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| January 31, 2004
By Jim Anderson
NARCh Gold Wrap-Up
|  After much delay, here goes with the wrap up from the 2nd half of Winternationals, covering the Gold Division, held January 16-19, 2004 at Crystal Palace.
Atom Division
1. AKS San Clemente Empire '95
2. AMB Blue
3. Red Army
4. Thunderblades
The Thunderblades were the lone team in the Atom division from outside CA, having made the trip from Florida to play in Winternationals. The trip wouldn't be in vain as the 'Blades advanced to the semifinals along with AKS San Clemente '95, AMB Blue and Red Army.
AMB Blue would meet the Thunderblades in the first semifinal on Monday morning. AMB's Lopez would score first just a couple of minutes into the contest and Gomez would stretch it to 2-0 late in the first before the Thunderblades would get on the board and trim the lead to one as Barrett finished off a Kreipt helper. Just over 2 minutes later though AMB would answer back with Espinoza finding the net and Blue would lead 3-1 with 6:29 left. In the waning minutes, the Thunderblades would have to take risks to try and trim the deficit, only to see AMB capitalize with Gomez netting too more for the trick and Lopez adding another to put the game away and move on to the Final with a 6-1 win.
Next up would be the Empire '95 and Red Army teams. The two teams would play scoreless hockey until just over 4 minutes remained in the first half and Hichens would stake AKS to a 1-0 lead with Savage assisting on the goal. Then Ryan Mariano would pad the lead to 2-0 with less than a minute to play in the first half. The late goal seemed to spark AKS as they ran off 3 more goals, giving them 5 unanswered, with Savage's pair bookending a goal by Umanzor. Kozek and Newell would answer back for the Army cutting the lead to 5-2 with 3 minutes left. AKS's Hitchens would add his 2nd of the game go close out the semifinal and AKS would move on to the Final with a 6-2 win.
1-2-3 is how the final would open up with AKS's Savage scoring a natural hat trick to stake the Empire to a 3-0 lead with 2:24 left in the first half. Umanzor would assist on the first 2 goals @ 9:29 and 5:13. AMB would regroup at the half though and get on the board with Lasio setting up Gomez to cut the lead to 3-1. Umanzor would answer back just over 3 minutes later to again give AKS a 3 goal lead. True to the old adage "Nothing is as unsafe as a 3 goal lead", AMB would come roaring back in the final minutes with Lopez scoring twice in a 34 second span to cut the lead to just one with 1:18 left in regulation. AKS would hold them off for the remainder though and hold on for a well played 4-3 win and the Atom title.
For the Individual Awards, AMB Blue's Garrett Gomez would take the High Scorer with a 3.5 ppg average and teammate Todd Millar would earn the Top Goaltender award with a .846 save percentage.
Mite Division
1. AKS San Clemente '93
2. Westcoast Warriors
3. Mission Young Guns
4. Team Excalibur Black
After the preliminary round, it would be the Westcoast Warriors taking the top seed and advancing directly to the semifinals along with the Mission Young Guns, who finished with the #2 seed. Team Excalibur Black and AKS San Clemente '93 would win early round playoff games to join them in the semifinals.
First up would be the Warriors and Excalibur Black and it would be Excalibur getting on the board first thanks to a goal by Lee with just under 5 minutes left in the first half. The Warriors would answer back quickly though, scoring just over 2 minutes later with Douglas getting the tying goal. In the 2nd half Excalibur would again score first with Franklin giving the lead once again with just 6:45 remaining. Once again the Warriors would come back, this time with Story scoring with 2:46 left to tie the game. Then the Warriors would get their first lead just 48 seconds later with Rossi knocking it home. The Warriors would then seal the win with an empty net goal by Douglas and advance to the Final with the 4-2 win.
AKS and the Young Guns would meet next and AKS would jump out to an early 3-0 thanks to a natural hat trick by Landon, who scored 3 times in just 85 seconds . The Young Guns would answer back with goals by Beko (on the PP) and Hummitsch at the 5:58 and 4:29 marks to cut the lead to 3-2. The streakiness would continue though as AKS's Picciuto would tally twice just 53 seconds apart and stretch the lead to 5-2. The 2 teams would settle down and it would stay 5-2 through the end of the half. The Empire '93 would strike first again in the 2nd half with Liebman scoring at the 8:22 mark. Hummitsch would get the Guns back to within 3 before Picciuto added his 3rd and 4th of the game along with Richard's late in the game to cruise into the Final with a 9-3 win.
