The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

ille sports sports deadline 12 noon mondays phone 6402612 fax 6 4 0 8778 email sportsstouffvillesuncom tuesday jan 7 2003 page 12 its all uphill for skiers and boarders at skyloft by jim thomas stouffville sun full support system with winter now in full swing skiers and snowboarders are heading to nearby skyloft ski resort for a little winter fun here anne macnab braces her threeyearold son noah for a ride down the slopes on saturday mike barrett photo its been called ontarios best- kept secret but no more skyloft ski and country club owned and operated by markham resident doug meharg is rapidly gaining the recognition it deserves located in durham region three miles south of uxbridge and five miles west of port perry the 250acre site is the highest oh the oak ridges moraine even higher than any point on the hamilton escarpment from its peak one can see as far as olcott new york established in 1944 by the late howard langelle the resort was later sold to an established club then pur chased by mr meharg in 1995 its magic the markham resi dent says i love the place this is obvious for he spends much of his time there all year round sky lofts 18 runs are served by four lifts including one quad chair two tbars and a handletow for children and beginners the two t- bars will soon be replaced and a new quad chair will be installed sometime this year a twostorey 13000square foot clubhouse was constructed two years ago as well as a new maintenance shop skyloft is the winter home to many stouffville- area skiers due to the fact recent winters have been unkind to ski resort operators mr meharg has installed eight kilometres of under ground piping and expanded his snowmaking equipment nine hundred gallons of water a minute can be pumped from a 17- foot deep pond to maintain the facility mr meharg has a staff of 200 full and parttime employees including a general manager daughter angela an expert skier and snowboarder handles sales and marketing a second daughter sarah a graduate of queens university in kingston is an ontario telemark ski champion 19th best in the world skiers both downhill and cross country are flocking to the site in ever increasing numbers mr meharg says this seasons total due to an earlier than usual start is expected to break all records school children especially find the resort inviting and exciting with 15000 visits anticipated over an eightweek period the kids bring their parents mr meharg says its a wonderful family atmosphere registrations are now up to 200 with a 500 enrolment the owners goal prince andrew often skied at skyloft while attending nearby lakefield college skyloft says mr meharg has one of the best ski schools in ontario with a instructorstudent ratio of one to one and two to one as a member of the southern ontario ski racing association both adults and children participate in competitions with other resorts across the province during a race its not uncom mon to have up to 1000 spectators watching from the- sidelines he says- skyloft offers public skiing monday through friday from 9 am to 9 pm the site is open to members only on weekends from 830 am to 4 pm every wednesday is ladies day with child care provided saturdays and sundays mr mehargs dream is to operate the resort yearround staff catered to 30 weddings last summer despite the fact skyloft has an exceptionally low accident rate insurance costs have skyrocketed going from 7000 and 500 deductible three years ago to 40000 and 10000 deductible last year this is hitting the smaller resorts real hard mr meharg says in addition to serving the com munity recreationally skyloft is proving itself an excellent corpo rate citizen donating over 25000 to local charities in 2002 now 71 mr meharg says he didnt begin hitting the slopes until age 33 from the very beginning i loved it but i never once thought id have a resort of my own he concludes its a dream come true spirit receives rude awakening to begin 2003 so much for the stouffville spirit fending off- the two teams behind them and making up ground on the two in front of them the spirit opened 2003 with a pair of duds losing 42 to the collingwood blues on thursday and 54 against the host couchiching terriers on friday collingwood is in fourth place and couchiching fifth the provincial junior a hockey league playoffs are a month away this week the thirdplace spirit hosts north conference leading aurora tigers 34211 thursday and secondplace newmarket saturday aurora the defending north champs is on an incredible 31- game unbeaten streak after one- goal wins over the blues and thornhill rattlers on the weekend the tigers have the secondbest winning percentage of the 135 teams in canada junior a hockey league only the oncebeaten wellington dukes 3411 of the provincial leagues east conference have a better record on friday in couchiching michael commisso scored two thirdperiod goals to bring the spirit to within one goal but that was as close as theyd get michael commisso mark versteeglytwyn and jd smithson had the other spirit goals v the spirit outshot couchiching 4624 kyle zoon relieved steven carota in the spirit net spirited notes the league trade deadline is this friday aurora has the oldest team average age 194 in the north and stouffville the youngest 18 according to nhl central scouting saturdays game is an 8 pm start not 730 as previously advertised for more on the canadian junior a hockey league go to wwwcjahlcomeindexhtml a bid to move the dormant caledon franchise to richmond hill was vetoed by several teams including the spirit i spirit at a glance scores collingwood 4 stouffville 2 couchiching 5 stouffville 4 whos hot smlss schedule m aurora at stouffville thursday 730 pm newmarket at stouffville saturday 8 provincial jr a league north conference minor bantams downed in tournament semi standings as of jan 6 1 team fill 7 mxmmmim the stouffville minor bantam clippers advanced to the semi finals of the recent richard bell memorial tournament in oakville before they were eliminated 21 by west mall in roundrobin action the clippers won their firstgame over burlington 43 but lost their sec ond match to oakville 41 before concluding it with a 63 win over cheektowaga new york scoring for i the clippers in thetournament were kenny higgins three goals one assist mitchell raithby three goals two assists greg hovanessian two goals one assist michael bigioni and nick stratas one goal two assists jeff mcguckin and dennis oshaughnessy one goal one assist andrew stewart adam brown stephen moller and cory tomson one assist aurora newmarket stouffville collingwood couchiching huntsville j f i w one point for overtimeloss 38 34 2 1 39 25 12 1 38k22v14 2 38 20 16 0 38 1617 4 40 138 v 0 1 206 84 u t 178128 52 0 175123 46 1 160124 41 1 139143 37 1 104 324 3 r hb jbjgbfift