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stouffville sports deadline 12 noon mondays phone 6402612 fax 6408778 email sportsstouffvillesuiicom tuesday feb 25 2003 page 12 video review helps spirit take series lead its hard to record an assist in a hockey game from the top row of the stouffville arena rut give one to chris wrong the stouffville spirits video tech- nician the spirit played one of its worst games of the season getting thrashed 63 by the newmarket hurricanes thursday the next night the team practised then watched a lengthy video montage of their effort from the night before call it chris ice follies whatever the ugly video ses sion worked the spirit reeled off wins the next two nights to take a two games to one lead in the provincial junior a hockey league north conference semifinal series game 4 in the bestofseven secondround series goes tonight at 830 pm at the stouffville arena game 5 is thursday in newmarket it didnt look good early in saturday afternoons game at the stouffville arena about 700 fans braved the storm warning to watch the hurricanes blow out to a 20 lead following the same script used in the first two games of the first- round series with couchicwng the spirit stormed back with three straight goals to win 32 ian staal jd smithson and 16- yearold ty raine with the winner with 307 to go scored for the spirit sunday night in newmarket it was the spirit taking the early 20 lead and never giving up it up it held period leads of 31 and 42 before winning 52 stouffvilles own mike sullivan had a goal and two assists brent chandler michael barbera mike forgie and jordan mabley had the others newmarket outshot the spirit 3431 sunday newmarket was steven carota outshot 3526 saturday including 179 in the third period steven carota who sat out the opening round won both games in the spirit net he relieved michael andreoff in thursdays opener seeing his first action in 18 days there was no pressure coming into a game like that trailing 52 he said i got some shots and got into a rhythm ive been working on a few things and the defence is helping out a lot felice turano also returned to action saturday after three weeks on the injured list the feisty defenceman who played earlier in the season with the guelph storm of the ontario hockey league has been a physical force when im hitting im on my game he said it feels good out there aurora leads collingwood 20 in the other north semifinal game 3 is tonight in aurora spirited notes spirit equip ment manager doug paterson is on sabbatical working for the las vegas gladiators of the arena football league i spirit at a glance rt f scores i stouffville 3 newmarket2 game two stouffvillss newmarket 2gamethrig stoirffvilletodsbestof whos hot breht mike sulilvah ftttflv a k mikecdmmjssq felicurano and steven carota i newmarket at stouffville today 830 pm game 4 in the stick of time in a battle of the red and white timhortons teams defender jared wideman centre managed to get his stick on a shot from jeremy hughes white uniform during recent whrtchurchstoufhrille minor hockey association mite house league action at the stouffville arena looking on are goalie jake espy and defenceman chad harbour sjoerd witteveen photo technically nhls baker keeps close watch on ref s linesmen by jim thomas stouffville sun dave baker watches more national hockey league games than any spectator in north america yet he seldom sits in the stands the 40yearold stouffville res ident does his viewing via a video screen from his air canada centre office in downtown toronto he is the nhls technical man ager of officiating born in ft churchill man mr baker grew up in ottawa where he obtained his degree in recreation facilities management from algonquin college mr baker took an interest in officiating at age 13 working up through the ranks of the ontario hockey league and the canadian amateur hockey league 19 years in all initially much of his time was spent in the ottawa area supervis ing young people interested in han dling games in 1993 he took over as head instructor overseeing a develop ment program for all amateur offi cials thre6 years later he moved to the candian amateur hockey association office in calgary it was there he met bryan lewis then the director of officiating with the nhl in 1998 mr bakers present dave baker position was created he worked out of an office on international boulevard near pearson airport then three years ago mr baker moved to air canada centre an appointment with the nhl doesnt come up too often he said i jumped at the chance he works shouldertoshoulder with andy van hellemond direc tor of officiating with the nhl mr bakers responsibilities are mindboggling eightyfour offi cials including 33 referees 39 linesmen and 12 minor league refs come under his wing in both the nhl and the american hockey league scouting new officials is also part of his program as well attend ing an invitationonly prospect camp every summer at guelph what he and van hellemond look for primarily in an official is the ability to skate its andys team and hes the coach mr baker said its his desire to put the best team oh the ice every night ah assignments are handled via computers and all games are video taped most people dont realize whats involved in the staging of a hockey game he said when occasionally he takes a seat in the stands his eyes are on the guys in the stripes rather than players keeping players and coaches at armslength is best he claims despite the fact referees and linesman are often away from home 200 days a year he considers it a great career theyre a fraternity he says yet still competitors all quality people mr baker admits that while he misses onice officiating he wouldnt trade his present position for the world its my life my livelihood and my passion junior spartans eliminated in quarterfinals the stouffville district secondary school junior spartans saw their hockey season end thursday when they fell 84 to host st joan of arc catholic high school in york region athletic association quarterfinal action j- matt mulder and bob hughes each scored twice for the spartans jason miller added a single spartans head coach steve jimmo said a slow start didnt help his clubs chances as it trailed 30 after one period before rallyingto tie the score in the second period but st joan of arc scored just before the period concluded to take a 43 lead we were pumped said jimmo of his clubs secondperiod comeback but that one late goal took away our momentum st joan of arc added two more goals in the third period before the spartans mounted another minor comeback by scor ing twice to cut the deficit to 65 the spartans would come no closer as st joan of arc added two more goals including one into an emptynet late in the contest to round out the scoring