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Roller Hockey
NARCh Varsity Cup to showcase prep roller hockey at national level
By Phillip Brents
The eighth annual North American Roller Hockey Championships, scheduled July 20 to August 1 at Teco Arena in Estero, Fla., will provide the showcase for what is believed to be the first-ever dedicated national high school club roller hockey championship when the four regional champions from this year's NARCh Varsity Cup roll onto the floor.
For the first time, four separate regional Varsity Cup tournaments will be held instead of one based on the West Coast, thus opening up interest and accessibility to teams from across the United States. The first-place teams from all four regionals will then be invited to participate in a Varsity Cup Final Four at the 2001 NARCh Finals, with a national champion crowned.
"The whole purpose of this Final Four is to decide a national champion," said Varsity Cup tournament director John Black. "The theory is to get the best four teams from across the country to participate."
Teams are divided into brackets at each regional with round-robin play determining seeding into two separate divisions -- AAA and AA -- based on competition level. The AAA champion at each regional qualifies for the NARCh Varsity Cup Final Four in Florida.
Santiago High School will represent the West Region after defeating Desmett High School (from Missouri) to win the AAA Division title at the NARCh Varsity Cup West Regional, held April 28-29 at the Irvine Gretzky Center.
Troy Shay helped lead Santiago High School to the West Region title by scoring four goals and eight assists as the AAA Division's top scorer while teammate Kyle Williams earned the division's top goaltender award with a .906 save percentage.
Capo Valley High School defeated Temecula Valley High School to win the AA Division at the West Region tournament. Travis Reeves paced Capo Valley with a division best .873 save percentage while Dustin Kavenaugh helped Temecula Valley to the division finals as the division's top scorer with four goals and six assists.
The West regional was held on a standalone basis while the other three regionals will be conducted alongside a regularly scheduled NARCh regional event. The Midwest Varsity Cup regional will be held May 25 to 28 at the Joe Dumars Fieldhouse in Detroit, Mich., with the Northeast Varsity Cup regional scheduled June 22 to 24 in Moriches, N.Y. The Southeast Varsity Cup regional is set for that same June 22 to 24 weekend at the Teco Arena in Estero, Fla.
This year's NARCh Finals are projected to be the biggest yet, with as many as 300 teams expected to register for the event. A total of 274 teams competed at last year's NARCh Finals in Toronto, Canada.
"Every year, it seems to keep growing," explained founder and tournament director Paul Chapey.
The site of this year's NARCh Finals is the home of the Florida Everblades of the East Coast Hockey League. Besides the 7,000-seat main arena, the tournament will also utilize two adjacent community rinks. The venue is located 10 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.
The location of this year's NARCh Finals is a result of increased interest in the sport in the southeastern United States, particularly in Florida, which may now rival, if not out-rank, California in terms of number of participants in the sport. Because of the demand in this fastest-growing region of interest, three NARCh regionals are being held in Florida alone this year.
Besides the Varsity Cup Final Four, the 2001 NARCh Finals will also introduce its newest division, the Cub Division, for players six years and younger. NARCh organizers hope to feature as many as eight teams. The formation of the new age division comes as an outgrowth of both parental and player enthusiasm and interest for the existing Atom (eight and under) Division.
With the NARCh Finals being held once again in the United States, All-Star competition will be divided into an East versus West format with teams separated geographically by the Mississippi River, with teams from St. Louis included in the West. Canadian teams will likely be divided with the Prairie provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba included in the West and teams east of Manitoba included in the East.
The growth of Division I (22 and under) has also prompted some evolutionary modifications. Though the division is subject to open registration, teams may participate in regional competition to "lock" in a berth in the NARCh Finals. Sixteen teams participated in last year's Finals and the same number are expected to compete in Florida. A new twist will feature the selection of an all-tournament Division I team that will play in the NARCh Pro Division.
There will be a total of 12 Platinum and nine Gold division titles contested at this year's NARCh Finals. Platinum Division qualified teams include teams that have finished first through third in NARCh Regional competition. Gold Division qualified teams include teams that also qualified through regional competition but did not earn Platinum seeds.
In results from the 2001 regional held March 23 to 25 at the Anaheim Hockey Club, NARCh Platinum seeds went to the following teams: Las Vegas Titans Blue (first, Atom); Corona Edge (second, Atom); Mission Gretzky AKS 91 (first, Mite); Nexed OC Blades Red (second, Mite); Rinkside Rockets (first, Squirt); Team Hyper (second, Squirt); Team Hyper (first, Pee Wee), Armadillos 87 (second, Pee Wee); Nexed OC Blades (first, Bantam); Las Vegas Titans Blue (second, Bantam); Mission Gretzky Armadillos (first, Junior) and Tour Predators (second, Junior).
Receiving a choice of either NARCh Platinum or Gold seeds from the Anaheim Hockey Club regional were the Anaheim Mission Bulldogs (third, Atom); CCM Hosers (third, Mite); Anaheim Mission Bulldogs (third, Squirt); RDHL Team Inno (third, Pee Wee); San Diego Gulls (third, Bantam); and Nexed OC Blades (third, Junior).
Earning NARCh Gold Division seeds were the CCM Hosers (fourth, Atom); Rinkside Rockets (fourth, Mite); AKS Empire 89-90 (fourth, Squirt); Mavericks (fourth, Pee Wee); and Tour EPH Oilers (fourth, Bantam and Junior).
Division high scorers at the regional competition included Jason Zucker of the Las Vegas Titans Blue (Atom); Ryan Purdy of the CCM Hosers (Mite); Steve Rosenkrantz of Team Hyper (Squirt); Chris Ellis of RDHL Team Inno (Pee Wee); Darren Dela Cruz of the Nexed OC Blades Red (Bantam); and Matt Shultz of the Tour Predators (Junior).
Top Goaltender awards were captured by Justin Thuna of the Las Vegas Blue Titans (Atom); Bradley Atkinson of Mission Gretzky AKS 91 (Mite); Michael Ehl of the Rinkside Rockets (Squirt); Andrew Martin and Justin McAulay of Team Hyper (Pee Wee); Allan Cim and Jeff Meadowlark of the Tour EPH Oilers (Bantam) and Erik Hokum and Mike Spadier of the Mission Gretzky Armadillos (Junior).