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| July 17, 2004
By Irish#19
Day Two: Little Size, Huge Hearts and a Starbucks Cup Sighting
|  Atom Gold Shines at NARCh 2, and I Need a Good Cup of Jo.
July 17, 2004
At NARCh 2004
Cincinnati, Ohio
I need a cup of good Jo.
I understand that Starbucks has been outlawed in Ohio. Something about them being “Like wayyy too Cali cool dudes” and I for one think that we ought to give this darn state to Canada if that is the case. Fact is that I am becoming really agitated because I cannot find a local Starbucks, and then there is this really big guy named Jeff in a NARCh shirt is also getting really pee-ode, so IF ANYONE KNOWS WHERE A STARBUCKS is…please bring us a pot of the breakfast blend and a map to the location. I mean, I assumed you went over the river to Kentucky for shine, not coffee. But at this time, I would pay more than the typical high Starbucks price for a good mocha. Heck, I would give you Brad for a good Starbucks cup of Colombian Gold.
Now that this is off my chest, I can look to the events of the day.
Don’t ask me about what happened in the morning. I was out driving a hotwired Harley looking for a stupid Starbucks and got caught. It took my sons about 6 hours to bail me out. But I did get to the rink, and saw some great games. But I heard they went well.
OK, I am joking, but what we are doing here is tailing down the end of the preliminary rounds and heading into play offs for many divisions so its crunching down to crunch time and I for one am glad. Sometimes its overload, you know? Too much information and not enough concentration and that’s where it all goes crazy and I end up on my Harley.
Atom Gold:
If our UK friends will permit me, the tune that the British played when surrendering to George Washington at Yorktown was: “The World Turned Upside Down.” We have some new groups vying for the title, but we also have some of the old standards as well.
So, on NARCh 2, the in a real way, the Atoms exploded. And their world was turned upside down. Kind of corny for a lead in, I know, but they are Atoms, OK? They haven’t heard all of my stories or dumb comments yet and can’t tell when I am fabricating or telling the truth.
There are so many things I like about this game, but I end up liking too many things and get all confused and hung up running from one falling star to another till I drop. JEEZY CREASY – as Paul Chapey used to say – we have near 1000 games to play and to keep track of this is a superhuman effort. I wish I could see and report on them all because it is a great finals so far. It is a near crime, but there is no way I could keep track of them all.
Today, I had nothing much to offer anybody except my own confusion, and ultimately, the Atoms saved me because after the preliminaries were over -- they made me look less confused when you read my predictions from yesterday. They sorted out first. But it was a hair’s breath and a mustard seed’s stature because so many teams were so close. And, two I had pumped – Mission AKS and the Thunderblades did move on at least to a rematch.
St Louis took the numero uno seeding. They would wait to see who won the play-off. Their quiet play was settled and professional and they just may defend their number one standing all the way to the end.
In the other semi final the Mission Snipers coached by Tim The Man McMannnnnus and Greg Thompson, aka: TD91’s Goon Squad, will take on Motor City’s Tour Bordercats, to see who ultimately would get the chance at Gold. Championship Sunday for the Atoms is what all the hypemeisters hoped four: Four great teams from four great roller hockey states, ultimately squaring off for a NARCh title.
I visited Gregg Thompson’s locker room to find him going through the New York Snipers Atom pre-game ritual of chewing on broken glass, crawling over rusty nails and lacing their skates up with barbed wire. I think I saw one of his Atoms shaving his side burns. These kids are tough…
In a possible finals preliminary match up, both Florida’s Thunderblades and AKS, who battled in a see saw fight, that found AKS ahead 6-4 with three minutes to play. AKS then picked up a slashing call, to put the Blades on the power play. Thunderblades promptly scored to bring it close, with two minutes to play. AKS, however, dropped back into a tight four corner prevent and withstood multiple attacks by Florida. AKS won it preserving second round play and a rematch against the Thunderblades Sunday at 7:00am. The winner goes on to face the number 1 seeded St Louis Blast.
"You'd be surprised how little I knew even up to yesterday." Jack Kerouac.
It ended up after the preliminary rounds:
Seed 1: Tour Blast (MO), Seed 2: Tour Bordercats (MI); Seed 3: Mission Snipers (NY); Seed 4: Mission AKS ’95; and, Seed 5: Thunderblades (FL).
