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| July 29, 2003
By Jim Anderson
NARCh Update Day 12
Into the Homestretch
|  Bantam Silver division proves to be among the most competitive we’ve had so far here at the Finals and the rest of the Silver Division has been quite entertaining. The Junior, Girls, High School and Cub Platinum divisions roll on as we get closer to 9 Finals on Wednesday.
Silver Division Notes:
Bantam: Can there be more parity within a division? Seriously, the biggest “blowout” has been a 5-3 by Team Excalibur over Lanakila Hockey Club this afternoon. Otherwise, every game so far has been decided by one goal. Otherwise today, the Mission Grizzlies defeated Lanakila 2-1 and the Thunderblades by a 5-4 score. Thunderblades would defeat Team Excalibur 4-3 earlier in the day. If this keeps up we could have all the teams tied across the board in what would be a NARCh first!
Pee Wee: The Labeda Knights of Corona, who have been here in one form or another since the start of the Finals, won both of their games today defeating the Garrett Gamblers and Palm Beach Jackals. MB Mission Force looked good in its 3- 1 win over Pines Thunder while the Weston Wizards tied both of their games. Jr. Growl looked good early before dropping a 4-1 decision to Wind Surf and Sail Stars.
Mite: Mission Cobra Selects are the frontrunner after scoring 15 goals in 2 games in their victories over the Labeda Knights of Corona 92 and 93’s. The Sand Sharks and San Diego Scorpions also won this afternoon. The most suprising thing so far is the amount of offense these kids are generating, they are putting up some big numbers!
Squirt: AMB White defeated the Mission Cobra Select in a tight 2-1 battle to continue their strong play in the division. The San Diego Gulls also were winners on Monday with a 3-1 win over the Gulf Coast Storm Lightning. CPH had a good combo of offense and defense going as they would beat Team Excalibur Silver 4-0 and Team Excalibur 91’s would win another close silver division game against the Raptors, 4-2.
Atoms: Perhaps the most fun I’ve had so far at the tournament at the event is watching these kids play. 2 of the teams are Cub eligibile so they are quite small. Some of the goalies don’t even make it to the crossbar! Marple Jr. Gladiators are still the team to beat, followed by AKS San Clemente Empire who were paced by a Dakota Cook hat trick in a win over the Mission Snipers ’96 (one of the cub eligible teams) and Marple would win against the Nike OC Blades ’96 (the other cub eligible team) as they get ready to finish up their bracket play this afternoon.
Platinum Division:
Cub Division:
Tour Bordercats have been playing well so far into the Finals, and continued their strong play today with wins over Pines Thunder and Gulf Coast Storm. The South Florida Jr. Lightning also won both of their contests today as they look to lock up a high seed heading into the playoffs. Nike OC Blades won their only contest of the day. Until a team knocks offf the Bordercats, they will be favorite.
Junior: Many last year thought that last year’s Stars vs Snipers semifinal was the best game after DMHS won the Final easily. Well this year their opponent in that Final, Mississauga Hyper has been the best team so far in the event and look to have the inside track for the #1 seed. DMHS will likely wind up as a 4 seed with 7 points. The Snipers ’85 team (Bantams minus Mosenson but adding Lechmanski and Bruce from Tour Black Ice) defeated AMB to help their playoff chances and goalie Leor Benyamini made the save of the night flashing the right pad to stun a AMB player while on the PP. The other team on track for the top seed, Sleestacks defeated the South Bay Rockets. Bauer Pythons, likely a 6 seed now, came back to defeat the Mission Patriots Red 5-4, or 8-1 if you count the 3 goals they put past their own goaltender. Tour Mudcats put a dent in Mission Hotskates playoff hopes (they were the #16 seed last year) with a 3-1 win. Tour Bordercats are also looking strong as always.
High School: Continues to be a division dominated by the west coast with Santiago, Intelli and Marina and El Dorado all posting wins. The biggest surprise of the day was the play of the Piper Bengals, who were forced to use a player in goal and he made some great saves late as they tied DeSmet 1-1.
Girls: It’s the Cal Selects event to lose as they defeated the Black Stars 6-0, with Megan Gault playing well for the Stars despite the score. In the next matchup it would be the Mystery Gals who would defeat the Fierce Bubbles as the remaining 3 teams battle each other for the #2 seed heading into tomorrow’s final.
Today is the completion of bracket play for all divisions along with some early round playoff games, Jr division later this evening which will bring some upsets early if things remain the same. Don’t forget only 2 more days of NARCh TV til ’04!
For Jim's articles on days 1 thru 11 of the 2003 Finals see the Latest News section.
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