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26 stouffville suntribune thursday may 6 2004 stouffville suntribune ohl teams come calling for stouffville on draft selection day tanaka walker and conway selected by major junior clubs by jim thomas correspondent three stouffville residents took a giant step towards pro gressing up the hockey ladder last weekend when they were selected in the ontario hockey leagues annual priority selec tion cory tanaka and brandon walker both students at stouffville district secondary school and whitchurch- stouffville minor hockey association grads were picked by the plymouth whalers neil conway a goalkeeper with the stouffville spirit of the provincial junior a hockey league this past season was chosen by the owen sound attack a secondround pick by the whalers and 24th player cho sen overall in the 15round lot tery tanaka 15 spent the last eight years with the richmond hill stars minor hockey organi zation this past season as a mem ber of the stars aaa minor midget squad the 5footll 165pound centre amassed 28 goals and 51 assists currently in grade 10 tanaka is the younger brother of stouffville spirit forward cale tanaka expecting to report to the whalers rookie camp june 4 tanaka is confident he can make the ontario hockey league club but he remains uncertain how much ice time he will see what tanaka will miss most cory tanaka richmond hill stats forward drafted in second round by plymouth whalers though is in moving to a place far removed from stouffville and in being close to those he knows well im really excited he said but ill miss my friends nql conway spirit goalie and cleveland native taken in fourth round by owen sound attack a career in hockey would be a dream come true ill take it as far as i can noting that their club did hot possess plenty of offen sive firepower this past sea- sonwhalers general manag er and head coach mike vellucci was pleased to acquire a proven scorer like tanaka with their first pick the whalers selected markham s john armstrong who also proved he could generate some offensive punch we wanted to draft play ers who have speed skill and can score goals he said one thing we needed is goal scorers last season we didnt score a lot of goals ev6n strength most came on the power play with armstrong and tanaka we were able to address what we needed both are playmakers and great character players who come from winning pro grams a 5foot9 170pound for ward the 15yearold walker was a ninthround pick by the whalers and was the 173rd player chosen overall like tanaka walker was a member of the stars aaa minor midget team and enjoyed an outstanding sea son as a left winger compil ing 36 goals and 51 assists both were also members of the stouffville district secondary school spartans senior hockey team that won the york region athletic association title walker though expects to stay in stouffville and play with the spirit last weekend he skated at the spirits rookie camp at stouffville arena following graduation from stouffville district secondary school he hopes to attend university on a hockey schol arship south of the border it was an honour to be drafted he said it was expected but i wasnt sure where or when a native of cleveland ohio the 16yearold conway was chosen in the fourth round by the attack and was the 76th pick overall conway joined the spirit last fall as a 15yearold rook ie from the pittsburgh pa aaa midgets he eventually became the sprits firststring goalie and recorded a 346 goals against average win ning 17 games while losing nine in the regular schedule during the playoffs he won five games while losing six conway said that playing with in stouffville this past season was the best thing that happened to him playing with the spirit was awesome he said being drafted came as a surprise conway hopes that being drafted in the ohl will be a step towards pursuing a pos sible professional hockey career a career in hockey would be a dream come true ill take it as far as i can he said staff photosjoerd witteveen school of hard knocks the stouffville spirit junior a hockey team held its annual rookie camp at the stouffville arena last weekend rick sutton above delivers a hard hit on a fellow player more than 100 players from across ontario auditioned training camp opens in midaugust with about half of last years team expected to return general meeting brings good news money to minor hockey parents brandon walker- plymouth whalers select richmond hill stars forward in ninth round rebate of 30 given to parents of 520 house league players by jim thomas correspondent what a difference a year makes at the 2003 annual meeting of the whitchurchstouffville minor hockey association parents in attendance were vehement over anticipated increases in house league registration fees as a result a subcommittee was created to study the plan at this years meeting held april 26 the effect was obvious the atmos phere was upbeat and the mood pos itive one of the best years ever joe cornacchia association president said everyone did a great job cornacchia announced a 30 rebate for 520 house league players even with that he said the associa tion would conclude the season with a surplus of 24000 as an indication of progress made cornacchia said 2003 was a break even year and in 2002 they were 5000 in the red see president page 27