July 4, 2010
California teams making statement at Jr. Olympics
Kourtney Kunichika and her Tour Raw Steel Selects teammates are making a statement so far at the 2010 Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympic Games. Kunichika leads the Girls 18-under Division in scoring and is tied for fourth in scoring in the Women’s Division. SoCal’s Raw Steel is the top-seeded team in both divisions for Sunday’s medal rounds.
Kunichika (Westminster) was a member of last year’s Team USA women’s squad that captured the gold medal at the FIRS Inline Hockey World Championships in Italy. However, she and two of her notable teammates were absent from the 2010 roster when it was announced last month by USA Rollersports. Also not on the roster were Raw Steel teammates Laura Veharanta and ArianeYokoyama, who rank first and second, respectively, in scoring to lead the Women’s Division at this year’s AAU Junior Olympics.
Kunichika topped the Girls 18-Under Division with 22 points, racking up 10 goals and 12 assists in leading Raw Steel to a 4-0 round-robin record. The playoffs started Saturday in Day 3 of the tournament, with Raw Steel blanking Great Britain, 8-0, to draw the New Zealand Junior Women in Sunday’s gold medal game at 5:15 p.m. at The Rinks-Huntington Beach Inline. The New Zealanders advanced to the title game by the edging Revision Pandemonium Black squad from California 3-2.
Great Britain and the Pandemonium team will face off in the third-place game simultaneously on an adjacent rink at the HB facility.
The Women’s Division championship and bronze medal games are slated for a dual 7:30 p.m. start, also at HB Inline.
Raw Steel and the Nakhon Dragons, also from California, appear destined to meet in the championship game after dominating the division in round-robin play. Raw Steel finished with a plus-26 goal differential after out-scoring opponents 27-1. The Dragons, who finished 3-1 in round-robin play, racked up an equally impressive 25-4 goal-differential
In a potential preview of the gold medal game, Raw Steel edged the Dragons, 2-0, to close out round-robin play on Saturday.
Raw Steel will have to get past Great Britain, however, if it is to advance to the championship game. The teams are slated to meet Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in the first of two semifinals in the division. Great Britain (0-4 in round-robin) pulled off a major upset by defeating the Pama Lady Cyclones, 3-1, in Saturday’s quarterfinals. The Lady Cyclones had finished 3-1 in round-robin play and had previously topped the British ladies 3-1.
In the other semifinal match-up, slated for a 2:15 p.m. face-off, the Dragons will test the Tour Bandits USA after the Bandits skated past the Katios Hockey Club from Colombia, 3-2, in Saturday’s quarterfinals. Both the Bandits and Katios had finished 1-3 in round-robin play.
In round-robin match-ups, Raw Steel topped Great Britain, 8-0, while the Dragons devoured the Bandits 9-1.
Veharanta leads Raw Steel with seven goals and three assists while Yokoyama has nine points on two goals and seven assists. Kayla Demint, an alternate pick on the 2010 Team USA squad, leads the Dragons with five goals and one assist.
Championship games in eight age groups will be decided on Sunday. Two tiers will be contested in the 12-under A, 12-under AA-AAA, 16-under A and 16-under AA-AAA divisions while the Men’s Pro Division will crown Elite and Minor champions.
The Girls 14-under Division will also wrap up. In that division, Team AAU Corona is to meet the winner between the Revision Pandemonium Blue and Team AAU HB at 2:15 p.m.
The Men’s Pro semifinals are scheduled at 6:45 p.m., pitting Mission Syndicate SE against Mission AKS Empire and the Pama Cyclones against the Rebook Ducks HB. Mission Syndicate, the Cyclones and the Ducks all finished round-robin play 4-0 in the nine-team division while AKS was 3-1. The championship game is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. to close out the night.
The Men’s Minor final at 9:45 p.m. will pit the Reebok Eschelon Ducks against either the Mile High Mayhem or the Capitals Hockey Club from Colombia.
More finals
In the 16-under AAA Tier playoffs, three California teams are set to do battle in the semifinals at 4:30 p.m. The Reebok Jr. Ducks Eschelon team, Blades 93, Rink Rat Split and Great Britain all finished with 4-0 round-robin record to lead the 27-team division.
The Jr. Ducks will face off against Great Britain while the Blades and Rink Rats will battle in the other semifinal contest. The championship and bronze medal games are slated for 9 p.m.
