July 2, 2010
AAU Jr. Olympics face off in Southern California
Teams from nine countries have committed to participate in the 2010 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Junior Olympic roller hockey tournament, which faced off Thursday in Southern California amid much fan-fare. The Rinks-Huntington Beach Inline is serving as the headquarters for the international-flavored tournament, with games also scheduled at the 949 Roller Hockey Center in Irvine.
Besides the United States, men’s, women’s and youth teams from Canada, China, Colombia, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Great Britain will compete in what is being called the largest inline hockey event ever in the region.
The opening eight days of competition will feature 493 games between the two facilities and that doesn’t include the final four days of competition. Tournament action in both club and international divisions wraps up July 11.
Even if the final numbers do not match the pre-tournament peg of 400 teams and more than 4,000 athletes from 10 nations, the AAU’s first foray west of the Mississippi River will rank among the most prestigious roller hockey tournaments ever held in Southern California.
And the hosts are ready. The world is being greeted by a refurbished HB Inline facility thanks to the NHL Anaheim Ducks, who are partnering with the AAU, Reebok, the Team USA Hockey Club and USA Rollersports to put on this year's tournament.
The addition of a new IceCourt surface to both rinks at the HB Inline facility should help facilitate the excitement for visiting teams.
“The puck glides faster on it, so much faster than on SportCourt,” said Mike Urbano, the adult hockey director at HB Inline. “It adds a faster pace to the game.”
Among other major upgrades include the new 2,000 square-foot pro shop as well as expanded lounge and vendor areas.
The maximum capacity for the HB Inline facility is 1,533 persons.
Admission to both facilities is free.
Face-off
The first official game at the 2010 AAU Junior Olympics was reserved for a pair of California teams in the 12-under A Division: the West Coast High Rollers and Reebok HB. The teams faced off at 8 a.m. at the 949 Irvine facility, with the High Rollers skating to a 6-1 victory.
Adam Avalos received credit for the first goal scored in this year’s tournament, with the assist going to Andrew Vieyra. The goal came with 8:19 left in the first half. Mackie Albertson countered the Avalos’ jump goal for the HB team, but the High Rollers went on to rack up five unanswered goals in the second half to record the tourney’s first victory. Avalos finished the game with two goals while Vieyra collected a goal and assist, as did teammate Jaxon Corrigan. Michael Nunez and Daniel McLaughlin also scored goals while David Myers picked up one assist.
Divisions seeing action in the first full day of competition also included 12-under AA/AAA, 16-under A, 16-under AA/AAA, Girls 18-under and women’s.
The Girls 14-under and men’s pro divisions are to face off during the second day of the tournament.
The 16-under AA-AAA Division is the largest of the opening day divisions with 28 teams, including 13 from California. Teams from the Golden State didn’t waste any time in securing supremacy in the division as California squads came up winners in five of the division’s first eight games on Thursday.
Rink Rat Split (4-1 over the Capitals Hockey Club from Colombia), the Reebok Jr. Ducks Eschelon (5-0 over the Calgary Panthers from Canada) and the Blades 93 team (9-1 over Team USA Hawaii) all won successive contests to give Golden State teams an early 3-0 edge in the division standings. The Silicon Valley Quakes (4-3 over the Black Diamonds from Texas) and the Nor Cal Riot Black (5-3 over the Phoenix Dragons) followed with victories.
Great Britain scored some major prestige points with a 5-4 win over California’s Revision Devils Dogs, while the 93 Colorado Mission Wolverines (6-1 over the West Coast Mafia) and the Rattlers 93 team from Virginia (8-1 over the second Diamonds team) held the upper hand for out-of-area entrants.
Dillon Kivo, Kyle Mooney, Jared Movack each scored goals to push Rink Rat Split to an early 3-0 lead in its game against the Colombians, with J.T. Barred adding a late marker for the winners.
Scott Savage notched a hat trick in the Reebok Jr. Ducks Eschelon’s shutout victory over Calgary, with Bryce Moriasko and Riley Lowe each tacking on single goals.
In the Blades’ eight-goal win over the Hawaiians, Garrett Haar zoomed in front as the early scoring leader in the division with seven points on five goals and two assists.
The Quakes received goals from four players in its win over the Black Diamonds: Alex Shearin, Michael Payne, Conlan Kehoe and Curren Gilberson. Gilberson’s tally stood up as the game winner.
