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| January 18, 2010
By Alex Morrison
Sunday Championship Recaps
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The first champion of 2010 was crowned today at the end of the Squirt Gold Division final. After playing 3 games in the prelims, and a tough semifinal game, the Revision Mustangs Black and Delta River Rats faced off to see who would take home the trophy. The game started off slowly for both teams, as they seemed to feel each other out for the first 4 minutes. The first goal came soon after that, as Gabe Wackerman put one between the pipes to give the River Rats the lead. The Mustangs answered a minute later, but the River Rats scored against shortly thereafter to go into the half leading 2-1. Derek Ellingson increased Delta’s lead to 2 goals with a tally 5 minutes into the 2nd half. The Mustangs’ Troy Sanchez scored with 4:42 remaining, but another Delta goal sealed the deal for the River Rats. Congrats to our first champions. The top goalie award went to Nicholas DeFayette and Natalie Stevenson of the Revision Mustangs Black, and the high scorer was 949 Anarchy Black’s Curtis Jackman.
The Squirt Silver final also featured 2 Northern California teams in the Silicon Valley Quakes and Nor Cal Extreme. This game was also a slow starter, with not many shots by either team in the first 6 minutes. The Extreme were the first to capitalize on a scoring opportunity, as Ricky Pacciorini made his shot count. Ricky followed up 2 minutes later with another goal, and the game proceeded to halftime with the Quakes needing to step it up to get back into it. Coach Daye Inouye of the Quakes must have said the right thing at the half, because just a few seconds into the second half, Matthew Stelling tallied one for the Quakes. The teams traded goals until the score was 4-3 with 3 minutes left. The quakes threw everything they had at the net, and ended up scoring with just 34 seconds left to tie the game and send it to overtime. An up and down overtime saw scoring chances for both teams, but halfway into the first overtime period, Pacciorini finished off his hat trick, and took home the trophy for the Extreme. The top goalie in the division was Donovan Warren of Maka’u’ole, and the high scorer was Andrew Hernandez of 949 Anarchy.
Pee Wee Gold was the first division to have a final with a team from outside Northern California. Not just one, but both teams were from hundreds of miles away. 949 Anarchy and Labeda XDH were pumped for this game. They both had to get through semifinals against Nor Cal opponents in different ways. Anarchy sailed through their game against the Delta River Rats, but Labeda had a much more difficult time advancing. The Nor Cal Riot took XDH to overtime before giving up the game winner. Once the final began, Labeda scored right off the bat, just 16 seconds in. 949 pressured the XDH goalie multiple times, and finally squeaked one past halfway through the period. Labeda’s Tanner Fox turned up the intensity after that, scoring a natural hat trick in the first half, with 3 goals in 1:34. Once the second half started, Anarchy tried to begin a comeback, scoring in the first minute of the half, but XDH shut them out after that, and scored 4 more goals to boot. The top goalie in the division was Ian Wright of Labeda XDH, and the high scorer was 949 Anarchy’s Shane McMahan.
The Pee Wee Silver game was an exciting one, with both teams coming off great wins against local opponents. The Nor Cal Extreme came off an overtime victory against the High Country Mission Hawks, and the Silicon Valley Quakes bested the Chico Firebirds by 2 goals to get here. The Quakes jumped out to an early lead, as Collin Burdsall scored twice in the first 7 minutes. Extreme’s Paul Hermle answered back with two goals of his own in just 31 seconds, sending the game to a 2-2 tie at the half. The Quakes came out flying in the second half, and scored 3 unanswered goals, sealing the victory for themselves. The top goalie in the division was Sienna Weeks of High Country Mission Hawks, and the high scorer was Paul Hermle of Extreme.
The Men’s Platinum division was dominated by the Las Vegas Tour Rebels. Their closest game in the round robin was a 2 goal victory. They went into the final facing the #2 seed from Missouri, Team Drank, the team that played them the toughest, but still, a huge underdog in the game. Someone forgot to tell Drank that they weren’t supposed to win it, as they jumped out to a quick lead by scoring twice in the first 3 minutes. Las Vegas scored with 3 minutes to go in the half, but Joel Livingston’s second goal of the game with a minute left in the half gave the team from the Midwest a 2 goal lead once again. Vegas made it a game once again, bringing it to within a goal by Shawn Pearson, but Livingston added another tally to complete the hat trick, and put the game away for Team Drank. The top goalie was the Rebels tandem of Louis Dube and Matt Williams, while the high scorer was Las Vegas’ Micah Sanford.
