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| July 21, 2003
By Jim Anderson
NARCh Finals - Day 4
|  Trifecta of champions crowned today as the AKS Empire ’92, Rivermen and Greasy Joe’s Bottomless BBQ Pit all prevail to claim the coveted NARCh titles.
First off, in the Mite Semifinals, the St. Louis Blast would hold off the Nike OC Blades ’93 by a 5-4 score to advance to the final and AKS would blank the NPI Force 4-0, to complete the pairing.
Teams can only go one of two ways after pulling of an upset. Either they will continue to gain momentum and answer any challenge, or they will come out flat. Unfortunately for St. Louis, they just couldn’t build on their win over the ’93 Blades and AKS took advantage early in their contest and were never really challenged as they rolled to an 8-0 win and the Mite Gold title.
In the Junior division, the top 2 seeds would advance to the championship, which is somewhat of a rarity. The K-Tek Kondors (#1 seed) would hold off CPH Black in their semifinal by a 5-3 score and the #2 Rivermen would dominate Team Octane in their 9-1 win.
For the Rivermen, the key for them would be to be aggressive on the offensive early and attempt to get a lead and they accomplished that by scoring 3 unanswered goals in the first half and entered the 2nd half with a 3-0 lead. Casey Drew would score on the PP to get the Kondors on the board with just under 8 minutes remaining. Andrew Grindstaff would answer back for the Rivermen just under 2 minutes later to once again give them a 3 goal cushion. However, K-Tek would once again cut the lead as Drew assisted on a goal by Vehainec with just under 5 minutes in regulation. The Rivermen would regroup though, and recommit to playing team defense as they shut down the Kondors the rest of the way and earned the Junior title with a 4-2 win.
The seeds continue to stay intact in the Senior division with the #2 Madhatters and #1 Greasy Joe’s Bottomless BBQ Pit advancing to the Championship. The Madhatters were nearly upset by the St.Louis Blast, who only advanced after a furious comeback late last night against their metro rival Omni St.Louis. Two years ago in the Sr. Gold semi’s the “Hatters were upset by the STL Blast in the semis’. Unfortunately they couldn’t contain the “hatters who despite giving away a 2-0 lead, went on to win their semi by a 4-2 margin. The BBQ’ers won a 4-0 contest vs EPROSHOP.com in the earlier semifinal.
After a couple minutes of scoreless hockey, Greasy Joe’s would score first at the 4:05 mark on a goal by Diepenbock. Despite quality chances for each squad the game would remain 1-0 until just under 5 minutes left in regulation. The Madhatters steady stream of penalites, which nearly cost them the night before vs Bogota, had an effect as Diepenbock would score a PP goal to stretch the lead to 2-0. The Madhatters would get a PP of their own with 1:46 left in regulation and pulled their goalie, and despite a big save by the Greasy Joe’s goalie, another Diepenbock, they would finally get on the board with 69 seconds left. Greasy Joe’s would seal the game 30 seconds later with Deipenbock getting the hat trick on an empty netter before assisting on Shaw’s goal with just seconds left in the game as they would win the Senior Gold title with a well played 4-2 win.
Pee Wee Gold teams had playoffs of their own today with the Labeda Militia winning a dramatic OT thriller in the 1st round of the playoffs over AMB Grey by a 3-2 score and they’d roll into the semi’s with a 6-2 win over Marvel Ironman. The East Coast Fury would also advance to the semi’s with a pair of 1 goal victories over the ’89 team Breakaway and last year’s squirt champions Rush. Joining them in the semi’s are the Tour Nor Cal Mavericks who as the #11 seed beat the #6 TSA Twisted Wristers and then the top seeded York Region Magic Windows. The last team to advance was the Mission Raiders, last year’s champions with about half their roster returning, as they defeated CPH Canadiens by a 6-1 score. Tomorrow the Raiders and Nor Cal Mavs will face off in one semi with the Militia and EC Fury meeting in the other, assuring us an EAST vs WEST Final, go east!!
The Bantams have concluded round robin play and begin their playoffs tomorrow. It was a very deep group with over half the teams finishing with 4 points or more and the final seedings went down to the very last game before we could determine the teams. The K-Tek Kondors would claim the top seed and advance to the quarterfinals. Teams that are playing well at the moment are Tour Nor Cal Mavericks Green, Marvel Silver Surfers, ISCA Grizzlies, Skaters Choice Stov’s and Tour Bordercats ’87.
The Gulf Coast Storm hold the top seed in the Atom Gold Division and will meet the #4 CCM Team Innovative and the #2 Tour Bordercats will face off against the #3 SIHA Stallions. The Storm are looking to repeat their win over Team Inno in the earlier round. The Storm have been playing well since before the Finals and had a strong showing at the regional this past May. If they get on a roll early, it could easily carry them to the title.
Division 1 began to kick off the Platinum division this evening. One of the more exciting games was the comeback from 4-1 down by the Ontario Tour Firewheels over the New Jersey Sharks. AMB had a strong 8-0 win over the Canadian Panthers. The Buffalo Wings controlled the play against EPROSHOP for the opening 10 minutes before losing their defensive composure and falling to EPROSHOP by a 9-2 score. Team Tour and the Mission Hyper Pirates also had strong opening performances.
There’s quite a bit more action to come tomorrow which will be highlighted by the start of Atom, Mite and Pee Wee Platinum along with the Division 1 Skills Competition.
If you've missed Jim's articles on Days 1 thru 3 of the 2003 Finals, you'll find them in the Latest News section. Check back for Jim's updates every day on NARCh.com.
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