It's That Time Again!

T ORHS2HOT4ICE Winter Cup has Hot Shots Indoor Sports Arena beyond electric already this morning.  It’s always such a great atmosphere here, and bringing one of the largest inline hockey events of the winter here has been a tremendous success! 

It’s always a great time getting the season kicked off.  I’d like to thank all of the teams that battled the weather this weekend to get here, I realize that the conditions weren’t ideal, but trust me when I tell you we truly appreciate all of the efforts.  We have teams that traveled in from Missouri, North Carolina, Lebanon (PA), Michigan, Ohio and a contingent of 30 teams from New York! 

This morning we got rolling just after 6:00 A.M. and there has been no early morning hang over from yesterdays’ long day of hockey.  It’s been up and down hockey since the first puck drop, we’ve seen some great goals, hard-nosed plays, and terrific goaltending.  The Tour Roadrunners 99 Black haven’t missed a beat since I saw them play last summer.  Vio has done an amazing job with this group, and they continue to get stronger and stronger every year.  Other standout performances so far would go to the Francis Howell North (MO) team in the High School division, Tour Excitement in Men’s Gold, the Caballeros in the Mite division and the Pittsburgh Reebok Bandits 98 team in Bantam. 

The Bandits have been lead with amazing goaltending from Anthony Szafranski.  Anthony back stopped his team to a 1-0 victory in a shootout in their first round robin game, and this morning he was stellar again helping his team defeat the Alkali Assault 2-1 in a shootout again!

Speaking of shootouts, how about T.J. Oshie!!!!  The snack bar area was packed to the walls, and the T.V. in the lobby area had tons of people glued to it.  Oshie, is another NHL’er that grew up playing some roller hockey, and he has truly developed into a solid NHL player.  If he wasn’t a house hold name before today, he surely is now.  We already have Mite players skating around the rink imitating his moves.  What a great addition to this event, nothing beats Olympic hockey in my opinion and this mornings’ game was awesome!

To stay up to date on our scores and standings, click on this link Winter Cup Scores.  Don’t forget that the TORHS2HOT4ICE Pro Series starts in a couple of hours, and there is going to be some amazing action.  If you’re in the area make sure to stop by and check out some of the best in our sport competing for one of the most coveted prizes out there!

That does it for now, I’ll be back in a bit with a mid-day update and some playoff outlooks!  I you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at john@torhs2hot4ice.com.