Rocky Mtn District Championships 2004
News Articles from www.rockymtnhockey.com
Bantam Qualifying Game v. Utah
Bantam Preliminary Game v. Littleton
Peewee Championship Game v. Littleton
Alliance Bantams Shutout Colorado 3-0, Advance to Nationals
Dateline: Monday, March
15, 2004 (Return to top of page)
The Alliance Bantams turned the tables on the Littleton Hawks of Colorado in the Bantam Final of the Rocky Mountain District Championships in Boise on Sunday, giving the Hawks a dose of their own defensive medicine. As a result, the Bulldogs gained a 3-0 victory and a trip to the USA Hockey National Championships in South Burlington, Vermont March 31-April 1.
Every player on the Alliance team contributed to the defensive effort that included blocking Littleton shots, passes, and clearing attempts with sticks, legs, arms, hands, and skates. Whenever a Littleton shot somehow got through to Bulldog goalie Brandon Bailey, he was his usual spectacular self, making unbelievable saves that left people wondering, “How did he do that?”
The 1st period was scoreless, as both teams played tentative, as to not allow the first goal, which many thought would be a big lift to the teaming getting it. The Bulldogs got themselves into a huge jam when in the middle of the period when they found themselves down 3 on 5 for more than a minute on a Littleton power play, and with 2 defensemen in the penalty box. The Alliance penalty killers and goalie did a great job and kept the Hawks off the scoreboard. Littleton out-shot Alliance 9 to 5 in the period, mostly due to the extended power play time they received.
The 2nd period was when the game turned in favor of Alliance as the Bulldogs clamped further down on the Littleton offense, and turned up the heat on the Hawk defense with a more aggressive fore-check and neutral ice play. The first goal and eventual game winner occurred about 4 minutes in when the Bulldog fore-check forced a Hawk turnover in their own end and Alliance forward Chad Hudson beat the Littleton goalie to the post on a wrap-around.
It was just a little more than 2 minutes later when another defensive effort created a Bulldog scoring chance. An Alliance defender blocked a shot by a Littleton defenseman at the point and the puck rebounded into neutral ice. Hudson was again the man on the spot as he beat the Hawk defense to the loose puck and broke in on the Littleton goalie on a breakaway. A deke and a backhand later, the Bulldogs had a surprising and convincing lead at 2-0 with the game almost half over. Alliance kept the momentum and continued to control play the rest of the period and out shot the Hawks during the 2nd period 11 to 4.
After a resurfacing of the ice and a break to the dressing room, the Bulldogs continued their defensive game into the 3rd period. Alliance continued to deny scoring chances to the Hawks, clearing the zone to relieve pressure, denying speed through the neutral zone, and putting the puck deep to kill precious time on clock. Finally, with just a little more than a minute and a half remaining, Hudson put the final finish on the game and the championship with another breakaway goal. Littleton won the shot battle during the 3rd period 8 to 2, but Alliance got the only goal.
The game was won without the benefit of a single Bulldog power play as Littleton was not penalized, and Alliance killed off all four Littleton power play chances. Alliance was out shot during the game 20 to 18, but was able to capitalize on its scoring chances. Hudson got his second hat trick of the tournament and Bailey got his first shutout. The Bulldogs finished the tournament with 4 wins, 1 loss, 21 goals scored, and only 11 goals allowed.
On another positive note, the Alliance PeeWees repeated the accomplishment just hours later when they defeated the Littleton PeeWees 3-2 in double overtime to win the District Championship as well. They will travel to Detroit, Michigan to compete in the USA Hockey PeeWee National Championships at the same time the Bantams are in Vermont.
Alliance
Bantams 3rd Period Come-Back Stuns Arizona 4-2
Dateline: Sunday, March
14, 2004
(Return to top of page)
The Alliance Bantam AA Team scored 4 goals in the 3rd period, with the last
3
goals coming in the final 1:22, and the Bulldogs stunned the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes
4-2 to advance into the Bantam Championship Game of the USA Hockey Rocky
Mountain District Tournament Saturday night in Boise.
After suffering 2 significant setbacks in the 1st period, the Bulldogs never
quit. Alliance forward CJ Coslett was injured in the first period when he hit
his head against the boards after a clean but hard check from a Phoenix player.
