San Jose Braces for West Coast Winternationals The local competition is expected to be at its best at this month’s NARCh showcase By Phillip Brents
T
he 2012 NARCh Winternationals will feature separate West Coast and East Coast events. The 2012 West Coast Winternationals are scheduled for Jan. 13-16 at the Silver Creek Sportsplex in San Jose, while the East Coast showcase is scheduled for Feb. 17- 20 at the Dreamsports Center in Apex, N.C.
NARCh president Daryn Goodwin said the two events won’t dilute the competition field.
“This is actually the third East Coast Winternationals event we’ve done,” Goodwin said. “Long weekends in the winter are particularly tough, be- cause we have a lot of crossover with ice hockey. We get very few teams from the East to the West, and vice versa, which is why we do two events.”
This is the second year the Nor Cal Cup has been in operation and no- table improvement among the region’s teams was evident at the end of last season. More strides are expected this year.
Of the 13 youth division finals (Cub through Midget) at last year’s NARCh Winternationals, 14 finalists were from Northern California, including seven division champions.
“Teams are certainly getting better in the (Northern California) area and part of that is due to playing in the Nor Cal Cup,” Goodwin said. “I’m sure many will medal (at the 2012 West Coast Winternationals).
Last year, one Winternationals event was held in San Jose with 110 teams present. Goodwin said the event is unable to accommodate much more than 125 teams. “We can’t fit any more than that into four busy days of hockey,” he said.
Traditionally, NARCh Winternationals has served as a kickoff to the competitive travel club season, and this year is certainly no different.
The NARCh-run Nor Cal Cup tournament series faced off Thanksgiving Weekend and held its second showcase on Dec. 17-18 in Ripon. Teams will thus be chomping at the bit to compete against the best teams not only from the Southern California region, but from the entire western region, too, at January’s Winternationals.
“The excitement level is high and it’s a big, busy weekend of hockey,” Goodwin explained. “If you win Win- ternationals, you hold the bragging rights as the team to beat heading
into the tournament season. It’s very hard to win both Winternationals and NARCh Finals.” The lure of both mega-tournaments is strong. With the 2012 NARCh Finals scheduled for July 13-29 (also in San Jose), interest among California teams should be at a peak.
Winners of the opening two Nor Cal Cup tournaments, the Delta River Rats' 14U Gold Pee Wee team will be looking to keep its foot on the gas at this month's West Coast Winternationals in San Jose. Photo/Nor Cal Cup/NARCh
“I’d say that virtually everyone who plays in Win- ternationals will play in the Finals, except for possibly a few of the foreign teams,” Goodwin said. The Bay Area location of this year’s West Coast Winternationals will obviously provide a backyard draw for the state’s expanding pool of Northern Cali- fornia teams.
The Nor Cal Cup’s Thanksgiving Weekend kickoff event attracted 45 teams, with championship games held in 13 divisions.
Champions included: the Silicon Valley Quakes (Cub, Mite Silver, Midget Silver); Delta River Rats (Atom Gold, Pee Wee Gold); Stockton Jr. Thunder (Squirt Silver, Bantam Silver); Nor Cal Elite (Bantam Gold, Midget Gold); Spongebobs (Atom Silver); Revision Mustangs (Mite Gold); San Jose Tsunami (Squirt Gold); and Rampage Delta (Pee Wee Silver).
Division champions at the Ripon event included: the River Rats (Atom Silver, Mite, Pee Wee Gold); Nor Cal Elite (Bantam Gold, Pee Wee Silver); NorCal Extreme (Bantam Silver); and Silver Creek Snipers (Atom Gold).
“Equally rewarding to me is the fact that more teams are playing than ever. When they play in a profession- ally-run event with good competition and have fun, it’s good for everyone involved, including their home rinks.”
Poyer Power Los Altos’ Sam Poyer was able to skate for the Nor Cal Elite’s championship Midget Gold team at the Nor Cal Cup season faceoff event. Poyer won a silver medal with Team USA’s junior men’s squad at last summer’s FIRS world championships in Italy and is now a freshman at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. “It was nice to be back, but I was actually playing against a lot of former teammates because the team I was playing for wasn’t the team I usually play for,” said Poyer, a graduate of San Jose’s Bellarmine Prep. “It was fun, though, and nice to be back playing at my old rink, even though it was only for a short time (over the Thanksgiving Weekend holiday).
“I’ve always enjoyed the smaller events like the Nor Cal Cup because it gives me a chance to play against a lot of my friends from the area. In the larger tournaments, you end playing against teams from other parts of the country, which is also a great expe- rience, but it’s a different dynamic.”
Poyer hopes to play in as many divisions as he can at the 2012 West Coast Winternationals. For more information, updated schedules and results of the event, visit
NARCh.com.
River Rats open Nor Cal Cup season strong I
t didn't take long for the Antioch-based Delta River Rats to establish them- selves as one of the Nor Cal Cup's top teams in 2011-12. The River Rats sent five teams to the tournament series’ kickoff event over Thanksgiving Weekend in San Jose, qualified all five teams for the Gold Divi- sion finals and won two championships.
“As always, expectations were high and the results were fantastic,” noted River Rats coach Frank Calma. “All River Rats teams made it to the Gold finals in their respective age groups and came away with lots of championship hardware.”
Both the River Rats’ 8U (Atom) and 14U (Pee Wee) squads went unde- feated in the 45-team tournament while the 10U (Mite), 16U (Bantam) and 18U (Midget) teams each posted runner-up finishes. The River Rats topped the Silicon Valley Quakes to win the Atom Division and the Nor Cal Elite to capture the Pee Wee Division at the Silver Creek Sportsplex. Jack Wedoski (Top Scorer) and Drake Daily (Top Goalten- der) both earned the Atom Division’s highest individual awards
while Hayden Kraft received the Top Goalten- der award in leading the River Rats’ Pee Wee team to a likewise championship finish. William Stuart (Mite) and Kyle Aldrich (Midget) also earned Top Scorer awards in their respective divisions to help the River Rats se- cure second-place finishes.
The Rats had five teams reach the champi- onship finals of the second Nor Cal Cup tourna-
ment on Dec. 17-18 in Ripon, winning three titles: Atom Silver, Mite and Pee Wee Gold.
The Mite final turned out to be an all-River Rats matchup, with the 8U Black team finishing second. The Rats also finished second in Bantam Gold. The River Rats will be sending six teams - 8U through 18U - to this month’s NARCh West Coast Winternationals and hope to make even more of an impres- sion.
- Phillip Brents RubberHockey .com 19
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