Tin Division

Six teams battled out Tin Division in what was a step up in skill level from previous Silver Cups. It was great to have the Spider Pigs down from ACT, for their first Puckhandlers experience.

Such was the step up in skill level, July Champions, Mother Puckers failed to register a win in this tournament.

We saw some great individual efforts in Tin Division. Players like, Scott Davidson (Vikings), Gavin Rodrigous (Mixed Nuts), Chris Hudec (Mixed Nuts), Peter Turbach (Llamas),  Dave Thomson (Spider Pigs) & Sebastian Riquier (Spider Pigs), just to name a few.

Goal tending was at a Tin Division high with Rob Summons, Phil Pritchard, Bryan Jeffrey, Petey Goulden and Harley Hancock all putting on a show…………….. Pierre Apap was also a goalie for the Doggy Bags, but he was rubbish. At one stage, someone threw a beach ball at him but he missed that as well. Only joking Pierre, you did a great job for the Bags.

The round robin games had it very tight in the top three positions. Mixed Nuts went into finals undefeated, but with one draw against third placed Vikings. Second placed Spider Pigs only had the one defeat in the round robin against leaders, Mixed Nuts, while Vikings had one draw and one loss. The Llamas finished fourth having lost to all three teams above them.

The finals were set up to be an intriguing contest. Who would hold their nerve in the cut and thrust of playoff action?

The final between first placed Mixed Nuts and second placed Spider Pigs was a great contest. The final score of 3 – 0 in favour of the Spider Pigs is a credit to the goal tending on both teams. Rob Summons for Spider Pigs had an 18 shot shutout and Phil Pritchard for Mixed Nuts had 21 shots for his 3 goals. Sebastian Riquier was on fire for the Pigs as he scored a hatrick. A few great chances by Mixed Nuts, but unable to get past Rob in net.

The Vikings played the Llama’s in the elimination final. At half time, we had a contest with Viking’s leading 3 – 1. Scott Davidson had all three goals for the Vikings and Peter Turbach had the sole goal for Llama’s. As the building heated up, so did the Viking’s and the Llama’s goalie, Harley Hancock. Harley succumbed to the heat and needed to leave the rink, with dehydration. That opened the door for the Vikings and they ran out winners 7 – 4. Scott scored 5 of the 7 goals for the Vikings, with Josh Toal and Trent Dyer scoring one each. New sensation Gaby McCandless scored 2 goals for the Llama’s and the other goal scorer was her son Luke. Not sure what happened to Herb, but he didn’t bother the scorers in this game (let the family down on that one Herb).

The semi final was played between Vikings and Mixed Nuts. The Mixed Nuts were in control from the start of the game and with a 3 – 1 lead at half time, the final margin was the same as Mixed Nuts won 5 – 3. Gavin Rodrigous and Chris Hudec were the destroyers for Mixed Nuts. The Vikings worked hard and did everything to get themselves back in the game, but to no avail, Mixed Nuts had all the answers.

The final between Spider Pigs and Mixed Nuts was a terrific game and in a very tight first half, the crowd was thinking there could be an upset on the horizon. One each at half time with Kevin Howard scoring for Spider Pigs and Chris Hudec for Mixed Nuts, the second half was set up. Still very tight with not long to go in the game, enter Sebastian Riquier. Two goals to Sebastian and another by Kevin Howard sealed the deal for the Spider Pigs and they excitedly celebrated their 4 – 1 win in the Tin Division final.

The individual awards in Tin Division were:
Most Valuable Player: Dave Thomson (Spider Pigs)
Highest Point Scorer: Scott Davidson (Vikings)
Best Goalie: Phil Pritchard (Mixed Nuts)
                       Petey Goulden (Vikings)
Bronze Division – Adam Baskijin Memorial

Eight teams battled out the Adam Baskijin Memorial trophy. I hoped I would never have to name a trophy after any of our hockey players who played at Puckhandlers, but tragically in June last year, 2007, Adam was killed in a car accident driving home to Ballarat. Adam was a founding member of the Ballarat team, who has been playing in the Silver Cup for many years. Adam was a great kid and will be sorely missed by all of us at the rink and of course all of those who knew him.

Many old faces were back along with a bunch of new. Team Porn made the trek down from ACT again and the Ballarat boys were keen to win the first memorial trophy in honor of their mate. It was going to be a tough division to win as many teams were in with a shot.

After the round robin of seven games each, Team Porn were on top with 6 wins and a draw, Ballarat 2nd with 5 wins and 2 draws, 7/11 third with 4 wins, 2 draws and a loss and making up the four, Doey Snowey’s with 4 wins and 3 losses.

The finals action saw 7/11 (3rd) against Doey Snowey’s (4th). This was an elimination final and in an upset, Doey Snowey’s beat the highly fancied (mainly by themselves) 7/11. The 1st V 2nd final saw Team Porn beat Ballarat to go straight into the grand final and leave Ballarat to battle with Doey Snowey’s for a spot in the final and have another crack at Team Porn.

The semi final had everything. Scores were locked at the end of regular time, so we went into 5min golden goal. Neither team could score so we went into a penalty shoot out. With Ballarat missing their main goalie, it was going to be a tough ask for Ewan Westfield to keep the young Doey Snowey’s from scoring. As it turned out the Doey Snowey’s easily won the shoot out and the dream of winning the first Adam Baskijin Cup for their mate was over. Ballarat were certainly the crowd favorite as everyone would have loved to see them win the Cup for Adam.

