Today's News & Notes (4/14/08)

UC-Irvine defeated Stony Brook at the NCRHA Nationals in one of the greatest comeback stories in recent history. I could do this story no justice, so please check out Richard Graham's article about this game on Inline Hockey Central.

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In local news, the Iceoplex at Southpointe kicked off their Spring Adult Inline League this weekend with 4 games on one of Pittsburgh's best rinks.

The action began Saturday at 6:30 PM with the Saints easily handling Boondocks with a mercy rule finish. Boondocks played hard, but with a short bench (actually, no bench), they weren't able to overcome the non-stop attack of the Saints.

Next up: the debut of the much-hyped Bridgeville Hockey Club. BHC came out firing on all cylinders against an overmatched opponent, The Ghosts, who were without their leading scorer, Brian Nelson. Dave Bayens, Alan Faulknier, and Goalie Chris Smida made a valiant effort, but the result was another mercy finish win for BHC. Anyone see a trend here? Hopefully league management can find a way to separate the teams and make the games more competitive.

On to Sunday...

Bridgeville Hockey Club, coming off a big win over the Ghosts, came into Sunday ready to face Jay's, led by Jeremy Durckas, Doug Stanton, Chris Tracey, and Josh Tohey. BHC hit the floor running again, and dominated the game with another mercy finish. Chris Tressler and Jeff Martincic stole the show for BHC, with help coming from everywhere. Derek James' defensive skills and experience, Brandon Kurta & Nick Peterson's speed attack, and no weak spots usually adds up to a pretty good team. Team co-captain Jeff Martincic offered the following statement:

"We played well, considering we had half our team for both games. I'm never one to toot my team's own horn - but *beep beep* - South Hills Misfits beware."

Sounds like we'll have a fun game on our hands when the South Hills Misfits square off against BHC in April! (Editor's note: Jeff's math was slightly off, as BHC was only missing 2 or 3 players, therefore they had about 70-80% of their team.)

The 5:00 game featured another powerhouse, Bigg Nife, facing off with a new team, the Cobras. The Cobras told me they've never played anywhere before, just rec/pick-up games. After learning that, I knew they were in for a long 45 minutes when stacked up against Dave Thomas, JD Almonte, Justin Baker, Tim Weissman, and crew. In following the mercy rule trend, Bigg Nife made my prediction a reality. It took 4 games with mercy rule finishes for some hostility to finally show its head, but the Spring's first fight took place during this game. Both players were ejected and suspended.

The weekend's final game was a homecoming of sorts for the South Hills Misfits, taking on Team USA. The Misfits, led by Captain Mike "Old Man" Rinsem, cruised to an 8-2 victory in their first game back at the Iceoplex, where the team was formed by Iceoplex league management after seeing that there was a large interest from individual players wanting to sign up and get on a team.

The team struggled through their first few games, but eventually meshed into a quality mid-level team, even taking a few top teams to the limit. The Misfits stayed together and played at Bridgeville during the Iceoplex soccer season, and have grown to now have 2 teams - the Jr. Misfits play in the A league at Bridgeville, with the "Senior" (no offense, Mike) Misfits playing at Iceoplex.

The Misfits bring a balanced attack, led by Justin Behanna, John Desimone, Matt Heirendt, Mike Rinsem, and the Bram siblings, Eric and Lauren. Yes, a lot of you have been beaten one-on-one by a girl. While opponents are busy thinking "Wow - that girl's hot" - she's busy smoking them with an inside-out deke and hitting her brother, Eric, with a tape-to-tape pass for an easy goal.

All in all, a fun weekend of inline hockey at the Iceoplex. We'll update every week.

Today's News and Notes (4/7/08)

The North American Ball Hockey Championships were held at the Sportsplex in Feasterville, PA (near Philadelphia) March 28-30. The event draws over 50 teams annually and is regarded as one of the top tournaments that ball hockey has to offer.

Division Champions are as follows:

Men's A: Toronto Leafs (Toronto)
Men's B: Strictly Business (New Jersey)
Men's C: EHT Phantoms (Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey)

Women's A: RoadBlast
Women's B: Stick Tease

Coed: Circus (Boston, MA)
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Registration is really picking up for the 2008 Summer Classic tournaments - get in before it's too late!

Contact Bill Hecklick:
bhecklick@gmail.com
724-825-5438