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

18 stouffviue suntribune thursday march 112004 stouffviue suntribune sports staff photosjoerd witteveen stoufivifle district secondary school goaltender adam davis kicks out the puck in his teams 41 win over monsignor john pereyma of oshawa tuesday at the stouffviue arena sdss advanced to the provincials sdss off to ofsaa young stars by jim mason staff writer cory tanaka and brandon walker helped lead the stouffviue district secondary school spartans to the ontario federation of school athletic associations aa champi onships but the spartans will have to get by without their young stars at the provincial tourna ment march 24 to 27 in london tanaka and walker both grade 10 students will be playing for their club team the richmond hill stars at the 2004 ontario hockey league showcase for the ohl cup in north york from march 24 to 28 theyre both tremendous players said jamie hewitt head coach of the spartans who defeated monsignor john pereyma of oshawa 41 tuesday at the stouffviue arena for the durhamyork aa championship and a berth at ofsaa both have drawn ohl scouts who are assessing 1988born talent for the leagues may draft to high school games their richmond hill team is the toprated minor midget team in ontario the ohl showcase features the top minor midget teams in ontario and the us tanaka had two goals including an emptynetter while walker and gabe barnett had singles in tuesdays win adam davis made several key saves for the spartans while an ofsaa berth was at stake the game wasnt as intense as the twogame sweep the spartans served up to auroras cardinal garter last week hewitt said had the spartans declared as aaa the highest ranking at the start of the year they would have automatically qualified for ofsaa aaa the same weekend and also in london cardinal carter gets that spot but by going aa for mid sized schools sdss has 800 students the spartans need ed tuesdays win to get to london this is the most complete team weve had at stouffviue said hewitt of the four-year- old senior program from both goaltenders out its a solid team hockey news without tanaka and walker hewitt expects the spartans to be seeded around fifth in the ofsaa tourney goaltender jake balsdon is the other stouffviue resident on the richmond hill aaa minor midgets for information on the ontario high school championships log on to wwwofsaahockey2004ca for ohl cup information log on to wwwontariohockeyleaguecomohlcup french trip emotional for silvermedallist synchronized skaters by jim thomas correspondent two stouffville girls were winners on and off the ice alyshia higgins and kim hord both 17 and members of the whitby ice fyre synchronized skating team returned from a competition in rouen france with memories to last a lifetime their entry a firsttime participant in the prestigious french cup scored a silver plated secondplace victory competing against finland sweden britain russia italy germany france and the united states representing canada they were edged out by finland in the long and short programs stamford ont near niagara falls placed third previously with markhams elite edge synchro team and current mem bers of the stouffviue figure skating club higgins and hord decided to join the whitby club after markham dropped back from junior competitive to open festival ranking it was exciting alyshia said standing at centre ice and watching the canadian flag being raised over head theres nothing quite like it exciting for them maybe but nervewracking for us said karen hord kims mother she along with ivy higgins alyshias mother made the trip even the fathers in our group were in tears she said karen said the whitby team con centrated on speed presentation and footwork a combination that worked to perfection held collective breath we sat there holding our collective breaths she said when the announcement was made the entire canadian contingent stood and cheered then we celebrat ed she added two years ago i never thought something like this would happen to me higgins said shes been skating since age four hord since five both are honour students at stouffville district secondary school higgins in grade 12 kim hord left and alyshia higgins of stouffviue drape themselves with a canadian flag after winning suver medals at skate competition in france and hord in grade 11 but not au the action was on the ice outside the arena they were cheered everywhere they went their red and black canadian jackets setting them apart from others on the street the girls were also hounded by auto- graph seekers and readily obliged they visited such landmarks as the beaches of normandy and the eiffel tower language differences presented no problems hord said their english was better than our french she laughed higgins and hord have their sights set on even higher goals they hope that by 2010 synchronized skating wiu be part of the olympic program in vancouver if so they plan on being there bantams in tough with cobourg thats some kind of team that dumped the stouffville clippers 83 in the second game of the ontario minor hockey association bantam a semifi nals tuesday at the stouffville arena the victorious cobourg cougars are 3231 in regular season and playoff games this season they also won a tour nament in peterborough and lost in overtime in the final of the international silver stick event in michigan this year many of the players won agegroup omha championships the last two sea sons with cobourg teams brendan wise matt easter and ken czerwinski scored for the bantam clippers the only stouffville team remaining in the omha playdowns the first game in the bestoffive series ended 44 game 3 is tonight in cobourg with the fourth game saturday at 5 pm at the stouffville arena for more information on the omha playoffs log on to wwwomhamt