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2f stouffville suntribune thursday dec 11 2003 stouffville suntribune i i spirit prepares for tough grind jr a team plays three big games in four days starting tonight with aurora the prechristmas vacation for the stouffville spirit ends tonight after playing just one game in me last 1 days tne spirit should be heavily tested in three contests over the next four nights it starts tonight with the aurora tigers r team in the canadian junior a hockey league at the stouffville arena at 730 aurora 32100 is in first place in the north conference of the provincial junior a hockey league the spirit 211 100 is in third see t standings on page 25 the spirit visits the south conferences thornhill major islanders saturday thornhill 131440 beat the spirit 52 n627m5touffvilla v the newmarket hurricanes 25-6- 10 in second in the north conference host the spirit sundaynightthe spirit is 130 against newmarket this year c newmarket unbeaten in 12 games hosts wexford tonight and plays at aurora friday newmarket is the only i team to beat aurora this season through this streak weve beaten some darned good teams but at the same time its good to get back with the wexfords auroras and stouffvilles said newmarket head coach brad selwpod we need to play those better teams tdimprove spirit tames panthers in pickering the spirit spanked the pickering panthers 62 friday at the pickering recreation complex after trailing 10 at the end of the first period the spirit scored six straight goals pat leone acquired from the vaughan vipers last month scored twice kevin hayward cale tanaka rick schrank and kevin lord had the other goals shane baxter and jake van allen had two assists each neil conway earned the win for the spirit who outshot pickering 3516 leone a former hurricane was named first star of the game and lord second star by panthers personnel spirited notes spirit forward randy johnston was one of three junior a players called up to the injury- riddled ottawa 67s last weekend drafted by ottawa this year the newmarket resident played in losses to st- mikes and london he was back avith the spirit mondaythe spirit took part in saturdays stouffville kinsmen santa claus parade and held its team christmas party monday at the other office for more spirit information visit wwwstouftvillespiritcom i atom clippers on roll after third straight win the stouffville atom clippers posted three victories in recent minor hockey action defeating beeton 41 markham 43 and newmarket 42 twins robbie and elise acton steven tait and curtis gragq each scored once for the clippers in their win over beeton connor cadaret tait and josh machesney drew assists in their win over markham michael bourgeois wesley brown crago andmachesney each deliv ered one goal wes brown machesney and daltori mayo earned assists 1 against newmarket crago arid machesney each had a goal and one assist whue cadaret and chris smith added single tallies elise acton and robbie acton drew assists spartans make statement at brother andre hockey tourney sdss defeats fivetime defending yraa champions twice ivwmmdrkham tournament title when the stouffville district secondary school spartans senior boys hockey team entered last weeks brother andre catholic high school invitational tournament in markham it was searching for an answer r the spartans hoped to see how they measure up against the host cardinals a team that has won the york region athletic association title the last five seasons when the twoday tournament concluded friday the spartans got a positive response and not just once in a 63 victory over the cardinals in a roundrobin game thursday the following day the same two teams met in the championship final at mount joy arena and for a second straight occasion the spartans prevailed 53 we came into this looking for a few measuring sticks we came into this looking for a few measuring sticks said an elated spartans head coach jamie hewittif you look at the york region hockey trophy brother andre has won it five years in a row in the five years that ive been here at stouffville and coaching hockey ive never beaten a brother andre team in senior hockey yesterday thursdays win was huge for our program in that we were down 32 entering the third period before we came back itold bur kids in the dressing room between the second and third peri od that we were a good team and we had character the character of this team showed again friday theyre committed and things are coming together he said total team effort hewitt thought his club s success stemmed from its ability to play as an unselfish team the guys are all in it for each other if i had to give out an mvp in the tournament i couldnt i would need an award for every single play er he said in fridays final the spartans were i also forced to play catchup hockey as they trailed 20 early in the first peri- ocl i a goal late in the first seemed to give the spartans some momentum as they scored twice in the second period to take a 32 lead which they never relinquished staff photobill roberts stoufiyille district secondary school spartans alex bruno left tries to impede the progress of brother andre catholic high school cardinals puck carrier adrian gallardo during thursdays roundrobin game of the brother andre tournament at markhams mount joy arena the spartans won this game 63 and beat the host cardinals in fridays final 53 corey tanaka scored twice for the spartans while justin hitchen matt mulder and mark sullivan added sin gles perfect roundrobin the spartans reached the final after going undefeated in round- robin action as they turned back brother andre 63 westmount collegiate thornhill 62 mary ward catholic high school scarborough 72 and anderson collegiate whitby 52 in their semifinal game while happy with the tournament victory hewitt still maintains his club has some areas of concern especially slow starts in each of their tournament games the spartans were forced to overcome a 10 deficit hewitt cant explain it we still have a lot of work to do but im proud of the way our guys played in this tournament its defi nitely a big win for our program spartans win friendship game at port perry basketball tourney the stouffville district secondary school spartans senior boys basketball team captured the friendship game title at the port perry high school tournament saturday with a 4842 win over kenner collegiate of peterborough mike devries a firstyear player led the spartans with 32 points in the win the spartans lost theirfirst two games of the tournament to hbst port perry 5040 and uxbridge secondary school 4842 beat sutton in league opener the spartans opened their yraa tier two league schedule with a 4539 road win over sutton district high school justin reesor and justin brugger were high scorers for the spartans with 16 points apiece