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stouffville suntribune s thursday dec 29 2005 21 stouffville suntribune sports the little town that cou winn stouffville athletes teams made prescence felt during busy 2005 the 2005 sports scene in whitchurchstouffville bore a strong resemblance to the story of the little engine that could like the little engine that defied gar gantuan odds to get the job done indi viduals and teams residing in what many people perceive as being a small town in york region put whitchurch stouffville on the map recognition wasnt just attained at provincial events but in some instances it took place at the national and even world levels the following are some highlights from 2005 that made headlines in the suntribune sports section henry brunton became the first cana dian golf professional to be included in golf magazines top 100 instructors in the game for 200506 the 39yearold stouffville resident was a driving force behind the royal canadian golf associations player development program and head coach of the national team since 1999 golf magazine is a highly recognized us golf publication and an authorita tive voice on the sport the stouffville clippers skated off with the ontario minor hockey association juvenile a championship that was capped off with a 31 win over the har row rams from near windsor at the stouffville arena to claim the firsttosix point series 71 several other local minor hockey players skated off with high honours in provincial championships defenceman mike del zotto was part of a markham waxers aaa major ban tam team that claimed a silver medal at the ontario hockey federation champi onships in thunder bay chris eyles and justin hitchin earned gold medals when the markham aaa midget waxers successfully defended its omha title with a 21 win over the brampton battalion in the final at rich mond hill the team was coached by joe cornacchia at the same championships nick singh a forward for the richmond hill stars aaa midgets helped his club earn a bronze medal with a 20 win over the barrie colts in the omha aaa peewee champi onships in georgetown evan bruno and sam carrick were members of the markham waxers entry that claimed the silver medal after they suffered a heart breaking 43 overtime loss to the york- simcoe express in the title tilt in the girls game liz knox thwarted a penalty shot attempt in overtime and lindsay brown scored the gamewin ning marker to propel the markham stouffville junior stars to a 21 win over etobicoke in the consolation final of the ontario womens hockey association provincial championships in brampton erik salo a gormley resident and gormley resident and wilfrid laurier university golden hawks guard erik salo hoisted the vanier cup emblem atic of canadian collegiate football supremacy above his shoulders after his club upended topseeded univer sity of saskatchewan huskies 2423 in hamilton earlier this month markham district high school graduate concluded his collegiate gridiron career at wilfrid laurier university on a memo rable note by helping his club upend the topranked university of saskatchewan huskies 2423 in the vanier cup final at hamilton salo had been a starting guard with the golden hawks for the last two seasons in high school sports the stouffville district secondary school spartans girls hockey team came within a game of being provincial champions after falling 20 to huron park secondary school huskies woodstock in the gold medal game in the ontario federation of school athletic associations aaa in orillia first hockey medal the silver medal was the first ofsaa girls hockey medal earned in the schools history the spartans senior boys rugby team also came within a gamcof striking ofsaa gold after suffering an 85 loss to trenton high school in the aa champi onship final in belleville the stouffville storm peewee boys ruled the ball diamond after capturing the ontario amateur softball associa tion eastern canadian qualifying tour nament at memorial park with a thrilling 54 win over napariee in the deciding game of the double elimina tion tournament in winning the tournament the storm gained a berth in the eastern canadian championships in placentia nfld at the tournament the storm settled for the silver medal after incurring a 71 loss to napanee in the championship final the stouffville storm mites did some thing that no other stouffville mite soft- ball squad had ever accomplished by capturing an oasa a championship after defeating kitchener 1 19 in the title tilt in orleans nick dambrosios exploits on the ball diamond caught the attention of the scarborough wolverines who picked up the stouffville jones pools short stop to play for them at the canadian junior fastball championships in saskatoon playing second base for the wolver ines at the championships the 21 -year- old vandorf resident helped his club retain the national title with an 80 win over the host saskatoon diamondbacks in the final and was named to the allstar team cliff dunkeld was honoured by the oasa at their annual general meeting in kitchener by being the recipient of the prestigious er frank memorial tro phy the trophy represents the highest honour bestowed upon any oasa offi cer director or player it represents out standing service and contribution to the game of softball dunkeld 73 an oasa coach con venor umpire and auditor has been associated with the sport more than 56 years gormley resident jen caira 16 took matters into her own hands in the cana dian bantam girls fastpitch champi onships in cloverdale bc by striking out the side in the decisive eighth inning and belting a two out runscoring single to help the markham jaguars edge the surrey storm 2- 1 in the title tilt caira was also named the tourna ments most valuable player nicole thompson 11 returned to stouffville with two bronze medals from her participation at the national taek- wondo championships in edmonton alta a student at master myungs taek- wondo academy in stouffville the sec ond degree black belt was third in spar ring and patterns and accomplished the feat despite the fact she was in the low end of her age class that included 12 and 13yearolds mark varilov 8 captured a gold medal in his age group after finishingfirst in the provincial triathlon championships held at midland varilovs older brother adrian 10 was a bronze medal winner at the same competition kyle miller 15 took to the rugby pitch in burnaby bc this past summer to compete in the national championships and helped his ontario team win gold in the under- 16 division that was climaxed with a 1512 victory over the host province in the final alysha higgins and kim hord both 17 were members of the whitby ice fyre synchro skating team that earned a sec ondplace finish as firsttime partici pants in the french cup in rouen france the team competed against squads representing finland sweden britain russia italy germany france and the united states staff photojim mason oh what a feeling tim barker 6 of the packpro systems tyke squad proudly displays his trophy following the whitchurch stouffville minor hockey associations annual christmas house league tournament tuesday at the stouffville arena twentyfour clubs took to the ice in the twoday event spirit keeps unbeaten streak intact at 10 last week friday won 30 at collingwood coming up thursday jan 5 vs huntsville 730 pm at stouffville arenafriday jan 6 at st michaels buzzers 730 pm at st michaels arenasunday jan 8 at seguin bruins 2 pm game notes the spirit gave themselves an early christmas pre sent and improved its unbeaten streak to 10 games with last fri days 30 road win over the colling wood blues all goals were scored in the second period including will actons gamewinner scored short- handed and unassisted scott brown and jake van allen netted the others dan mcwhinney earned his second shutout of the season for the spirit which was outshot 3833 including 188 in the third period the victory enabled the spirit to remain in second place in the north conference insider the skate with the spirit event in support of the whitchurch- stouffville foodbank goes jan 2 at the stouffville arena starting at noon record 20563 novice aes finish sixth the stouffville novice ae clippers earned a sixthplace fin ish at a oneday eightteam tournament in beaverton tues day that concluded with a 43 overtime loss to orono braden clarke liam timewell and cody leonard each scored once for the clippers joey hutton tritan thompson daniel renzoni and jackson newlands earned one assist apiece the clippers began the tournament with a 31 loss to woodville and followed that with a 11 tie against beaverton newlands and quintin volpe each had a goal for stouffville in those two contests leonard was credited with an assist