Mites Gold:
Right now there is no better way than to say that Mite is literally being tore up by Philadelphia’s Revolution 93. With a short roster, these young players have really no noticeable weaknesses. Their roster includes Teddy Baker, John Esposito, Luc Esposito, Vince Esposito, Kevin Wanke, Andy Zubak and Vince Purnell, with brother Jake Purnell in net.
These kids are, without much disagreement, the team to beat in Mites.
However, they are not the whole story going on here.
There was a pivotal game today between between the Tour Bordercat mites and Anaheim Mission Bulldogs. It was one of the games we gave you a heads up on, and a game that had one of the most exciting finishes of the tournament preliminary rounds. After a conservative first half of play, the period ended 2-1.
After a period of play AMB picked up a rebound and slammed it home, tying the game early in the second. It was then it broke open. Ky Matsumoto of AMB gets a centering pass after a Bordercat is picked off center of the net, and AMB goes up 3-2.
Then, Sheldon Pries of the Bordercats got a power play goal, crossing right and shooting cross corner high. I made notes at the time, indicating it was the prettiest goal of the day. I would only have to wait a few minutes to prove myself wrong. Brett Gervais of AMB taps in a bouncing puck in front of the net to make it 4-3 AMB. No fat lady was singing.
At the 5:41 mark, Bordercats cannot converts a 3 on 1, when they hit the post. AMB rushes back up and gets the goalie out of the net, but some good Bordercat plays stops the Dogs. The Cats turn it back up and Cameron Heath scores a slap shot at 5:03. Only forty seconds has passed from the last goal! Cameron scores against with a high wrister 2 minutes later, to put the Bordercats back up 5-4.
The Dog’s scoring would end with AMB’s James Mathias scoring the tying goal at 1:58. But the Bordercats would keep the wild finish going when Sheldon Pries wrists the winning goal in, scratching the inside post, and puts the Bordercats up to stay, 6-5.
It was that kind of day all through the mite division.
The final seeding was Philadelphia Revoultion #1, VS Hyper Roadrunners #2, Mission Force #3, Phantoms Black #4, AMB Yellow #5, Tour Bordercats #6. Playoffs will have the Phantoms face AMB Yellow and the Mission Force facing Tour Bordercats to play the top two.
Midget Gold:
“At Press Time” the division was still shaking out, but it looked like Nor Cal’s Riot will take the top seed, followed by CV Eagles (2), Rollerdogs (3), Water City Serpents (4), Knights of Corona (5), followed by Buffalo Wings who will play Team St Louis in one play off, NorCal Extreme v. Grizzlies in another play off, and Mission Primal will face the CCM Devil Dogs.
Girls:
Girls will have #1 Tour Bordercats v. Jaguars playing in one semi-final, and the Team Mission Detroiters will play the local Cincy Eagles for the final spot.
The final is at 8:40 am local time.
Women’s Gold:
The Women’s Division has just started, with many teams playing only one game to date. We will focus on the “older” ladies tomorrow, though many girls’ rosters bear a striking resemblance to the Girl’s Division roster.
Senior Gold:
We are going to focus on Senior Gold tomorrow, but early reports also are confirming that the addition of a Silver Division is creating more and more parody in their ranks and teams that were usual shoo-ins for play offs are struggling as little. More to come, including play off coverage.
NARCh Staff Tidbits:
The young man – Ryan – who checks you in had a birthday yesterday and considering the facts that 1) he is young, 2) he is good looking (the boy looks a lot like me, in fact), 3) is single, and 4) that it is his birthday…well I was VERY disappointed that the young ladies wandering around the rinks did not stop by to give him birthday smooches. You let me down ladies and I expect you all to go see him tomorrow and add some sugar to the dinky little cake the NARCh staff pitched in and bought for him…
Sponsor row is doing really good, with Tour, Mission, Factory, and the rest of the hawkers doing a great job showing people their wares. The State Wars booth seems to see a lot of action as many players are cornering the boys there to see what all the hype is about.
Coming Up Tomorrow:
The FIRST NARCH CHAMPION will be crown in the Girl’s division at 8:40 am local time!
We will also hi-lite Seniors and High School. We will continue our coverage of the play offs for those divisions already going, and so there really are no “key match ups” but there are finals to watch and report on!
Down the Road:
I have been conducting an investigation into the new Men’s Senior 35 and Older team forming that will have Jim Anderson and Jeffray D. Gardner at the helm. Some of you may remember these guys as NARCh staffers gone bad. Anyway, the name of the team, inside sources say, is: “Terminal Chocolate Hockey. “ Watch for them
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