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26 stouffvilk suntribune m thursday march 172005 stouffville suntribune goaltending key ingredient to sdss success in york final the stouffville district secondary school spartans girls hockey team established a first friday the spartans became the first girls hockey team at the school to skate off with a york region athletic association champi onship this became official after they swept aurora high school in a first to threepoint series that was capped off with a 41 road win hayley hughes potted two goals cassie sparks and ashley mclelland each added one for the spartans who led 10 after one period and 30 after two although the spartans cap tured the title cocoach dan mcconnachie knew the task wouldnt be easy aurora is a very good team we are very even and the only difference really was in goal and in getting timely scoring he said indeed those factors sur faced in both games in last thursdays series opener at the stouffville arena the spartans received a stellar netminding effort from liz knox and a timely thirdperiod goal from hughes to emerge with a 1- owin bywinning the york title the spartans will take to the ice at the ontario federation of school athletic associations aaa tour nament in orillia from march 22 to 24 the spartans were given a sixth seed in the 20team tour ney mcconnachie thinks the spartans will go as far as knox can carry them in five playoff games she had three shutouts and only allowed two goals aurora espe cially was a tough series with lots of shots in both games and yet they only got one goal in the final if i am going to win aa ofsaa it is liz who will decide how far we go given the type of competitor she is it will be pretty far he said despite losing in the final aurora will go to the provincial aaaaaaa championships for larger schools also in orillia next week spartan boys hockey team seeded ninth at ofsaa the spartans senior boys hockey team earned a ninth staff photobill roberts stouffville district secondary school spartans forward hayley hughes gets control of the puck and moves up ice during last fridays york region athletic association girls hockey final against the aurora high school golden eagles in aurora the spartans won the york girls title their first in school history with a 41 victory the spartans will play in the ontario federation of school athletic associations aaa playdowns in orillia march 22 to 24 seed at the ofsaa aaa cham pionships in windsor march 30 to april 2 im okay with a ninth seed its better than having the bullseye on the front of your shirt the spartans who were last years york champions were placed in a pool with topseeded belle river secondary school eighth seed bishop macdonnell secondary school guelph 16th seed osgoode township secondary school and 17th seed burlington central secondary school spartans head coach jamie hewitt had no complaints with the seed his club was given im ok with a ninth seed its better than having the bullseye on the front of your shirt he said in reference to the high seed his club was awarded in last years provincial tourney before they were eliminated in the quarterfinals id rather be the underdog theres less pressure in looking ahead to the provincials hewitt said he did not know too much about the 20team field since many of the participants are making their tournament debut this year theres only five teams in the tournament that returned from last year he cited theres defi nitely a lot of unknowns this year theres been a few surpris es well just have to show up although the players are off for march break hewitt has held practice sessions at the stouffville arena during the week as well the spartans will play an exhibition game next thursday at the stouffville arena at 230 pm against the brother andre catholic high school cardinals like the spartans the cardinals will be going to the provincials where they are com peting in the aaaa playdowns also being held in windsor dur ing the same timeframe if the spartans hope to make inroads at this years champi onships hewitt said they must play good defence and get some timely contributions on offence our defence has been good we just need to put the puck in the net thats what can win championships he said stouffville boys help brother andre win title two stouffvillearea residents were members of the brother andre catholic high school cardinals senior boys hockey team that won the york title last week mikhail metauro a grade 11 right winger and nick singh a grade 12 centreleft winger and assistant captain played key roles in helping the cardinals win their third york title in the four years after they defeated the cardinal carter catholic high school celtics aurora 42 in the third and deciding game last thursday at markhams mount joy arena singh scored twice for the cardinals in their firstgame 63 loss at mount joy arena metauro had a goal in the cardinals 31 road win in game two that forced the deciding game with the victory the cardinals advance to the provincial aaaa playdowns in windsor from march 29 to april 2 spartans spiked at ofsaa the spartans senior girls vol leyball team placed fourth in its fiveteam pool when they took to the hardwood court earlier this week at the ontario federation of school athletic associations aa playdowns in clinton entering the tournament as the 13th seed the spartans lost their first two pool matches to fourthseeded belle river 20 2512 2519 and fifthseed hillcrest high school thunder bay 20 2513 2511 facing donald a wilson secondary school whitby in their third match the spartans posted a 20 2519 2624 victory the spartans concluded play with a 20 loss 2518 2520 to renfrew secondary school for further tournament information on the provincial championships log on to wwwofsaaonca juvenile clippers reach omha final bestoffive series opens this weekend in windsorarea town when the stouffville juvenile clippers hockey team was assem bled last fall high expectations were set anything short of reaching the ontario minor hockey association a final would be considered a dis appointment to date clippers head coach brent gibson and the rest of his charges have met the challenge and will be vying for the omha tide when they face harrow the bestoffive series begins in harrow near windsor saturday at 8 pm and continues sunday at 330 pm the series resumes the following weekend in stouffville with times to be determined as of press deadline based on the talent that we had when we started in the fall we felt we had a good shot to be in the final said gibson who is in his first year as the clubs head coach in facing harrow which is the two time defending omha a champions and the bb champions the previous four years gibson acknowledged it wont be easy but the clippers might have a psychological advantage after defeating harrow 31 earlier this year at the silver stick tournament semifinals in sarnia before losing in the final predicts tough series theyre beatable but itll be a tough series no one will walk away with it he predicted as in any playoff series gibson said a key ingredient for success lies in goaltending and gibson feels he has two capable goalies in his son shawn and jake balsdon as well gibson warned his club must play disciplined hockey with these young guys it can be an emotional roller coaster where we can take a wrong turn he said up front gibson feels he has two strong lines to go with that includes a trio of josh spang nick ristich and jamie guinane or andy gibson ex- stouffville spirit jr a winger jordan mabley and gabe barnett gibson said he can also rotate his five remaining forwards of mike manson chris flanagan dana macdonald david salvagna and darcy jackson into a good third line norm fretz jon wonch steven relf jordan smalley todd nesbitt and midget callup trevor greenham anchor the defence the clippers advanced to the final after sweeping peterborough in the bestoffive omha semi final series capped friday with a 3- 2 win at the stouffville arena spang scored twice and wonch added the other marker