The Riot rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 against the Dragons to post a victory. Blake Pickert, Kyle Reno, Chris Stannard, J.P. Sanchez and Sam Poyer each scored single goals for the Northern California bunch.
Jerrod Uhler, meanwhile, scored two goals in the Devil Dogs’ loss to the Brits.
The opening game in the 16-under A Division pitted the Reebok Jr. Ducks Hyper and Team Hong Kong, with the SoCal squad coming out on top, 4-3, in what turned out to be a nail-biter of an ending. Christopher Vice led the Ducks with a pair of goals while Kevin Meza and Eric Basle each scored once. The Ducks held leads of 3-0 and 4-1 early on but a goal by Lewis Ho with 2:46 left gave the U.S. squad just a one-goal advantage. The Ducks held on for th win, with each team ending the game a man down.
In 12-under AA-AAA Division openers, Arizona’s Team Excalibur skated past California’s Revision Mustangs Black squad, 7-1, while the 97 Colroado Mission Wolverines stopped the Silicon Valley Quakes 9-1. Zac Claunch, Egon Wolford and Carl Marquiss each scored single goals in the loss for the Mustangs while Kate Stelling notched the Quakes’ lone goal.
The Girls 18-under Division faced off with the Revision Pandemonium Black team defeating the Revision Pandemonium Blue team 6-2 behind three goals and two assists from Scarlett Tanous and a hat trick by Kodi Snyder. Inelle Armstrong led the blue squad with a pair of goals.
California teams quickly displayed their dominance in the Women’s Division as the Nakhon Dragons shut out Great Britain, 7-0, the Tour Raw Steel Selects blasted the Katios Hockey Club from Colombia, 9-1, and the Lady Pama Cyclones breezed past he Tour Bandits USA team 8-0.
Kayla Demint, who was named as one of the alternates on this year’s Team USA entry in the upcoming FIRS Women’s Inline Hockey World Championship tournament in the Czech Republic, led the Dragons with three goals while teammate Danielle Willis contributed a goal and two assists. Jessica Hawkins, Coutney Cunningham and Courtnie Mair each scored singletons for the victors.
For those who followed the fortunes of last year’s gold medal-winning U.S. women’s team in FIRS competition in Italy, there were some very familiar faces (as well as deadly hands) on display Thursday wearing uniforms of the Tour Raw Steel Selects. Kourtney Kunichika led Raw Steel to its runaway win against the Colombians with a hat trick while Ariane Yokoyama contributed a goal and two assists and Laura Veharanta chipped in with a goal and assist. Jennifer Friedman and Lauren Straus each collected single goals for Raw Steel while Casidhe Kunichika was credited with an assist.
Not to be out-done, the Cyclones received four goals by Emily Hill and two markers from Vanessa Ventura in its breakaway win. Nancy Gagnier and Melissa Coumans also scored goals for the Cyclones.
Skills competition
The first of five age-group skills competitions (8-under through 16-under) took the floor Thursday when snipers and goaltenders faced off against one another in the 16-under flight. Awards will be presented for fastest skater, hardest shot, shootout and “King of the Rink” (two skaters and one goaltender).
The 12-under division is set for the second day of competition (July 2) at noon at HB Inline. Other skills competitions divisions include 8-under and 10-under, both on July 8, and 14-under on July 9.
Junior Women Cup
The inaugural FIRS Junior Women’s World Cup is set for a July 6-9 unveiling alongside the AAU Junior Olympic Games’ massive backdrop. Four teams are set to compete: Colombia, Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States. Round-robin play will be followed by semifinal match-ups on July 8, with the gold medal and bronze medal games scheduled the following day. All games will be played at HB Inline.
Format
Teams in all age divisions are guaranteed five games. Awards include gold, silver, bronze and copper medals to all members of each team placing in the top four in each age classification. Team awards will be presented to the top teams in each age division.
Divisions include 8-under, 10-under, 12-under, 14-under, 16-under, 18-under, 21-under, men’s (pro, gold, silver and bronze), women’s and masters (35-older).
Teams will open with round-robin play before commencing to elimination and playoff games in subdivided tiers.
Eight divisions are scheduled to complete play by July 4 with medal games: 12-under A (two tiers), 12-under AA-AAA (two tiers), 16-under A (two tiers), 16-under AA-AAA (two tiers), girls 14-under, girls 18-under, women’s and men’s pro (elite and gold tiers).
