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NORCAL Rep Club 98-99 Midget Team |
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NORCAL Rep Club 98-99 Midget Team |
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By winning the Pacific District Championship, the NORCAL Rep Midget team advances to the USA Hockey Midget Tier II Nationals at Sylvania, Ohio. Play begins Wednesday, April 7. The tournament format features three preliniary games. 8 teams from 3 divisions advance to the quarterfinals, 4 to the semifinals and two to the finals.
The twelve teams in the tournament are:
| American Division | National Division | USA Division |
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NORCAL Rep Club Pacific Dist Oakland, CA |
South Boston
Massachusetts Dist Boston, MA |
Illinois Flames
Central Dist Glen Ellyn, IL |
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Eastside Kings
Michigan Dist |
Dallas Metro Stars
Rocky Mountain Dist Dallas, TX |
Wissahickon Warriors
Atlantic Dist Wissahickon, PA |
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Atlanta Fire
Southeast Dist Atlanta, GA |
Beaver County Badgers
Mid-American Dist Beaver Falls, PA |
Sylvania Maple Leafs
Host Team Sylvania, OH |
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Maine Jr. Pirates
New England Dist Portland, ME |
Genesee AHA
New York Dist |
Eagle River Mustangs
Alaska |
See the USA Hockey District Map for an explanation of each district's territory.
We've heard from Walt Connolly, a local hockey dad who's volunteered to be our host family while we're in Ohio. Aside from helping us with some arrangements, he's also recommended some stuff to do around Toledo.
Aside from the nearby Detroit Red Wings, a hockey team of some repute, there's also the Toldeo Storm of the East Coast Hockey League. Their season is over April 3, but the Storm made the playoffs so there might be some hockey action to see.
Walt's son is a player on the Sylvania Mapleleafs squirts. Walt can help with other questions. His e-mail address is wconnolly@sylvania.k12.oh.us
The NORCAL Rep Midget team traveled to Escondido to take part in the California State Tier II Championship, and they brought home 19 championship trophies.
In the championship game Sunday evening, they faced the Gulls from San Diego, a team whom they've battled all year. The teams had already faced each other in the first game of the preliminary round. That game ended in a 2-0 Rep victory, evening the seaon series between the two teams at 3-3-2.
The Gulls jumped out to a 1-0 lead early in the first period. Later in the period, Rep winger Jeff Collins tied the score at 1-1. That lead didn't last long, as San Diego responded with 2 more goals of their own.
Rep battled back with a second goal early in the second period by Mark Caspersen, but San Diego responded less than a minute later to make the score 4-2. Late in the second period, an offensive outburst by the NORCAL team saw Jason Marconcini and Drew Sanders scoring a goal each as the period drew to a close, sending the teams to the locker room for intermission with the score tied at 4.
The teams battled back and forth through much of the third period, with San Diego actually having a slight edge. But both goaltenders were able to hold their ground. As the clock went past the 1 minute mark, most people in the arena started thinking about overtime. But with 23 seconds remaing in regulation, Drew Sanders jumped on an errant San Diego pass at their blue line, broke free and put the puck home between the legs of the sprawling San Diego goalie.
The Rep players were all but ready to start their championship celebration as they congratulated Sanders, but then reality set in and they realized the game was not yet over. After the face off, the puck moved into the NORCAL end, and San Diego was able to pull their goal tender for an extra attacker. But the Rep defense and goaltender Ricky Cazares were able to hold them off for a tense 23 seconds, and then the celebration began for real. The NORCAL Rep Midgets and coach Derek Eisler completed the NORCAL Rep sweep of the California State Tier II Championships with a 5-4 come-from-behind victory that everyone who was there will remember for a long time.
In order to get to the championship game, NORCAL had to face a determined South Coast Sabres team on Sunday morning. Entering the tournament as the numnber 6 seed, South Coast had battled through a qualifying round the week before, an experience that left them with so many injuries they were unable to play the final game. They came back this week with victories over numnber 2 seed Thousand Oaks and number 3 seed West Valley in the preliminary round to advance to the semi finals.
Despite the dramatic setup, the semi-final game was dominated by NORCAL Rep, skating to an 8-1 victory.
