Vol 3_No 1 Guts.indd - Rubber Magazine

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8 By Alex Dodt For many, the most hectic part of the roller hockey season started in late May with the Arizona Inline Hockey Association (AIHA) State Championships and continued on to early July at the Pacifi c Cup Finals. But the fun wasn’t over yet, as the state’s best travel teams went off to compete at the national tournaments - NARCh Finals in Florida and AAU Jr. Olympics in Michigan - in late July. Then, for two weeks in August, many more of Arizona’s top players went to Chicago for State Wars III. For many of us, it was a very, very long couple of months - to say the least. Just ask Dan Maxwell, Mission Arizona coach and Team Arizona state director, who spent most of the summer traveling from tournament to tournament like so many others. “It’s a long hard road,” said Maxwell. “It’s a lot of fun, but it’s just crazy.” My own experience at State Wars, playing for the Arizona Junior team, said a lot about how far Arizona has come and continues Inline Hockey Local talents boost out-of-state teams By Alex Dodt Eight premier Arizona players represented the state this summer at national tournaments while playing at the AAA/Platinum level with out-of-state teams. None, however, accomplished more than Cody Stocker and Cody Castro, two former Tour Outcasts players who played for the East Coast-based team Black Ice ‘92. Stocker and Castro led Black Ice to back-to-back AAA national championships at the Tournament of Roller Hockey Series (TORHS) and the North American Roller Hockey Championships (NARCh), proving that Arizona grown talent can make a huge impact at the national level. There were several other Arizona players who competed at the AAA level this summer for other teams. Kasey Caruso of Phoenix and Former Tour Outcasts player Tyler Marek Bobby Krafve of Goodyear played for California’s Western Capitals. The team competed in Squirt Platinum division at NARCh Finals and lost 2-1 in a playoff game against Mission Snipers, the eventual GET INLINE: Arizona evolving into national power Dodt to come in the roller hockey world. At the beginning of the tournament, we heard players from a team we beat talking to some friends, only to have the friends counter, “You lost to who!?” They couldn’t believe the lost to a team from the desert. But, by the time we skated off the rink following the championship game, that sentiment had almost completely fl ipped. Teams now couldn’t believe our team - an Arizona team, no less - had lost. bronze medalists. “Kasey loved playing at that level,” said his father, Mike Caruso. “He’s been waiting for this kind of challenge for years.” Phoenix’s Cameron Caruso also competed in the PeeWee Platinum division for Florida’s Team Phat Tape. Glendale’s Clay Taylor, one of the top Bantam goalies in Arizona, competed at both AAU and NARCh Finals. Taylor helped the Tour OC Blades ‘90 fi nish fourth at the AAU Jr. Olympics on top of helping the St. Louis Sharks fi nish 12th at NARCh. “Playing for the Sharks was like trying out for the team,” Taylor said. “But we came together, played well, and played closed games with everyone.” Continued / Page 33 And if teams were saying that about us, I can only imagine what they were saying about all the other Arizona teams who accomplished so much more. This summer saw Arizona establish itself at the AAA level, bring home a prestigious NARCh Cup with a handful of players making a name for themselves with Team USA. And that was just the start. Chances are the Arizona reputation will precede us at tournaments next year, and I can’t wait. ❂ Reach Alex Dodt at alex@arizonarubber.com