While the 2 teams were sent to the locker rooms, CJ was put on a backboard and
sent to St. Luke’s Hospital for evaluation. He was later released and returned
to the team hotel after the game.
As if that wasn’t enough to un-nerve the Bulldogs, just before the end of the
first period, they lost defenseman Adam Hartwick to a questionable spearing call
resulting in a 5 minute major penalty and a game misconduct. Alliance managed to
kill the 5 minute penalty, but were down at this point by 2 players.
After the disastrous but scoreless 1st period, Phoenix took a 1-0 lead on a goal
5 minutes into the 2nd period. It stayed that way until Alliance forward Travis
McKinney re-directed a shot from the point by defenseman Justin Novak past the
Phoenix goalie to tie the score at 1-1 less than a minute after the start of the
3rd period. Three minutes later, Phoenix scored and took the lead again at 2-1.
It was then fast and furious action from end to end until things got really wild
in the 14th minute of the 16 minute 3rd period.
With Alliance on a late power play, Alliance Coach Miles Newsome called timeout
to setup a play. Bulldog defenseman CJ Ludwig got the puck from teammate Andrew
Aragona in the slot and lifted a back-hand shot over the Phoenix goalie to tie
the score at 2-2 with 1:22 left. Twenty-six seconds later, Nolan Descoteaux gave
the Bulldogs the lead they needed at 0:56 with a hard run to the net and beat
the goalie by going against the grain to the back side as he came across the
crease. Alliance then took a cross-checking penalty but Chad Hudson added a
short-handed empty net goal with just 2 seconds left to seal the victory and
send the Bulldogs into the Championship Game.
After a furious effort in the wild 3rd period in which they outshot Phoenix 15
to 4, the Bulldogs finished with 26 shots to the Coyotes’ 18. Brandon Bailey was
again spectacular in net, allowing only 2 goals and making several outstanding
saves to keep the score close and within reach.
The Alliance Bulldogs will now face Littleton of Colorado, winner of the other
semi-final against Oklahoma, in the final for the right to represent the Rocky
Mountain District at the USA Hockey Nationals in South Burlington, Vermont March
31-April 4. The Championship Game is scheduled for 11:00 AM Sunday, and will be
broadcast live over the Internet via webcast. For a link to this broadcast go
to…..
http://webcast1.fiberpipe.tv/channels/icevision/rmdt/player.htm.
The Alliance Bantam AA Team got goals from 6 different players, points from 13 players, and defeated the Utah Stars 9-3 to advance into the Semi-Finals of the USA Hockey Rocky Mountain District Championships Saturday morning in Boise. Chad Hudson scored the hat trick with 3 goals, and Colin Haas added 4 assists to lead the Alliance scoring, which put 50 shots on goal during the game.
The game started slowly, with the first period ending in a 1-1 tie, although the Bulldogs outshot Utah 16 to 4 in the period. The 2nd period heated up offensively for the Bulldogs, as they put 21 more shots on net resulting in a 6-1 lead after 2 periods. The 3rd period was considerably less crisp than the first 2, but Alliance still extended the margin by 1 with a 13-4 shot advantage. Robbie Price and CJ Ludwig both had 3 point games and Kyle Davis got the win in net for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs now will have a rematch in the semi-finals with the Arizona team, the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes, who they defeated in the first game of the tournament 5-3. The Coyotes hope the results will be different, and appear to be ready, coming off a tough 3-3 tie with first seed Littleton of Colorado. Littleton scored the game tying goal with 43 seconds left, and then the two teams skated a scoreless 10 minute overtime.
The other Bantam semi-final game will feature the Littleton Hawks against the Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma plays in the same regular season league as the Alliance team, so a rematch of their Texoma Championship game remains a possibility in the Rocky Mountain District Final.
The Semi-Final games are schedule for 7:00 and 7:15 PM Saturday night. The Championship game is scheduled for 11:00 AM Sunday, and will be broadcast live over the Internet via webcast. For a link to this broadcast go to the home page of the tournament.
