Florida oh Florida!
So things are off and running here at a very rainy All Sports Arena in New Port Richey, and while we had our trials and tribulations getting this tournament together, the teams that are here are pretty pumped to play, and there has been a good amount of talk from many of these teams who are planning on making the trip up to Philadelphia for Nationals. It hit me yesterday that we are only 8 weeks away! Both exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. We are working on some unbelievable things, and as George mentioned in his blog from Pittsburgh, we have a MAJOR announcement on the horizon. Stay locked to torhs2hot4ice.com, our Facebook page, and Twitter so you are amongst the first to hear....
As for this weekend's event in New Port Richey, I want to personally thank Tim Harrington, and the Tour Lizard Kings, who made the 7 hour trek down here from Atlanta in order to participate in this event. Tim and I worked this out in the Fall, and because he is a man of his word, he is here. What is often left under appreciated is just how much work these guys do behind the scenes in order to have these teams coordinated for an out of town tournament. There are very people left in the sport who view it the way Tim does, and we are grateful for all of his efforts. This is already the Lizard Kings 3rd event of ours this season, and 2nd away from Atlanta! Without his involvement this weekend, this tournament most likely does not even get off the ground! The Lizard Kings next trip will be to Philadelphia, and I know they are super pumped for that one, and rightfully so!
It was great to catch up with Ralph Sowder. Ralph has his Scorpions 98 team here, and its crazy to see how big these kids have gotten. Seems like yesterday these kids were playing in the 8u division. They are another group that has their eyes set on Philadelphia. They are one of the best 98 teams in the country so it will be great to see how they stack up at Nationals in the AAA division! The Gulf Coast Eagles are here in full force with a 12u team, 2 14u teams, a 16u team, and a 18u team. Several of these teams are also planning on making the trip up to Philadelphia. And of course, Marsha Brown has her 12u and 14u Scorpions teams playing, and it looks like both of them will be heading to Philly.
As for the games thus far, we have had some intense games this morning. In the first game of the day, the 12u Lizard Kings gave the Scorpions all they could handle but came up just short in a 4-2 decision. In their rematch, the Scorpions dominated to the tune of 8-0. The Scorpion 98s are on the floor now, but are struggling to get things going. My bet is they'll shake the rust off later in the day...
The Bruins/Habs game is on the big screen, and a bunch of people are gathered around watching. I think it is a must win for the Bruins. They certainly don't want to head to Montreal down 2-0.
I'll be back later on with another update...