By Aaron Bell
After two days of bonding with some of his biggest rivals, Mississauga St. Michael's Majors' captain Cameron Gaunce said that he will be back to business tomorrow.
Gaunce helped the Eastern Conference to a 17-10 win over the Western Conference in the 2010 OHL All-Star Classic in Kingston on Wednesday.
Gaunce and his Majors' teammates Chris Carrozzi, Casey Cizikas and Devante Smith-Pelly found themselves on the same squad with Barrie Colts' stars Alex Pietrangelo, Alex Hutchings, Nick Crawford, Matt Kennedy and Stefan Della Rovere during the event over the past two days. Tomorrow, the Majors travel to Barrie to play the Colts and try to close the gap for first place in the Eastern Conference.
"I know some of these guys from prior things and when I was younger," Gaunce said. "But when you come into this you've got to know that you can only be so nice because tomorrow night we go and play the Colts. It's nice to see some of these guys - they're all nice guys. But now that it's over it's back to normal."
Gaunce picked up three assists and was a plus-seven in the All-Star Game but knows that he won't be able to play the same kind of care-free style that was prevalent in the annual showcase game.
"If I play anything like I did tonight it will be trouble," Gaunce said. "If I make some of the passes like I did tonight I'll be sitting on the bench."
Ethan Werek of the Kingston Frontenacs played in the All-Star Game for the second straight year and the big winger said that he had to put aside his usual robust style on Wednesday.
"It's great to play with those guys," Werek said. "You kind of have to apologize because you are really competitive with them all year. But we all bonded pretty good and we became a pretty tight team."
The All-Star rivalry is turning into a one-sided affair. The Eastern Conference skated to their fifth straight win on Wednesday despite the prediction by West captain Ryan Ellis that they would stop that streak this year.
"He guaranteed a win," Werek said. "We wanted to make him eat his words and I think we did a pretty good job by winning by seven."
Click here for a recap of the 2010 OHL All-Star Classic
