Atoms invade St Louis Qualifier
The St Louis Qualifier has kicked off at All American which happens to be my home rink. The 17 minute commute this morning was great and enjoyable since it is usually from a hotel room in a far away city when I work at most regional qualifiers. It is such a small world...this morning as the always entertaining 8U (Atoms) arrived for the first game of the day, I ran into my wife's cousin who is introducing his son to inline hockey for the very first time. Their ice hockey coach (Ken Daleo) brought the team over for the weekend and the kids are having a great time so far. The regional came together very nicely as we have 20 teams competing in 5 divisions. TOUR is represented very well with the presence of the Blast and for their 2nd qualifier, the Jr Mudcats. Tom is getting his tune up for Nationals and Ron is in rare form today.
So as I mentioned, we have two Atom teams competing and they are a hoot. The Americans are primarily an ice hockey team that is trying inline for the first time this weekend. It looks like the kids are all in and may be the next big inline team in the St Louis area. They were introduced to the game in a big way after the Blast knocked off the Americans 8-0 in the first game. Right now, it is tied up 4-4 after making some roster adjustments. It is great to see the little guys flash the big smiles!
We are off to watch more hockey so stay tuned for updates and scores on the website. Shout out to our directors in Detroit...what is taking you so long?