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| July 18, 2003
By Jim Anderson
10th Annual NARCh Finals Begin At TECO Arena
|  After nearly 30 regional events, taking place from February to July, the NARCh Finals are upon us.
The Pee Wee Gold Division would kick it off with the Mission Raiders and Buffalo Wings playing in the first game. The Raiders are hoping to repeat in the division, and were off to a good start with wins over the Wings and Mission Team Atlanta this morning.
Another team that had a good start was the Labeda Militia, who despite the CA listing is from MI, and play out of Dumars. Having won their first game against the Projoy Predators, they would be tested early in their 2nd game against AMB Grey. They would spend a large portion of the game on the wrong side of a 2-1 score. The Militia would regroup though and score 2 goals in the 2nd half to pull out the 3-2 win.
Last year’s Squirt runner-up RUSH, who went 2-0 with wins over the ISCA Grizzlies and Chula Vista Golden Eagles and also undefeated in the first day were the CPH Canadians and TSA Twisted Wristers. One of the more entertaining games of the day was the Labeda Knights of Corona and East Coast Fury, which the Knights won by a 4-3 score.
The Mite’s would start a bit later in the morning, providing a nice respite for a group that is more than familiar with the 6:30 AM start time. Leading the division with 2-0 records after the first day are a trio of California teams. AKS Empire 92, Nike OC Blades ’93 and Mission Revolution along with their neighbor to the east, Team Excalibur Black from Arizona. Tomorrow will be a big day for these teams as they battle to stay undefeated and keep the goals against to a minimum as they try to take the top seed as they head towards the playoffs.
Team Misconduct Women’s team was the talk of the day though as they pulled off 2 big wins in the Women’s Gold bracket. In their first game they would get a 1 goal lead against the CPH Mission Vixens, who took 2nd in St. Paul and claimed the WN title this past January, and hold on to it winning by a 1-0 score. The goals would come a bit easier in their 2nd game against the Mission Dowlings as they raced out to an early 4-1 lead before closing it out by a 5-2 score. The Vixens did win their earlier game against the Fierce Bubbles and the Dowlings defeated the Rocky Mountain Fury by a 2-1 score as each team finished 1-1 for the day.
For the Junior Division, only the Rivermen and K-Tek Kondors would finish the day undefeated as each skated to a 2-0 lead. The Rivermen started off with a 6-5 win over the East End Saints before beating the ProJoy Renegades. K-Tek defeated the Tour Nor Cal Mavericks and Redding Roadrunners. It would be the Labeda Knights of Corona and ISCA Grizzlies who would give us the best finish of the Junior’s on Thursday as the two teams drew the collective sounds of oohs and ahhs over the games waning minutes. ISCA had came back to within 4-3 before the Knights went ahead by 2 goals, only to have ISCA close the gap to one with only a couple of minutes remaining. The Knights appeared to put the game away as they extended the lead to 2 once again. ISCA would cut the lead yet again with just under a minute remaining. Then with only seconds remaining a Knights player sent a clearing pass up the middle, and it went straight onto the stick of a Grizzlies player who took 2 steps and snapped one off…. only to see the Knights goalie bail out his defensemen with a great glove save, preserving the one goal win and earning an important 2 points.
Closing out the day would be the Senior’s, who have nearly 20 teams entered this year Past winners include the Chiefs (’99) and Chicago Magic (’02). The Chiefs would win their first game 3-0, but would fall to the Bogotá Capitals by a 5-4 score after nearly erasing a 4-goal deficit. Bogotá would tie the Magic, 2-2, in their first game. This coming from a team who’s first time on Sport Court was Wednesday afternoon! Also turning in a strong showing were the Madhatters, who are an early favorite based on past success at the Finals over the past 2 years as well as Greasy Joe’s who also went 2-0 and were a playoff team last year in MN. Perhaps their biggest problem will come for the local peace officers. Two new teams for the Finals, the EproShop Chupacabraz also went 2-0 showing off their offense with a pair of 6 goal outbursts against the BC Blur and ProJoy Renegades and OMNI St. Louis, who despite barely arriving on time for their first game against the Fighting Minningua also ran the table today and appear to be well situated in the battle for the top seeds.
We’ll be back tomorrow with more words and notes as the teams finish up the round robin portion and head towards the playoffs, which begin on Saturday. Also coming up tomorrow, the first NARCh Skills competitions of 2003. Who will be the fastest skater, top goalie or sniper? Check out the Photos and Videos throughout the day for some updates and pictures.
Don’t forget the live broadcasts, NARCh TV is back and despite some technical difficulties today, should be in full swing on Friday.
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