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p16 weekender january hi 1397- st better than gics 4 635 government guaranteed bonds rrsprrif eligible call 2941200 todai john niekraszewicz b math fcsi dan galszechy ba fortune financial corp markham 144 main st n unit 9 wcaaa rates subset to change member montreal exchange and cipf wau fitness aerobics centre 190 bullock drive 9054717371 a spirited going away gift for smith in a perfect world geoff smith would be finishing out his junior hockey career helping the home town spirit of stouffville to their first ever provincial junior a hockey league championship but for geoff and the spirit it was simply a matter of bad tim ing perhaps if spirit owner ed hakonson had been granted a franchise some six years back when he originally applied to the oha things might have been different that way we might have seen geoff suiting up for a stouffville team that was now coming into its own helping give the team the home town appeal every junior squad so desperate ly seeks but instead geoff has been given a going away present by the spirit who dealt the talent ed hard playing 20yearold winger to the newmarket 87s just before the jan 10 trading deadline so he could close out his final junior season with a legiti mate contender geoffs minor and junior hock ey story has been eventful i remember how he helped lead a star studded atom clippers out fit to the omha title in 1988 four years later a teenager with an attitude he would play a major role as the bantam clip pers won both major ontario hockey federation champi onships that was the season he learned to turn the other cheek to apply his fiery intensity towards making sure his team came out on top on the score board not on the fight sheets he would go on to play junior sport notes bvruce st ap i ey c hockey with the georgina ice under former spirit coach steve sedore in that teams inaugural central ontario junior c hock ey league season in 199495 helping the ice make some noise in the playoffs when the spirit were formed last season founder george stavro missed the boat giving geoff a quick look before letting him slip away to the rival bowmanville eagles when hakonson took over the team general manager wally crowder finally succeeded in bringing geoff back home in midseason geoff told me the other day how he agreed to come and give it all he had for the fledgling spirit last winter i came to stouffville and gave it a shot playing for steve sedore said geoff he had always been good to me an intense competitor geoff never could get used to losing and victories have been scarce for the spirit as can be expected with a new team but geoff always put out as any regular fan will testify to we tried geoff told me i played my heart out but not being on a winning team and not having a real good chance of making the playoffs again this year that was tough the team did win an unprece dented four games in a row before he left with geoff scoring the winner in the fourth last monday it was great to put together that winning streak said geoff who amassed just under 50 points with the spirit this season you could see the change in the expressions on the guys faces in the team bus his reward would finally come with the move to newmarket theyre going places he said of the provincial league front run ning 87s it would be fantastic to take it all the way to the dud ley hewitt cup there will be more motivation in newmarket it will be up to me to prove myself there i couldnt help but contrast those well chosen words to what geoff had told me after he scored the winning goal in the deciding game of the omha champi onship finals as a bantam clip per back in 1992 like many 15 year olds he was just living for the day and didnt really know what he wanted to do with his ample hockey skills talking to him the other day as a focussed 20 year old it was quite clear that this is a man with a pur pose that purpose is to do everything in his power to help the newmarket 87s to their sec ond straight provincial league title and perhaps even a nation al championship this spring and id put my money on geoffs playing a key part in the 87s drive for the title simply because this is a talented and determined young man whose time has come at last winning streak ended by bruce stapley correspondent the spirit of stouffville set a team record by extending their winning streak to four games earli er this week then fell victim to thursdays snow storm the spirit staged a comefrombehind 54 road win over the cobourg cougars on monday but the stouffville squad arrived in orillia late and unpre pared thursday evening with a resulting 76 loss the spirit rallied tderase a 42 secondperiod deficit monday with darcyking netting a pair to lead the way rob frost andrew patriarch and geoff smith also scored with smith getting credit for the winner when his centering pass was errantly shot into the net by a cougars defenceman ryan spiteri contin ued his outstanding play in goal the game marked the debut in the spirit lineup for former stouffville clipper jeff hassard thursdays snowstorm caused havoc for the spirit as they tried to get to orillia in time for the game many players along with head coach dan larmer were forced to find their way by car when they were unable to catch the team bus the bus did not arrive until just minutes before the opening faceoff larmer who finally arrived at the end of the first period with the team trailing 30 attributed the lack of a pregame warmup to a rash of injuries suffered by his players our guys just werent ready he said geoff smith got their late then went out and bruised his shoulder we only had one goalie at the start steve tilker and he cracked a rib don gillies pulled a groin we should have cancelled the game it marked smiths last game in a spirit uniform the hardplaying winger and stouffville resident was sold to the newmarket 87s at the jan 10 trad ing deadline king had a goal and four assists other goals went to smith patriarch john lowrie mike battaglie arid recently acquired exterrier jason ellis the spirit host the 87s tonight with the colling- wood blues in town on sunday both games start at 730 pm threes company stouffville district secondary schools mark burk- holder middle attempts to drive past three visiting father michael mcgivney catholic high school defenders to score a basket during mondays yraa midget boys basketball game the host spartans lost the game 7359 bj james was high scorer for the spartans with 1 9 points j pho witteveen clippers outing has silver lining it was silver medals in silver stick tournament play for a trio of stouffville rep hockey teams the towns major novice major bantam and midget clippers squads all went to the finals in their respec tive silver stick competitions in brampton over the holidays with all three coming home with secondplace banners the state farm insuranceken and neil patrick major novice clippers outscored the opposition 203 in win ning their three preliminary games leading up to the championship match they prevailed by scores of 101 71 and 31 over barrie host chinguacousy and london respectively david delzotto mark sullivan and mathew cartwright were clippers mvps in the three matches the stouffville crew was finally downed 53 by caledon earning points in the four games were sullivan 14 delzotto 11 brook stachel 10 brendan laing alex bruno trevor greenham and shayne paterson four each cash nicastro phillip briggs kurtis paisley and mark dandrea two each and devon mcdougall cartwright and ryan allen were outstanding in net landon wideman and nathaniel martin were solid on defence please see page 17