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| July 26, 2009
By Daryn Goodwin
Tour Mudcats win NARCh Pro in a thriller.
|  What a game.
Tour Mudcats win NARCh Pro in a thriller.
NARCh Pro saw 14 teams get dwindled to the 2 favorites for the Pro Final. Both teams showcased in the championship are from the sports biggest sponsors, Mission and Tour. Mission Syndicate vs Tour Mudcats, so the stage was set.
Coming off an incredible Pro Skills Event the night before I was a little hesitant about what kind of attendance there might be for this one. I was very pleasantly surprised, as the bowl was filled out nicely.
Since we gave out title belts and I’ve overplayed the boxing theme, I’ll go ahead and stick with it and say that the beginning of this one was like two heavyweights feeling each other out. About half way through the first we started to notice a lot of incidental (yea right) contact in the corners and a few minor penalties that allowed each team some early opportunities. Mission Syndicate scored the only goal of the first half, which was a snipe by Steven Campbell, who’s created a habit of stepping up and scoring big goals in big games.
If you didn’t know better you might think this one was going to go down as the lowest scoring NARCh Pro Final ever. We know better though. I would say that Mission had a slight edge in puck possession early in the game, but that started to swing as the pressure built on the shoulders of the Mudcats to get this one tied. With right around 6 minutes left Johny McGuiness tied the game with a tap in on a shot from the point from Chad Seibel.
So I’m obviously pretty happy because this one is going to end up in suspense no matter how you look at it. The clock kept ticking and ticking but not without great scoring opportunities and great saves by both goalies that would not give an inch. With about a minute left I came to the conclusion that this one would have to probably be settled in OT. The last time we were here in 06 the game also went to overtime and ended in very dramatic fashion as the Pama Cyclones defeated the same Mudcats. Well, not exactly the same, as there’s some youth added to this squad.
So the clock ran out and we went into OT. I was sitting next to the AKS boys and cracked up at their conversations about players. Even though they’re on the same rink as these two teams and can go toe to toe with them, they still look up to these guys and respect them.
I thought to myself this one could end a couple of ways and the only two things I don’t want to see is a controversial goal or a garbage goal. OT was back and forth and both teams had chances, probably more so Mission. With about 5 minutes into OT the Mudcats got a 3 on 2 and a nice pass sprung CJ Yoder on a wide angle to the net. Being the crafty veteran that he is, he chose not to take the low percentage shot that so often springs the other team with an odd man rush the other way, and instead found Johny Mac with a nice pass in the slot, that caught Mission on their heels. Johny then buried what was absolutely the biggest goal of his roller hockey career that made the Tour Mudcats the 2009 NARCh Pro Champions.
We’ve got a half of day left of NARCh, but this was certainly the Grand Finale’.
Thanks for playing the World’s Greatest Roller Hockey!
See you in San Jose for the next chapter.
Last thing, I’d like to thank Jeff from IDI for taking these great pics.
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