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PCH SEASON OPENER CONCLUDES WITH CLOSE GAMES
By
| Need For Jim Irwin Clone Apparent!
BY: Nick ‘Gismo’ Gismondi
11/5/06 – 10:10 PM PST
IRVINE, California – With day one in the books wielding some close games the second day of action at the CRHC promised the same outcomes.
True to prediction we saw some incredible hockey games and divisions in which winners were decided not so much by win loss, but by goals for and against.
In the Squirt A division The Warrior 95’s and OC Blades White were tied up for a share of first place, and when the two had met head to head that game had also been even finalizing at 2-2. Team Warrior ended up with the win and possession of first place as they won in the shootout for the Championship. The Warriors also took the top individual honors with Alex Reints as the high scorer (9G, 5A, 14PTS) and Taylor Thorsen as the top net minder (.897 SV%).
Props go out in that division as well though to the Rollerplex Panthers out of Arizona, they played up a division and battled back to tie their last game 6-6 with the MPC Bulls before losing in the over time shoot out. Look out for this team down the road this season. Finishing the division in third place was the Samurai from San Diego.
The Bantam A level shared two divisions of four teams, Bantam A1 and Bantam A2. In Bantam A1 the San Diego Samurai went undefeated to take the Championship and the newly formed Mission Jr. Habs, coached by Nick Gismondi, took second place. The Championship game was actually the first game of the tournament as the Samurai and Habs matched up against each other, a game which the Samurai won 5-3. The Habs obtained second place after defeating the Sharp Shooters 5-2. Wes Langlois (8G, 4A, 12PTS) was the high scorer from the Samurai while Colin Monge and Cody Hennings shared top goalie honors (.829 SV%) from the Mission Jr. Habs.
On the other side of the Bantam A division Irvine Force emerged as the victor when Connor Burns tallied the game winner in the shoot out for the Championship. The Force was tied for first until the shoot out win gave them the edge and the Championship over the San Diego Selects. The Piranhas, who were the PCH Champions last year in Pee Wee A, took third and also emerged with the division’s high scorer, JJ Leins (9G, 3A, 12PTS). The top puck stopper was Kyle Adamson from the force who registered a .771 SV%.
Maybe it’s the long hair, maybe it’s the board shorts, or maybe it’s just solid coaching, but whatever it is one thing is for sure, it’s definitely Jim Irwin. The Mission Raiders made a statement in the Bantam AA division going 4-0 to take the Championship. The Western Capitals took second at 2-2. The Raiders took top scorer honors with David Marabella tallying for 6 points (4G, 2A). Team X finished with the top goalie, Gregory Hamm, who posted a .875 SV%.
Midgets shaped up to be exciting as well. AKS 88 came into this season with an undefeated streak that was carrying over from last year, the pressure to continue that was alleviated early on as the Raiders handed AKS a 4-3 loss in their first game of the event. The division played out to a three way tie for first that was broken by AKS who took the category in goals for with 15. The second place finisher, Western Capitals, had 14 goals for. Things got interesting when the Capitals went all out in the final game for one more goal. If they would have scored they would have tied AKS in GF and won the Championship by default because AKS had left the building, making them unable to compete in the deciding shoot out. The Capitals did not score though and AKS took top honors. Georgie Barber took the divisions top scorer honors racking up 10 points (6G, 4A).
And finally in juniors it was AKS again, this time shaking off two other teams that were tied with them for first place to take the Championship. AKS, Raiders, and the Devil Dogs were all even. The decisive game was missing Jim Irwin who had a bench confliction with the Bantams. AKS and the Raiders were playing out what essentially was the Championship game, while at the same time Irwin was on the bench with the Bantams battling for the same thing in that Division. AKS ended up winning the junior game 4-0, and Irwin won over with the Bantams. This just goes to further prove the need for a Jim Irwin clone. I vote yes, we all know we could use another Jim Irwin around, or three, or four even!
Phil Neilson was the junior division high scorer with 7 points (4G, 3A) representing AKS and the Devil Dogs Jose Mesa finished as the top goalie with a .886 SV %.
Stay tuned to www.pacificcup.com for more info and be sure to be at our next event in December where we will also be debuting Pacific Cup PRO! See you around the Rinks!
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