A total of 85 teams (54 from California) will be competing July 1-4 for the tournament’s opening set of medals. A snapshot of entrants:
12-under A Division
Nine of the 11 entered teams are from California. Golden State squads include theWest Covina High Rollers, Reebok HB, Reebok Jr. Ducks Kryptonics, San Diego Stingrays, Tour Raw Steel Select, 949 Anarchy, Mission Rampage, Revision Mustangs Silver and Reebok Jr. Ducks Hyper. International teams include the Katios Hockey Club from Colombia and a team from Hong Kong.
12-under AA-AAA Division
Ten teams are entered, including five from California: Revision Mustangs Black, Silicon Valley Quakes, Reebok Jr. Ducks Eschelon, 949 Anarchy Red and Blades 98. Out-of-state entrants include Team Excalibur from Arizona, the 97 Colorado Mission Wolverines and Skate Safe from New York. The division’s two international entrants hail from Alberta (Canada) and Great Britain.
16-under A Division
A total of 12 teams are entered. The division is top-heavy with nine California teams: Reebok Jr. Ducks Hyper, Mission Public Enemy, Reebok Jr. Ducks Kryptonics, Reebok HB, Labeda XDH, Revision Mustangs, West Coast High Rollers Black, Mission Rampage and the San Diego Stingrays Black. Arizona’s Team Excalibur and the 94 Colorado Mission Wolverines round out the U.S. entrants. Team Hong Kong also is entered.
16-under AA-AAA Division
This division easily rates the largest with 28 teams and with the most variety (15 from outside California). The 13 Golden State entrants include Rink Rat Split, Reebok Jr. Ducks Eschelon, Blades 93, West Coast Mafia, Silicon Valley Quakes, Nor Cal Riot Black, Nor Cal Riot Red, Revision Devil Dogs, Reebok Jr. Ducks BSB, Tour Raw Steel 94 OG, AKS 93, San Diego Stingrays Blue and High Country Mission Hawks. Out-of-state entrants include Hawaii, 93 Colorado Mission Wolverines, Black Diamonds from Texas (two teams), Phoenix Dragons, Rattlers 93 from Virginia, OD’s Dare Devils from Colorado, Las Vegas Aces, Texas Titans and the Cougars from New Jersey.
International entrants include Team Alberta and the Calgary Panthers, both from Canada, as well as teams from Hong Kong, Great Britain and Colombia (Capitals Hockey Club).
Girls 14-under Division
The division includes four teams: Team AAU HB, Team AAU Corona, Great Britain and Revision Pandemonium Blue. With three California teams in the division, the odds are good for at least one Golden State finalist.
Girls 18-under Division
Five teams are set to do battle, including three from California: the Revision Pandemonium Black, Revision Pandemonium Blue and Tour Raw Steel Selects. The three local teams are joined by international squads from Great Britain and New Zealand.
Women’s Division
Six teams face off in round-robin play, including Nakhon Dragons, Tour Raw Steel Selects and Lady Pama Cyclones from California. The three Golden State squads are joined by the Tour Bandits USA team and teams from Great Britain and Colombia.
Men’s Pro/Elite Division
The Pama Cyclones, reigning dual NARCh Winternationals champions, headline the list of nine entrants that also includes the Reebok Ducks HB, Reebok Eschelon Ducks, Mission AKS Empire, East Bay Jawz, All Day & Twice on Sunday and Mission Syndicate SE, all from California, as well as the Mile High Mayhem from Colorado and the Capitals Hockey Club from Colombia.
Further information
HB Inline is located at 5555 McFadden Ave., Huntington Beach. Call (714) 901-2629 or visit c2chockey.com.
The 949 Roller Hockey Center is located at 3150 Barranca Parkway, Irvine. Call (949) 559-9949 or visit 949rollerhockey.com.
For updated scores, division standings and scoring leaders posted in real time, visit aauhockey.org.
AAU Junior Olympics Block Schedule
Club Divisions
8-under: July 8-11
10-under: July 8-11
12-under: July 1-4
14-under: July 8-11
16-under: July 1-4
18-under: July 8-11
21-under: July 8-11
Men’s Pro: July 2-4
Men’s Gold: July 2-4
Men’s Silver: July 5-7
Men’s Bronze: July 5-7
Men’s Masters: July 5-7
Girls 18-under: July 1-4
Women’s: July 1-4
International Divisions
FIRS Junior Women: July 5-9
Girls 18-under: July 5-8
10-under: July 5-7
12-under: July 5-9
14-under: July 4-7
16-under: July 5-9
18/21-under: July 5-9
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