July 10, 2010
Californians dominate AAU Jr. Olympic All-American teams
Californians dominated the roster of the 16U AAA/AA All-America team at the AAU Jr. Olympics at The Rinks-Huntington Beach. (Photo: Phillip Brents)
Instead of handing out high scorer and top goaltender awards, the Amateur Athletic Union announces an All-American team to highlight each division at its Junior Olympic Games. The 12-under and 16-under divisions were the first to wrap up play at this year’s AAU Junior Olympics, with medal-round matches held July 4 at The Rinks-Huntington Beach Inline.
This year’s 16-under All-American team included 25 players – 20 skaters and five goaltenders. The 2010 12-under All-American team was comprised of 20 players – 16 skaters and four goaltenders.
All-American teams are announced when play is completed in each division.
The 240-team tournament continues through July 11 in Southern California. Including the United States, nine countries and more than 2,500 athletes are represented in 24 divisions. Other participating nations include Colombia, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand, Germany and Canada.
Medals are awarded to players on the top four place-finishers in each division.
16-under All-Americans
California players made an impact in the 27-team division by garnering 19 of the 25 All-American roster spots, including four of the five goaltender berths.
The 16U AAA champion Blades 93 squad led all teams with five selections: goaltender Casey Kunichika and skaters Austin Shannon, Garrett Haar, Steven Korassel and Kyle Matsumoto.
The 16U AAA runner-up Reebok Jr. Ducks Eschelon team landed four players on the All-American team: goaltender Loren Roach and skaters Matthew Alayra, Kyle Martins and Bryce Morisako.
Shannon, Korassel and Haar finished 1-2-3 in the division in scoring. Shannon led the division with 21 goals on 11 goals and 10 assists while Korassel ranked second with 19 points on 11 goals and eight assists while Haar ranked third with 17 points on 12 goals and five assists, all in six games. Matsumoto ranked fifth in division scoring with 14 points on 11 goals and three assists to give the Blades four of the top five scorers in the division.
Between the pipes, Kunichika finished with a 3.00 goals-against average while Roach posted a 3.25 GAA in leading his team to the AAA finals.
The Blades defeated the Jr. Ducks, 9-6, to grab the 16-under AAA Tier championship as Matsumoto collected three goals and one assist, Haar had four points on two goals and two assists and Korassel contributed two goals and one assist Shannon dished out two assists.
The Blades finished 6-0 while the Jr. Ducks finished 5-1 overall. Martins led the Ducks with seven assists.
The 16U AAA copper medalist Rink Rat Split, also from California, had three All-Americans: goaltender Mitchell Privett and skaters J.T. Barred and Shane McNabb.
Barred keyed Rink Rat with six goals and two assists in the tournament while McNabb contributed five goals and two assists.
Rink Rat (4-2 overall) placed fourth in the tournament following a 5-4 loss to Great Britain.
The four 16U AAA semifinalists amassed 12 of the division’s 25 All-American selections. All four teams finished with 4-0 round-robin records to qualify for the AAA playoffs.
For playoff purposes, the 27-team 16U AA-AAA division was divided into two tiers – AAA (top four teams) and AA (bottom 23 teams). The AA Tier was further divided into two playoff sub-tiers: Tier 1 (five teams) and Tier 2 (14 teams).
The 16U AA Tier 1 playoff semifinalists 93 Colorado Mission Wolverines, NorCal Riot Black, Texas Titans and San Diego Stingrays accounted for 10 All-Americans between them.
The 16U AA Tier 1 champion Wolverines and runner-up Riot were each represented by three selections. Goaltender Jonathan Joy and skaters Ceasar Soto and Austin Chapin highlighted the Colorado team’s All-American picks while goaltender Mike Velasquez and skaters Curtis Tanquary and Chris Stannard keyed the Riot’s selections. Tanquary led the Riot in tournament scoring with eight points.
The Titans and Stingrays each had two All-Americans. The San Diego team’s picks included Reed Kinsey and Adam Durkee, both standouts for their respective high school teams in the CIF/Metro Conference, while Austin Murray and Johnny Henson represented the Texans.
The Wolverines topped the Riot, 5-1, to capture the 16U AA Tier 1 playoff title.
The Wolverines and Riot both finished 3-1 in round-robin play, with the Colorado squad tacking on three playoff wins to finish 6-1 overall. The Riot finished 5-2 overall.
Both the Stingrays and Titans finished 2-1-1 in round-robin play.
The division’s remaining three All-American selections included Tour Raw Steel 94 OG’s Cody Ferrer and Reebok Jr. Ducks BSB’s Kyle Meyer, both Californians, and Shane Fox from the (New Jersey) Cougars.
Raw Steel finished 3-0-1 in round-robin play, followed by the Jr. Ducks BSB (2-0-2) and Cougars (3-1).
12-under All-Americans
Twelve of the 20 All-American picks in the division hailed from California teams, which essentially cleaned up the competition by capturing the 12UAAA, 12UAA Tier 2, 12UA Tier 1 and 12UA Tier 2 championships. Tallied up, that made four Golden State champions in five title game match-ups. Overall, eight of the 10 finalists in the age group were teams from California.
The 12U AAA champion 949 Anarchy and runner-up Reebok Jr. Ducks Eschelon each had four All-Americans. Goaltender Ron Best and skaters Evan Samoza, Mason Pilkingten and Curtis Jackman buoyed the Anarchy while goaltender Blake Rayfield and skaters Ben Jackson, Tyler Gebauer and Chris Pabitzsky represented the Ducks.
Samoza had two goals and one assist in the Anarchy’s 5-2 championship game victory over the Ducks. He ranked in a tie for second overall in AA-AAA scoring with 20 points on 14 goals and six assists.
Jackson ranked fourth in AA-AAA scoring with 14 points on nine goals and five assists while Pilkingten ranked eight with 11 points on six goals and five assists.
Both the Anarchy and Ducks finished 4-0 in round-robin play to advance to the 16U AAA championship game. The Anarchy finished the tournament with 47 goals in five games after racking up a prodigious 38-9 goal-differential in round-robin play.
The 12U AA Tier 1 champion 97 Colorado Mission Wolverines and runner-up Blades 98 each had four All-American selections. Goaltender Dominic Gomez and skaters Mel Perea, Brandon Walton and Joe LoSasso were the Wolverines’ picks while goaltender Garrett Nieto and skaters Sean Cullinane, Brannon McManus and Austin Koss highlighted the Blades’ selections.
Cullinane led the Blades in scoring with eight goals and two assists while McManus ranked second on the team with six goals and three assists. Nieto compiled a 3.50 GAA and .827 save percentage.
The Wolverines edged the Blades, 5-3, for the 12U AA Tier 1 gold medal to finish 5-1 in the tournament while the Blades went 1-1 in the playoffs after finishing 3-0-1 in round-robin play.
Arizona’s Team Excalibur, the 12UAA Tier 1 bronze medalist, had three All-Americans: skaters Alex McDonald, Cameron Taylor and Morgan Taylor. New York’s Skate Safe, the third-place team in the 12U AA Tier 2 playoffs, had one All-American: skater Joe Rosmini.
McDonald led all AA-AAA scorers with 27 points on 19 goals and eight assists while Perea ranked second with 20 points on 15 goals and five assists. Colorado’s Gomez led all AA-AAA netminders with a 2.00 GAA and .881 save percentage.
For more information on the AAU Jr. Olympic Games, visit aauhockey.org.
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