Spirit rookies Zach Benayon (from left), Ryan Harvey and Zack Corte at the OJHL All-Star Celebration in Collingwood Saturday. (Jim Mason photo)

All four Spirit players who took part in the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s All-Star Celebration in Collingwood last weekend acquitted themselves well.

Odaro Ewere took part in the league’s inaugural Skills Competition Friday night at Eddie Bush Memorial Arena in downtown Collingwood.

On Saturday, he scored and assisted to help Team Hyman (North-West Conference) win the OJHL All-Star game in overtime. Televised nationally on CHCH-TV, 1,206 tickets were sold for the game.

That night, Spirit rookies Zack Corte, Ryan Harvey and Zach Benayon played in the InStat Prospects Game – for players born in 2006 and 2005. Their Team Danforth (North-West Conference) lost in overtime. Benayon scored in the first period.

Goaltender Nicolas Morvan, who was named to Team Danforth while a member of the Spirit before being traded to the North York Rangers, played the second half of the game.

THE SKED

The Spirit (15-19-1-4) hosts the Oakville Blades (10-24-1-1) tonight (Jan. 19) at the Stouffville Arena. Oakville is one of the teams chasing the Spirit in the race to the OJHL postseason. 

The Spirit is currently in seventh place in the North-West. They can move into sixth with a win tonight. The top eight teams qualify for the playoffs.

The Spirit’s four-game homestand ends next Thursday with Collingwood back in town.

NOTEBOOK

Former Spirit star forward Matt Neal has retired as a player. Now 31, he played three seasons in Spiritville. 

In his final year (2010-11), Neal collected 100 points (40 goals/60 assists) during the regular season and another 30 in the playoffs. That Spirit team was eliminated by eventual champion Wellington in a hard-fought OJHL semifinal series. Stouffville won the OJHL championship the next year.

The native of Minesing played four seasons of NCAA Division I hockey at RPI before a pro career that took him to the ECHL, AHL and Europe.

• Youth hockey players in jerseys will be admitted free to all Spirit home games during January.

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