selects vs. growl

[dude10k]

anybody know the final for the college selects vs. the growl???

[Db55UD02]

Kind of an embarassing game for the Growl. They got destroyed by the college boys. There are some extremely skilled guys playing in ECRHA. As for my team, we won two games against a skilled Lemoyne team today in Feasterville. We had a goal of winning it all back in March, and it came to fruition. I look forward to the coming season in the Growl organization. If anyone cares to comment on this championship game, please feel free to expand on my info.
DB

[SpeedDemon]

I wouldn't say the Growl got 'destroyed' but we wound up losing by a fair amount (not sure the exact score). Speaking for myself, exhibition games are a chance to have fun with no pressure. I go out there, jabber with the refs and the other team, watch my linemate get spun around like a turnstile at a t*tty convention and just have a good skate.

It is a shame that more people do not show to watch, because these college guys are great players and make some plays that deserve to be seen. I had to compliment more than a few of them during play.

As I said last year after playing them, many of the Selects could easily play in PIHA or MLRH and some already do play pro level NARCh and TORHS. Mike Burke was playing out of his goalie equipment. There's a reason they're 'Selects.' In my opinion, they could have been the team to beat.

-Naz

[seyone]

Dave, I wanted to come and see you guys play but forgot when the game was. I want to congratulate you and the rest of the team on a great season. good job!!



http://ironmagazineforums.com/avatar...1037164899.jpg

[dude10k]

i would like to see marple vs. selects that would be interesting dont u guys think so???

[Db55UD02]

Is it contact? If its contact, some of them thin mints would get killed. If not, totally different ballgame out there. Thanks Bret, believe you me, you should have been out there playing. Lets hope things that happpened over this past year get corrected. But all in all, a big thank you to the Growl organization.

[MBurke]

13-4, but it wasn't as lopsided (especially early on) as the score might indicate.

Mike Burke
Commissioner
Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association
http://www.ecrha.net

[NLane]

I think they play by college rules, which would be no contact and no offsides.

[MlrhFan101]

Isn't this the second year in a row that the college team beat a professional team?

[CoachChrisG]

As long as the Gladiators leave the thugs at home, (unlike their embarassing antics last year,) and the game is non contact. Under real rules Marple wouldn't have a chance against the best of the ECRHA. It is the best and most intense inline hockey out there today.

C.C.

[CoachChrisG]

Outside of maybe a handful of players and maybe ONE goaltender the pros just don't measure up. (Not even the Mudcats could beat the best college team of the time.) These kids are fast, have great skill and play great hockey which is something the pros haven't shown since the days of RHI.

Kudos to the college kids showing who the true elite in the sport is...

C.C.

[SpeedDemon]

Do you have any idea what you're talking about?

The Mudcats are one of the premiere teams in the nation. I would give them 3 out of 4 games against any college team anywhere. Rink Rat, Mission DNA and Tour West have equal the talent and might even do better. I am not slighting the college boys but experience does wonders. TORHS, USA Inline and USARS have elite brackets that can be entered by anyone; why don't we ever see the best college teams winning those?

What can I base my opinion on? College-wise, I have refereed (ECRHA) and also played against the Selects. Semi/Pro-wise, I have played MLRH, PIHA, practiced with and skated against the Mudcats more than a fair share of times. I have also participated in NARCh and TORHS and personally witnessed all the top teams from atom through junior and pro.

Being involved on both sides a pretty good deal, I feel I can speak credibly. What do you bring, besides your obnoxious hate for anything semi-pro or pro?

[NLane]

And who won a national event between college teams last year? A bunch of California kids that played MLRH and their coach attributed, in part, the MLRH experience for the success of the team. The college players are great players. Chris Harrell (from VA Tech) has been a good player since the mid '90s. He's played MLRH for several years and had great stats every year. How did the selects do in Vegas at the beginning of this year? Coach?

[MBurke]

The Mudcats would light us up, sorry to say. We have the talent to hang with them, but the above posts are right - experience and time playing together does wonders. I'd love to see what the Selects would do if they had a consistent team that played often and practiced together. We're trying to work to that goal, but it's tough for college students without the backing of a major sponsor.

Both the NJ Riot squad we beat last year and the Growl from this year weren't really their full teams. I'd like to see the results if they were - I still think we'd come out on top, but the games would have been much tighter playing against a team with more time together.

As for the question about Winternationals last year, you're looking at a team that never played together going and trying to compete in DI at NARCh. We lost to the eventual champion Snipers, 2-1. The other games weren't as close, but that was to be expected for the first time out. I wasn't all that surprised with 0-3, especially considering the other teams in our bracket.

Trying to compare college teams (especially individual college teams) against factory pro teams isn't really a level playing field. We're a rather small cross-section of the roller hockey population, both due to age (usually 18-22) and educational constraints (if you're not in college, you're obviously not on a college team). Sure, Mission DNA, Rink Rat, etc. would rip us a new one. They should. They can pick from any player of any age in the country to play for them. Michigan State, Penn State, etc. don't have that same luxury.

Mike Burke
Commissioner
Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association
http://www.ecrha.net

[John_S_Osborne]

Can we please just start ignoring CoachChrisG? I mean, at least everyone else here has some sort of leg to stand on, as SpeedDemon pointed out, with teams they've played, coached, reffed, etc. which gives them some sort of credibility to have an opinion. Who the heck is CoachChrisG?

But anyway...

I would love to see the Selects play Marple. I think that is the next logical opponent for them. Someone mentioned elsewhere (I believe it was CoachChrisG again, ugh..) that the Gladiators would need to leave their goons at home and play non-contact, but alot of their top-flight players are ones who consistently play "roller hockey", not MLRH-styled roller hockey. Also, you'd probably put the game on a bigger rink than Marple, so it would be a very speedy contest.

Man, I'd love to see that.

- john