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piweekeader september 18 1993 12 v3t hm wmmbbmmmfflmmmmmmbmsmmmmmm tmmmmmmmmmgmmmmmmm tarai5 b houseleague hockey is about to face off the whitchurch stouffville minor hockey association begins action today and is operating at full capacity bruce stapley correspondent photosteve somerville bowling them over sarah raymer gets set to send her ball down the lane during recent action in the stouffville youth bowling league at the stouffville bowling centre its back to the ice today as the whitchurch- stouffville minor hockey association wshma houseleague program begins once again the grass roots hockey operation is operating at full capacity with 34 teams consist ing of roughly 435 players rounding out the pro gram while the houseleague was able to accommo date a few players squeezed out of house leagues in neighbouring towns in past seasons that will likely not be the case this year said wsmha houseleague convener matt hawkins were turning kids away at the younger lev els said hawkins and we dont want to do that because we need the younger players to guarantee the success of our entire system in future years once again the houseleague will start at the hockey school instructional level with eight teams suiting up the four- to sixyear olds will scrimmage until january when real games are to begin there are also eight novice level squads six atom outfits six peewee teams and four bantam units hawkins said the peewees and bantams were in the process of trying to work out an interlock ing schedule with oak ridges and king city houseleague teams they oak ridges and king city only have one team in each level our teams would each travel there for saturday games six times during the season also new is a concept which will see two mixed midgetjuvenile teams compete in an 11team noncontact houseleague including teams from newmarket holland landing and aurora hockey school novice and atom games will run saturdays from 6 am through 7 pm sunday will see four of the peewee teams take to the ice with the other two peewee squads along with the bantams playing thursday nights hawkins said it was becoming more and more obvious that a second ice pad would have to be provided for in the near future he pointed to the fact that all user groups were being faced with the same shortage of ice time were going to have to get a users group com mittee together to show the town were serious he said robbins makes good time at fall classic run stouffville native fred robbins finished second out of a total of 158 runners and was just six seconds behind the winner at the fall classic cross country run at sunnybrook park in toronto on sept 7 robbins was clocked in a time of 2531 for the 75- km route which included a fourfoot deep water crossing stouffville district secondary school sdss track coach larry bobbett was 53rd with a time of 3142 while sdss student chris lamont was 54th at 3142 at the annual 10 km tom longboat run on toron tos centre island three days later stouffvilles dave reed placed second in his age class with a presonal best time of 3310 robbins clocked a time of 3340 his first time ever under 34 minutes in that race to place fourth in his age class and 14th overall bobbett was 18th in his age group at 4049 stouffville amateur hockey league enters 17th season with changes in starting times the spirit of compromise and cooperation was appar ent as the stouffville ama teur hockey league sahl began its 17th season sunday morning at the rec centre the adult male leagues eight 40 years and over teams along with the half dozen 30 and over squads took to the ice with a realignment of ice time resulting in a 545 am start the league was to have started its games at 5 am a full hour earlier than last season after the town areed to a request by the whitchurchstouffville girls hockey association wsgha for an extra hour on sundays but the league executive approached council and a meeting was arranged bring ing together various user groups the resulting compromise saw the sahl agree to the 545 am start with a half hour being chopped from the leagues seven hour block of ice time games were reduced to 45 minutes in length an nhl oldtimers group which has been renting the ice for an hour right after the sahl games sundays agreed to shave 15 minutes off its time with the whitchurchstouffville minor hockey association wsmha also sacrificing a quarter hour for the sahl and its presi dent wayne jackson the deal was an acceptable means of administering bad tasting medicine the league had been upset when it was told it was being shunted up to the pre dawn starting time back in the spring sahl officials had cried foul saying they had never been given a chance to dis cuss the matter but now the 210player mens league is at least con tent it was allowed to meet with the interested parties and help forge an agreement as it stood the league stood to lose some of its players sport notes who simply couldnt live with the 5 am start i think were happy at least under the circum stances jackson told me wednesday we werent at all happy about starting at 5 am the cooperation will con tinue as the season wears on in exchange for the sun days the sahl always loses to the wsgha and wsmha for tournaments the mens league has been given two saturday spots on jan 22 sahl games will be played in the after noon followed by a social night in the rec centre lounge the league will also hold its final playoff day on march the wsmha will operate a refreshment stand in the lounge that day with the pro ceeds going towards fund raising for the minor opera tion the decision to end the sea son in late march a week earlier than usual repre sents yet another example of diplomacy on the part of the sahl this time its the local church community which is being placated as easter sunday will not result in players having to decide between church attendance or pastor puck this issue has been a bone of contention in past years as for the continuing squeeze regarding the short age of prime ice time jack son thinks its time the vari ous user groups heeded coun cillor cliff dunkelds advice and got together for some serious fund raising so a sec ond pad can be built if they start now jackson suggested the thing could be down the road theres a real need for it not just for our league but for minor hockey girls hockey and the skating club said jackson and if the town grows theres going to be an even greater need for it it doesnt have to be the taj mahal but even if we could at least get the frame up at first if we work collectively over the next two or three years it would give the town time to organize things and there may still be some govern ment grants out there he added qqq the trend towards an older player base which saw the sahl go to eight 40 and over teams a few years back would seem to have waned of the 5060 players on the leagues waiting list most are between the age of 3040 jackson said if it continues the league might have to con sider an adjustment in the other direction sometime in thenext