Colorado programs up to the test at State Wars T


By Adam Dunivan


he name fit the bill for coach John Bovee’s team at this year’s State Wars VIII United States Roll-


er Hockey Championships, which were held in early August in St. Peters, Mo. His Juggernaut division team went by the name


Colorado JB Magic, but there were no illusions about how good it was during the tournament, remarkably with only five skaters the entire time.


The squad - comprised of Taylor Jay, Jeff


Rapella, Kyle Phelps, CJ Bateman and Cody Reed, along with goaltender Kevin Dwyer - made it all the way to the champion- ship game, falling to a team from Ohio, 4-3. Still, it was one of five clubs from Colorado


to medal at the Wars, representing the state well once again. Along with JB Magic, the 2003 AA team


came away as champions, while the 2001 AAA, Junior AAA and Masters AAA teams finished as runners-up in their divisions. Being shorthanded might have hurt JB


Magic in the end, but it was a great experience nevertheless, Bovee said. “They scored a fluky goal at the end,” he said. “Sometimes you get bounces, sometimes you don’t, you know? At least we came away with something. “We had a great time. It’s our third time doing State Wars and we had a lot of fun.” Bovee also coached the Junior team that won


silver, advancing to the championship game thanks to a 3-1 win against Michigan before falling 3-2 to Team Missouri in the final.


Colorado’s 2003 AA team won the gold medal in its division at August’s State Wars Championships, which were held in Missouri. Photo/State Wars


I thought we were better than the Ohio team.” Colorado struck gold in the 2003 AA division. The


team of Luca Rea, Evan Rangel, Jake Prouxl, Aiden Jones, Brody Sannes, Raymond Archu- leta, Brody Clarke and Liam Lane went 3-0 in the playoffs, including a 4-3 win over Missouri to win the title. That game was back and forth, with Colorado taking a 2-0 lead on goals from Prouxl and Rangel


All of the Juggernaut division players also played


Junior, but there was a little more depth with Jeff Carlo, Cody and J.T. Bovee and Jake Miller add- ed to the squad. “I think both were games we could’ve probably


won,” John Bovee said of the two championship games for his teams. “Missouri was pretty good, but


before Missouri tied it at 2-2 and then again at 3-3 before Prouxl notched the game-winner in overtime. Dave Fromm’s 2001 AAA team faced a tough


Michigan squad in the championship game. Lucas and Dominic Sandoval, who were instrumental in winning gold medals at NARCh Finals this year, were also on fire during State Wars, but the team couldn’t keep up with Michigan in a 7-4 title game setback. “We outshot them, but their


goalie came up big,” said Fromm. “We fought from behind the whole time, but we just couldn’t hold them


off.” The Masters AAA championship game was


a little closer, but still saw the Colorado Rusty Gears come up just short against California Labeda, 3-2.


Derek Thede scored twice in the second


half to tie the game at 2-2, but Labeda man- aged to respond with a score with just 2:15 left in regulation. In all, Team Colorado made the playoff


round in 20 different divisions, compiling a 13- 19 record. Individual players were also named


to all-star teams and Team North America, and 32 players from Colorado made that list. The tournament also has skills competitions,


and three players won their respective divisions in an event: Lucas Sandoval in fastest skater; Austin Homstead in top sniper; and Brandon Seifert in goal- tending. For more information on State Wars 8, visit StateWarsHockey.com.


Stallions, Kodiaks roll to medals at NARCh Finals Continued from previous page


kids the right kind of things and they’re going out and doing it,” said Fromm. “We’re looking for an even stronger presence next year.”


There were plenty of other


teams from Colorado who made the trek out to the Bay Area for NARCh Finals, including Ingrum’s Stallions, who went 1-2-1 in Ju- nior Gold play and finished with an 8-2 win against THC (Calif.). The Jr. Mudcats, also headed


up by Ingrum, sent five teams with their Squirt Gold squad finishing with a 3-2 record and an appear- ance in the quarterfinals. For the Reebok Wolverines,


a fourth-place finish in Pee Wee Platinum highlighted their tour- nament. They went 2-1-1 in pool play, squeaked by Revision Van- quish 97 (Calif.) in the first playoff game, then were handed a 6-0 loss to eventual champion HoneyBaked Rollin’ Hogs (Mich.) in the semis. The team rebounded in the bronze-medal game, but still couldn’t come away with a victory in a 4-2 loss to Team Skit- tles (Calif.). Two other teams made it out of pool play for


The Colorado Stallions program celebrated gold-medal performances in two divisions at July’s NARCh Finals, including Atom Gold. Photo/NARCh


the Wolverines. The Double Black Diamonds also made a


splash in the Squirt Platinum division, coming within earshot of a medal with a 3-2 overtime loss in the bronze-medal game. They made it that far despite being outscored, 18-14, in their five games leading up to that contest.


In Junior Platinum, Tour


Stealth made the playoffs and almost scored an upset against the top-seeded Tour Bordercats (Mich.), falling by a score of 5-3 in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, in Junior Gold,


the Mile High Mustangs were vic- tims of an upset. After cruising through the pool play (4-0, 24-4 scoring margin), the Mustangs were eliminated in the first play- off game with a 4-3 loss to Tour Excitement (Mich). NARCh featured a strong di-


vision of women’s teams, too, in- cluding one from Japan, and Col- orado’s Awkward Turtles finished 1-3-1 with a playoff loss to Cali- fornia’s Pandemonium Yellow. One of the highlights of the tournament is NARCh’s skills competitions, and Colorado skat- ers took home four individual honors. Lucas Sandoval won the fast-


est skater contest at Mite Gold/Platinum; the Wolverines garnered fastest skater honors by Graham Rex (Pee Wee) and top sniper hon- ors by J.J. Fecteau (Bantams); and, for the Jr. Mudcats, Eli Bacon took fastest skater honors in Bantam Gold.


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