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| August 3, 2002
By Jim Anderson
Day 7 Wrap UP: PRO Spotting
The world's best arrive in St.Paul
|  NARCh PRO has begun, the best
hockey to be played this calendar
year is taking place at St.Paul over
the next 3 days.
Fans and players alike always look
forward to NARCh PRO. It's a
chance to see some of the greatest
players in the sport and unlike some
of the major sports, actually have
access to them without some huge
bodyguard tossing you aside.
The suprise of the day in PRO was
Team DNA, which is Joe Cook's
team of young stars, defeating Team
Tour Labeda 3-2, coupled with an
earlier victory over Rinkside St. Louis,
puts them at 2-0 heading into
tomorrow.
CCM Hosers nearly equalled DNA as
they gave Mission nearly all they
could handle in a 3-2 loss. The
inability for CCM to score early on the
power play took away any chance for
them to dictate the game and as they
know firsthand, no lead is safe when
playing against Team Mission.
Team Mission, who also defeated
Hyper, along with the
Tour Mudcats went undefeated on
Friday. With only 5 playoffs spots to
be had, these 3 are the only ones
who can control their fate.
Of course all the teams debuted new
uniforms, as has become custom at
the Finals. Team DNA was a favorite
as well as the CCM Hosers blue and
green color combo (it matches their
Outcast skate if you have trouble
picturing it).
Helmets: Team Tour Labeda all
have new chrome 'domes and the
Tour Mudcats, whose uni's are also
pretty cool, have some matching blue
and silver lids that gained quite a few
accolades.
Tomorrow, the Team DNA vs CCM
Hosers matchup should be a who's
who of the soon to be stars of the
sport, we'll have it being shown live
via the webcast if you can't be here in
St.Paul.
Back to the kids,
Pee Wee:
Hyper Empire 87 won again and
appears to have a strong chance of
adding to their Winternationals title.
St. Louis Tour Blast won both their
games, with the 2-1 victory over the
Nike Rockets being one of the day's
highlights.
Early round PW playoff action
happens tomorrow..
In the Juniors, DMHS won their only
game of the day and Team Labeda
Blast won both of their games.
Bauer Pythons, AMB '83, Mission
Empire Snipers and Mission Cooler
Selects also continued along without
a loss and the Center Circle Titans
tied Team Tour. .
Right now the Snipers, Selects,
Pythons, AMB and DMHS appear to
be the frontrunners for the Jr. title.
The women treated those who were
watching Rink 2 to a great game this
evening. Team Mission and the Cal
Selects were undefeated before the
last round robin matchup. The
winner would earn the #1 seed and
move directly to the Championship
Game while the loser would have to
face Synergy in a semifinal tomorrow
afternoon. They tied. The Cal
Selects couldn't hold a 3-1 lead in
the 2nd period and tied Team
Mission, 3-3. Since neither team
won the head-to-head meeting, the
Cal Selects earned the top seed by
virtue of the lowest goals against.
Synergy finished with the #3 seed by
beating the Tour Riot by a 2-0 score.
The Senior men also finished up
preliminary round play this evening
and nearly every game had playoff
consequences. By the time the last
game, Buffalo Wings vs Hyper
Slipjacks, was being played, we still
had half the playoff field in limbo.
If the Buffalo Wings were to lose, they
wouldn't qualify for the playoffs. Hyper
didn't face the same pressure as
even if they were to lose, they'd win
the head to head tiebreaker.
The Wings started off quickly,
building a 2-0 lead and the Slipjacks
cut it to 2-1 late before the Wings
finally pulled away to a 5-1 victory.
For tomorrow the seedings are now
#1 Top Cat Tour Predators - vaulted
to the top spot after RSM lost, many
of the same players who were in the
Division 1 Championship
#2 Buffalo Wings - now battle tested
in what was for them a playoff game,
could be the push they needed
#3 RSM Winnipeg Blue Devils,
looked to be heading for a #1 seed
before being tripped up by
SportsplexBC.com in their finale,
dropped to #3 as they had the worst
GA among the teams tied for 1st
#4 Hyper Slipjacks, the
Winternationals Champs have been
inconsistent so far and have lacked
the focus that helped them win their
first championship a few months
back. The Predators matchup is a
good one for them and should be an
entertaining game as the two CA
teams try to reach the championshp.
35&Over: Can anyone stop the CCM
Old Hosers? So far they have just
buzzsawed through the draw, going
3-0 and showing depth that so far
has gone unmatched.
The Border Patrol Geezers have
finished in the #2 slot and will meet
the Tour Powerhouse Blast, who hav
been caught shorthanded by the
injury to Greg Gawrys and the delay
of Perry Turnbull. F.L.I are the #4
seed, and just need a couple more
bodies as they consistently have 5
skaters.
Saturday brings us some playoff
action again in everything but NARCh
PRO, which finishes its preliminary
action. The webcast schedule is up,
we start a bit later but will be bringing
you all the Championship games live
via the webcast. Check the
homepage for any changes.
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