What an awesome Silver Cup!!!! The weather was kind (maybe a bit warm GF day) and the hockey was HOT, HOT, HOT.
Tin Division
If we were to make an In Line Hockey movie called 'Miracle on Wheels' we have found the team to base it on. The highly fancied teams in Tin Division were the Cougars W4 D2 L0 pre finals and the Animals W3 D2 L1. Rockstars and Los Bastardos were W3 D2 L1. Coming into finals Los Bastardos only had 5 skaters qualified to play and to win the title they would need to win 3 games in 4 hours. Do miracles happen?? Yes they do. Los Bastardos, led by goalie Craig 'CBas' Cameron, got through all 3 games with wins to take the title. Well done to Edison Tooley, Ben Haliwell, Lance Greenwood, Jack Scanlon, Andrew Campbell and CBas for their herculean efforts.
Best Goalie - Craig 'CBas' Cameron (Los Bastardos)
Highest Point Scorer - Pat Farrell (Cougars)
Most Valuable Player - India Atkins (Putters Lot)
Adam Baskijin Memorial Cup
This Silver Cup's bronze division was the hottest field of teams in years. 14 teams competed in this division and with a top 6, one chance finals system, there was always going to be heartache for teams who just missed finals and heartache for teams being eliminated in finals. The first real heartache came in the regular rounds when the final bronze division game would decide who finished in the final (6th) spot to play finals. Vuvuzella (in their awesome uniforms - well done Jan-Willem Donders) needed to win their last game against Spanky Chickens either, 2-0, 4-1, 6-2 or 8-3. They looked on track when they were leading 4-1, then Spanky scored, so now Vuvuzella needed another 2 goals. With one minute left Garry Marwood appeared to have scored a goal that was then discussed by the referee's and it was called off. Vuvuzella scored one more, but it left them one goal short and missed the finals. That made the teams in the top 6 relieved as Vuvuzella could have done some serious damage in the finals. 1st place Fudpuckers (1st) beat Scramjets (6th) to advance into the grand final. 2nd placed Spartans were always going to have a battle against the Dutch Rudderz and that proved correct with the Rudderz winning and taking a spot in the next final against Always Late (4th), who beat Merideth (3rd). In the semi final battle between Rudderz and Always Late, a tough game saw Rudderz win and get the opportunity to go back to back after winning the July Silver Cup. It was always going to be a tough encounter (as Troy Nyssen's 10 stitches attest to) and in a close game, Dutch Rudderz came out on top 5-4 to take the Adam Baskijin Memorial Cup.
Best Goalie - Jamie Bourke (Fudpuckers)
Highest Point Scorer - Mat Manning (Dutch Rudderz)
Most Valuable Player - Tim Smith (Always Late)
Silver Division
We had some high quality hockey in the Silver Division and so many highlights to look back on. Rolling Thunder were always going to be hard to beat, but all of the other teams could provide an upset playing at their best. Even last placed Just in Time, pushed teams all the way in regular games but just failing to register a win. The finals had the Goalies up against Eclipse in the elimination final and the Goalies came out winners. They then played Mixed Lot who lost their 2v3 clash with My Team. Rolling Thunder beat My Team to take a position in the grand final, remaining undefeated. Mixed Lot were victorious against the Goalies to get another crack at My Team to make the grand final. My Team put on one of their better displays of the tournament to easily account for Mixed Lot, but the question was whether they had enough left on a hot day to take on Rolling Thunder. The answer was evident early in the game when My Team had a 4 on 2 powerplay but just couldn't squeeze a puck in the net. Once the game went to even strength, Rolling Thunder sharp shooter Sean Jones to advantage of some very small openings to score the first 4 goals of the game and it was all over. Late in the game, with one minute remaining, Bill Jones to a pass from Luke Fisher to score the only My Team goal of the game and spoil Travis Alabaster's shutout party.
Best Goalie - Nick Sellars (My Team)
Highest Point Scorer - Jamie Bourke (Rolling Thunder)
Most Valuable Player - Chris Brophy (Rolling Thunder)
To everyone who helped make the tournament a success, I thank you. Referee's & scorers, thank you so very much. Without you the tournament doesn't happen.
Please have a look at the photos attached and also click on the link below to see more action shots. Thank you to Corey Gibson for taking the photos and making them available for us all to see.
http://flic.kr/s/aHsjyfaH8g
All fixtures Winter 2012
SV Letter of explanation