Inline Hockey Arizona tastes success at NARCh Finals By Alex Dodt Fourteen Arizona teams made the trip to Estero, Fla., this summer for the North American Roller Hockey Championships (NARCh), considered by many to be the most prestigious tournament in all of roller hockey. Of those 14 entrants, three came home with a medal. Centennial wins high school crown The Centennial High School Coyotes from Peoria were the big story of the tournament among the Arizona contingent. Centennial’s roster was evenly split of with players from three of the biggest programs in Arizona: Rollerplex Panthers, Tour Outcasts, and Mission Arizona Stars. Centennial won two of three round robin games, with its lone loss coming against Florida’s Cooper City Cowboys in the fi rst game of the tournament. “We came into the game with too much confi dence,” Centennial’s Long Duong said. “Kevin Morgan scored nine seconds into the game and we thought it was going to be easy.” Centennial rebounded though and beat a tough Naples (Fla.) High School team, 6-4 in the semifi nal. The championship game was a rematch against Cooper City and, after a slow start, Daniel Amimoto led the Coyotes on a comeback and a 5-3 win. Amimoto earned High Scorer honors for the tournament and Centennial goaltender Andrew Barletta won the Top Goalie award. “Everyone played great and Moto was awesome,” Duong said. “We’ll play together again next year but it’ll be even tougher to repeat with Finals in California.” AZ Stars ‘91 make great run Mission Arizona Stars ‘91 came as close as possible to winning a second NARCh title in 2007. The Daniel Amimoto carries teammate Long Duong out during player announcements before the NARCh High School championship game. The two went on to lead Centennial to a 5-3 win in the fi nals. Stars had a great run through the playoffs with big wins over Team Phat Tape and ISCA Grizzlies and made it to the championship game for a rematch against Revision Devil Dogs, a team the Stars beat in the semifi nal at Pacifi c Cup Finals. “We always had close games against Devil Dogs,” said Mission Arizona coach Dan Maxwell. “It’s a good matchup.” The championship game was a classic back and forth battle that went into sudden death overtime. Mission Arizona goaltender David Johnson stopped a penalty shot in the fi rst overtime period, but the Stars could not buy a goal and the Devil Dogs got their revenge with a 3-2 win in double overtime. “That was one of the longest games I’ve ever been involved in,” said Maxwell. “The boys played great, stopped a penalty shot in overtime, and it was just a fl uke goal that ended it.” The Mission Arizona Stars’ Mite team earned the third and fi nal medal for Arizona at NARCh Finals. The Stars beat a very tough St. Louis Tour Blast team in the bronze medal game for the Mite Gold division. “The playoff game we lost was a real nail-biter,” said Maxwell. “We had trouble scoring, but we beat the Blast pretty handily in the bronze medal game.” Local individuals honored Several Arizona players won big in the NARCh Skills competitions. Tour Outcasts’ Mike Rivera was Top Sniper in PeeWee Platinum, Jake Coughlin of Mission Arizona 90’s was Top Goalie in Bantam Gold, and Tour Outcasts’ Ryan Davis was Fastest Skater in Bantam Platinum. In 2008, NARCh will be hosting two WinterNational tournaments, one in Irvine, Calif., and another in Bethpage, N.Y. The 2008 NARCh Finals will return to the West Coast at the Silver Creek Sportsplex in San Jose, Calif. ❂ 9
Page 1 and 2: arizonarubber ❂ com VOLUME 3 ISSU
Page 3 and 4: The Lineup Editorial Rubber Intervi
Page 5 and 6: Avondale’s Kyle ❂ Beattie helpe
Page 7: Photos / Brant Clinard Onward from
Page 11 and 12: Phoenix Coyotes Strader reunites wi
Page 13 and 14: Photo / Phoenix RoadRunners Phoenix
Page 15 and 16: Junior Hockey Peoria Coyotes Phoeni
Page 17 and 18: Desert Youth Hockey Assocation DYHA
Page 19 and 20: 2 - Keith Ballard ��
Page 21 and 22: Phoenix Scorpions Scorpions high on
Page 24 and 25: 24 Interview from Page 22 will have
Page 26 and 27: By Alex Dodt State Wars III in Chic
Page 28 and 29: 28 THE HOCKEY MOM: A summer of hard
Page 30 and 31: By Bill Casey Vincent Perez-Mazzoll
Page 32 and 33: By Richard Egan Several members of
Page 34: 34 480-473-5835 coachmike@coyotesic

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