West Coast Finals Have Started!
By Alex Morrison
We are 32 games into the 24th edition of the NARCh Finals. Today, we begin day 2 of the West Coast Finals at the Silvercreek Sportsplex in San Jose, CA. After this event has its’ last game on June 25, we travel to the greater Toronto area, where the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario is hosting the East Coast Finals from July 13 - 23. Here are a few interesting tidbits about this summer at NARCh:
- Over 1000 games will be played over the course of 5 weeks in 2 countries, spanning 2,655 miles.
- In San Jose, 186 teams representing 7 US States and 3 other countries are playing in 13 different age categories for 33 Division Championships.
- In Toronto, over 180 teams will be competing in 14 different age categories for 33 Division titles. As of today, we have registered teams from 13 US States, 4 Canadian Provinces, and 3 other countries.
- In total, 15 states, 4 provinces, and 4 continents are represented in the more than 360 teams that will participate during the 21 days that make up the NARCh Finals.
Now, a few little housekeeping things for those of you coming to San Jose in the next 9 days. Team check in MUST be complete before the 2nd game that the team plays in, and is different than the check in process at regionals. Players must have an original or certified copy of their state or country issued document certifying their date of birth. PHOTOCOPIES NOT ACCEPTED! Also, hotel forms need to be completely filled out, including all players on a team, even if they aren’t staying in a host hotel. All check in is done with Emily in a room right behind the front desk at the rink. She has copies of all regional rosters, and cross checks all players to make sure that they have qualified. If you have any players that are in question with regard to qualifying, make sure to come in before that player touches the floor so your team doesn’t have unnecessary consequences.
The skills competitions signups are at the merchandise area. Tanya will take the registration, and hand each player a skills tshirt for signing up. The categories are fastest skater, sniper (shootout), and top goalie (shootout). Winners get a trophy and a set of Labeda wheels. In addition, to celebrate our newest sponsor, GoPro, we are giving away a brand new HERO5 Black to the most amazing shootout goal overall, the most amazing goalie save, and a GoPro Session5 to the best Instagram video about NARCh... just hashtag #narchfinalshero to enter!
Photos are available this weekend, with Xtreme Sports Photos doing a great job of capturing moments on and off the rink. Make sure to stop by their area at the building entrance for details on their product. https://www.facebook.com/XtremeSportsPhotos
Live scoring is available on the website throughout, so you can follow along even if you can’t make it to the event. Here is the link: http://www.narch.com/stats#/67/schedule?tournament_id=198
We look forward to seeing you either here in San Jose, or next month in Toronto!