All teams in AAU Jr. Olympic competition qualify for the playoffs. Thus, the 16-under AA Tier playoffs turned into a 23-team affair. Surviving to resume play on Sunday are three California teams: San Diego Stingrays, Nor Cal Rio Black and the Revision Devils Dogs. They are joined by the 93 Colorado Mission Wolverines, Calgary Panthers, Las Vegas Aces, Team Alberta, Texas Titans, OD’s Dare Devils and Phoenix Dragons.
The top four teams earn medals. Final games in the 16-under AA Tier are scheduled at 8:15, 9:45 and 10:30 p.m.
Austin Shannon of the Blades leads the 16-under AA-AAA Division in scoring with 15 points (nine goals, six assists), followed by the Dragons’ Mike Davis with 14 points (seven goals, seven assists). Among top goaltenders, Mitchell Privett of the Rink Rats led in the division with a 1.00 GAA in 36 minutes between the pipes, followed by the Reebok Jr. Ducks Eschelon’s Loren Roach (2.00 GAA in 54 minutes) and the Blades’ Casey Kunichika (2.00 in 108 minutes).
The 16-under A Division Tier 1 championship game is scheduled for 1:30 p.m., with the Tier 2 final preceding it at 12:45 p.m.
Labeda XDH defeated the 94 Colorado Mission Wolverines, 3-2, in the semifinals to set up an all California Tier 1 title encounter against Mission Public Enemy (6-3 victors over the West Covina High Rollers Black squad in the semifinals).
The San Diego Stingrays will meet Team Hong Kong in an international match-up in the Tier 2 championship game. The Stingrays qualified for the final by defeating Reebok HB, 7-3, in the semifinals while the Chinese slipped past Arizona’s Team Excalibur 3-1.
Labeda XDH and Mission Public Enemy both finished atop the 12-team division with 4-0 round-robin records. The Labeda team was impressive with a 27-4 goal-differential. The High Rollers finished 3-0-1 in round-robin play.
Casey Loggins of the Reebok Jr. Ducks Hyper team led the division in scoring with 14 points (eight goals, six assists), followed by teammate Eric Basle with 11 points (seven goals, four assists). Kyle Lopez of the High Rollers accumulated nine points on six goals and three assists while Thompson Teague of the Stingrays collected eight points on six goals and two assists. Six players were tied with seven points.
Krish Hinduja of Mission Public Enemy led the division’s goaltenders with a .857 save percentage and 2.00 GAA. D.Z. Schmelz of the Reebok Jr. Ducks Hyper notched a .854 save percentage and 3.00 GAA while Eric Quinones, also of Hyper, posted a .788 save percentage and 3.50 GAA.
In early games on Sunday, Team Hong Kong was slated to meet the Tour Raw Steel Selects in the 12-under A Tier 1 championship game while the 949 Anarchy from Irvine was scheduled to take on the Mission Rampage in an all-Golden State Tier 2 finale.
Team Hong Kong upset the top-seeded West Covina High Rollers in Saturday’s semifinals while Raw Steel eliminated the Reebok Jr. Ducks Hyper squad 6-2.
The High Rollers and Hyper were relegated to the bronze medal game after both finished 4-0 in round-robin play.
Andrew Hernandez of the Anarchy led the division with 17 points on 13 goals and four assists, followed by Dakota Ristow of Hyper with 14 points (nine goals, five assists) and Hong Kong’s Justin Fan with 13 points (seven goals, six assists). Max Kamper racked up 12 points (six goals, six assists) to rank second in scoring on the 949 team.
Slade Suzuki led the division’s goaltenders with an outstanding .927 save percentage and 1.67 GAA in five games. Three other netminders turned in strong showings: Megan Browning of the Reebok Jr. Ducks Kryptonics (.875 save percentage, 2.33 GAA), Stanley Armstrong of the Revision Mustangs Silver (.870 save percentage, 3.00 GAA) and Justin Pichedwatana of Raw Steel (.865 save percentage, 3.50 GAA).
The 12-under AAA and AA finals also were scheduled for morning starts at HB Inline. In the AAA Tier final, the Reebok Jr. Ducks Eschelon was set to meet the 949 Anarchy after both teams skated to 4-0 round-robin records.
The AAU Jr. Olympics continues through July 11. Additional games are also scheduled at the 949 Roller Hockey Center in Irvine.
For updates, complete standings and statistical leaders, log on to aauhockey.org.
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