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stouffville suntribune thursday march 4 2004 23 stouffville suntribune sports spartans skate off with first senior hockey crown corey janakds heroics lift stouffville secondary to york region title the stouffville district secondary school spartans sen ior boys hockey team won the first york region athletic association hockey title in the schools 50 year history tuesday sdss which has had a hockey program for four years capped off the feat by sweeping the best- ofthree final over the cardinal carter catholic high school aurora celtics with a dramatic 43 overtime win at the oak ridges recreation centre corey tanaka scored two goals including the gamewinner at the 208 mark of the first extra session as the score suggested the contest was a hardfought battle and similar to a number of games that theyve been in during the season the spartans over came adversity as they trailed 10 just nine seconds into the game before chris flanagan knotted the count after the first period the spartans then took a 31 lead on goals by brandon walker and tanaka on a shorthanded effort celtics force overtime after the celtics cut their deficit with a powerplay goal before the end of the second peri od they forced overtime after pulling their goalkeeper for an extra attacker and scoring with just 38 seconds remaining in reg ulation time the guys just dont panic spartans head coach jamie hewitt noted i told the guys going into overtime lets settle staff photosjoerd witteveen stoufiville district secondary school spartans norm fretz left received a high stick from cardinal carter catholic high school celtics jared pignataro during tuesdays yraa senior boys hockey final at the oak ridges recreation centre the spartans won the game and title with a dramatic 43 overtime victory down and play our system do what you did all year the guys showed a great amount of charac ter they know what their job is and they get it done it was a total team effort the kids play as a team and for each other although the spartans captured the yraa title they made a decla ration in october to go in as a aa entrant because of this they must play a yorkdurham qualifier with the winner gaining entry to the ontario federation of school athletic association tourney the spartans will face monsignor john pereyma oshawa in a onegame showdown tenta tively scheduled for tuesday at 2 pm at stouffville arena we could be the york region champions and not go to ofsaa but hey thats the rules he said the celtics however will go to ofsaa as the aaa york region representative for larger schools spartans spike ofsaa berth the spartans senior girls vol leyball team earned a berth at the provincial aa playdowns in goderich after defeating mon signor john pereyma oshawa 21 tuesday in its yorkdurham quali fier at stouffville district secondary school after losing the first game 25- 16 the spartans rallied to win the next two by scores of 2927 and 157 i wasnt sure that we would get out of winning this match spartans head coach sharon mcfarlane said the firstgame loss served as a rallying cry for the players she said girls ice tournament title although the spartans girls hockey team was recently elimi nated from the york region athletic association playoffs after being swept by markham district high school in their bestofthree semifinal series they concluded the season on a positive note participating in the ice gardens march classic at york university the spartans captured their division title with a 20 win over birehmount park collegiate institute toronto in tuesdays final hayley hughes scored both goals for the spartans and liz knox posted the shutout in reaching the final the spartans defeated cardinal newman high school 30 and loretto abbey 10 monday the following day they defeated holy name of mary spartans head coach dan mcconnachie said great goal- tending from knox and the clubs ability to produce timely goals were vital ingredients to their success we got great goaltending and great team play liz knox stood up to the test it was definitely a great year spartans hold court the spartans senior boys bas ketball team won its firstround york region tier two playoff game last thursday with a 4740 victory over host sutton district high school mike devries led the spartans with 16 points with the win the spartans advanced to the semifinals and play a road game today against toronto district christian high school woodbridge the other semifinal pits unionville high school against william mulock newmarket some spirit players say final farewell to stouffville juniors sent packing after sundays 43 doubleovertime loss the veteran and the kid sat next to each other for the stouffville spirit team photo at the stouffville arena monday night twentyfour hours earlier they were playing their final game of the provincial jr a hockey league sea son a crushing43 double overtime loss to the newmarket hurricanes newmarket which plays aurora in the north conference final start ing tomorrow tied the game with one second left in regulation time and went on to win the best-of- seven series in five games michael commisso and neil conway were key cogs in a spirit season affected by youth injury and departure commisso 20 graduates after three seasons with the spirit he hopes to play for the university of windsor next year health permit ting he separated his left shoulder last year during the spirits playoff upset of newmarket after a sum mer of rehab and training he sepa rated it again swimming in lake superior in his home town of schreiber ont the day before leav ing for spirit training camp the assistant captain separated his other shoulder oct 16 against wexford later after his fifth sepa ration of the season he thought about quitting but took time off and limped dirough to the end i cant say enough about michael basically playing the sea son without shoulders spirit head coach brian perrin said hes heart and soul the kind of kid you love to have on your team spirit general manager ken burrow calls commisso the toughest kid ive ever seen bar none michael commisso earned plaudits from spirit coaching staff after finishing playing career with stouffville sunday for his part commisso wishes he could return my time in stouffville couldnt have been any better he said great coaching and a great organization that treated me very well mark mitchell and grant buckley are the other players graduating due to age us nationals like conway conway who turned 16 in january may not be back either but not because the spirit doesnt want him the youngest goalie in the provincial league he is being con sidered for the us under17 hockey team based in michigan the cleveland native played all 11 playoff games for the spirit after veteran goalie daniel bellissimb acquired at the trade deadline from st mikes came down with an injury in the last game of the regular season and eventually left the team neil was always the first one to the rink and one of our hardest workers perrin said for a 16- yearold to play into the playoffs on a team with a depleted defence is amazing he will have great success in hockey- the missing defencemen included ian brunt left team mark mitchell injury jeff moor suspension and breen taylor work commitments that forced forwards to play on the blueline and 16yearold defencemen simon gysbers and blake pullin to play key roles game days the spirit won one of the most exciting games in franchise history friday a 43 dou ble overtime decision in game 4 kory helowka scored the game- winner at 18 seconds of the second overtime after fellow newmarket resident rick schrank tied the game with 1058 to play in the third in front of a standingroomonly crowd of 700 fans at the stouffville arena shane baxter and commisso scored the other spirit goals in sundays finale jordan mabley commisso and ty raine scored