Monday that Young will assume control of the Ticats. What isn't clear, though, is whether Young will be the sole owner of the franchise or have minority partners. Regardless of either ownership scenario, the fact remains in Young the Ticats, who had been the CFL's most cost-conscious franchise under former owners David McDonald and George Grant, will have one of the of files protest over errant whistle Calgary Herald The University of Calgary has filed a protest with the Canada West Football League in relation to the Dino football team's 37-35 loss to the University of Regina Rams on Saturday at McMa-hon Stadium. tial call of a single point "The protest was filed based upon the misapplication of a variety of rules," said of athletic director Don Wilson.

"I don't know if it'll have any impact on the end of the game. We're looking for clarity and let's make sure it doesn't happen a pin.".