Juvenile Clippers won’t defend Ontario minor hockey title

Juvenile Clippers won’t defend Ontario minor hockey title

Sports

Player shortage forces Stouffville organization to ground squad
Mike Hayakawa

The Stouffville Clippers juveniles had a memorable season last year capturing the Ontario Minor Hockey Association A championship.

But, they will not be around to defend their title.

A shortage of players at five fall tryouts forced the Clippers to abandon ship for this season.

At the final audition, Sept. 29, only nine players took to the ice, said Mike Humphreys, president of the Whitchurch Stouffville Minor Hockey Association. Just three of the players were from the Whitchurch-Stouffville area.

“We had some board members come out to that practice and they spoke with the coaches and they then made the decision. We definitely weren’t happy with it. It’s unfortunate,” Humphreys said.

Ideally, the team would have 17 to 19 players including at least six from the local area, he said.

“At the juvenile level, you need a substantial roster because you have players who are in university while others have work and some have other commitments and then you have some players during the year who might get suspended,” he said.

“You never know each year. Ever year we’re on pins and needles seeing if we would have a team,” he said.

Humphreys hopes the team returns next season.

“We won’t walk away from it. We will try to resurrect it, because our community is a great hockey town. We will continue to fight for one,” he said.

In addition to winning last year’s title, the Clipper juveniles won the OMHA championship in 2005 and were finalists in 2006.

Minor peewee Clippers blank Richmond Hill

Josh Brillinger scored two goals while Tyler Wright, Jeremy Hughes and Mario Rosano had once to propel the Stouffville minor peewee A Clippers to a 5-0 win over visiting Richmond Hill in Ontario Minor Hockey Association action last week.

Quinton Volpe and Ben Sear had two assists while Cody Leonard, Carter King, Mitch Witherspoon and Chad Harbour had one apiece.

Now 4-2 on the regular season, the Clippers resume league play against Innisfil at the Stouffville Arena today at 3:10 p.m.

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