The Leaside Girls Hockey League reported on Sunday that they had signed the entire coaching staff of the North York Storm Midget B team. Leaside President Steve Radcliffe announced in a press release that the coaches have been give Leaside's Midget AA team for the 2007-08 season. Radcliffe stated that, "We're quite excited about bring Willie, Bruce and Ron over from North York". Radcliffe indicated that he was well aware that the coaches have been bad mouthing the Leaside organization for years but suggested that some of the criticism was deserved. He added, "frankly, we were getting tired of their team beating up on our Midget B team. That isn't going to happen any more".Leaside also announced that they had worked out a deal with the Toronto Aeros to share a new training facility in The Beaches area. There has been considerable speculation regarding the new facility which is expected to have an Olympic-sized rink and two community rinks; mostly like adjacent to Tiny Thompson Park. Coach Ron when contacted at home indicated that the facility would have special training equipment for goalies that all the Leaside teams would have access to. Ron explained, "I was quite excited to hear about the new facility and how much access we would get. We played most of our games at Grandravine arena this year and the parking lot was always filled with bingo players forcing us to park in the street". He added, "I was afraid for my life parking out there".
North York Storm President Mary Suppa was caught by surprise by the announcement. She noted that the Storm organization had already placed their tryout ad in the Sporting Scene with the name and contact information of the coaches. With tryouts only 3 weeks away, the Storm would have to scramble to find replacement coaches. She remarked that the coac
hes have had a considerable success in North York and her own daughters played for Willie, Bruce and Ron. Coach Bruce indicated that he couldn't understand what the fuss was about. When contacted he suggested no one should be surprised by the move. "I've lived in Leaside all my life, I've taught school here, my daughter went to school and played her hockey here and I coached here too", noted Bruce. He suggested a change of scenery was always good. When asked if any Storm players would be following them to Leaside, his only comment was "it's up to them to decide where they want to play".Coach Willie indicated that he was not prepared to comment on the move to Leaside at this time. But he did announce - "April Fools!"
