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26 economist suntribune sports thursday may 2 2002 mennos to throw out first pitch on fastball season next week spirited hopefuls by jim thomas correspondent the stouffville mennos one of 10 entries in the oshawa and district fastball league are slated to open its regular season schedule next wednesday may 8 at stouffville memorial park starting at 830 pm mennos comanagers art and howie burkholder will introduce three new players to this years lineup including steve burkholder aaron schell and danny deeks not returning are rob and rick reesor brad clubine and shawn boadway the mennos home schedule is as follows may 8 bradford may 15 mount albert may 22 scarborough may 29 oshawa gamewear june 5 lake simcoe keswick june 26 markham july 3 claremont july 10 oshawa jrs july 17 bradford july 24 oshawa mickey finns july 31 mount albert aug 7 lake simcoe keswick aug 14 markham the mennos away schedule is as fol lows may 13 at markham may 21 at oshawa jrs may 30 at mount albert june 12 at oshawa mickey finns june 19 at claremont june 20 at bradford june 25 at lake simcoe keswick july 1 at scarborough july 11 at mount albert july 15 at markham july 29 at oshawa gamewear aug 8 at bradford aug 13 at lake simcoe keswick the mennos have been placed in the leagues north division with markham bradford and lake simcoe keswick the south division includes three oshawa teams claremont and scarborough division rivals will play each other four times with two interlocking con tests between north and south division clubs stouffville bruins say they were robbed in oha finale by brad kelly special the uxbridge bruins with seven s on their roster came within a goal of winning the ontario junior c hockey championship monday night on home ice in retrospect that may not entirely be accurate three minutes into the third period a shot by uxbridges sean gray from deep in the slot got past essex 73 s goalie kevin rivest sending the bruins and their hometown fans into a wild frenzy thinking the game had been tied 22 but referee steve oakman after a long consultation with his linesmen and the goal judge ruled the shot hit the crossbar and did not enter the back of the net ricocheting out as many had originally thought it turned out to be the backbreaker for uxbridge which couldnt muster the equalizer through the remainder of the final period losing 21 to essex in the seventh and deciding game of the ontario hockey association champi onship series the clarence schmalz cup emblem atic of the top junior c team in the province will reside in essex for the next season r nongoal was in the disputed goal was the hot topic in the dressing room hallway following the game where the consensus from uxbridge supporters was that grays shot rang off the top bar inside the back of the net and not the crossbar it was in said coach brad barton outside a subdued dressing room everybody in that end of the rink said it was in the fact is they didnt allow it if that goal was in and somebody didnt allow it they are the ones who will have to live with it not us the controversial play followed the pattern that emerged through much of the sevengame series where a lucky break was the determining factor in the outcome of most of the games one game one bounce said essex coach tony piroski of the difference in the series its the old cliche its too bad somebody had to lose all of the scoring took place in the first period of the game uxbridge broke out on top with a shorthanded goal 243 into the game when rj mabley created a turnover at the essex blueline and went in alone beating rivest high to the glove side but essex answered with two goals before the period was out kyle stewarts shot through a maze of players in front of uxbridge goaltender nick grainger at 603 tied the game and jason mccrones breakaway goal at 1644 gave essex a lead it didnt relinquish for the remainder of the game essex was able to stifle the majority of uxbridges scoring chances not allow ing the home side to mount much of an attack tonight i thought we bottled them up pretty good and thats the way we win low scoring games said piroski of his teams stellar defensive play both goaltenders made some remarkable saves over the final two peri ods to keep the game close particularly grainger uxbridge managed to pull grainger with 111 left in the third peri od in favour of an extra attacker desper ately trying to score an equalizer but were unsuccessful players praised they have nothing to hang their heads about said barton praising his teams effort in the championship series and throughout the entire season this is the most unbelievable bunch of guys i have ever been associated with in all my years of hockey uxbridge forced a seventh game after extending the series with a 43 win in essex on saturday night in game 6 stouffville residents david brown mike sullivan and mabley scored for uxbridge staff photorob alary about 180 hockey players from across ontario and into the united states were at the stouffville arena last weekend to try out for the stouffville spirit junior a team above mike and lorraine humphreys sign some of the prospects in the spirits main training camp opens in august stouffville motocross enthusiast enjoys the ride from coast to coast when stouffvihes mark stallybrass began motocross rac ing 25 years ago he never dreamed hed some day head up an operation extending coast to coast the canadian motosport racing club with headquarters at 117 ringwood drive has expanded to such an extent it now hosts 350 events a year many of these in southwestern ontario the cmrc was established by stallybrass in 1994 since then its grown to be recognized by the motorcycling industry as the premier sanctioning body in the country this independent nonprofit organization enables amateur and professional offroad com petitors to participate in orga nized events across canada motosport membership canadawide now exceeds 6000 including 2000 in ontario races include up to 500 entries widi weekend crowds of 1500 not unusual entrants range in age from five to 55 with some as old as 70 bike sizes go from 50cc to 500cc with classes established accord ing to engine displacement and rider skill a new largesize bike can cost up to 7000 several competitors reside in the stouffville area including jim thomas kristina sundal a national champion ryanyork and daniel blackburn other top riders include mike island of barrie ryan gauld holland landing peter raymer queensville and ken clark of newmarket stallybrass organized his first motocross competition at brantford in 1990 in a single year the program expanded to 350 events could a future meet be staged in whitchurchstouffville stallybrass has spoken with mayor wayne emmerson con cerning such a possibility but so far nothings happened the biggest detractor is noise he says its difficult to obtain a site far removed from residential development it would give the economy of the community a tremendous boost he claims stallybrass says many people have a misconception of the sport likening it to a peter fonda movie its not like that at all he says its a family thing stallybrass admits that like in any motorized competition there are hazards involved i have a few scars to prove it he laughs but ontario director brett lee says because of imposed safe guards and controls serious accidents are few and far between the motocross racing season begins in may and continues through october bikes are trans ported from place to place in everything from pickup trucks to tractortrailers lee agrees misconceptions are difficult to combat some keep comparing us to bike gangs which is totally untrue he says those com munities whove welcomed us always want us back as an indication of public interest in the sport lee notes the motocross web site has recorded 30 million hits stallybrass says the canadian motosport racing clubs present status has been a longterm goal i operate on the crawl walk run theory and this has how its gone he adds but it wouldnt have happened with- ojut thft support of a jot of goodpe