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| August 4, 2002
By Jim Anderson
Day Eight Wrap Up: Buffalo Wings, Masters of OT
|  Great Senior division action, along
with the battle for playoff spots were
the highlights today at NARCh.
A couple days back I titlled the
update "Overtime" as we had been
treated to some great extra session
games.
Saturday was equally as good with 4
playoff games going into OT.
First off was the Buffalo Wings vs
RSM Winnipeg Blue Devils in the 2nd
senior semifinal. It was a tightly
contested game the whole way with
strong defense preventing either
team from receiving easy scoring
chances. The Wings advanced in OT
by a 4-3 margin.
Approximately 3 hours later they took
the floor in the main arena to face the
Top Cat Tour Predators in the
championshipgame. Many of the
Predators had been in this same
situation only a few days earlier in
the Division 1 Final. The Top Cat
Tour Predators took a 2-1 lead late
into the game and with only seconds
remaining, watched Buffalo tie the
score at 2 apiece. It was only a
matter of time before the Wings
scored to win the Senior Division
championship. One can be sure the
Wings are breaking in their
Championship Cup this evening.
The 35 & Over division also came to
a close this evening. Top seeded
CCM Old Hosers advanced to the
final with a 6-4 win over the much
improved F.L.I. In the 2nd semi, the
Border Patrol Geezers couldn't
repeat their round robin success
against the Tour Powerhouse Blast,
who rolled to an 8-2 win. With a
handful of ex-NHL'ers (Dave Gagner,
Jim Thompson, Joe
Norris to name a few) playing, this
wasn't going to be a social game.
The Tour Powerhouse Blast took the
lead early and despite the mid game
addition of Terry Shook, who had
been playing for Team Mission on
another rink, the CCM Old Hosers
couldn't pull even and the
Powerhouse Blast finished up with a
hard fought 3-2 victory and
afterwards went up to the webcasting
booth to discuss the game with our
announcers.
Does this sound fair? You have 2
teams, A and B.
Team A has one Olympian and a
team mostly built around up and
coming players ,including a couple
who aren't yet in high school.
Team B has 5 Olympians, 4 of whom
played in the gold medal game only
a few months back, and a roster full
of veterans.
Would you expect a down to the wire,
2-1 nailbiter? Probably not, nor
would you expect Team A to be the
top seed entering the
Championship, but that's exactly
what happened.
The Cal Selects had Angela
Ruggiero, a US Olympian, along with
a number of strong players, plus
already established inline players
such as Antoinette Maldonado (who
graced the cover of NARCh Player a
couple years back doing the
Michigan move) and Lauren
Lemond, both of whom were making
their Women's division debut.
Team Mission, who won a playoff
game vs Synergy to advance to the
Final, had Cherie Piper and Sami Jo
Small from the Canadian Gold Medal
team along with Krissy Wendell and
Natalie Darwitz from the US and last
but not least, Manon Rheaume, who
backstopped the Canadians in '98.
In this matchup, experience won over
youth, but the changing of the guard
could be at hand with the Cal
Selects, who will not be a one and
done team.
Tomorrow:
Pee Wee Semi's
#1 OC Blades 88 vs #5 Seed
St.Louis Tour Blast
OCB 88 has rolled through the field
so far, outscoring their opponent's by
a 24-1 margin. The only team to
score on them? The Blast who
droped a 4-1 decision in their last
game of the prelims.
#2 OC Blades 87 vs #3 Hyper
Empire 87
Coin Flip. Neither team lost a game
in the first round and even though
OCB had to battle a tough Nike
Rockets team to get out of the first
round, prevailing 3-2 in OT, you'd
have to think they will be more
focused tomorrow. Hyper Empire 87
is looking strong, they let up a couple
more goals early, coach Shayne
Arsenault is ready to let his team
loose.
Junior Quarterfinals:
#1Detroit Mission Hyper Stars vs #9
Pama Cyclones.
The Cyclones have looked lost at
times on the floor, yet a minute later
can look unbeatable. They need to
play consistently to have a shot
against DMHS.
#2 Mississauga Hyper vs #7 Mission
Cooler Selects
The Cooler Selects will need to get a
2nd line to score against
Mississauga who will likely do their
best to shut down the Moore./Walton
combo, although that's easier said
than done.
#3 AMB 83 vs #6 Bauer Pythons
This one will come down to the
goalies, as both teams are fast and
can snipe.
#4 Mission Empire Snipers vs #5
Labeda Blast
The Blast looked strong in their win
vs Red Army II this evening and the
Snipers struggled to hold a 3-0
halftime lead vs Tour Predators
before finally prevailing 5-4. Has the
lack of karaoke in the area affected
the Snipers in their quest to win both
Winternationals and Finals titles?
NARCh PRO:
#4 Team DNA vs #5 Team Tour
Labeda
It took a last minute charge for the
reigning Finals champions to get into
the playoffs, where they have a
chance to avenge an earlier loss to
Joe Cook's team of up and coming
stars.
#1 seed Tour Mudcats vs #4/5
winner Jamie Bufalino looks solid in
goal for the Mudcats, and they look
suprisingly fresh with all the hockey
they've played within the last week.
#2 Team Mission vs #3 Team Hyper
Mission won the first matchup this
week by a 5-1 score. Hyper won't go
down as easily this time around. A
great game between 2 of the
stalwarts of PRO (along with Tour
Labeda) over the last couple of
years.
Other key events tomorrow
6:00PM Pee Wee All Stars
7:00PM NARCh Finals Opening
Ceremonies
8:00PM NARCh PRO Final
And with nothing to watch on TV on
Sunday nights, tune in to NARChTV
on NARCh.com and see the above
games plus much more throughout
the day.
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