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| June 2, 2003
By DRHA Staff
Memorial Weekend Classic Showcases Top Talent
|  Memorial Day weekend and the Joe Dumars’ Fieldhouse are synonymous when referring to the Detroit NARCh Regional qualifier. 69 teams battled it out for Platinum, Gold and Silver berths for this year’s Finals to be held in Estero, Florida in July.
The tournament dropped its first puck on Thursday night and wrapped on Monday afternoon. The smaller field created some very competitive divisions once the playoffs rolled around, with each division seemingly riddled with upsets as the tournament wore on.
The Atom division came down to the two favorites as the Tour BorderCats played host to the Mission Cobra Elites from St.Louis. Earlier in the tourney the Cats would down the Cobra Elites by a score of 10-2 but the championship would take on a different look. The two teams would be deadlocked after one period at 2-2 on goals by Brandon Hawkins and Kevin Lining for Tour and two by Tate Matheny for St.Louis. Due to some strong goaltending by Ian Fish of the BorderCats, the game would remain close but soon the Cobras Cory Kettler would notch three consecutive goals and his team would go on to a 7-3 win.
The Mite division was highly competitive with close games throughout the round robin and playoffs. Belle Tire would hold off a late surge by the Tour BorderCats to win their semi-final game by a score of 7-5. That would get them into the final against the Team Tour Blast 92’s from St.Louis. Earlier the Blast beat Belle Tire by a score of 5-3. This time around the boys from Belle Tire came out on fire, scoring two goals in the first three and a half minutes. They would end up scoring four in the first period on goals by Stevie DeGrande (2), Austin Czarnik, and Mikey Edwards. The Blast would get goals by Tim Tuscher and Jacob Barber and would trail by a score of 4-2 going into period two. DeGrande would get his third of the game about five minute into the period to seal the win for Belle Tire 5-3. Nathan Austin made several key saves for Belle Tire throughout the game on his way to stopping 16 shots.
The Squirt division featured no surprises. The championship game saw the Rollin Hogs go up against the Nexed Detroit 90’s. Chad Rutkowski would lead the way for the Nexed Detroit 90’s by scoring three goals but it wouldn’t be enough to overcome four-second period goals by the Hogs, two by Shawn Sydlowski, and one each by Travis White and Robbie Czarnik. The Rollin Hogs would post a 5-3 win.
Somehow the young Hyper ’89 team just seemed to keep winning and eventually they found themselves in the Peewee division final against the Detroit Mission Bulldogs. Hyper ’89 would beat the Labeda Militia and the Tour Eagles on their road to the final while DMB knocked off the Sabres and the Hyper Falcons (shootout). Matt Wooster and Chad Spezia would lead the way for the Bulldogs as Wooster would record 4 goals and an assist and Spezia would have 2 goals and 2 assists. The Bulldogs would triumph 7-2 as they received great goaltending throughout the weekend from Dustin Boose.
The Tour BorderCats ’85 (F.K.A. Hyper Metro Storm) team would cruise through the Bantam division by scoring 47 goals throughout the tournament and yielding just 9 on some strong play between the pipes by Joel Miller. The BorderCats took the final over Honeybaked by a score of 8-1. Corey Elkins (3), Zach Beeman (2), and Eric Carmichael (2) would provide all the offense needed as they cruised to victory.
The Junior division was a battle of two familiar foes when the Detroit Mission Stars battled the Tour BorderCats (F.K.A. Tour Venom) for the championship. The Stars jumped out to a 4-1 lead on goals by Brian Swenson, Brad Zarem, Scott Eovaldi and Geoff Carey. Jamie Milan would light the lamp twice late in the game and despite a last minute flurry the BorderCats comeback would come up just short as they would lose 4-3. Steve Kampf was once again dominant in the net for the Stars, as they will head to Florida in July to try and capture their fourth straight national Junior division title.
In the Adult Gold division the Detroit Mission Stars junior team beat Team Hyper Detroit in the semi-finals to advance to the final against the Can/Am Stars. Can/Am jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Chris Popescu and Ernie Hartlieb but the Mission Stars would rattle off 4 unanswered goals of their own, enroute to a 4-2 win. The undermanned Can/Am team could not find the back of the net on Kampf while Mission got goals from Brandon Schnurr, Sean Nappo, Mike Mackert and Geoff Carey.
The Chicago Magic who beat Team Hyper Detroit 6-4 won the Adult Silver division. Pat Lee led the way for the Magic by recording four goals and an assist while goaltender Matt Hirsch made 16 saves.
The Adult Bronze division was a low scoring affair between Nature’s Perspective and the Eagles. The Eagles fired 37 shots at Nature’s Perspective goalie, Kirk Cale, but would only find the back of the net once on a shot by Anthony Michaelopolous. Joey Virga and Brian Elsner scored for Nature’s Perspective. Both teams qualified for the Adult Gold division for the nationals.
The NARCh Finals will be held in Estero, Florida from July 17th through July 30th and will feature the best inline hockey teams from throughout the country. By the looks of the Detroit regional, Michigan should be represented quite well at both the Gold and Platinum levels.
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