The two major questions in the final were going to be, “Would Team Porn have the energy to put in one more game winning performance?” 5 of their 8 skaters were also playing Silver Division and played 13 games, plus finals, in three days. The other question was, “Could the youth of Doey Snowey’s have Team Porn chasing them all game?”

With the score 3 – 1 at half time in favour of Team Porn, it looked a though they would run away with the final. Doey Snowey’s had other ideas and scoring the first goal of the second half and making it 3 – 2. Team Porn decided enough was enough and they turned on the after burners and with 5 shots for 4 goals, the game was won in that section of the game for Team Porn. Final score 9 – 4. It was an all round performance by Team Porn, Matt Tattersall, Anthony Holloway, Mark Schuppeltz and goalie Justin Mendham led from the front. Doey Snoweys were gallant in defeat with, Nick McIver, Rob Summons and the Roberts brothers performing well all tournament with great support by James McKendrick in net, they should be very proud of their efforts.

Bronze Division have some outstanding talent this tournament and players like, Rob Summons, Nick McIver & Daniel Innes (Doey Snowey’s), Matt Tattersall, Anthony Holloway, Mark Babic & Mark Schuppeltz (Team Porn), The twins from 7/11, Adit Waradhana & Billy Bernardus as well as Evan Raif, Ballarat with Damon Gribble, Sandro Digirolamo (spelling).

The goalies were brilliant led by Justin Mendham (Team Porn), Dannick Chollett (7/11) and James McKendrick (Doey Snowey’s).

The individual awards in the Adam Baskijin Memorial were:
Most Valuable Player: Damon Gribble (Ballarat)
Highest Point Scorer: Anthony Holloway (Team Porn)
Best Goalie: Justin Mendham (Team Porn)

Silver Division

Silver division was HOT, HOT, and HOT. Not just because of the weather, but the hockey was as high a Silver Cup tournament has produced as far as I can remember.

Seven teams fought it out and every win was earnt by the winning team in each game. It was evident early, it was going to be 5 of the 7 teams that would be a chance to win the Silver Cup. Such was the standard, a normally dominant Cougars team in A grade competition finished 5th and could only manage the one win and one draw. They only went down 3 – 5 against the Cannons who finished 4th.

The top four was, Goalies, My Team, Beer Kings & Cannons. Both Goalies and My Team had one loss in the regular rounds. Goalies were beaten by Cannons. My Team got beaten by the Goalies.

3rd V 4th saw the Beer Kings against the Cannons in an elimination final. In a fantastic fast paced game and 2 all at half time, Beer Kings held off the Cannons to win 5 - 4. Ollie Rozdarz scored all 5 goals for the Kings, while Rohan Thomas 2 goals, Curtis Borg and Brendan Halloran 1each, the Cannons were close. In the 1st V 2nd final, the Goalies held on to win over My Team 6 – 2. The Goalies played a very structured game which exposed My Team. Penalties hurt My Team and they were unable to keep even strength for long enough to get back in the game.

With the Goalies securing a spot in the final, they were able to sit back and watch the Beer Kings V My Team game. In what can only be described as an anti climax, My Team capitulated and were soundly beaten by Beer Kings, 8 – 2. The two goals scored by My Team were late in the 2nd period when the game was well and truly over.

The Beer Kings have come the tough way into the final and the Goalies would be feeling pretty confident of a victory pre game. The big questions: Could the Goalies restrict the Ollie Rozdarz show? If so, can they hold their poise and control they had been showing in earlier games?

After a frantic first half and scores locked at 2 each, the answers to the questions were not clear. Ollie was looking very dangerous, but the Goalies were holding their game together. The second half would provide the answers to both questions. The Goalies could restrict the Ollie show and they could hold their poise and control. With a defensive unit to be rivaled led by the calm Jeremy Muir, the hard working Dan Fisher and the chainsaw Tristan Woods and the trick king Tristan Muir, it was always going to be difficult to get through to score enough goals. Offensively, the Goalies had the silky skills of Dahlen Phillips & Jacob Wilson with the sniper Dean White scoring from nice set ups. It has to be said, Travis Alabaster in goals did a sensational job and with a save % of 86.2.

The Goalies won 4 - 2 over the Beer Kings, who gave it their best shot. It must be said, the better team in the division won this time around.

Beer Kings were obviously led by Ollie on the scoreboard, but with 5 players playing both Bronze and Silver Division, they were gallant in defeat. Matt Tattersall, Anthony Holloway, Mark Babic, Aaron Matthews and Luke Ryan all played both divisions. Neville Woodall, Matty Schoo and Nick Truscewiscz played very well for the Beer Kings throughout the tournament as well. Goalie Stu Woodall was back to his old tricks, robbing many players with certain goals on offer.

As I stated above, the Silver Division was hot and when you have players like Ollie Rozdarz (National player), Joonas Berggren (Finland) and numerous PHL players in the competition, the standard will always be worth watching.

The individual awards for Silver Division:
Most Valuable Player: Ollie Rozdarz (Beer Kings)
Highest Point Scorer: Ollie Rozdarz (Beer Kings)
Best Goalie: Travis Alabaster (Goalies)