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 Forget
the multi-million dollar contracts and huge signing bonuses that
Friday night’s first-round NHL draft choices stand to pocket, and
you just know that the teenagers on the 2Hot4Ice 2009 national championship teams are the happiest hockey players on the planet today. Six champions all in the 14U and 16U age divisions -- were crowned Friday afternoon on the third day of the 2Hot4Ice National Games, hosted by the Dreamsports Center in Apex, N.C., for the third year in a row. Your new champs are: Team Carolina 94, 14U Platinum; Peachtree City (Ga.), 14U Gold; SportsZone Wave, 14U Silver; DSD Blue, 14U Bronze; Team Carolina White, 16U Gold; and Richmond Rattlers Orange, 16U Bronze. Team Carolina 94 made it five wins without a loss when it beat co-favorite Valken 94, also unbeaten heading into the final, 6-3 in the 14U Platinum title game. The Carolina Comets finished third. Neither Peachtree City nor the Tour Bandits was viewed as a potential champion heading into Nationals, but both reached the division finale. There, PTC was barely able to grab hold of the 14U Gold crown, easing by the Bandits 5-4 to finish the tournament with a 3-2-0 won-lost-tied record. The Columbia Cobras took third place. Reflecting the competitiveness of the 2Hot4Ice regional qualifiers this season, the hometown DSD White took the SportsZone Wave into overtime in the 14U Silver finale before falling 2-1. The win was the Wave’s third in a row after going 1-1-1 on Wednesday. While the DSD Blue managed only two wins to go with three ties in Apex, the second win was monumental, a 2-0 win over the Carolina Tsunami White in the 14UBronze division championship game. The Tsunami White finished Nationals at 2-3-1. In the 16U Gold division, Team Carolina White toppled the co-favorite Richmond Rattlers Black 5-1 to claim the title. The win was the White’s fifth in six games this week, while the Rattlers Black fell to 3-2-1. The Richmond Rattlers Orange matched Team Carolina 94’s best-so-far record of 5-0-0 when it stopped the Speed 2-0 in their 16U Bronze title showdown. The loss dropped the Speed’s tourney record to 3-3-0. Third place went to Team Carolina Green, which had to go into double overtime before derailing the Columbia Cobras in their game for third-place honors. Nationals’ busiest day (46 games) saw the 8GR division make its 2Hot4Ice debut. GR stands for Grass Roots. The division was created to give the siblings of boys and girls competing in Nationals a chance to taste tournament hockey themselves. In the very first 8GR contest, the DSD White defeated the Richmond Rattlers Orange 6-2. Both teams were playing together for the first time. Later in the morning, the White prevailed against the Orange again, this time 8-0. The third 8GR team at Nationals is the Greensboro Spyders, who play together in a house league. They were scheduled to make their debut Saturday morning. To borrow from PGA Tour speak, Saturday is moving day at 2Hot4Ice’s National Games. Every player in Apex will be on the go except for those on the 14U and 16 teams, which have already determined their 2009 national champs. The 18U players will be reaching for a spot in their Gold or Silver division finals Saturday evening, while the 38 teams in the 8U, 10U, 12U, Adult and Masters divisions will be focused on playing themselves into one of Sunday’s championship games. Meanwhile, 2Hot4Ice will conduct the rest of the 2009 Reebok Skills Championships Saturday, for the 8U skaters in the morning, the 10U youngsters in the afternoon and the 12U bladers in the evening. |