Success on Wheels Continues for Kodiaks This year’s accomplishments included a Bantam title at NARCh Finals


By Adam Dunivan A


s a senior at Highlands Ranch High School in the Metro Denver suburb of the same name,


Jake Townsend has a lot of choices and decisions to make in the coming months, particularly when it comes to college and hockey. Yet for a few days in late July, that was the


furthest thing from his mind; he and his teammates had a championship to win with the Colorado Ko- diaks’ Bantam inline team. It was a quest years in the making, with plenty


of woulda-coulda-shoulda’s in the past. This time was to be different, though. Competing in the 16U Bantam Platinum divi-


sion of NARCh Finals in Estero, Fla., the Kodiaks realized their potential with a dominating 4-1 win against Mission Black Ice 95 (a team from New York), a game in which Townsend had two goals, good friendReece Samuelson also scored and Mitch Snyder had three assists. Those three, along with Alejandro Ochoa and


Kyle Hayton, make up a core of players who’ve grown up playing with the Kodiaks, and they’d seen too many close finishes to settle for second place this time. “We’ve been so close every time, and we’ve just


never been able to do it, and we finally did with all Colorado kids. It was awesome,” said Townsend, who said he would love to play ice hockey at the University of Michigan. “We played great every single game, and we just


wanted to win at least this one year, before we all like start becoming adults.” It was almost a perfect run at NARCh. The team


went 6-1, including a 2-0 quarterfinal win and a 5-3 semifinal victory. The only flaw? A loss to the same team that beat


them in a 2009 Pee Wee championship game. But it was a team win, and Townsend said


everybody played their part. Also on the squad this year were:Michael Ellis, Jake Stewart, Steven Trummer, Cameron MacRae, John Shanley,


From left, Dustin Graham, Jake Townsend and Michael Ellis of the Colorado Kodiaks show off their champion- ship trophy after winning the Bantam Platinum divi- sion at July’s NARCh Finals in Florida.


long time, withDave Fromm directing the pro- gram. Based in Lakewood, the Kodiaks are touted as the state’s premier inline program. They draw players from all along the Interstate-25 corridor. Seeing Kodiak players of all ages at NARCh Fi- nals is nothing new, and this last July the program


JC Campana,Dustin Graham and Conor Parker. “When we lost two years ago, all we could think


about since then was beating that team that beat us,” Townsend, 17, added. “We played them in the round-robin and lost to them; it was disappointing not to see them again.” The Kodiaks have been heavy on the scene for a


had eight teams qualify for the event. In addition to the Bantams, the 8U Kodiaks took silver in the Atom Platinum division; the 10U team took fourth in Mite Platinum; and the 18U team placed fourth. Championships have been won in the past, but


this one was pretty unique. “This group has always finished in the top three,


but they’d just never been able to win,” Fromm said. “It was one of those things where all the work of these kids and the coaching staff over these seven or eight years finally paid off. “The commitment, the travel, the practicing…


everything all came together at this one tourna- ment. Like I said, we’ve come so close in this tournament and winning it at this age group, it was special for all those kids.” While most of the players have moved on to vari-


ous winter ice hockey programs across the state, Fromm will continue to prepare for what he hopes is a repeat of things next season. The Kodiaks do ice hockey, too, participating in a handful of tour- naments while mostly focusing on training in the spring and summer. However, Fromm looks forward to February’s


inline tryouts, knowing the NARCh Finals win that Townsend and his teammates brought home will act as further proof of the Kodiaks’ growing successes. “I think it re-establishes us as one of the top pro-


grams in the United States and North America, and it validates that we’re the top program in Colorado,” said Fromm. “I truly believe we’re doing the right thing, train-


ing our players the right way. It shows because they keep getting better as they grow.” Even in the midst of all that’s ahead of him,


Townsend won’t soon forget the mission the Ko- diaks completed. After all, the trophy currently resides at his house as a constant reminder. Townsend said that the 18U team next year is


looking pretty solid, too. “We actually might have a good chance next year, too, because all the kids who played 18s also played 16s,” he said.


Avalanche Inline Shootout scores big F


By Drew McCaffrey


or four days in late August, over a hun- dred youth and adult inline players were


treated to something special: the opportunity to play on the biggest hockey stage in Colo- rado. Dozens of teams skated in the second


annual Avalanche Inline Summer Shootout on a tile rink set down at Pepsi Center in Denver, home of the Colorado Avalanche. All age divisions were represented, from


8U all the way up to Adult Recreational and Adult Competitive. Despite playing on a larger-than-normal-


sized floor, players still relished the experi- ence. “It was really cool being down on that


rink, getting to see what it’s like to skate in an arena that big,” said Chase Deutschman, who played on two different teams in the tour- nament, skating with the Mile High Mustangs


16 magazine


The Radioactive Hamsters won the Adult Recreational division at August’s Avalanche Inline Summer Shootout, which was held at Pepsi Center. Photo/See It Now Photography/SeeItNowInc.com


ate the NHL experience for the participating players, says Kurt Schwartzkopf, the Ava- lanche’s chief marketing officer.


in the 18U division and the Radioactive Ham- sters in Adult Recreational. The tournament is meant, in part, to recre-


“Two years ago, the Colorado Avalanche


made a big commitment to the inline hockey community and purchased its own inline floor for tournaments inside Pepsi Center,” said Schwartzkopf. “But it goes beyond that; we also run many of the same in-game elements we use for an Avs game, such as video boards, replays and music.” The Colorado Kodiaks took first place in


every division they placed a team - 8U, 10U, 12U, 16U and 18U - except Adult Competi- tive; Team Stealth downed the Kodiaks to win that championship. The Radioactive Hamsters went undefeated in Adult Recreational to win the title. “The feedback we’ve received from the


players has been amazing and it’s the reason we’ve decided to take it to the next level,” Schwartzkopf added. “Our ultimate goal is


to grow the Avalanche Summer Shootout to become the premier inline tournament in the region.”


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