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| January 6, 2002
By By Phat Plastered
Day Two at the 'NATS...
Who would have thought I would be able to avoid capture...
| We are almost halfway there. My advice? Start drinking heavily.
Day Two
January 4, 2002
Friday
Mites Finish Round Robin:
Seed 1 Anaheim Mission Bulldogs
Seed 2 Empire 91
Seed 3 OC Blades Black
Seed 4 CPH Velocity
Seed 5 Edge 92
Seed 6 CPH
Tomorrow, Blades Black play CPH. And CPH Velocity plays Edge 92. Best two go on to face Seed 1 and 2.
My pick? Not telling…but don’t let the dogs out.
Bantams Finished Up Round Robin with Few Surprises
BANTAMS
OC Blades 2-2-2 Seed 2
Outcasts 2-0-1
Fieldhouse 0-2-1
Tour Rebels 0-0-0
Anaheim Mission Bulldogs 2-2-2 Seed 3
LV Empire 86 2-0-1
Oakville 85 0-2-1
Excalibur 0-0-0
Arizona Stars 2-0-0
Las Vegas Titans 0-0-1
Nike Rockets 0-2-1
St Louis 2-2-2 Seed 4
(The biggest upset of the day was the Titans tying the Rockets, to knock Nike’s Rockets out of tournament.)
EmpireSnipers 2-0-2
NorCal Mavericks 0-0-0
Ravens 1-2-0
Roadrunners 0-0-0
Red Army 2-2-2 Seed 1
Tour Mavericks 2-2-0
The Bantam Division is certainly a close race. 5 teams tied with three points, but the tie breakers knocked out the Rockets and Ravens, and the Outcasts, Empire 86 and Oakville all advanced with three points.
What will it come down to…? Probably the top four seeds. Red Army looks strong and also benefited from the two extra team draw. But they played well, especially against the Snipers. Red Army needs to stay the course. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. AM Bulldogs had a little trouble with Empire 86 and Oakville Coyotes but won. Overall they seem they still seem the strongest to date, but then they need to be more consistent. Blades need to get their offense going and stop relying upon their defense to score… That’s an odd twist for the Blades. They haven’t got it together yet. Possible upset in the making tomorrow as the Blades will play Oakville, who are much better than their record. St Louis needs to stay composed throughout and not get into physical battles or play mind games. They are the most likely in the top four to get knocked off, it may be them.
Player of the Day? Patrick Tyson of the OC Blades Bantams. Solid on defense and now leading the team in points. I told you to watch this young man. Underrated, but maybe just one of the best around. If you get the chance, go watch him play.
(BTW, someone said I may have gotten St Louis’ Kyle Kramer’s number wrong. I thought he was wearing 50. If not, my apologies.)
Pick of the litter? I’ll stick with AMB, but they need to look stronger...
Then… the action today was centered on what looks to be a great group of college teams and it was a great afternoon of Hockey. The Michigan State Spartans are still favored and the defending champions.
College play:
12:50 pm – Michigan Wolverines v. Missouri Tigers – Wolverines 6-4
1:30 pm – RIT Tigers v. Cal Poly Pomona Broncos – Tigers 8-3
2:15 pm – Michigan State Spartans v. Penn State Altoona Fury – Spartans 6-4
3:10 pm – Iowa State Cyclones v. Colorado State Rams – Iowa 6-2
3:55 pm – Ohio State Buckeyes v. Penn State Nittany Lions – 5-5 tie
4:35 pm – Cal Poly SLO Mustangs v. Rhode Island Rams – Mustangs 9-1
More about the Spartans tomorrow. I had an interesting conversation with their coach and you might be surprised to find out how well run the Spartans roller program is…
Favored: Spartans.
At 7:45 pm go the Cal Selects from Southern California played the Lady Starz on Rink 2. Cal Selects field national champions level girl ice teams, and it will be fun to see how they do in roller – though a couple of faces look familiar… In any event, they won but the score was much wider than the game. In fact, the Lady Starz spent a lot of the game behind the Selects defense, but could finish it and the puck stayed out of the net.
By the way ladies, more than one young man noticed not only how well you guys played but how pretty some of the ladies were. Of course, they used some terminology I didn’t understand, but it is what they meant. Nice ladies and great athletes…no bull.
Didn’t see enough games to give you a good idea. Selects looked good as did the CPH team.