In preliminary round play, the NORCAL Rep team finished with 2 victories and one tie. They opened play against San Diego, winning the game 2-0 by virtue of goals by Murph Kenarney and Jeff Collins, and a shutout by goaltender Ricky Cazares. The victory also marked the 100th win over three seasons by Rep head coach Derek Eisler.
They came out later in the day on Friday against Beach Cities, and it was clear from the beginning that NORCAL was not playing its best game. In over 50 games against Tier II teams, the Rep team had allowed 5 goals only once this season. But the offense was able to save the day, scoring 5 of their own, and hanging on for the tie at 5-5.
The third game of the preliniary round was a very strange game. Facing off against NORCAL's other Tier II team, the South Bay Thunderbirds, both teams were hampered by a barrage of penalties, with South Bay taking 22 minutes and NORCAL taking a season-high 36. After the game, both coaches agreed that the game was not chippy nor overly rough. There just were a lot of penalties. NORCAL Rep survived the test, winning the game 4-0, with Ricky Cazares' second shutout of the championship tournament.
By virtue of their title, the Rep Midgets advance to the Pacific District Championship Tournament in Portland, Oregon, starting March 18th. The winner of that tournament will travel to Sylvania, Ohio to represent the Pacific District in the USA Hockey Tier II National Championships.
The NORCAL Rep midgets, under coach Derek Eisler, finished regular season play with five wins and a tie, to post a 13-1-2 record, giving them a first place finish in the American Division of the Southwestern Youth Hockey League.
The NORCAL Rep midget team traveled to Medford, Oregon to face off against the Portland Winterhawks Midget AAA team in a 3-game exhibition. Aside from the injury to Rep winger Mike Romano (see below), it was an excellent weekend of hockey.
The Rep midgets ended up the weekend with a 1-0-2 record against an excellent Portland team. All three games were close, and all three games were hard-fought and rough.
The teams started the weekend with a game early Saturday morning, ending in a 3-3 tie. In the showcase game of the weekend, played Saturday evening at "The RRRink" arena in Medford, the Rep midgets won a 4-2 decision. The arena charged admission to the game, and a good-sized (and loud) crowd watched the game with enthusiasm. The game featured 3 20-minute periods, and really tested the endurance of the players.
The teams met again Sunday morning, that game resulting in a 2-2 tie, but was marred by the injury to Romano.
For the first time this year, the team traveled by charter bus. The bus may never be the same, but the trip was enjoyed by all. The weather in Medford included a night of heavy snow, accumulating almost three inches, which opened the door to some hard-fought snowball fights and snow football games.
During the third game of the midget exhibition weekend against the Portland Winterhawks, Mike Romano of the NORCAL Rep midgets suffered an injury when he was struck by a hard-shot puck in the side of his rib cage. Although his ribs were not broken, the shot bruised his lung, and he spent the night in the hospital in Medford. The stay in the hospital was precautionary, and according to Mike Senior, Michael was doing well, and was expected to be released Monday morning. As a matter of fact, he was more concerned that the goal he scored to put the team up 2-1, did not hold up, as Portland came back to tie with a goal in the 3rd period.
The NORCAL Rep Midget team traveled to Littleton, Colorado over the long Thanksgiving weekend for the "Mile High Invitational" tournament. They opened competition on Thanksgiving day with a 5-1 win over a team from Omaha, Nebraska. That evening they faced Southwestern League foe Phoenix, and lost a 5-2 decision.
Friday morning, they bounced back with a 4-3 victory over a tough Littleton #2 team. That evening, they faced off against Littleton #1, whom they had already faced and beaten twice this year. They were unable to make it three, however, as Littleton prevailed 4-3.
On Saturday, with a semi-final berth on the line, the NORCAL team faced Albuquerque, and won a close match 3-2. Their 3-2 preliminary round record was good enough to give them the third place seed in the semi-final round.
On Sunday morning they faced off for the second time against Phoenix for the right to advance to the championship game. At the final buzzer, the score showed NORCAL 2, Phoenix 1.
