2009 State Wars Team
Michigan Returns from Cincinnati
with plenty of Medals and lots of Fun Times !!
Once again this summer roller hockey’s cream of the crop in Michigan
headed to Cincinnati, Ohio for the 2009 State Wars Nationals. Every
year Michigan teams go to this tournament with high expectations and
this year was no different. However, this year would be special in
that so many of our local roller hockey players got to feel the
sense of accomplishment of winning either a Bronze, Silver, or Gold
medal.
State Wars was started five years ago by Tim McManus
and Jason Domitrovic when it was first held in Chicago, Illinois and
it combined the best aspects of all of the other National tournament
series except that at State Wars there are two big differences.
Youth teams compete in a single birth year field of teams; meaning
if a player was born in 1997 then all players in this division would
be 97’s. The other difference is that every team must have only
players that reside in their state. And new this year, they added
teams from Canada so those players had to reside in the same
province. Players are chosen at individual state tryouts by an
outside SW staff that comes into each state and picks the best
players on the floor during a weekend of tryouts. Players are chosen
to compete at an ‘A, ‘AA, or ‘AAA level.
Once the teams are chosen, co-state directors Dave
Zarem and Matt Koleski step in to find each team a coach that fits
well with that team and a team manager. Every effort is made to find
non-parent coaches and the job of the team manager is crucial to the
success and enjoyment that each team experiences. There were many
highlights this year but here is a recap of how the teams fared.
Things started out well for the MI 99’s as they went
3-0-1 in round robin play to earn a AAA seed. The team was led by
the play of Justin Eastman (4G 6A), Harry Payne (6G 2A) and Chad
Ritchie (4G 2A). They would come up short of earning a medal though
as they fell to Florida in the quarter finals.
The MI 97 A team would also go 3-0-1 in the round robin
led by their goaltender Spencer Applebaum and players such as
Bradley Hoettel, Steven Fowler, Alec Badour, and Nicholas Demchuk.
After beating Louisiana 4-3 in their quarter final they would have
just an hour before their semi final game against Missouri. They
would come up short against them losing 4-3. Their bronze medal bid
was denied as they lost to a stingy North Carolina team 5-2.
After a slow start the MI 98’s found themselves in the
playoffs battling for an ‘A division medal. They won their quarter
final game 5-4 over Ohio but hen dropped their semi final to New
York 6-3. In the Bronze medal game they would come out on top over
Pennsylvania 2-1. Kevin Maddox, Noah Bluestone, Zach raider, and
Bryan Glasser would play key roles down the stretch for the 98’s.
The MI 91 A team surprised maybe even themselves after going 2-1-1
in the round robin and after losing to Missouri by a score of 4-2 in
the semi finals they bounced back to win the Bronze medal game by a
6-4 score over Manitoba. Jon Paul and Will Fetcenko led the way in
that game with 3 points each and Daniel Lawson kept up his strong
play between the pipes.
The 96’s would send two teams to Cinci; a team into the
AAA field and one into the A division. The AAA team struggled a bit
going 0-4 against what was clearly a very strong division. The depth
on opposing teams was too much for the MI 96’s which fought hard but
came up short in each game. The 96 A team would win Michigan’s third
Bronze medal by beating Ohio 3-2 on goals by Luke Gortat, Nash
Irwin, and Gage Fisher. Kenny Wurth would lead the team in goals
during round robin play with 4.
Michigan also sent two 1995 teams and again the AAA
team would unfortunately be out manned and out matched. The MI 95 A
team wanted to make up for this and did so in a big way by going 7-0
on their way to a Gold medal. This was a deep team with a balanced
attack and in the final game against Georgia it was Daniel Schmidt’s
2 goals that were the difference along with the stellar performance
of Wes Raske in net who posted a shutout in the semi final game.
Corey Haas and Evan Grimme also scored in the final for Team MI 95.
The 1994 age group in Michigan has always been strong
and this was proven here as both the 1994 AAA and 1994 A team
captured Gold medals in dramatic fashion. The 94 A team was led by
Alec Farrington who notched 12 goals and 3 assists throughout the
whole tourney including 2 in the championship, and Max Dubin who
recorded 3 goals and 7 assissts. Dominic Carollo pitched in with 7
goals as well. Josh Raider was simply awesome in net in every game.
The 94 AAA team which was led by players such as Vito
Aluia, Michael Fowler, and Scuba Beauvais were part of one of the
best games in the whole tournament this year. They beat New York in
the Gold medal game by a score of 4-3 in overtime. After being
shorthanded much of the game and killing off several minutes of 4 on
2 action the boys were down just 3-2 with under two minutes to play.
