Growl

[Db55UD02]

Congrats to the Tour Growl in their success out in Las Vegas. I believe they finished 3rd in the standings and had a great week out there. Now it is time for the real business to start as they and the Scrappers prepare for the semifinals of PIHA. They have the undaunting task of trying to knock out the defending champions starting this Friday in York. Good luck Boys. The Scrappers will play the Revolution on Saturday night at the Sportsplex, 6:00PM. Following that game, the typhoon will play the Growl in Game 2 of their semifinal series. Game 2 of the Scrappers series will be on Sunday at 6:00PM ( time?) at the Marple Sports Arena. Every game between these two teams have been very tight with the Scrappers taking the overall regular season series 4-0. I am sure Adam Stio will have his group of talented skaters ready to steal a game at the Scrappers home rink. Game 3 of the Growl ( if necessary) will be played in York on October 3rd. Game 3 of the Scrappers will be played on Tuesday the 30th at 7:30PM ( time?). For more information about the two teams, please feel free and visit www.growlhockey.com. Any updates of the other series going on? THanks
DB

[DannyG]

Captain Flynn and the guys did a great job. Following their dominating round-robin 3-0 record, they were placed as the top seed of the 32 teams. They succumbed in the round-of-eight, quarterfinals game of Division 3, losing 6-2 to Team Pro, the eventual national champions.

please refer to www.usahockey.com/inline for all details, stats, etc...

<font color=purple>DannyG</font color=purple>

[-venom-]

they played D3, right? what other divs. were there.......... D2, D1?

[DannyG]

Largely because of the level of player participation in the upcoming PIHA and Speed Hockey seasons, there was not enough participation to conduct the usual D1 set...D2 was it's usual "bigger/older/stronger" version...

The "young guys" of D3 are now very representative of their generation: 18-24 years old, played the game for 8-10 years, played at a national youth level for years, largely haven't played much ice, concentrated on inline, and they absolutely fly...this group will be taking over from the 25-29 year olds in D2 and D1 very soon...

D3 is still "local rep teams," D4 is "local club team" play, D2 is larger-area recruit teams...the Growl, of course, fall somewhere in between a true D3 and D2 level...

until you get down to the final 8, or final 4, the Growl weren't really at their correct level...they were definitely one of the top 4 teams, they drew team Pro in the quarters...Danny O's and the young, "Fab Four" of the EPT Blaze were the other two teams in the top 4 level...all four of these teams would be a step behind the speed and size of the D2 games, but they would be competitive...

That was probably more than you were looking for...

Good tournament.

<font color=purple>DannyG</font color=purple>

[GROWL]

We were signed up for D2 honestly. I told Jeremy Kennedy to put us in D3 if D2 didnt have a lot of teams as it has not in the past few years. As D2 had eight teams that was enough for us, i just didnt want to be in a 4 team division. As it turns out they stuck us in D3 cause it made their schedule nice and neat, likewise leaving D2 at eight teams. No real harm done I guess. I think you forgot to give "The Rock" their due, they were a good team as well. They forfeited there quarter-final game to a weak Meanies team, cause they got to the rink late for their game. We would have dont well in D2, had Pro not forfirted there first game it would have been them and us in the final, cause they would have been ranked higher. Likewise it is retarded that they did not re-seed in the playoffs. Oh well, it was a terrific tournament. We again congratulate Team Pro, they had a very strong team and less weak spots then us.

[DannyG]

A lot of teams have trouble making early Thursday/Friday games, even though this tournament is the same format year after year...guys in the 18-24 year old bracket seem to have trouble planning their lives more than a few weeks ahead (young master Flynn greatly excepted: you should see the boy's notebook system)...at any rate, forfeits always skew things somewhat, as Anthony observed above...USA Hockey Inline is heavily considering changing this tourney set to the Columbus Day three-day weekend, to hopefully get more people on-time in their ability to attend next year...we'll see...

<font color=purple>DannyG</font color=purple>