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

p l2tribuneseptem8er st spirit fall short in junior hockey debut by bruce stapley correspondent even the sound of stompin tom connors fabled the good old hockey game on the public address system wasnt enough to inspire the stoufrville spirit to victory in their first provincial junior hockey league game saturday night at the rec centre the spirit were upended 94 by the tren ton sting another expansion team in front of a supportive crowd of around 300 people stouffville managed to hold the visitors to a 11 tie through the first period with the first ever spirit goal coming when bob whiting onetimed a pass from team cap tain tyler rommeldere during the teams first power play opportunity jeff angelidis also got an assist the sting had taken an early lead on a power play goal the sting broke loose for four goals in the second period before the spirit countered with three of their own tate philips clicked on a power play from rommelaere and whiting before chris kyriakou scored a short handed goal from george trifon trifon then scored another stouffville spirit goalie adam pirri saves this shot from trenton sting player jason colasante during junior a hockey action saturday night at the rec centre the game was the debut for the spirit who lost the contest 94 photocheryl johnson power play marker from philips with 20 seconds left in the period to bring- the spirit back to within a goal but the sting made it 64 with a goal scored just four seconds before the period ended to short circuit the stouffville comeback effort trenton iced the game with three more in the third spirit general managercoach george stavro said he was disap pointed the teaml was unable to continue the momentum gathered in the second half of the middle period i thought we had them there v he said he was happy with the size of the crowd but less than happy with how his team played we could have played better they were nervous and tight stavro said the team is going to have to acquire some beefy defencemen if it is to be competi tive we definitely need help on defence we just dont have the big muscle guys who can handle the traffic in front of the net we gave the puck away four times and it led to four goals stavro said he had added ed choe a five foot 11 inch 195 pound rearguard from the picker ing panthers metro junior hockey league team prior to saturdays opener left wingers dean sherman and evan georgiou werent in the line up because of two game suspen sions handed down in the spirits 95 exhibition game win in orillia sept 13 after the game whiting said it hadnt occurred to him until between the first and second peri od that his goal was the first ever for the spirit it was a great feel ing he said the game was dedicated to the memory of the late jack watson in a special pregame ceremony councillor cliff dunkeld repre senting the town accompanied watsons wife carol and her three year old grand daughter madison bartley to centre ice where all three took turns dropping the puck for the ceremonial opening face off a painting dedicated to watsons memory was presented to the spirit by the artist al herrington who was a coworker of watsons the limited edition painting enti tled watsons marsh will hang on a wall in the rec centre it has been used to raise funds for the jack watson memorial trust fund set up to enable children to learn and appreciate sports and the outdoors as much as he did sunday night in newmarket the spirit were defeated 112 by the 87s trifon and jason robinson scored for the stouffville squad which played better than the score indicated according to graham crowder actually it wasnt that bad he said we were only out- shot 3632 but they newmarket got five or six power play goals we were just sitting in the penalty box too much the defenceman said things can only improve as the season pro gresses were only going to get better the spirit play a road game in lindsay thursday before return ing home to host the ajax axemen saturday at 830 pm fans had positive reviews for first league game by spirit sitting there at the rec cen tre saturday night i kept waiting for doug ault to come up and belt a couple of home runs so that the stouffville spirits first ever home game could become etched in history in the same unforgettable way as was the blue jays inaugur- al that snowy april afternoon back in 1977 but alas there were to be no heroics as the trenton sting stung their fellow provincial junior hockey league expan sion counterparts by a convinc ing 94 margin however most among the 300 enthusiastic fans in atten dance didnt seem at all dis heartened in fact george stavro the spirits founderco- owhergmcoach who does everything short of play goal and sweep the floor was much more downcast than the home town faithful while george was lamenting what he saw as the spirits dispirited effort in a press scrum after the game sport notes staple y young fans eagerly took advan tage of an opening night oppor tunity to tour the dressing room and get autographs from spirit players when a pre- teenaged girl noted the aroma inside the change room was less than floral george sug gested it could have been worse there werent too many guys who worked up a sweat out there tonight he deadpanned but if george was afraid the opener had produced the type of stench that keeps fans away he neednt worry based on the reactions of most in the stands while some such as long time stouffville resident lloyd hamm suggested it was going to be tough to get into it at first because almost all the players are unknown he said he still planned to attend a few games most were just excited the town had a junior a team and seemed willing to wait for a winner its a good thing for the town said john montgomery who predicted the spirit would be competitive ill come out to a few games long time whitchurch-stouf- fville minor hockey associa tion executive member jack vankoughnet said it was about time the town landed a junior club they should have been here a few years ago said vankoughnet wlur praised the spirifs profession al approach to putting on a show for the fans its a team we should be proud of they may not win every game but theyre playing hard i hope the town gets out there and supports them bernie leighton who attempted to bring a junior franchise to town back in the early 1990s agreed its fan tastic he enthused it pulls the town together i think once they get four or five games under their belts theyll be okay it should have been here a few years ago dianne white president of the whitchurchstouffville girls hockey association sug gested it would be a while before the team would win on the ice but was looking for ward to attending spirit games i think it will be a fun thing for a saturday night she said long time local hockey enthusiast marion gray was also optimistic if s a great game she said of the opener and im sure theyre going to pick it up as they go on ifs very good for the community carol and jim harrots who brought their two elementary school aged children jim and stephanie to the game were all smiles this is a great thing for families said jim who coaches a house league team in town it would be great if we could get some of the players to put in guest appearances at our practices that would really get the kids attention randy dulude was also glad to see a team in town although like most i talked to he could see the team has got some shortcomings which will have to be addressed if it hopes to become a wjnner they seem to be lacking a little on defence and theyre giving up the puck a little too much at their own blue line said dulude but imenjoying the game and 111 be back im sure theyll improve as the season goes on so theres your opening night bouquet george just in case you were thinking of pressing the panic button and firing your coach your gm or even your owner and remember even with doug aulfs timely blasts it took a while for the jays to take flight back in their early days iiiiiil liiai mmouu lujjul4ujjjji4i4 mmijtm4ajtmajiaaajtmatm