Aluia would tie the game up with his second of the game with just
over a minute left to set the stage for the heroics of Michael
Fowler, whose end to end rush to cap off the win was a thing of
beauty. Beauvais also scored in the final. Nick Malles won MVG for
Team MI 94 AAA.
The notoriously strong 1992 and 1993 age groups did not disappoint
again and Michigan would find itself in the thick of things once
again this year. The 92 AAA team got out of the gates slow as they
were trounced by Alberta in the opening game but rebounded with
three straight wins. Zach Witte, Ryan Kish, and Keith Long once
again led the way for this squad but their efforts weren’t enough to
handle their nemesis, Missouri in their quarter final match up.
The 92 A team took the Gold by beating Colorado 5-4 in
the championship. In another great game it was Joey Axt who slipped
one by the Colorado netminder with just 30 seconds left in the tilt.
The team was led by Brian Cheesbro’s 9 goals and 4 assist and Kyle
Cook’s 4 goals and 5 assists throughout the tourney. Both Derek
Recor and Drew Archer were superb between the pipes.
Connor Enciso, Mitchell Steur, and Tyler Spezia proved once again
the leaders on a 93 team that ended up in the AA division for
playoffs. Once there they did not disappoint as they would beat New
York 3-2 in overtime in another thriller. After Spezia’s last second
tying goal to send it into the extra period it was Steur who picked
off a New York breakout pass and fired a wrist shot over the New
York goalie on his way to getting mobbed by his teammates. Steur
went on to win MVP as well. Zach Lietz strong play in goal was also
a key ingredient to this teams’ success.
The last weekend of the event saw the oldest and the
youngest of players converge into Cinci looking for State Wars Gold.
The 2002’s, 2001’s, and 200’s were ready to take the floor along
with the adults including the three-year Masters Champions from
Michigan.
The 2001’s got the ball rolling on the last day of the
tourney by capturing the Silver medal. Adam Beauvais led this team
all weekend with the help of such grinders as Andrew Schwartz,
Brendan Walk, Bryce Livesy, Nicole Maddox, Michael Wilson, Eric Gal,
Evan Gietzen, and goaltender Ethan Hunsinger. Look for these guys to
make some more noise in the roller hockey world very soon.
In the 2002 age group it was Michigan who would win
Gold while players such as Sebastian Smith (11 goals and 5 assists)
and Griffin White (10 goals and 5 assists) would not be denied their
chance at the spotlight. In the championship they would beat Florida
in a close 6-4 contest. Bryce Livesy had two goals and Nikolas Simo
notched on as well. Sebastian Smith scored two of his three in the
last minute to seal the win for the youngsters from Detroit. Other
workhorses on this squad included Noah Somers, Seth Ferguson,
Anthony Gattone, and Griffin Zaske. Andrei Gaffney held down the
goalie duties and was awarded MVG. The 2000’s went unscathed throughout the tourney
winning all 6 games led by their goaltender Robert Pegrum. “Pegz”
pretty much stood on his head all weekend and when called on to do
so made big save after big save. In the final game against
Pennsylvania, after falling behind 3 goals with under 6 minutes to
go Michigan turned things around when Gabe Temple brought the boys
one step closer with a pretty goal to make it 6-4. Jonathon Gruden
lit the lamp just 40 seconds later and the come back was on! Just as
things seemed dim Gruden somehow pulled a loose puck out from behind
the Pennsylvania goalie and buried it to tie the score with just 20
seconds to play. In OT just as a packed house was nestling in for a
great OT Gruden seemingly said enough was enough and took the
opening face off right between Penn’s defense and snapped a rolling
puck off the post for the game winner. The teams forwards led the
way with Calen Kiefiuk notching 15 goals and 3 assists, Gruden
recording 13 goals and 7 assists, Anthony Venuto had 10 goals and 3
assists, and Temple putting up 8 goals and 3 assists. The defense
was headed up by Max Hartwell who pitched in with 2 goals and 5
assists. The other blueliners were Benjamin Raab, Adam Cantley, and
James Burke.
In other action the MI Women's AA team took 4th as they
lost to Missouri 1-0 in the Bronze medal game. The MI Women's AAA
team won the Silver medal as they suffered a 4-1 loss to Colorado
after tying them in round robin play. Jill Sandzik, Julie Bradford,
Jamie Lushka, and Jenna Donnelly led the way for the AAA squad along
with net-minder Rachel Roach. The AA team was a balanced attack with
everyone chipping in on both offense and defense.
Michigan also won a Silver medal in the Senior AA
division, a Bronze in Junior AAA, and the Masters team took home
their fourth straight Gold medal, a first in the history of State
Wars. In all Michigan traveled to State Wars with 27 teams and took
home 16 medals. (8 Gold, 3 Silver, and 5 Bronze).
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