The Atom Division had two sets of closely matched teams. They were all grouped into one bracket, but were then split into two championship games after the round robin. In the Gold final, 949 Anarchy played the Silicon Valley Quakes in an extremely entertaining game to watch. Anarchy jumped out to a lead just 19 seconds into the game, when Sander Willard did what he does best, stuffing a puck in the back of the net. He scored again less than 2 minutes later. The Quakes were not intimidated though, and scored a goal of their own 31 seconds after finding themselves down by 2. They added another tally with less than a minute when Jaden Guzman sniped one. The second half was full of scoring chances, and the first capitalized chance came with just over 6 minutes to go. They scored again about a minute later, and looked like they would put the game away, when the Quakes’ Guzman picked the puck up on his stick in the defensive zone, toe dragged around 3 players, dipped his shoulder and shot the puck past the goalie. It was one of the most impressive coast to coast displays I have seen this weekend! The amazing goal wasn’t enough for the Quakes, as Anarchy scored seconds later, and added an empty netter to win it by 3. Nathan Tepas of Anarchy walked away with the top goalie award, and Sander Willard took home the high scorer title.
In Atom Silver, the Rockets and Revision Mustangs played their hearts out. If the game was to be given a song title, it would be Goals, Goals, Goals. This Motley Crue of kids was highlighted by the Mustangs’ Coalson Wolford scoring 8 points in the game. All of the kids on the floor were ecstatic to be going home with a NARCh medal. You’ve gotta love that!
NARCh Cubs are the most exciting games to watch. If you have never seen one of these games, you are truly missing out on what the sport is all about. 4, 5 and 6 year old kids skating their hearts out, and having a great time doing it. It puts a smile on everyone’s face to see these boys and girls do their thing on the rink. The parents of these kids are really excited about this event, and are looking forward to many more special memories. A funny side note is that Daryn’s son Rylan was playing for the Anarchy, and Daryn asked him if he would rather have a NARCh medal or a stuffed animal. His 5 year old couldn’t make a decision… it was truly a toss up! For a kid that age to give a medal as much importance as a stuffed animal is pretty amazing. I won’t go into too much detail about who scored and when and who won, because it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that all of these kids really enjoyed themselves and will hopefully be a part of this great sport for a long time.
Right after the Cubs left the floor, the pinnacle of roller hockey began: NARCh Pro Final. The Pama Cyclones made it here by defeating the defending West Coast Winternationals and NARCh Finals Champions, the Tour Mudcats. Mission Syndicate SE had to get past a feisty Ducks team that hoped to make a run for part of the $10,000 purse that was being offered to the medalists. Pama jumped out to an early lead when Kevin Adams beat Mission’s Zack Lane short side just 2 minutes in. After the Cyclones killed off the first penalty of the game, Jerry Osterkamp had his opportunity to score, and he made the best of that chance. He toe dragged the puck around a defender, then moved left, faked a shot, moved right, took a shot which was saved, then with one hand on his stick and off balance popped the puck in the net. The place went nuts after that goal. It was a thing of beauty. Steve Campbell of Syndicate brought them back in the game a minute and a half later with a power play one timer thanks to a beautiful pass by Pat Lee. Less than a minute later, Osterkamp put Pama back on the board with a goal that was thanks to him taking the shot and putting the pressure on the goalie to make the save. In the second half, Mission turned up the heat, taking 23 shots in the period. Pama’s Troy Redmann must like that heat, because he turned away every single shot, looking incredible in net. If you had to pick one MVP in the game, you would still be arguing with other people watching, because both Jerry and Troy were that good in this game. Fittingly enough, Redmann won the top goalie award, and Osterkamp was the high scorer for the weekend. Congrats Pama!
The Men’s Silver Final followed the Pros, and they were pumped up for their time in the spotlight. Adrenaline from B.C. battled Northern Lights from Redding, a city at the northern tip of California. Adrenaline’s Cary Csontala dominated in this game, scoring the first 2 goals of the game, and completing his hat trick in the first period. John Duvoisin of the Northern Lights tried to make a game of it by scoring a couple goals of his own, but in the end, the Canadians were too much to handle, and earned the cup. The division's top goalie was Justin Cayford of BMW of San Diego, and the high scorer was the aforementioned Cary Csontala of Adrenaline.
Men’s Bronze was the last division to have a final on Sunday. Blazers 1 from San Diego faced another Southern California team in Demolition Hockey from just north of Los Angeles. The Blazers were doing what their name states, getting on the board first with a tally in the opening 2 minutes. They followed up with 2 more goals before halftime, and kept things going in the second half, almost earning the shutout, before Orlando Viella finally let one sneak by him. The top goalie in the division was Jody McAlpine of Dim Sum, and the high scorer was Ian Nicklen from Blazers 1.
More recaps coming tomorrow, as we have 12 Championship Games to talk about!
 
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