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Pacific Cup gears up for 2004-05 campaign in afterglow of NARCh Finals
By Phillip Brents
The 2004-05 Tour Pacific Cup season rolled out November 6 with tournaments in all tiers and age divisions at the Anaheim Hockey Club and Rollin Ice in San Jose. The season concludes with the Tour Pacific Cup Finals June 17-20 and June 24-27 at the Anaheim Hockey Club.
More than 30 regular season tournaments have already been posted on the Tour Pacific Cup website (www.pacificcup.com) to facilitate registration, according to co-founder John Black.
Besides the extensive schedule, which includes a preseason tournament October 30 at the California Roller Hockey Center in Irvine, also posted on the website are the rules and regulations for the 2004-05 season.
"Scottie Leming, director of operations, has done a marvelous job for the Tour Pacific Cup and has been a fantastic addition," Black said in regards to the prompt posting of the information.
Black still remains amazed at how well the tiered system has worked since its implementation several years ago. The statistics from the 2004 Finals sums it up, he said.
Of the 323 games, 118 ended with a difference of one goal and 98 more ended with a difference of two goals. Nearly 70 percent of the total games were decided by two goals or less.
In the playoffs, 14 games went into overtime. Twelve championship games were decided by one goal, including five overtime contests.
"This speaks volumes to the success of the system. We work all season long to find a level playing field. That’s the cornerstone of what the Tour Pacific Cup is all about – so everyone has a chance at a championship," Black said.
Those attributes are best put to use at the annual NARCh Finals. Pacific Region teams skated home from this year’s NARCh Finals in Cincinnati with 35 medals, including 11 gold medals. The top-level Platinum Division featured 16 medals won by California teams alone, including six championships and a sweep of all three medals in two divisions.
"We have an eight-month season in the Tour Pacific Cup. Paul Chapey (a co-founder with Black) used to call it ‘Gladiator School.’ You go through an arduous, competitive season. When you get to NARCh and face off against a team from New York, you’re not going to be intimidated. You’ve had the tough season. You’ve won the really tough games. No other region can boast that type of competition," Black said.
Pacific Region teams continued their
strong showing at the 2004 NARCh Finals in Cincinnati with nine medals (two
gold, four silver and three bronze) in the Gold Division Finals and 10 medals
(three gold, two silver and five bronze) in the Silver Division Finals.
Highlights by California teams included division championships by the Knights of
Corona (Midget Gold), the Pasadena Pama Chupacabraz (Senior Gold) and the
Mission Patriots (Mite Silver) while Arizona’s Mission Excalibur Black captured
titles in the Squirt and Pee Wee Silver Finals. The Silver Pee Wee title was the
second consecutive for the Arizona program.
Gold Division Finals
Fourteen teams qualified for the
playoffs, including four from California. The Bulldogs paired up with their
sibling team, the Anaheim Mission Bulldogs Black (runners-up in the AA Tier at
the Pacific Cup Finals), in the first round, winning 7-0 to advance to the
quarterfinals. Red Army (seeded seventh) and Mission Primal (seeded 14th) both
ended their NARCh runs with first-round playoff losses.
Skills competition winners included Niko Power of Red Army (fastest skater) and
Matt Bartels of Anaheim Mission Bulldogs Yellow (top goaltender.
Pee Wee Division
The Mission Skeleton Crew brought home the bronze medal after advancing to the semifinals with a pair of wins. The Anaheim Mission Bulldogs Red and Team Rink Rat, both from California, earned the top two playoff seeds but were upset in the quarterfinals in overtime contests.
The Local Boyz (California), Nor Cal Mavericks and the Rollerplex Panthers (Arizona) brought the total of Pacific Regional playoff qualifiers to six in the division. The Local Boyz earned the fifth seed and bested the 12th-seeded Mavericks in the opening playoff round while the Panthers (seeded 18th) fell 5-3 to the Illinois Phantoms Black team (seeded 15th) in the same round. The Local Boyz went out in the next round following a 6-2 loss to British Columbia's Wild Alpine (seeded 10th).
Justin Peypton of California's Team Rink Rat was the division Top Goaltender with a scintillating .924 save percentage (stopping 85 of 92 shots) while Matt Deutschmann of the Local Boyz won the fastest skater award in the skills competition.
Bantam Division
The Water City Serpents posted the highest finish -- fourth -- among the four California teams entered in the playoffs. The Serpents rose above their 10th playoff seed to topple seventh-seeded Team St. Louis, 5-4, in the first round before shocking the top-seeded Anaheim Mission Bulldogs Yellow team, 2-1, in the quarterfinals.
The second-seeded CCM Devils Dogs were a 7-2 quarterfinal-round upset victim of the eventual NARCh champion Junior Gladiators from Pennsylvania. District 5 -- the 2004 Tour Pacific Cup AA Elite Tier champions -- garnered the fourth playoff seed but fell 2-1 in the quarterfinals to the fifth-seeded ProJoy ISCA Grizzlies from New Jersey.
The Knights of Corona, despite not qualifying for the playoff field, were led by skills competition top goaltender winner Anthony Sanchez.
Midget Division
California teams made it a clean sweep of the top three medals. The Tour Pacific Cup AA Tier champion Knights of Corona defeated the Chula Vista Golden Eagles, 7-2, in a championship battle while the Nor Cal Riot, seeded first, finished third.
California teams owned the division with a total of seven Golden State teams qualifying for the playoffs (out of 11 teams). Also vying for the division championship were the CCM Devil Dogs, Nor Cal Extreme (Pacific Cup AA Select Tier champions), Water City Serpents and Mission Primal. The Nor Cal Extreme and CCM Devil Dogs both won their opening playoff games (with the Devil Dogs eliminating Mission Primal).
The top-seeded Riot sent the Devil Dogs home following a 5-4 win in the quarterfinals while the second-seeded Golden Eagles (a semifinalist at the Pacific Cup Finals) claimed a tense 1-0 victory against the seventh-seeded Nor Cal Extreme. In yet another all-California playoff matchup, the Knights of Corona (seeded fifth) used power play goals to eliminate the fourth-seeded Serpents.
In the semifinals, the Knights of Corona won a 5-4 overtime game from the Riot while the Golden Eagles, who were revived halfway through the Pacific Cup season, skated past Michigan's Motor City Roller Dogs, 5-3, to advance to the championship final.
Brandon Barnette spurred along the Knights of Corona as the division High Scorer with 14 goals and seven assists.
Junior Division
The Tour Pacific Cup AA Tier champion Knights of Corona (after winning the Midget Division title) placed runner-up to the Cincinnati Storm in the older age group. However, the fifth-seeded Knights did not go out without some glory after toppling the top-seeded ProJoy ISCA Grizzlies from New Jersey, 4-0, in the semifinals. The second-seeded Cincinnati Storm, feeding off the home court energy, captured the division title with a 4-3 win. The Knights played into the semifinals after scoring a 4-2 victory against the Great Lakes Lightning from Michigan.
Men's Division
Pasadena Pama Chupacabraz, the reigning NARCh Winternationals champions, out-dueled Missouri's Team Omni, 5-4, to win the championship behind Patrick Gallagher's game-winning goal and excellent defense turned in by Mike Nijjar and Kris Kranzky.
Women's Division
Team Arizona placed second after a 4-3 championship-round loss to the second-seeded New Jersey Tour Jaguars. Lindsay Kurtis of Team Arizona won the High Scorer award with six goals and three assists.