This victory set up yet another rematch with Littleton #1 in the Championship game. NORCAL opened with an early goal by defenseman Andy Whiteside, and Littleton responded with one of their own shortly after. When the buzzer sounded to close the third period, the score still stood 1-1. The rules called for a 7-minute sudden death overtime. And with slightly less than half of the overtime remaining, NORCAL's Chris Dang scored the game-winning goal to secure the victory and the tournament championship for NORCAL.
Following their unprecendented 5-0 start in Southwestern League play, the midgets turned in an impressive 3-1-1 record as they hosted the second SYHL weekend at their home rink in Oakland.
They opened the weekend with a Friday night victory over the Los Angeles Wildcats (7-1), followed by their first loss of the season in league play, to the strong Dallas Jr. Stars (4-1).
In their third game of the weekend, the NORCAL team trailed the Bay City Bombers by 2 goals through most of the game, but managed to score two goals in the last 5 minutes to secure a tie (2-2).
The NORCAL team followed with two wins on Sunday, over Phoenix (8-1) and rival Littleton Colorado (2-1). The 7 points were enough to hold onto first place in the division over hard-charging Dallas, who managed to equal NORCAL's record from the previous league meeting by winning all five of their games. NORCAL Rep holds a 2-point lead over Dallas.
The NORCAL Rep Midget Tier II team traveled to Littleton, Colorado for the first weekend of Southwestern League play, and came away in solid posession of first place in their division, well ahead of their nearest rivals, Dallas and LA, who each have 5 points.
Playing each of the teams in the American conference, the Reps came away with successive wins over the LA Wildcats (2-1), Dallas Jr. Stars (4-3), Bay City Bombers (4-2), Phoenix Coyotes (6-2) and last year's league champions, the host Littleton Colorado team (1-0). The come from behind win over the Wildcats came with 3 seconds remaining in the game, and the winning goal against Dallas came in the final minute as well.
The Rep Midgets next face their division rivals November 13-15 at their home facility in Oakland, playing host to the same five teams.
The NORCAL Rep Midget team took part in the 1998-99 Sharks' season ticket holders' practice. The Midgets ran through a 30-minute practice followed by an intra-squad scrimmage at San Jose Arena on Thursday, September 17. Following the midgets were another Northern California hockey team who did a similar scrimmage as their season ticket holders looked on.
Murph Kenarney and Mike Romano took on all comers in the first annual NORCAL Rep Midget "Buck Up" 8-ball tournament, held at a pool hall in Norwalk, California recently. Going into the final round of the double elimination tournament, the team of Michael Tornabene and Ian Fazzi were undefeated, while the Kenarney / Romano team had lost but once, in an early round loss to Ricky Cazares and Michael Park.
Although the Tornabene team had several chances to put the championship game away, Kenarney and Romano took advantage of their opportunities and prevailed, forcing a final 3-ball tie-breaker. Once again, the Tornabene team had victory in sight, only to let it slip away. Kenarney and Romano jumped on the opening, and carried away the prize.
On the notable also-ran list, the first team to be eliminated consisted of rookie Jeff Thompson, paired with coach Derek Eisler. And during one highly-contested side match, club president Chuck Collins staged an heroic 4-ball come back against coach Derek Eisler, only to miss a 9-inch straight-in shot for the win, leaving Eisler a simple tap-in for the lucrative victory.
The 1998-99 NORCAL Rep Midget team opened their season with a trip to the annual Glacial Gardens Labor Day Hockey Festival. The midgets finished the weekend with four victories over impressive Southern California opponents, including identical 4-2 victories over traditional rivals LA Wildcats and South Coast Sabers.
See the Midget Games/Scores page for the scores.
For the first time in NORCAL Rep Club history, a team representing the club took part in the California State Tier II Championships when the midgets traveled to Escondido to face off against the best of the Southern California Tier II teams. Finishing up round-robin divisional play with a 2-1 record, they qualified for the semi-final round. Against perennial powerhouse L. A. Wildcats, the midgets lost 3-0, ending their bid to represent California in the Tier II Regionals in Tacoma.
| NORCAL Rep Midget coach Derek Eisler is featured in this article that appeared several years ago while he was working for another Northern California hockey team. |
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Return to the NORCAL Rep home page Web Address: http://www.chkpt.COM/NorCalRep/ |