|
|
|
 |
| |
| May 20, 2002
Detroit Regional Exceeds 100-team Mark!
|  As if the Colorado Avalanche rolling into Hockeytown wasn’t enough, the hockey gods have given the Motor City even more to cheer about.
Sure, for a hockey fan what could be better than the Avalanche coming to Detroit for the Western Conference Finals? Well, here in Shelby Twp, Michigan, we have something that may come close, if not surpass the excitement down at Joe Louis Arena. The Joe Dumars Fieldhouse is playing host to arguably the greatest roller hockey tournament in the world when it will host the traditional Detroit NARCh Regional. The record entry (104 of the finest inline hockey teams from throughout the Midwest and Canada) will take to the hard floor for the right to move on to the NARCh Finals, which will be held in St Paul, Minnesota.
This year’s tourney will feature 12 divisions with as many as 18 teams, as the case in the Peewee Division for the14 and under age group. Three teams from Canada will do battle in this age group including the Brantford Blue Rebels, the Burlington Wave Bauer Selects and the Oakville Coyotes. Making the hike up the road from Cincinnati is the Cincinnati Roller Ducks who have come to not only play the finest teams in Michigan but in all of North America. Two teams from last year’s Detroit NARCh Regional – Peewee Division went on to take Silver and Bronze medals in the 2001 Platinum Finals (Honeybaked and Team Hyper).
In all, 18 teams will travel across the border from the likes of Oakville, Kitchener, Hamilton, Brampton, Brantford and Toronto to see how well their teams will do against their American counterparts. Another 11 teams will come to Detroit from cities outside of Michigan, including Cincinnati, Buffalo and St Louis.
Last year’s Detroit Regional supplied the NARCh Finals with 10-2001 Platinum medallists, including Gold medals in the Junior division (Detroit Mission Hyper Stars) and in the Bantam division (Mission Honeybaked). The Hyper CAN/AM Stars in Senior, Mission Bulldogs in Bantam, Mission Honeybaked in Peewee and the Mission Bulldogs in Squirt took silver medals.
Detroit area teams in the 2001 Gold Division Finals won an additional 4 medals, including a Gold medal by the Tour Flames in Squirts. Detroit Iron Horse captured Gold in the 35 & Over division.
It has become evident that the Fieldhouse is the place to be for the best of the best in inline hockey. 1st, 2nd & 3rd place teams will be awarded automatic Platinum berths to the Finals (4th place receives a choice of platinum or gold), while every other participant receives an invitation to play in the Gold Division Finals. NARCh does award additional Platinum seeds to teams playing in exceptionally strong divisions and by the looks of it, NARCh representative Daryn Goodwin will have his hands full deciding exactly which teams will be going Platinum. This year’s event will drop the puck on Thursday, May 23rd with the Varsity Cup and will run through Monday, May 27th. If you cannot make it to the Fieldhouse, you can follow all of the action by logging onto www.DRHA.com. The Detroit Roller Hockey Association (DRHA) who manages inline hockey at the Fieldhouse will be utilizing the Pointstreak scorekeeping system, allowing scores/stats to be updated to the Internet as soon as games end. Until then, any hockey fan looking for some fast paced action to fill in the gap when the Wings and Avs aren’t playing, can look no further than the Joe Dumars Fieldhouse.
|
Site
Credits |
|
|
|
