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Planet Hockey Wrap Up
By Nick ‘Gismo’ Gismondi
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 With the PCH season now well under way another solid event was held at Planet Hockey on Dec. 2nd. Bryan Garland and his wife Judy played host as the facilities owners and directors, that of course when Judy isn’t venturing somewhere over the rainbow. Planet hockey was as spotless as ever and represented Pacific Cup well.
It’s no secret that Shayne Arsenault is without argument roller hockey’s best dressed Pro and coach. He exemplified that with the debut of his organization, The Western Capitals, jerseys. With a profoundly noticeable Louis Vuitton flare to them, the Capitals were nothing short of trendy and were only missing the luxury hand bags to accent there ensemble.
The stylish jerseys paid off in the Midget/Junior division as the Capitals squeaked by the Bulldogs with a 1-0 win in round robin. Justin Cayford, in net for Anaheim stopped everything, including the kitchen sink, which the Capitals did throw at him. A single puck did however find its way by with just five seconds to play in the game.
 The event was also a coming back party for the Young Guns and Keith Daigneault. Look for him and the boys to frequent the events more, well, frequently.
Remember that movie starring Bill Murray, ‘What About Bob?’ well in the Pee Wee A division it was ALL about Bob. Bobby Chacon took top goalie honors leading the Force and Head coach Dave Cairns to back-to-back first place finishes. The Championship game was exciting as well locked at 4-4 between the Force and Rollerplex, though Robert Solby and Peter Quayle, each scored in the shoot out for the win.
Squirt A saw one of the closest and most fierce battles in the tournament. So close that a one-goal loss and two ties finished the Revision Devil Dogs in fifth place. The gold medal came down to a face off between coaching greats Todd Riffey of the Bandits and Andreas Laux of the OC Blades. The Blades emerged as the victor when with just 2:06 remaining Julien Laux scored what would end up being the game winner.
 In Bantam AA the Championship came down to a goaltenders duo. Taz Gohr of the Raiders and Gregory Hamm of Team X squared off to a 1-1 game that would head to a shoot out for the decision. Niko Power, Paul Linder, and Chase Pestano all found room behind Gohr for the win. A fierce division! Many teams found it difficult to emerge with wins. A testament to how competitive the sport is getting and also a credit to the skill, which plays PCH.
Bantam A proved to be the largest, 8 teams divided into two divisions, and most exciting of the event. Bantam A-1 was close to concluding in a three way tie for first that would have included the Force, Young Guns, and Bandits. Though a plethora of scoring in the last game between the Bandits and Samurai determined the outcome. The Bandits had a 5-4 lead until the Samurai scored two goals in final 13 seconds for the victory. If the Bandits would have held on they would have had first in the three way tie, but the loss knocked them to fourth place.
Props to Wes Langfeld of the Samurai. The team only had four skaters the whole event and scored a total of 11 goals. Wes accounted for 9 of them. Rock star status for him, and someone should get him an agent.
In Bantam A-2, it was the team that Harry Dunn built that showed everyone else how to do it. The Mission Militia was comprised of Pee Wee aged players playing up. Yours truly had the helm as head coach and the Militia went on to win. The Piranhas almost had the event won but a tie to the Militia changed the outcome. Kevin Chilton of the Militia scored on the Piranhas with 1:24 left in the game to tie it at 4-4. Mission would go on to play the sharpshooters and take the top honors.
In Midgets the Devil Dogs made quick work of the division going undefeated for the win. The rest battled for a 3-way tie for second place. The eventual earner of the Silver went to Glenn Evans and the Bulldogs with the Capitals finishing in third.
 Roller hockey’s newest and most influential mover and shaker, known only as “the Bob’ is flying beneath the radar to keep the sport moving. Who is “the Bob”? You ask, just know we said it here first.
After a long awaited arrival the Pro Division is set to go January 27. With the help of Rob Chornomud, the Anaheim Hockey Club will have the tournaments inaugural Pro event.
And if that was not enough a Women’s division is in the cards as well. The Pacific Cup has been approached to drive the effort to bring together the Women’s teams within the region. Kelly Gantner and Karen Render, both from Arizona, contacted John Black to join in the effort. Kelly and Karen will play a key role in making this happen.
“I couldn’t do it without them and I look forward to making the Women’s Division a reality”, said John Black.
All interested Women’s Division teams are encouraged to contact John Black at 951-587-2245 or jblack@pacificcup.com.
Till then stay current right here on the World Wide Web and place all the blame for the late post of this article on good ole Gismo, he may drop the ball now and then, but usually can recover the fumble for the late score. Stay tuned for more and as always! See you around the rink!
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