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BY MIKE HAYAKAWA Staff Writer For the Stouffville minor midget Clippers, ' it’s two down and one to ga Travelling to Windsor. the Clippers won the first two games of their bestâ€"ofâ€"five or first-to-sixâ€"point Ontario Minor Hockey Association A-level final series against the Riverside Rangers last weekend. Thedipperscanwrapuptheserieswhenmeflmd gameisplayedSaturdayattheStouflvilleArenaaflpm ThefourfligameifneoessarywouldgoSImdayat3pm~ The Clippérs heldh 5-3 lead entering the third period before Riverside erupted with three unanswered goals within the first two minutes to to take a 6-5 advantage In Saturaay's series opener, the Clippers an overtime goal from Daniel McMahon, his second of the game, to emerge a dramatic 7-6‘win. _ With the fabeoff deep in Riverside territory, Connor Cadaret won the draw and fed the puck back to McMa- hon, who drilled a point-blank screen shot that eluded meRiversidegoalkfiperfomiewinnmSWA _ That proved to be a wake-up call for the Clippers David Belofi scored to send the game into overtime. Taylor Clifford, Steven Tait and Chris Smith gave the Clippers a 3-1 lead, but Riversided made 3-3 after one. FOUR-GOAL GAME FOR MACHESNEY The Clippers regained the lead in the second with Kyle Raymer and McMahon scoring to take a 5-3 advantage “Early penalties seemed to unsettle us and while we eventually won it in overtime we never appeared to be playing with much confidence," Clippers head coach Don Easter said. Minor midgets up 2-0 afler Wmdsor weekend The second game Sunday was a stark contIast, as the Clippers cruised to a cpnvipcing 9-_1 _ _ _ ' Sboringthe game’s firstthree the firstthree minutes, the Clippers jumped out to a 6-0 advantage entering the second and were nevet threatened._ Iosthachesne-y had four goals, including three in the first period and another on a penalty shot. Smith, McMa- hon, Dalton Mills, "Ihit and Belofi~ had singlee “Having a two-games-toâ€"nothing lead and coming back to Stouflville for two games is certainly better than if the situation were reversed." he said “But having said that, we have some in'uries and suspensions to key play- ers to deal with so were not taking anything for granted. “I expect (Rivexside) will regrouf) this week andwe’ll see a much more determined effort fmm them saturday." Clippers on cusp of OMHA title “SPORTS Stouffville Clippers Aiden McKinney (left) and Ryan Alden watch as Nobleking Knight Anthony Bastianello gets off a shot during York Simcoe novice semifinals in Stouflvflle Saturday. The Knights eliminated the Clippers with a 4-1 win. BY MIKE HAYAKWA Staff Writer The Stoufiville District Secondary School Spartans senior boys’ hockey team was hoping for a call from the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associa- tions before the start of March break. It never came. After being eliminated in the semi- finals of their York Region playofis. the Spartans held hope up until last weekend theymightgetaberth atthervincialAA tourney in Peterbomugh next week. No shot at provincial threeâ€"peat for SDSS boys That was, if one team that qualified for Stouffville Sun-Tribune the OFSAA AA playdowns dropped out. It didn’t happen. Technically, the Spartans, who are the two-time defending OFSAA AA champiâ€" ons, should be theYRAA representative as they were the lone AA-entry team in this year’s 18-team York Region loop. Hwever, when the Spartans had to make their OFSAA declaration by Dec. 1, 2008, head coach Jamie Hewitt elected not to enter his team, which then sported a not-so-spectacular 3-11-4 record. “We didn’t want to go to OFSAA by default," Hewitt said. “You want to go in as a true champion.” But during the stretch run of the schedule and in the postseason, the Spar- tans played some of their best hockey. When the Spartans won the first of their two consecutive OFSAA titles, Campbellford was a late replacement and was given the 20th and final “We would have been willing to take that 20th seed," Hewitt said. “But at the time we made our decision (back on Dec. 1) we weren't resentful and to this day we still think we made the right decision. “We knew it would have been a long shot Hindsight is 20-20. lfwe knew back then\Nhatvw:know'nowngsznfldnT have done it (tum down AA declaraâ€" tion).” STAFF PHOTO/MIKE BARRETT