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9t i wlir zo stouffville suntribune thursday may 4 2006 stouffville suntribune sports staff photojim mason cindy and sheila mcneill left present steve brown with the 2006 dan mcneill memorial trophy standing next to brown is his coach dave raymer and mike humphreys whitchurchstouffville minor hockey association president a former whitchurchstouffville minor hockey association player dan died in a car accident in 1992 when he was 19 years old browns love of the game nets him dan mcneil award steve brown is a dan mcneil kind of guy brown was named winner of the dan mcneil memorial tro phy by the whitchurchstouf fville minor hockey association last thursday a graduate of the associa tion dan died in a car accident near goodwood when he was 19 years of age in 1992 brown played all his minor hockey in stouffville just like mcneil he was a late cut last fall from the uxbridge bruins jr c team mcneil was playing for at the time of his death i love the game and i love to be a part of a team said brown who will graduated from stouf fville district secondary school next month and i love winning he was a member of the stouffville peewee clippers team that won the 2002 ontario hockey federation champi onship in stouffville undecided on his hockey future he hopes to begin an apprenticeship in cabinetmak- ing this year its good to see the cream of the crop the good kids in town recognized said cindy mcneil dans sister who attended the presentation with her mother sheila it s game on for local youth ball hockey tournament boyds sports pad to host inaugural competition saturday by jim thomas correspondent whitchurchstouffvilles inaugural road hockey tourna ment is set for saturday at the boyds source for sports butter- makers pad the event part of the towns youth week includes a series of activities sponsored by the mayors youth council under the presidency of mackenzie gott the roundrobin tourna ment open to boys and girls 12 to 18 years will begin at 9 am and conclude around noon in case of ties winners will be declared by shoot outs signups will be accepted until saturday morning max muir 14 is the tourna ment organizer leslie wilkin son is a facilitator the kids are really excited wilkinson said no one will be restricted at the same time theres a desire for balance so no team will feel incapable of compet ing wilkinson explained the young people have taken ownership of the tour ney wilkinson said we want them to feel a sense of pride in a job well done winning is secondary said wilkinson having fun is most important wilkinson praised thewcrk of both gott and muir mackenzie has been fabu lous largely the reason why the youth council has been suc cessful she noted she gott is totally dedi cated to making a difference in town said wilkinson she understands what being a good citizen of whitchurchstouf fville is all about muir worked hard getting the tournament off the ground she said the youth council hope to make this competition an annual event del zotto whitchurchstouffville resident expected to go high in saturdays draft by mike hayakawa staff writer minor hockey prospects eligible for saturdays ontario hockey league pri ority selection might be singing a para phrased tune by the clash with apologies to joe strummer should i stay and play hockey local ly for a couple of more years or should i go and play in the ohl michael del zotto steven stamkos and cody hodgson are at that hockey crossroads playing in the markham waxers minor organization del zotto and stamkos for the ohl cupchampion minor midgets and hodgson with the omha champion midgets theyre considered among the elite of this years draft class ohl scouts say all three could be chosen within the first few picks of the opening round that begins at 9 am th e sarnia sting has first pick followed by the oshawa generals mississauga ice dogs and erie otters ifs not often that three players from one organization were ranked so high- but the thought had crossed the minds of del zotto a 15yearold whitchurch stouffville resident who plays defence and stamkos a 15-year- old forward who lives in markham weve talked a lot about going one and two in the draft this can be a life changing decision i work out with steve a lot and were like best friends del zotto said weve talked a lot about going one and two in the draft this can be a life changing decision while stamkos is still undecided on what route he will take del zotto will pursue the ohl route im a bit nervous del zotto a grade 10 st andrews college student conceded but im mostly excited im looking forward to it its a big moment in my life the decision to go the ohl route took him the entire season but after weighing various factors including dis tance from home the style of his game waiting two years before going to uni versity and the reputation the ohl has in developing pro prospects del zotto felt the ohl was best i definitely wanted to make sure it was the right choice he said speaking on behalf of his son chris hodgson said cody will be staying in markham for the next two years as hes seriously looking at the united states collegiate scholarship route the deci- iiiiiii michael del zotto took several factors into consideration before deciding he would go the ohl route sion to go in this direction wasnt that difficult chris said weve been visiting several univer sities and were pretty excited with that weve had four offers so far chris said while attending unionville high school for the next two years cody will play for the waxers junior a squad hes still young and we want to keep him around for the next couple of years when he gets into grade 12 he can do what he wants chris cited what del zotto stamkos and hodgson had accomplished this sea son was something that might only happen once in a lifetime in markham said bill jefferson waxers aaa presi dent hes pleased with the manner in which theyve represented the organi zation its something that a lot of kids never get to see ifs great for our orga nization and its unbelievable these kids are out of this world theyre all well mannered and theyre great players he said paul titanic waxers minor midget coach this past year and coach of all three players two seasons ago when they were major bantams and silver medallists at the ontario hockey fed eration championships couldnt be happier these are young men who are extremely talented as a coach the thing i feel good about is that ive allowed their talents to be demonstrat ed allowing talented players to use their skills these young men are high ly regarded he said in coaching del zotto and stamkos this past season titanic was especially pleased with the manner in which they carried themselves out with the rest of their teammates in no way was any mention of the ohl draft brought up he said our guys were really good about not talking of the draft and not making it a focus internally they were driven to do well they didnt expose their feelings to the rest of the team any concept of the draft wasnt a part of their development to follow the ohl draft live log on to wwwontariohockeyleaguecom m j3