Stouffville assistant captain Nathan Twohey, with Spirit flag bearers John Barrington and Henry Holohan of the U10 Clippers during Saturday’s Remembrance Day ceremony. (Photo by Rebecca Holohan)

The young Stouffville Spirit squad has proven it can play with the big boys of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.

Two weeks in a row they took top-10 teams in the Canadian Junior Hockey League to overtime at the Stouffville Arena.

Last Saturday they won the second of those games, 2-1 over the Milton Menace, who were No. 1 in the national rankings Oct. 17.

Rookie Zach Benayon scored the game-winner.

"Zack Corte picked the puck up in our own zone, brought it through the neutral zone and dumped it in and quickly followed it in, split the two defenders and passed the puck to Ryan Harvey at the top of the circle and took a shot,” he told the OJHL’s Ron Valentine. “I managed to get my stick on it in front of the net. Of course it was a big win for us. 

“To me, the future of our team looks bright. We are a group of young guys who work hard. We have the power to beat any team on any night if we play the way we can."

Fellow rookie Jermey Hirsh tied the game early in the second period.

First-year netminder Nicolas Morvan was solid in goal, making 27 saves.

THE SKED

Nov. 11, Spirit at Oakville, 7 p.m.

Nov. 12, Brantford 99ers at Spirit, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 18, Spirit at Pickering, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 19, North York at Spirit, 7:30 p.m.

NOTEBOOK

Spirit players assisted the Stouffville Royal Canadian Legion in distributing poppies ahead of Remembrance Day Monday.

The Legion colour party led a pre-game, on-ice ceremony of remembrance Saturday.

TRANSACTIONS

The Spirit acquired two more players today:

Defenceman Ethan Girard from the Pickering Panthers. The 17-year-old is from Whitby.

Forward Cameron Kosurko, a 19-year-old from Uxbridge, from the Haliburton Huskies.

Player development fees were shipped the other way.

Spirit This Week is sponsored by Farmer Jack’s in Stouffville and Sharon