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thursday march 20 2003 27 stouffyiue suntribune 5s spirit proud of teams longest playoff run players look to next year here or at college tears flowed from the players long faces in the still of the stouffville spirit dressing room early sunday night it was hard to imagine this had been the best season in the franchises eightyear history moments before the spirit lost 54 to the aurora tigers to drop the provincial junior a hockey leagues north conference championship series 42 as it has been for most of the playoffs the stouffville arena was standing room only with a crowd of about 1000 its hard because of the guys inside there said towelclad captain jd smithson signing hockey sticks for two boys outside the dressing room ive played with a lot of great hockey players but i wouldnt want to go into a third period with anyone but these guys this years edition of the spirit had the longest playoff run ever winning two post season series 10 games and a legion of local fans it will also graduate a record number of players to us colleges and possibly the ontario hockey league and canadian universities smithson was the only fiveyear player in team history and one of three 20-year- old graduates hell complete the three- year firefighting program at seneca college next year and hopes to play pro lacrosse with the new york saints the other overagers pesky forward brent chandler and goalie michael andreoff plan to play college hockey next season both were acquired on the trade deadline in january aurora tigers forward jessie olden 43 knocks down stouffville spirit forward mike forgie during action in sundays sixth and final game of the provincial junior a hockey league south division final at the stouffville arena the tigers captured the series in six games with a 54 win staff photo bill roberts who was the spirits timer and scorekeeper in the late 1990s has received several scholarship offers and inquiries for this fall and 2004 he remains undecided but did visit niagara university near buffalo last week as young a team as we were you could nt have asked for any more he said we poured our hearts out we will lose some key players for next season but i think we can beeven better aurora had the oldest team average age 197 in the north according to nhl kevin jarman umass and mike forgie wayne state have accepted major college full scholarships jarman is- the topranked provincial league player in the nhl draft set for june in nashville secondyear defenceman mark mitchell has another year of eligibility but is weighing us scholarship options so is rookie mike sullivan a near lock for spirit playoff mvp he had three assists sunday and was the teams top postseason pointgetter the stouffville minor hockey product central scouting and the spirit the youngest at 184 you couldnt accuse the spirit of quitting during the playoffs it came back from late 20 deficits in the first two games of its openinground series with couchiching en route to a fourgame sweep the spirit trailed newmarket in game 7 of its secondround series but scored five unanswered goals in the second period to eliminate the hurricanes against aurora which lost only three games during the regular season the spirit won two straight games with late goals after losing the series opener it was aurora that erased a twogoal deficit and won 32 friday in aurora sunday aurora appeared to be on cruise to the trophy winning 40 but the spirit electrified the big crowd with three straight goals mitchell smithson and forgie in the second period to make it 43 the teams then traded goals im really proud of the way our guys worked spirit head coach brian perrin said the result wasnt what we wanted but the effort definitely was there was praise from the winning lock er room too i said all year long that we feared this stouffville hockey team said aurora head coach marty williamson whose team will contest a league semifinal series against the west conference champion georgetown raiders starting friday night at the aurora community centre they matched up real well with us spirit head coach brian perrin had them playing real structured hockey and play ing the way hockey is supposed to be played with files from john cudmore spirit coaches coowner at odds with league over playoff officiating stouffville spirit assistant coach jeff perrin was livid his brother spirit head coach brian perrin was more philosophical in his anger the spirit junior a hockey teams 200203 season had just ended sunday afternoon in a packed stouffville arena courtesy of a 54 loss to the aurora tigers as the tigers celebrated their second straight north conference championship jeff perrin walked across the ice toward referee mike pierce the man in stripes waved jeff off then skated off the brothers perrin were upset over a pair of cheap calls given their players at crucial stages of the game and noncalls made on aurora later spirit coowner zeev werek and a league supervisor of officials- had a heated exchange in the arena corridor ive been really disappointed with the refs the last two series said brian perrin the coach with the longest tenure in the north conference were not angels either but when you constantly see your top players playing with an extra hand on their sticks or an arm around them its very frustrating i know its frus trating for our guys i dont think theres any integrity in this league the league doesnt listen to the people who pay the bills the teams and their owners they listen to the people who work for the league the supervisors they need some new blood the spirit fought back from a 40 deficit to within one goal twice but couldnt tie the score a penalty to cale tanaka near centre ice with around three minutes to play dashed any hopes of a comeback brent ladds president of the ontario hockey association said the organization doesnt make public comments on officiating he did say though the series was closely monitored we dont get into specifics but we had supervisors at the series and they were satisfied with the job that the offi cials did he said with files from mike hayakawa shoe bag with save up to steelheadplus woods save 100s of dollars limited quantities water bottle reg m 19w lib off entire inventory limited quantities instock only ifees a x14 pro sermons w stee shaft withany driver purchase r500 series y southwest corner hwy 7 mccowan same plaza new building find i s m i dimarco hd golf clearance centre 8312 mccowan rd wwwdimarcogxom 9054795077