AKS San Clemente Empire '93 would be trying to claim the Empire's 2nd title of the day against the top seeded WC Warriors. They would come out ready to play with Eric Taylor scoring just over a minute into the game for the early 1-0 lead. Ross would find Story for the tying goal just over 3 minutes later. AKS would answer back as Richard scored on the next shift to give them the lead once again and it would stay 2-1 through the end of the first half. Owen Taylor would get things started for AKS in the 2nd half, scoring early (although 13 seconds slower than Eric) to start the half and increase the lead to 3-1. Wales would add another just 90 seconds later and the Empire '93 would rein it in after that as they concentrated on playing defense first in the remaining 6 minutes, holding the Warriors to just 4 second half shots, and they would roll to a 5-1 win claiming their 2nd title of the day for their group.
Individual Awards had AKS San Clemente '94's Danny Budastaff take the High Scorer with an average of 2.66ppg and AKS San Clemente '93 Ryan Hicks earn the Top Goalie with a .793 save percentage.
Squirt
1. Team Excalibur Black
2. Mission Young Guns Black
3. Red Army
4. Las Vegas Tour Rebels
16 teams would vie for supremacy in the Squirt Division and in an odd occurrence, the 4 top seeds would advance to the semifinals (#1 Mission Young Guns Black, #2 Red Army, #3 Team Excalibur Black and #4 Las Vegas Tour Rebels).
First up would be Mission Young Guns Black vs. the LV Tour Rebels and the Young Guns would take a 2-0 lead at the end of the first half with goals by Lakes and Daigneault. The hometown Rebels would answer back as Bake finished Lombardo's pass to trim the lead to 2-1 with 10 minutes remaining. The Young Guns would answer right back though with McDonald and Daigneault scoring a minute apart to take a 4-1 lead with 7:37 remaining. Demelo would score just over a minute later to pull the Rebels back to within 2 and keep it a game. They couldn't solve Taylor, the Young Guns goalie though, and Lakes would ice the game with his 2nd and the Young Guns would move on to the Final.
If the Red Army were to move on it would be one of the first times in my memory (although Colin Sharpe could probably correct me, his NARCh knowledge is second to none) that the seeds have held in place throughout an entire playoff round. Team Excalibur Black would be the only team left to upset the cart and they would grab the lead first with Huffman scoring with an assist to Frum early into the first half. The score would stay 1-0 through the half, with Excalibur playing excellent defense in allowing only 2 shots on goal in the first 12 minutes of play. The 2nd half would see the play open a bit yet remain 1-0 until Excalibur struck again with Barter scoring to pad the lead to 2-0 with just 4:32 left in the contest. Red Army would continue to pressure Excalibur, only to have Barletta turn away all the shots he faced, and Excalibur would move into the final with the 2-0 win.
The next morning the Mission Young Guns Black and Team Excalibur Black would meet to decide the Squirt Division. Team Excalibur would get the first good chance to score with an early PP chance, but were denied by the Young Guns who would then counter with the opening goal just 5 seconds after killing off the PP chance as Lakes would set up Daigneault at the 9:21 mark. History would repeat itself soon after as the Young Guns killed off another PP and would counter with a goal of their own, this time 9 seconds after the penalty expired, as Daigneault scored unassisted to pad the lead to 2-0. Huffman and Barter would combine on a goal 3 minutes later to cut the lead in half and they would tie it off a goal by Spinasanta with just 5 seconds remaining in the half! In the 2nd half the teams would trade scoring chances, but neither could break the tie despite some good chances. So in keeping with the theme of the 2004 Winternationals, another championship would be settled in OT. Mission Young Guns would take an early penalty in the OT period, and once again would kill it off. This time however, Team Excalibur would stay in control and Spinasanta would set up Davis for the game, and title clincher as Team Excalibur Black took the Squirt title.
For the Individual Awards Tyler Lakes of the Mission Young Guns Black would average 3.5 ppg to earn the High Scorer award and Ryan Harrison from the Mission Young Guns Red claimed the Top Goalie with a .867 save percentage.
Pee Wee Division
1. Las Vegas Tour Rebels Red
2. Local Boyz
3. Corona Edge
4. Rollerplex Panthers
The Pee Wee's would also be sold out with 16 teams and as the teams moved into the semifinals, the only team to jump seed would be the #6 Rollerplex Panthers who would eke out a win over the #3 LV Tour Rebels White, 3-2.
The Panthers would meet the top seeded Local Boyz in the first semifinal. The Boyz would take a 1-0 lead on a
 
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