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| June 2, 2003
By Jim Anderson
Southern Fried NARCh
|  25 teams converged at the Skatium for the 2nd Florida regional, and last chance for the local teams to qualify for the 2003 NARCh Finals, just down the road @ TECO Arena.
"Because it’s the pimp number" - Tour Tritons goaltender Joe "Del" Ciausullo (and Bantam Top Goaltender winner) on why a goaltender would wear #9.
Last year, the Wizards '92 were heavily favored in the regional, only to be upset by their younger AA counterparts in an incredible championship game, which was decided in a shootout. This year, they were again the favorite. The Wizard rolled early and advanced to the Final as the top seed. Their opponent would be the Gulf Coast Storm, who defeated a tough Projoy Predators team by a 3-2 score to advance. Both the Storm and Projoy had improved with each game over the weekend, with the Predators nearly knocking off the Wizard's in their final round robin game. While the Wizard's had won easily in their initial meeting, the Storm had come alive in the Final. Both teams would carry the play for minutes at a time and in the end the Storm couldn't get another puck past Wizard goalie Max Schwan and the Wizard's would clinch the title with a 3-2 win.
The Squirts had the largest division of the weekend, with 8 teams entered and at the end of preliminary play it was the Projoy Predators '91, Projoy Predators, Gulf Coast Storm and Brighton Lightnin advancing to the semifinals. The 91's were the top seed over their older Projoy brethren by virtue of their better goals against as both teams were undefeated in the round robin. The '91's would face the #4 Storm in the first semifinal and the Storm had upset on their mind after scoring 2 quick goals to tie the game and nearly a 3rd to go ahead midway through the game. In the end though, the '91's would regain their composure and move on to the Final with the 3-2 win. The Predators would then face the Lightnin in the second semifinal and while it was close early, the Predators would make it an all Projoy Final by controlling the play and pulling away in the end with a 6-2 win. Despite being the #2 seed, the Predators were highly favored over the 91's and soon after the puck dropped, Ryker Milhorn led the charge and they clinched the Squirt title with a convincing 9-1 win.
This time in the Pee Wee division we were primed for a shootout to determine the #1 seed. Both the Tour Extreme and Mission Everblades had finished with 6pts, 26GF, and 2GA. In the end, the Everblades would give the top seed to the Extreme and the 2 would advance to the semi's along with #3 Projoy Predators and #4 Tour Tritons. The Extreme would continue their strong play in the first semifinal with a 7-1 win over the Tritons. The 2nd semifinal would go down to the wire as the Everblades fell behind early and each time they seemed to be ready to tie the game, would give up a goal. Down 5-3 late in the game, they'd score 3 unanswered goals to advance to the Final with a surprising 6-5 over Projoy. The comeback wouldn't spark the Everblades however, and when the Extreme took an early lead, they made sure to hammer the door shut. Their first win over the Everblades this year would be a big one as they cruised to a 6-1 win and the Pee Wee title.
For the Bantam's, it would come down to goaltending. While they would slip up a bit on Saturday night with a 3-2 loss to Projoy Predators, Team Skatezone still advanced to the Bantam Final as the #1 seed. The Tour Tritons would win their remaining games after a Friday night loss to Skatezone to complete the Bantam Final. Both teams have excellent goalies, with Russell Pittman (winner of top goalie at the '02 Ft. Myers Regional) for Skatezone and Ciausullo in net for the Tritons, who is as confident as any goalie in the sport. To score on these 2, you have to earn it. Team Skatezone was trying to counterattack again in the 2nd meeting as they had forced the Tritons to keep the puck high and would try and capitalize on turnovers, blocked shots and turn them into odd man rushes. This time the Tritons were able to get the puck down low and create chances from corners which would be the difference as it created openings and angles for their shooters. This would prove to be the difference as the Tritons found their stride and held off Team Skatezone with a 4-2 win.
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