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lostouffville suntribune thursday april 20 2006 stouffville suntribune sports st michaels buzzers retain league title with a 32 double ot win by mike hayakawa staff writer for the stouffville spirit the clock struck midnight on their cinderellalike journey into the provincial junior a hockey league playoffs sunday evening but it wasnt for a lack of effort in their best6fseven final series against the st miehaelsljuzzers with their backs to the wall entering sundays sixth game that was played before an enthusiastic crowd of 717 onlookers the spirit appeared to give the buzzers a look of consternation as the con test was forced to go beyond the 60minute regulation timeframe but a goal by julian zamparo at the 258mark of the second sud dendeath session enabled the buzzers to win the contest 32 and their second consecutive league championship the buzzers also earned the right to go to thunder bay to com pete for the dudley hewitt cup emblematic of the central canada junior a championshipr a couple of bounces here and there and we might be the ones going to thunder bay arid not st mikes while despondentin losing a fiercelycontested series the spir it management coaching staff and players tried to accentuate the positive from a season that saw the club make its firstever appearance in the league final a couple of bounces here and there and we might been the ones going to thunder bay and not st mikes said spirit general manag er ken burrows it was tough lamented spirit rookie head coach dan west we gave it everything that we had but it was a good game im not upset just a little dis appointed added spirit captain ian brunt it was definitely a good run we were called the cinderella story like george mason universi ty the small us mens basketball team that reached this years final four nobody expected us to get past the first round trailing 10 after one period the spirit fought back to even the count on a goal by joel sheppard just before the midway point of the second stanza but after the buzzers scored to regain the lead will acton scored what would be the spirits last goal of the season late in the second period to set up the overtime dra matics the buzzers held a distinct advantage in shots during the two staff photobill roberts stouffville spirit defenceman myles gomes heads up ice in pursuit of the puck during sundays sixth game of the provincial junior a hock ey league finals at the stouffville arena the st michaels buzzers won the game and league title with a 32 double overtime win extra frames oushooting the spir it 134 in the first overtime period and 40 in the second but only some stellar nerminding by dan mcwhinney kept the spirits hopes alive st mikes might not have been worried but they did press they sure didnt want to go into a game 7 they wanted to end it- he just stood on his head said brunt of the 20yearold net- minder whose play in the post season has attracted the interest from division one us colleges the guys wanted to do it for him because this would be his last year in a spirit uniform and hes a great goaltender st mikes might not have been worried but they did press they sure didnt want to go into a game 7 they wanted to end it said west reflecting on the series overall west felt the buzzers depth and ease in which they advanced to the final might have been the dif ference as well he thought the buzzers were better able to capitalize on what opportunities came their way they had just a little more in the tank that we did thats not to say they had any easy nights because we sure didnt but we ended up playing in more games 31 during the playoffs than they did 25 and they took advantage of the situations that came upon them for example they could adjust to the refereeing and we couldnt fatigue a factor i think we were mentally tired burrows concurred we were making mistakes that we didnt make earlier on in the play offs to a lesser extent west felt the buzzers experience might have been an asset since a couple of their players were appearing in their third straight league champi onship final it was probably a small factor but not as big as some might think he said brunt conceded the buzzers were by far the best team the spir it ran into this season the teams we played throughout the playoffs kept get ting better we thrived on heart leadership and great goaltending but st mikes knew our game plan and they never sat back for one moment in last thursdays fourth game at the stouffville arena mcwhin ney stopped all 64 shots directed his way including 20 in the third period and 16 in the second over time session that saw the spirit emerge with a dramatic 10 triple overtime victory and even the series at two games apiece sheppards goal at the 325- mark of the third overtime session ended the marathon session the buzzers however regained the upper hand in the series with a 63 win friday at the st michaels college school arena in toronto- sheppard scored two power- play goals for the spirit who trailed 21 after the first 20 min utes and 32 late in the second before a shorthanded goal by fred cassiani with just six seconds remaining in the period put the buzzers up 42 after the spirit crept back in to within one goal when rob groom lit the red light late in the third period the buzzers added an insurance marker and a short- handed empty net goal to round out the scoring the buzzers out- shot the spirit 5135 proud of his troops although the spirits season came to an end west was extremely proud of what his charges managed to accomplish this season we felt we had a chance to compete for our division title and we got everything out of every player in 31 playoff games every one played their hearts out we had guys who shouldnt have played during the playoffs that probably would have sat out if it was the regular season our guys brought it to the table for 10 weeks everybody should be proud he said we have a lot of veterans who dug down deep and pulled together and bought into what coach west said it was definitely a good atmosphere to be at the rink added brunt as for next seasonwest noted it wont come soon enough after a couple of days to unwind and then go through play er evaluations with management and the returnees it will be time to gear up for the 200607 season with rookie camp slated to run may 6 and 7 for more on the spirit log on to wwwstoufmllespiritcom spartan girls kick up storm soccer team captures indoor tournament title in guelph last year the stouffville district secondary school spartans girls soccer team took secondplace honours in a sixaside indoor tour nament hosted by the university of guelph this year however they took things a step further by winning the- event goals by jesse harris and sam sheridan enabled the spartans to defeat st joan of arc barrie 21 in the final in reaching the final the spartans edged chinguacousy secondary school 10 on a goal by sam batten leading up to the semifinals the spartans won two games and tied one in roundrobin action we played well said spartans head coach rob edmondson while edmondson conceded the tournament isnt really a good indi cator for the upcoming york region athletic association regular season set to open may 1 he feels his team could make its presence felt we lost just three girls from last years team that won the copper medal fourth place at last years ofsaa aa playdowns in thunder bay so we might be as good but at this stage its hard to tell he said spartan boys try hard in preparation for the upcoming rugby season the spartans boys bantams juniors and seniors entries took to the pitch last thursday at uxbridge secondary school the juniors got a try from matt raguseo and had it hold up in a hardfought 50 victory in the bantam game bruce cringan scored a try and booted a convert and tyler azan added a try to propel the spartans to a 120 victory the seniors had an 85 lead over uxbridge at the half before suc cumbing 187 jayden geense scored the spar tans lone try and bjorn mcsorley kicked a convert the three spartans entries were scheduled to play at dunbarton sec ondary school today boys shuttle off the spartans senior boys bad minton tandem of luke harrison and devin paynter finished fourth in last weeks zone e tournament at milliken mills secondary school but gained entry into todays second round tournament at st augustine catholic high school in markham for more on high school sports log onto wwwyraacom