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18 stouffville suntribune thursday feb 19 2004 stouffville suntribune sports hockey spartans win quarterfinal squeaker stouffville secondary faces markham high in york region semifinal jamie hewitt felt his stouffville district secondary school spartans senior boys hockey team didnt play one of its best games monday when it hosted st joan of arc catholic high school maple in a york region athletic association quarterfinal singleelimination game but at the same time the spartans head coach said his charges didnt play one of their worst games fortunately for the spartans the posi tives outweighed the negatives as they advanced to the semifinals with a thrilling 43 overtime win brandon walker scored two goals including the game winner with 104 remaining in the first fiveminute sudden- death overtime period mark sullivan and justin hitchen added the other goals for the spartans we didnt play bad and we didnt play well hewitt said we had a lot of scoring chances but their goalie played well theyre a talented team secondperiod rally trailing 10 after one period seemed to serve as a wakeup call for the spartans who rallied for three unanswered goals in the second period to take a 31 advantage but just seven seconds into the third period st joan of arc scored to narrow the deficit and with 45 seconds remaining in regu- staff photosjoerd witteveen despite being pressured by st joan of arc defender mario barillo far right stouffville district secondary school spartans captain chris flanagan backhanded the puck just wide of st joan of arc catholic high school goalkeeper alessandro demarche in mondays yraa senior boys hockey quarterfinal contest at stouffville arena the spartans won 43 in overtime and advanced to the regional semifinals where they will host markham district high school in a bestofthree series starting friday at 1 pm lation time st joan of arc scored the tying goal to force overtime and set the stage for walkers overtime heroics hewitt thought the difference in the game might have been the character his club has developed this season st joan of arc had plenty of momen tum going into that overtime but we buckled down good teams find ways to win and we did i thought we showed a lot of character in the overtime costly victory the victory proved costly for the spartans as forward alex bruno suffered a wrist injury and could be lost for the remainder of the season with the victory the spartans will face the markham district high school marauders in a bestofthree semifinal series starting friday at stouffville arena at 1 pm during the regular season the spartans and marauders battled to a 33 tie that tie represented the only nonwin in the spartans regular season record the playing dates for the second and third game if required had yet to be deter mined as of press time the winner of this series will meet the victor of the other semifinal between huron heights secondary school newmarket arid cardinal carter catholic high school aurora for the yraa title conceding bis charges dodged a bullet against st joan of arc hewitt said the road to the final wont get any easier especially against a markham team that he says is very good and talented every game from here on in is big were definitely where wed like to be at this stage of the season weve just got to take things one game at a time senior spartans cage consolation title at the recent spartan senior boys basketball classic the spartans captured the consolation final with a 4537 win over sutton district high school justin brugger was high scorer for the spartans with 14 points while gavin howe added 12 the unionville high school wolves won the championship title with a 3728 win over brother andre catholic high school spirit hurricanes set to renew heated rivalry north conference semifinal series starts tonight in newmarket stouffville spirit vs newmarket hurricanes think smalltown version of toronto maple leafs vs montreal canadiens or new york yankees vs boston red sox its a rivalry measured in intensity if not storied past the teams meet in the second round of the provincial jr a hockey league playoffs the north conference semifinals starting tonight in newmarket game 2 in the bestofseven goes sunday at the stouffville arena both are 730 pm starts its all about the names on the sweaters spirit captain michael lombardo said this week we just want to get rid of them theres a hated rivalry between our teams a bunch of us know each other off the ice but on the ice its war every shift is a new battle and both teams leave each game with bruises and aches in the opening round the thirdplace spirit eliminated the thornhill major islanders in six games while the secondplance hurricanes swept the pickering in the regular season series the hurricanes won four of six games played with both spirit victories coming in newmarket id be lying if i said i wasnt looking forward to it spirit head coach brian perrin the for mer associate coach and head of player personnel in newmarket said newmarket has brought out the best and the worst in us every year every game will be a theres a hated rivalry between our teams a bunch of us know each other off the ice but on the ice its war every shift is a new battle and both teams leave each game with bruises and aches battle they have 10 guys back from last years series and we have six but we have to find a way to get that warrior attitude we had back this year thespirit is 20 in in its nine- year history in playoff series rob groom scored gamewinning goal in sundays sixth game that elim- nated thornhill from first round against newmarket including last years sevengame marathon and a memorable sixgame upset of the heavily favoured hurricanes in 2000 perrin left newmarket six years ago for the head job in stouffville other ingredients in the rival ry include the three newmarket residents mark mitchell randy johnston and rick schrank on the spirit roster rob grooms goal with just over six minutes to play sunday in stouffville gave the spirit a 32 win over thornhill and the series grant buckley and shane baxter had staked the spirit to a 20 lead but pesky thornhill jumped on a pair of spirit errors and tied the score in the third the spirit went up 32 in the series with a 41 win the night before in thornhill in a game marred by multiple fights and numerous penalties jordan mabley jake van allen ty raine and michael duco scored for the spirit rookie goalie neil conway was outstanding in both wins spirited notes game 3 in this series goes a week tonight in newmarket with the fourth game friday feb 27 in stouffville if necessary game 5 is feb 29 in newmarket with the sixth game march 1 in stouffville and the seventh march 2 in newmarket the whitchurch- stouffville minor hockey association and markham- stouffville girls hockey association moved games to accommodate the spirit players from both associations wearing their team jerseys will be admit ted free to the feb 27 game for more information on the spirit log on to wwwstoufmllespirilcom atom clippers sail past aurora in playoffs the stouffville atom clippers made quick work of aurora in the third round of their minor hockey playoff series capturing the first- tosix point series in three straight games powered by goals from chris smith curtis crago and wesley brown and a solid netminding effort from kyle pontone the clippers won the first game 31 in the second game josh machesney and steven tait scored to propel the clippers to a 21 win gibbs nets shutout in last wednesdays finale travis gibbs stopped every shot that came his way and dalton mayo scored to lift the clippers to a 10 victory