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| June 2, 2003
By Jim Anderson
A Select Few
Mission Cooler Selects take 3 of 4 Regional Titles
|  We were back at the Cooler, host of the '98 and '99 NARCh Finals, this Memorial Day Weekend for another regional. With many of the teams from within the Atlanta metro area, outside of the Texas based Hot Wheels, it had a decidedly local flavor.
One new team was the Marietta Mad Dogs in the Mite Division. This would be their first tournament ever, the coach had been at the LPH and NSGA trade shows in January, and took in some of the Winternationals and he was hooked. They would get off to a good start with a hard fought, 4-1 win against Peachtree Nissan Lightning, with the last 2 goals coming via the empty net. The big challenge would come later when they faced the Mission Cooler Inferno in their last round robin game. The winner would move on to the Mite Final, where they would face the top seeded Mission Cooler Selects. As the game went on, it was the Inferno who would pull away late and advance with a 3-2 win. The Cooler Selects had dominated the round robin, evidenced by their not allowing a goal in their first 3 games. While the Inferno would finally put 2 on the board in the Mite Final, the Selects had just too much firepower as they skated to a 10-2 win.
The Selects were the team to beat in the Squirt division as well. They would advance to the Squirt Final with wins over the Gwinnett Typhoon, Mission Cooler Inferno and Mission Team Cooler, paced by the play of Pierce and Lochner. The first squirt game of the weekend would prove to be the most important as Mission Team's Cooler and Inferno faced off on Friday night. It would be the Cooler who would roll away with an 8-3 win. That win would be the difference as they finished 2 points ahead of the Inferno and would again meet the Mission Cooler Selects in the Squirt Final on Sunday afternoon. The Selects had won their initial meeting earlier in the day by a 6-3 score. However, the Selects had been playing in the Pee Wee division as well and had already played 7 games since Friday night. The Inferno kept the pace high, trying to tire the Selects and capitalize on the counterattack. They nearly pulled off the upset but Selects goalie Ryan Morley was the difference as the Mission Cooler Selects held on for a 2-1 win.
In the Pee Wee's, it looked as if Hot Wheels would be the dominant team after they went undefeated in the round robin and advanced to the semifinals along with #2 Mission Team Cooler, #3 Cool Dudes, and #4 Mission Cooler Select Squirts. In their earlier meeting , Hot Wheels had jumped out to an early lead against the Select squirts and cruised to an 8-2 win. This time, the Selects would play a much better game, trying to move the puck and avoid some of the physical play since they lacked the size of the other PW teams. Out of the 7 games, they played, this was likely the best by the Selects, however it was just short of enough as the Hot Wheels held on for a 3-2 win and a spot in the Final. Next up, Team Cooler and the Cool Dudes were also meeting for the 2nd time this weekend and the Cool Dudes were looking to reverse and earlier defeat. Team Cooler jumped out to an early lead, paced by 2 PP goals before the 'Dudes came back to tie it. Team Cooler would go ahead again and lead 3-2 with just over 3 minutes remaining, before taking advantage of some late game PP's to advance with a 6-3 win. Now it would be Team Cooler trying to avenge an earlier loss, as Hot Wheels had won their initial meeting 8-3. This time Team Cooler jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, before Hot Wheels would close it to 2-1, before #39 of Team Cooler would score his 2nd of the game, providing the eventual game winner as they pulled the pseudo-upset with a 3-2 win over Hot Wheels.
Once again, it would be the Mission Cooler Selects that would be the favorite, this time in the Bantam division. The Selects would again go through the round robin undefeated (they went 9-0 in their own divisions and 10-2 including the squirts playing up) and advance to the Final. This time it would be the last round robin game that decided their opponent as Team Atlanta and the Projoy Screaming Eagles (who had the best jerseys of the weekend, especially for Memorial Day) went into their matchup with 1-1 records. Many of Team Atlanta's players were doing double duty as well, with many attending an ice clinic that was also being held at the Cooler over the weekend. They would have just enough in the tank to hold off the Eagles with a very physical, 4-3 win. In the Final though, the Selects would again just be too much as they scored early and kept Atlanta off the board with a 5-0 win.
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