Too Sunny Florida
With all the flying around at this time of year, it's always nice to get in my car and drive to a venue. Trefty also was able to drive here, getting in on his birthday in time to catch some sun on Clearwater Beach, and sun he sure did catch! I decided we should wear our Red shirts the first night so Trefty could be "skins." Yea, he was that red. His "burn" lines (no tan in sight yet) were comical.
As for the tournament, it's always great to see some old familiar faces. The Florida market isn't what it used to be but we do appreciate the support we get from our loyal organizations. As usual, the Gulf Coast Eagles traveled up the coast in full force. Although we may not see them in Kalamazoo this year, we do expect them to attend our Nationals for years to come.
Between Marsha's Scorpions and Bill Nichol's "South Beach Benders" we've got a lot of girls playing this weekend. It'd be great if they could pull off getting a team together for Kalamazoo. Thanks goes out to Matt Garry for pulling a bunch of his rec kids together so we could get enough teams to fill some of the divisions. Gaining experience has been the main theme this weekend, with some kids getting their first chance to play tournament hockey, and some younger kids playing up a division against more experienced players. A bunch of mercies, but that's how teams get better.
We've also got some talented ice players trying their hand at roller. The Tampa Scorpions, who play on a strong ice team together, are cruising through the Peewee Division and are also currently the top seed in Bantams and look tough to beat.
The Adult Division is looking competitive with a couple of shootouts already, and should make for an interesting playoff picture.