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32 loos m saturday may 25 2002 mono larger rugby club kicks off season today by mike hayakawa sports editor theres a great sense of anticipation on the part of jim monk when the markham rugby football club kicks off its season this year though the clubs presi dent feels a little more enthusiastic with the club fielding three senior mens teams an expanded junior pro gram the possible resurrection of a womens team and longawaited com pletion of its own clubhouse monk has good reason to feel ecstatic monk noted the senior team which begins its 14game campaign today with the thirds facing the york yeomen at their austin park field at noon will compete in the ontario rugby unions marshall division this division is the highest level of compe tition in the province where the most noticeable change will take place this season though is within the clubs junior program fielding under- 18 and under- 14 boys teams last season the markham club now has five teams monk cited this season theres an under- 18 under- 16 and under- 14 boys team along with an under- 12 coed non- contact squad and under- 18 girls team were excited with what the future holds when the kids clear through our junior program and eventually play at the senior level said monk in explaining the growth of its junior programs monk attributes it to several factors he pointed out a number of cur rent club members have youngsters who share an interest in the sport at the same time the elders have found the time to coach the games nuances to their youngsters economics is another reason junior dues are 125 and this includes everything except a players shoes and shorts if you compare that to other sports like hockey or golf rugby is by far less expensive for a youngster to play in monk also praises the enthusiasm taken by high schools in markham and stouffville who field rugby squads most high schools in the area are running junior senior teams and girls teams for kids who are keen on play ing the sport once the high school sea son ends theres nowhere else for them to go and play it monk noted a womens team is on the verge of reforming after taking a years sabbatical last year due to a lack of players another reason which might account for an increased enrollment at all of its playing levels is the antici pated completion of the clubs new 3200square foot clubhouse located on their home pitch weve played in markham now for 22 to 23 years and to have our own clubhouse is a big deal said mohk economist sun stouffville tribune sports staff photosjoerd witteveen stretching it to the limit markham district high schools danika lawson right uses her long reach to grab the frisbee over two aurora high school defenders during wednesdays semifinal contest in the york region athletic association ultimate frisbee championships at milliken park markham district high school won this game 53 and took home the silver medal after dropping a 71 decision to cardinal carter catholic high school in the title tilt the markham district high school and cardinal carter teams will go to ottawa on may 30 and 31 to compete in the ofsaa festival kitchener makes minicucci an offer he cant refuse by mike hayakawa jim mason staff writers two years ago no one in the ontario hockey league would even give anthony minicucci a look too small an ohl scout said of minicucci who wasnt included on the draft eligible list at the 2000 ohl draft in mississauga he cant play in this league now apparently he can this spring the stouffville spirit captain signed a guaran teed contract with the ohls kitchener rangers steve spott rangers associ ate coach said getting anthony is like hitting a home run the rangers signed him to a twoyear contact the dura tion of his junior eligibility which includes the upcoming year and an overage season the following year that will pay for his post- secondary education were looking forward to have him come in here and put some numbers here that he did in stouffville said spott of minicucci he was a dominant player at that tier 2 junior level and once he gets his feet wet at this level and gets confident we feel he can be a good player big numbers minicucci broke a ton of team records during his three years in stouffville this season the maple resident wpn fhe scoring anthony minicucci undrafted spirit captain was mvp and scoring champion in north conference race 82 points in 45 games in the provincial junior a hockey leagues north conference and was named conference mvr we know that he could have gone to a bigtime college in the us but he wants to be a pro and he feels this going to the ohl route could be better for him said spott spott said the rangers had been keeping a close watch on minicucci since christmas we kept in touch with brian perrin spirit head coach and i know brian from the under- 17 days working regional camps with him brians a firstclass guy to deal with stouffville had anthonys best interests in mind at 755 pqujid nhnteilctei may have been too small for the ohl when he was first draft eligi ble three years ago but time in the weight room had him at a buff 190 last season several ncaa schools came courting but minicucci wasnt interested every since i was a little kid ive always wanted to play in the ohl said minicucci this is my chance other ohl teams expressed interest before but none as seri ously as kitchener they were great said minicucci of the rangers they said they had been keeping an eye on me all year but waited until the end of the season to make the offer it was a great three years in stouffville brian perrin and oth ers in stouffville really helped me a lot perrin feels minicucci can thrive in the ohl anthony is the most compet itive athlete i have coached he always likes the under dog role and loves to prove peo ple wrong to show just how competitive he is i point to the fact that i witnessed him score three times when we were down two men killing penalties no matter the situation he was always a threat to make some thing happen on the ice he has truly earned his way to play at a higher level and i think he has a great opportunity to play even at i il j i i m1 r i v t sports digest yeung cards second cjga title in hamilton humphrey yeung 12 fired a two- round total of 156 to capture the boys 12 and under division in last week ends canadian junior golf associations team canada qualifier junior worlds at the kings forest golf course in hamilton winning his second cjga title of the season by two strokes over jordan lesansky of lasalle ont the markham resident carded a five-over- par 77 on the first day and a 79 on the second day among other local results pierce cassidy 13 of unionville was second in the boys 1314 group after carding a score of 167 80 87 he was two strokes behind steve lee of north york in the intermediate group sal spadaro 20 of markham finished fifth overall after firing a 174 87 87 ryan franke 16 of unionville was 22nd in the boys 1517 group with 182 93 89 fifteenyearold jason deschamps of markham finished 23rd overall after firing a 184 97 87 izaryk earns allstar honours aaron izaryk earned two awards when the america east conference announced its postseason baseball awards on wednesday the 19 -year- old markham res ident who is in his freshman year at the university of maine was named to the all- rookie team as catcher and des ignated hitter the markville secondary school graduate was also named to the america easts allconference first team as a desig nated hitter after leading the confer ence with a 472 batting average including nonconference games izaryk sported a 384 batting average and drove in 18 runs stouffville storm wins opener the stouffville storm squirts opened their fastball season on a pos itive note thursday with a 97 win over the oshawa stingers at memorial park tyler heffernan drove in the game tying run in the bottom of the seventh and nolan benoit the eventual game- winning run derek eickmeier and erick espiritusanto split pitching duties brian hector and alex mangotich handled catching duties the storm is hosting an eight- team tournament which began yesterday and concludes today at the stouffville memorial park diamonds the final is slated for 3 pm aaron izaryk earns honours as a catcher and designated hitter j p v t