The El Dorado Golden Hawks defeated two-time national finalist Santiago, 5-4, in overtime to return the national high school championship trophy to California. The two California teams were no stranger to the spotlight, as the Golden Hawks had finished first and Santiago had taken third at the West Regional NARCh qualifier in May in Irvine. 

Santiago just fell short in its bid to reclaim the trophy cup it had lost to Michigan’s Varsity Blues last year in Minnesota.

Wes Garlick scored in overtime to lift El Dorado to this year’s national title. The dramatic goal capped a whirlwind rally by the Golden Hawks that saw them trail Santiago, 4-2, at halftime.
Santiago, which was making its third consecutive trip to a Varsity Cup final, recovered from an early 2-0 deficit on the strength of three goals in 33 seconds to take a 4-2 halftime lead. But second-half goals from Justin Simpson and Garlick tied the game for the Golden Hawks. Derrick Burnett racked up a hat trick for Santiago in the loss.

El Dorado skated to its early 2-0 lead on goals 31 seconds apart in the first half. Burnett countered with goals 14 seconds apart to jump-start Santiago’s wild comeback, with Will Munson giving Santiago a 3-2 lead to close out the rapid-fire 33-second goal sequence and Burnett later tacking on his hat trick goal to push Santiago up by two goals at intermission.

However, Simpson scored on a power play just over a minute into the second half and Garlick notched the equalizer with five minutes left in regulation play on a backhander.

El Dorado skated past 2003 Winternationals champions Intelli High School of Arizona, 9-1, in the semifinals (enacting a bit of revenge after finishing second behind the Arizona team in Las Vegas) while Santiago shut out Southern California rival Marina, 2-0, to make amends for a 6-4 loss in the semifinals of the West Regional NARCh qualifier.

El Dorado blanked Marina, 4-0, in the eight-team Irvine tournament.

The Golden Hawks outscored opponents at the Varsity Cup Finals 44-7 (30-2 in preliminary play) to stamp their imprint firmly on this year’s record-setting tournament. El Dorado had outscored its five opponents 39-3 entering the championship game.

The 2003 NARCh Varsity Cup Finals set a record in terms of participation numbers with 12 teams -- eclipsing last year’s record of 10 teams. For the second straight year, the tournament maintained an expanded national presence as teams from Florida, Texas, Missouri, Arizona and Hawaii competed alongside the three California entrants.

The tournament featured four teams from Florida — the Piper Bengals, Flanagan Falcons, Deerfield Beach Bucks and Taravella Trojans — while Desmet Jesuit and the Parkway South Patriots both represented Missouri. The three newcomers included the Woodlands Highlanders (Texas), Intelli (Arizona) and Mililani (Hawaii).

El Dorado finished the tournament 6-0, inclusive of 8-0 mercy rule victories against Mililani and Taravella to go with 7-1 wins against Flanagan and the Piper Bengals in preliminary play.

Santiago and Marina also finished prelim play undefeated. Santiago (6-1 in the tournament overall) recorded victories against Mililani (8-0), the Piper Bengals (5-2), Woodlands (7-2) and Flanagan (2-1) while Marina (4-1 in the tournament overall) topped the Piper Bengals (5-1), Flanagan (3-2), Deerfield Beach (3-0) and Mililani (6-0).

Six teams qualified for the playoffs, with El Dorado and Marina both receiving byes to the semifinals. Joining the three California teams with 4-0 records were Intelli and Parkway South while Desmet qualified with a 1-2-1 record. Ironically, Taravella defeated Desmet, 2-1, in the final day of preliminary play but did not advance with a 1-3 record. Santiago started its run to the championship game with a 5-2 victory against Desmet while Intelli, which was led by High Scorer Jeremy Van Buskirk (7 goals, 15 assists) at Winternationals, defeated Parkway South, 7-1.

Flanagan (three one-goal losses), Mililani (three mercy rule losses, outscored 30-0), and Woodlands (one mercy rule loss) all finished 0-4 while the Piper Bengals went 0-3-1 (with a 1-1 tie against playoff qualifier Desmet. Deerfield finished 1-3, posting its lone victory against Desmet.
Despite finishing winless, the Texans had highly competitive games against both Missouri teams, falling 2-1 to Desmet and 3-2 to Parkway South, to just miss qualifying for the playoffs.

Flanagan easily drew the proverbial shoulder to cry on as likely the best team in the tournament not to make the playoffs. The Falcons’ three one-goal losses came against Marina (3-2), Parkway South (2-1) and Santiago (2-1). Flanagan’s kiss of death was to draw the three California teams. The Falcons lost 7-1 to El Dorado.

While the NARCh Varsity Cup may have been among the first major tournament series to address the growing needs of High School Division teams, the horizon has since broadened significantly.

Two New Jersey teams claimed titles at the 2003 USA Hockey InLine National Championships in Alpharetta, Ga. Thirteen high school club teams competed in two divisions to mark the division’s debut at the national championships.

Ryan Williams scored a dramatic game-winning goal with 57 seconds remaining in the first overtime period to lift the Southern Regional Rams past the Milton (Ga.) Eagles, 6-5, in the Varsity Division championship game while the Marlton Wolfpack earned the Junior Varsity division title with a 7-3 victory against the Edgewater Eagles (Fla.).

All-Tournament Team selection Chris Koutnik scored all five goals for Milton in a losing effort in the Varsity Division championship game.

With the score tied, 1-1 at the end of the first half, the Wolfpack scored four unanswered goals in the second half to take a commanding lead in the JV championship game. All-Tournament Team goaltender Eric Cohen stopped 11 out of 14 shots to preserve the victory for Marlton.

Varsity Division All-Tournament team selections included Keith Denton, Battle Mountain Huskies (Colo.); Don Ciofi, Southern Regional Rams (N.J.); Chris Koutnik, Milton Eagles (Ga.); Zack Whitmer, Boone Braves (Fla.); and goaltender Rick Follis, Boone Braves (Fla.).
The Southern Regional Rams (N.J.) captured the Team Sportsmanship Award.

Junior Varsity All-Tournament team selections included Nate Galbraith, Edgewater Eagles (Fla.); Will Boyle, Edgewater Eagles (Fla.); Brian Smith, Dakota Ridge Eagles (Colo.); Tom Conner, Marlton Wolfpack (N.J.); and goaltender -- Eric Cohen, Marlton Wolfpack (N.J.).
The Team Sportsmanship Award went to the Marlton Wolfpack (N.J.)