Smooth sailing at the 'Fieldhouse'

Yea…yea…we got the hint!!  The good ole Joe Bertaccini "no blog?" text message and Mike Bell writing three in St. Louis before we pumped one out, got me to my computer to communicate with the people!!!

We are at Joe Dumars' Fieldhouse this weekend and every single time I come into this facility the event runs smoothly.  The staff is always here to help when you need and working an event with JG is always a pleasure.  John's the one who hired me over a decade ago (don't know if Ronnie B and Joe still hold that against him or not) and so it's awesome that things have come full circle.

I got in on Friday night, and once the puck drop the hockey ran like a machine for the entire weekend.  Not many issues, and the hockey has been great.  It's always good to see the Ontario teams travel down and many of them will be making the trip to PA for nationals.  There's a Tim Hortons every where you go so it makes grabbing your second wind a little easier.

The mite division is complete as DMS defeated Sports Forum Warriors in the tier1 championship and the Mission Bauer Bordercats took first in tier 2 over the 05 Detroit Mission Stars.  

Other champ games are set as well- check out the updated schedule HERE to see the match ups.  The one game I am really looking forward to is the all-Canadian final in peewee between the Halton Alkali Coyotes and the KW Rage 99s.  Both these teams have had good showings this weekend.  The Coyotes made it past Reebok in the semi and KW past the Bordercats.  Both won their games 7-1.

In squirt, the Bordercats are currently up 5-1 on Reebok White as they look to take the title in tier 1.  Tier 2 championship will take place later as the Sports Forum Warriors are waiting for the winner of the Arsenal 02/DMS game coming up n a bit.

In bantam, the Bordercats just defeated the Missission Mississauga Rattler Beauties in a close semi 4-3.  The Bordercats scored the only three goals of the second period after trailing 3-1 at the half.  They now advance to the championship against the Detroit Mission Stars, who right now, look dominant in bantam.  Another team in bantam that I am keeping my eye on is in the tier 2 playoffs.  SCS is one of the most intense teams I have seen.  They are good guys and love the game and are playing very well.  At nationals they would definitely contend at the bantam AA level.  We plan to see them in Philly.

The midget division has been a close division so far neither Excitement team has lost a game in regulation so they are both in the top tier.  Excitement Green will play a rematch of last nights shootout game against Blake's Hard Cider Co.  That is going to be a great semi as Excitement Black awaits the winner.  In tier 2, the Bordercats await the winner of the Grizzly Chompers and Sports Forum Warriors.  

All in all, it's been a great weekend.  We may have found our second play-by-play guy for our live streaming broadcast, Merch is SOLD OUT! And it's the last regional weekend before nats.  Speaking of nats- the deadline is approaching fast.  Get your registration in TODAY!  Can't wait to see you all in Aston.  But for now, I'm singing off from the Motor City.