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WHAT'S NEW Congratulations to the '04 8U PAL Blades for a tremendously successful hockey season - awesome job!!! FINAL '04 TOURNAMENT Playing up in the 10U division, the Blades won the Invitational - makes 6 straight tournament championships for us: Florida Cup regionals & nationals, NARCH, Jr Olympics, ECHO regional, and Thunderskate Invitational. |
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The "Blades"
Links Section
Head Coach:
Kevin Arbour
Asst Coach:
Tim Lerette
Defense:
#55 Jeffrey Arbour
Forward:
#27 Rory Barrett
Defense:
#4 Keenan Deignan
Forward:
#29 Alex Goodman
Forward/Defense:
#44 Mason Kreidt
Defense/Forward:
#99 Anthony Lerette
Goalie:
#30 Matthew Pompa
Webmaster:
Tim Lerette
NARCH WEBSITE AAU WEBSITE FLORIDA CUP WEBSITE TRIPLE CROWN WEBSITE 2HOT4ICE WEBSITE THUNDERBLADES MAIN PAGE
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Thunderblade Team News
Thunderblades Win NARCH Gold!!
Yes, it's true. Our very own 8U PAL Thunderblades have shocked the roller hockey world by taking the gold medal at this weekend's NARCH championships in Cincinnati, Ohio. NARCH is the largest roller hockey tournament series in the world, and this year's event was the largest event ever held with more than 360 teams!
The "Blades" run for gold began on Friday morning, with a decisive, opening game win over the Norcal Blackhawks from CA, 9-1. Later that day, the "Blades" faced off against a scrappy Nike OC Blades team - the same CA team they beat in Las Vegas earlier this year. After falling behind early, the "Blades" showed their true grit by battling back for a 9-5 win and an undefeated first day of NARCH.
On Saturday morning, the next team to play us was a local team from Ohio - the Cincinnati Storm. But the Storm proved to be no match, as the Thunderblades won 6-0. Later that afternoon, the real test would come. Going into this tournament, Coach Tim and Coach Kevin both agreed that the AKS team from CA would be the team to beat. And as luck would have it, they were our last regulation team to play. A win would seal a #1 seed for us - a loss would drop us down to 5th. Early in the game, AKS looked like they might dominate the game, but the "Blades" fought back - trailing 5-4 with just under a minute left. But AKS scored an empty net goal, sealing the victory 6-4.
Sunday brought playoff games for the top 5 seeds. First up for the Thunderblades was AKS again. But this time, the game would be different. Realizing that a loss would send them packing, the "Blades" went up quickly 2-0 and never looked back. An empty net goal at the end sealed the win for the "Blades" by a final score of 7-5 and sent AKS packing back to CA. This set up a semi-final game against the #1 seeded Tour Blast team from St. Louis. The Blast went 3-0-1 in the prelims, but did not intimidate the "Blades" as we cruised to a 4-0 win. This meant we'd be going to the "ship" against the Tour Bordercats from Detroit - who won the Cub Division championship at last year's NARCH event.
After an effective pre-game speech from their coaches, the Thunderblades entered the unlit rink, one by one, under spotlight, with their names announced. They knew they made it to the big time. Although the Bordercats had been playing together for almost 2 years, they were completely overwhelmed by a very focused and determined Thunderblades team. For a while, it looked like this finals game might end up in a mercy, as the "Blades" went up 6-0 before the "Cats" scored their first goal. In the end, it was a solid 8-2 finals win for the "Blades". Way to go Anthony, Jeffrey, Corey, Mason, Alex, Rory, Keenan, Seth, and Matt - A W E S O M E ! ! !
Who says hockey players don't clean up well!!!
For the final travel hockey of the month (August), Thunderblade players of the month kudos go out to the entire team for winning the Gold Medal at the Jr. Olympic games in St. Louis. What an honor for these hard working kids!
" That's called playing the body, ref!!! " - Jeffrey Arbour, #55 8U PAL Thunderblades
" What did I do? " - Jeffrey Arbour, #55 8U PAL Thunderblades
" You don't need to play me anymore - just keep Corey and Mason out there all the time so we can win! " - Rory "Duck" Barrett, #27 8U PAL Thunderblades
Through hard play and hustle, the "T/blades" went undefeated and were crowned Florida Cup Gold Finals champions. The Blades began the tournament facing a much improved Rink Rats team from Westin. The Blades jumped out to an early lead - only to see the Rats come back and tie it 3-3. But a late 3rd period charge by the Blades sealed the win, 6-4. Next, the Blades faced the Gulf Coast Storm twice, winning easily, by a score of 10-2 and 8-3. Sunday brought a re-match with the Rink Rats. Again, the Blades jumped up early, only to have the Rats come back again. In one of the most physical and exciting games played to date, the Thunderblades emerged victorious, 5-4.
This set the stage for the finals on Sunday afternoon. But this game would prove to be a bit less challenging, as the Thunderblades finished off the Rink Rats by a final score of 5-2 (please note the scoreboard in the picture background). Congratulations to the entire team for a well-deserved championship win. Special congrats to Matt Pompa for winning MVG and Rory Barrett for winning top scorer. Way to go "Blades" on your first Finals championship of the 2004 season!
