USAHIL Cup in Vegas

[BlackDiamond19]

Was wondering if anyone went this yr, and what you thought of the tournament. I had a great time but have been noticing for the past 2 years this tourny has been dying in my opinion. Not much promotion, and it seems like nobody is intrested playing inline cup anymore.

[alex]

I thought it went well this year. Competition in D1 was good, it was an interesting division for sure. I also noticed the floor got better since I was there last year. I had no complaints about the floor at all.

[phil29]

anywhere to view results?

[rhhof]

Actually Jimmy, the event this year was almost totally SOLD OUT

The first weekend with Womens, D3/D4 had so many teams we started at 7:00AM Friday and went around the clock twice to be able to finish on Sunday night!!! The only unfortunate thing about running an event for two and a half days STRAIGHT, was that the floor got pretty dusty by Sunday, but not enough to effect game play, just stopping by the benches....

The first weekend was LONG including Mike Downey's game winning goal with a few seconds to go in the D3 semi final (the game i mean)...He took the short handed Las Vegas squad to the finals but fell to a fast UCSB college squad

It was great to see the Brown Men...I miss those guys - I have played with, against, coached and officiated most of those, now old men!! It was really fun and seeing a little NJ in Vegas was a good thing, well except for people that wear #44 (sorry JJ)

Teams from Texas got a great start and represented well with Team Coast to Coast starting it off with the D4 win


The second weekend was awesome - D1 and D2 were very competetive including your guys teams from TX and AZ....There was great hockey accross the board, even in the 40 and over and 50 and over divisions!! The event did leave breaks enough overnight to clean the floor (GO YORKI) and it was in great shape!

I have never seen so many people (it was only three) but to see a left handed player get tied up and shoot RIGHT HANDED was awesome, even in 40 and over...John Pinerho was there playing for the APEX Thunder again and didnt disappoint, he was one of them that shot the other way

There was a Doug Jones sighting - The Santucci Snipers in 40 and over had a great run and some was courtesy of their Captain, who they called "Coach" - he looked a little like Doug and wore the number 36!!! They got to the Quaterfinal round via a 150 foot slapper that found the net with 7 seconds left to go to overtime and they puched one in with 1:35 in the extra frame (break out pass courtesy of the DJ Look-a-like)

In 40-over the AZ Fury had some big names including Lake Havesu's own Mark Takacs (selling the rink on the front page PLUG) Curt Labeda and Rob Chornamud - though with only 6 total skaters they ran out of gas in the semi and took an unfortunate 2 and 10 minute high stick penalty (these sucked seeing them all weekend) they at least fell to the eventual 40-over champs this year

Team TBD from Texas took down the D2 division and shut down the always powerful John Pinerho to take home the second title for TX

Colorado took down the 40 and 50-over divisions as the Puck Hawgs from Fort Collins shut down the competition

California tied for most division wins with two by sealing up the D3 spot and Revision kept their winning ways from NARCh with their Women took home that division in style

D1 had the best game of the Tourney, in my opinion - I'd go for the semi between LA Pama Cyclones vs AZ Diablos - What a list of talent....Though Pama didnt have their full squad it was still a hell of a tourney for them and entertaining for us. The Diablos were lead by Dan Marmorstein and his touch and assists that led to some great passing plays that took down the competition all around

You can catch all the scores and schedules up on www.USAHockeyInLine.com

[DannyG]

special thanx to adam for the insightful commentary...

the past two years I have been unable to attend the event for financial reasons, having been to every single one prior, 'cept for the inaugural '95 one in Minneapolis...running a rink as a business is financially tough, bummer...

I write today to laud the Texas guys, especially all my El Paso boys...

Jimmy, Skylier, Dan, Eric, Brian, Zacky, Michael winning D2, and Jonny Pin was there?! I saw that first round score and judged that jp must have been doing somethin' else..all the more impressive for Jimmy's gang.

Greg, Andy, Ramon, and the coast-2-coast guys seem to like the relegation route to D4 supremecy, eh?

Someday in the 40's and 50's, we'll beat those Colorado guys. This rivalry goes back to '99 in New Orleans...maybe next year, and I'll hope I can join the fray once again.

My take on the inline cup tourney is that it still is a unique event, no other tourney has the same make-up, and opportunity for competition that this one does. Other tournament events do other things, but the USAHIL Cup is still alone in what it gives the player.

This year, all four teams with El Paso guys made it to their respective national championship game, that is something tremendous.

Thanks to Jeremy Kennedy and the USAHIL gang, and Dan & the LV Roller Hockey Center..I'm makin' plans for next year already.

See you in Vegas.

-DannyG

[-venom-]

I caught a few D1 games on Saturday afternoon.... saw Pama blow a 6-5 lead into a 10-6 drubbing to Revision. lol.

Good hockey environment, for sure - considering LVRHC is a single-rink facility.

All in all, it's always fun to watch tournament hockey