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10 ‘ No opening-night jitters for young Spirit defence N ‘5 009 Playing host to the Markham Waxers in their regular-season opener before some 300 onlookâ€" ers at the Stouffville Arena Thurs- day, the Spirit put fourth a sound defensive eflort and received time- ly offence to skate off with a 3-2 victory. Secondâ€"year Spirit forward and Stoufiville resident Justin Hulshof lit the red light with just 3:20 remain- ing in regulation time to deposit the game-winning tally. Entering the Opener, questions centered on young Spirit defence, which included their two 1993- born designated players in Bren- BY MICHAEL HAYAKAWA mhayakawa®yrmg. com If the Stouffville Spirit had con- cerns about their ability to play defence, they can put them to rest. At least for one Central Cana- dian Hockey League contest. Not helping matters entering Thursday's game was the absence of veteran rearguard Chris Bain, who has requested a trade. “The concern is that we are young on defence," Spirit general manager Ken Burrows said. “We dressed (two) defenceman in our lineup with junior A experience, but everyone else either played minor hockey or junior C. I don't think the consensus is that we’re bad. We just have to learn to play at this (junior A) level and we (Spirit management) feel they can. It’ll just take time." nan Serville and Ryan Zupancic. But in playing the new-lookWaxâ€" ers, who sported a new uniform design, the Spirit didn’t appear to exhibit any ominous signs in their own end. Veteran goalkeeper Kori Coelho, DEMANDS TRADE who played well on last year's Spin’t club that occupied the cellar in the now defunct Provincial Junior A Hockey League’s Central Confer- ence, stopped 34 of 36 shots. “That’s why we could go with our young defence," Burrows said. “Kori will buy us some time while our young defehcemen develop." In Thursday’s game, rookie for- ward Nathan Little staked the Spirit a 1-0 lead in the opening frame before lack Caradonna tied it for the Waxers. Both tallies came on the power play. Following a scoreless middle frame, the Waxers took their only lead on a goal by rookie forward Zack LaRue. Zack LaRue. “They outworked us, especially But another Stouffville product, down low and that’s the deal. They rookie forward Shane Welker, tied beat us. It's as simple as that," the the game at 2-2 at the 8:56-mark of Vandorf resident said. the third period and set the stage. “Idon'tthinkwegot manybreaks for Hulshof’s heroics, which didn’t in the first two periods,” Burrows come without controversy. said “One of their goals was acci- “The net was off (the moor~ ings). The referees’ mistake cost us a game and there’s nothing we can do about it. What can you do?” said Waxers general man- ager and head coach Joe Cor- nacchia. “It was a missed call." Apart from the non-call, Comacâ€" chia was quick to give full marks to the Spirit. The Waxers say their net was removed from its moorings before Hulshof’s shot crossed the goal line. But referees Jonathan Wallace and Joel Barron declared Hulshof’s goal was good. GAME-WINNER CONTRWERSIAL dently tipped in by one of our playâ€" ers. I thought Markham had plenty of breaks. I just thought we worked a little harder than them. Especially in the third period. “Overall I was really happy with the way the game was presented by our organization. Markham came to play and so did we.” pm. as part of the league’s College Weekend. Next home game is Sept. 24 against Peterborough. After the Spirit and Waxers resumed their homeâ€"andâ€"home series in Markham yesterday, the Spirit will play the St. Michael’s Buzzers in Bowmanville Friday at 8 Spirited notes: Whitchurch- Stouffville Mayor Wayne Emmerâ€" son dropped the puck to officially open the regular season Thursday. For more on the Spirit, log on to: www. stouflvillespirit.com :w-v