Spirit This Week: U.S. players have left their mark in Stouffville
Rostyslav Saglo is 38 years old.
The native of Kiev, Ukraine played eight seasons of professional hockey for 15 teams, including one with perhaps the most bizarre name in all of sport – the now-defunct Macon Whoopee. He retired in 2004. His last team was the Cape Fear Fire Antz.
A Rostyslav Saglo is now a player agent in Kiev.
Saglo only played in part of the Stouffville Spirit’s inaugural season, 1995-96, before being dealt.
He’s also the only non-North American to play for the franchise – before European imports were banned from Canadian Jr. A rosters.
Americans are still welcome. Players from states including Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Minnesota have suited up in Spiritville.
Jon Hall (pictured above), a 6-foot-4, 200-pound goalie from Dexter, New York, (near Kingston Ont.) was a fan favourite during his two years in Stouffville.
He helped the Spirit to its lone Ontario Junior Hockey League title in 2012, finishing the regular season with a 19-5-3 record, including two shutouts and a .903 save percentage.
Hall then played three seasons at SUNY-Potsdam.
He’s now a state trooper in Vermont and the goalie coach at Castleton University. Wyatt Pickrell and Otis Goldman, who both played briefly for the Spirit, are on the NCAA Division 3 team.
Neil Conway, from the Cleveland suburb of Painseville, Ohio, is one of two 15-year-olds to ever play for the Spirit. Underage Jr. A players were also eventually banned.
Conway backstopped St. Mary’s to the 2010 Canadian university championship before turning pro. Now 28, he’s a pro goalie coach (@conwaygoalie) in Austria.
New York City native Don Maloney Jr., the son of the same-named former Phoenix Coyotes and New York Islanders general manager, played one year for the Spirit.
Austin Johnson hails from Pawling, NY, a community of 9,000 “in the woods” an hour’s drive north of Manhattan.
He’s the lone American on this year’s team and a certified latecomer to the game.
The closest rink to his home was 35 minutes away.
Still, Johnson’s mom thought the lacrosse, football, baseball and soccer player should try skating and maybe hockey.
He was 11. Most Jr. A players who have been on skates almost their entire life.
Johnson graduated from local youth hockey to junior teams in Virginia (Hampton Roads Junior Whalers), Connecticut (Junior Rangers) and Wisconsin (Dells Ducks).
Cut by the Trenton Golden Hawks in the OJHL this fall, he signed in Stouffville.
CHRISTMAS STOPPING: The last time Aaron Taylor faced in the neighbourhood of 55 shots he was playing for the Jr. C Stayner Siskins.
He stopped that many pucks again Sunday afternoon, leading the Spirit (18-9-2-2) to a 2-1 win over the Wellington Dukes at the Essroc Arena in Wellington.
Taylor, a Whitchurch-Stouffville resident who played minor hockey in the York Simcoe Express AAA organization, is in his third and final season with the Spirit. He turns 20 on Dec. 21.
The Spirit’s pair of 16-year-old forwards, Thomas Tinmouth and James Waldron, scored the goals.
Taylor faced only 44 shots in a 5-0 loss to Trenton, the top-ranked team in the OJHL, Friday. The score was 0-0 halfway through the second period in the game played in Trenton.
SEASON’S MEETINGS: The Spirit hosts the Markham Royals Thursday, Dec. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in their final game before Christmas.
It’s a big one.
The Royals are in first place in the OJHL North, six points up on the Spirit, who had four games in hand, as of Tuesday morning. The Royals are in Wellington Tuesday night.
The Spirit returns to action Dec. 29 in Cobourg.
The back half of the home-and-home series goes New Year’s Eve at 2 p.m. at the Stouffville Arena. Fans wearing their favourite hockey jersey will be admitted free. A Stouffville Clippers team of six-year-olds will play between periods.
This feature is sponsored by Farmer Jack’s of Stouffville and Sharon.