D-1
My Predators fell victim to the penalty box…
Seed 1 Rinkside Rockets
Seed 2 Snipers
Seed 3 Cyclones aka: Dillo Chewbaccas
Seed 4 Anaheim Bulldogs
Seed 5 Bauer Pythons
Talk of the tournament is the D-1 Rockets. On paper, a great team. On the rink even better. Every member of the D-1 Rockets are also playing in the pro division. Best young group of talent since the Backstreet Boys… Go see them. You may eventually see them in pro.
Favored: Rockets, so much so for them to lose would be a major upset. We forget they won three of the last four major tournaments they entered.
Da Pros:
5:15 pm – Team Hyper v. Canadian Backhanders -- win to CB
A tough start to a bad day for Hyper, Irish’s choice to win it. Backhanders scored once and beat Hyper 2-1 (Hyper kicked in the first goal.) Hyper seemed to lack some energy in this game and seemed to be skating drills and not skating a game.
6:10 pm – Team Tour West v. Sport Court Jokers – win to Tour West
Tour West is looking the strongest right now, with Bonvie in goal. Inside track to the finals.
7:10 pm – CCM Hosers v. Team Projoy – win to Hosers
Hosers are the youngest team, and they looked very strong. Maybe not this year, but in one, two at the outside, they will be at the top.
8:10 pm – Team Mission v. Tour Mudcats aka Team USA – win to Mudcats
Team Mission had the Cats, but the Cats got a goal towards the end to win it. Mudcats are on inside track to finals.
9:05 pm – Team Hyper v. Team Tour West – win to Tour West
Hyper showed a great deal of heart, but fell to Bonvie and the West.
10:05 pm – Canadian Backhanders v. Sport Court Jokers – win to Backhanders
Sport Court seemd slow and without much ooomph.
11:00 pm – CCM Hosers v. Team Mission
CCM went up quick, and it staged a great comeback by Team Mission. All those old Hall of Famers on Mission are not yet ready to retire and hand the reigns over to the young Hosers…not yet. It was a lesson in being a pro as Mission stayed the course and never got flustered.
12:00 am – Team Projoy v. Tour Mudcats
Cats easy.
Favored team: Team Tour West.
And whats coming up?
Day Three
January 5, 2002
Saturday
The biggest day of all starts huge.
I mean beer gut huge. Mike Tyson is a dope huge. Shrimp Shack Shooters huge.
In the morning you will see, all before noon, the College Division play, the Mite Play offs and the Bantam Quarterfinals.
Outcasts will play Empire 86 for a chance to get creamed by Red Army (just kidding!)
OCB will take on Oakville 85 and a possible upset brews.
Bull Gods go after Tour and should win.
St Louis plays the Empire Snipers, and another possible upset brews…
College games are:<
7:40 am – Missouri Tiger v. Cal Poly Pomona Broncos
8:25 am – Michigan State Spartans v. Iowa State Cyclones
9:10 am – Penn State Altoona Fury v. Colorado State Rams
9:50 am – Ohio State Buckeyes v. Cal Poly SLO Mustangs
10:35 am – Penn State Nittany Lions v. Rhode Island Rams
After noon the Golden Girls continue to play, the Senior Platinum play Semis, D-1s also do Semis, Women’s Platinum and NARCh Pro continue.
The Pros play:
3:10 pm – Jokers v. Hyper
4:10 pm – Backhanders v. Tour West
5:10 pm – Mudcats v. Hosers
6:10 pm – Projoy v. Mission
Pro Semi finals are at 9:30 pm and 10:40 pm.
Senior Gold Finals re at 7:10 pm on Rink 1.
Senior Platinum finals are also on Rink 1 at 8:20 pm.
Juniors start in the evening hours.
THE G-A-M-E OF THE D-A-Y…
The Game of the Day is in Juniors, where the Anaheim Mission Bulldogs will take on the Bauer Pythons at 1:35 pm on Rink 2. Another one of those early tests for both teams. Anaheim will be strong and field two teams. Not likely, but a possible 1-2 punch here.
Also, if you can stay up, the Predators take on the Hurricane at 1:20 am (Rink 1).
35 and over start playing at 11:20 pm and into the wee hours. I like Team Viagra. Don’t know a damn thing about them, but I think the name is funny.
Some VEGAS ODDS…for the NHL Stanley Cup.
Avalanche 5/1
Red Wings 9/5
Sharks 15/1
Islanders 8/1
Ducks 300/1
PATS are in the house…
Patriots Arrived and are looking for a killing. Welcome. Best new hair do is…Jan. Its also good to have Ashley and the Rice Bomb in the house…
Fransisco Franco is still dead.
We are almost halfway there. My advice? Start drinking heavily.
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