Alliance Bantams Drop Game 2 to Littleton
Dateline: Friday, March 12,04 (Return to top of page)
The Alliance Bantams ran into a tight checking Littleton Colorado team and lost Game 2 of the Rocky Mountain District Championships 3-0 Friday morning.
The Littleton Hawks scored on a 2 on 1 just 2 minutes into the game and made that lead hold up for more than 2 periods until they added an insurance goal halfway into the 3rd period on a nice shot from just inside the blueline to make the score 2-0.
The Hawks added an empty net goal with just a few seconds remaining when an icing attempt rebounded off the boards at neutral ice and slid into the empty goal.
Alliance goalie Brandon Bailey played spectacular and kept it a one shot game until the middle of the 3rd period. Alliance was outshot during the game 21 to 17, but few Bulldog shots were scoring chances.
Alliance drops to 1-1, and finishes play in Pool A with a game Saturday morning against the Utah Stars. Should Alliance win that game, they will advance to the semi-finals, more than likely against the loser of the Phoenix-Littleton game. Utah enters the game 0-2.
Alliance Bantams beat Phoenix
Dateline: Thursday, March 11,2004 (Return to top of page)
The Alliance Bantam AA team overcame a 3-1 deficit in the first period and came from behind to win Game 1 of the USA Hockey Rocky Mountain District Championships 5-3.
After falling behind 2-0 and 3-1 early in the 1st, the Bulldogs dominated play in the 2nd and 3rd periods, allowing only 2 shots in the 2nd and only 1 in the 3rd. Chad Hudson had 2 goals and 2 assists to lead the Bulldog scoring.
The Bulldogs moved the puck using a lot of short crisp passes and played aggressively & defensively, keeping the puck away from the top Phoenix players and tying them up physically when they had it.
The Bulldogs will be back in action on Friday morning at 7:00 AM when they face the Colorado State Champion Littleton Hawks.
Alliance PeeWees defeat Colorado 3-2 in Double OT, Advance to Nationals
The Alliance Peewees continued their season with the Littleton Hawks of
Colorado in the Pee Wee Final of the Rocky Mountain District Championships in
Boise Idaho on Sunday March 14th. Coming into the regional, the two teams were
dead even in head to head games for the season. Every game has been a hard
fought battle to the very end. In this match-up, the Alliance Peewees pulled
out the Championship game in the second sudden death overtime. As a result, the Bulldogs gained a
3-2 victory and a trip to the USA Hockey National Championships in Livonia,
Michigan March 31-April 4th.
Both teams played with enormous heart. Every player on the Alliance team
contributed to the defensive effort that included blocking Littleton shots and
passes. Kasey Womble and Dru Burns did an awesome job of keeping the Hawks to
the outside as they entered our zone. The Littleton team had 39 shots on
goal, and Bulldogs goalie Jonathon Clutton had some amazing stops. John made
the glove saves look like just another days work. Every player gave their all
as evidenced by Josh Loomis, at 4’7” 80 lbs in the face off circle versus Ryan
White of Littleton at 5’10” 170 lbs.
In the 1st period Littleton scored early on a pass from Brain Kormondy to Ryan
White who put the puck away. Littleton out-shot Alliance 12 to 6 in the
period. The Bulldogs had a slow start to the game. Penalties were not a
factor in the game because the referees decided to just let them play. Once
the Bulldogs adjusted to the fact that hooking, take-downs and interference
were not going to be called, the boys had to step up and just play and give
their all. Then the game was on. The 2nd period leveled out and shots on
goal were 9 to 9. Blake Coleman scored low and hard on a crisp pass from
Christopher Boe to tie the game. Littleton had an answering goal later in the
period by Tyler Adriance assisted by Anthony Hamburg.
At the start of the 3rd period Alliance came out hard and the tide started to turn. During a scrum in front of the Littleton goal Blake Coleman managed to put the puck in the net to tie the game up one more time. The score was now 2-2 and the Bulldogs were on the offensive. Alliance turned up the heat and out shot Littleton 12 to 7. But Littleton’s goalie hung tough and kept them in the game. He had a beautiful glove save early in the period on a high hard shot from Ryan Daugherty. At the buzzer the boys went to the locker room to regroup and the parents on the 4:00 pm flight realized that they were probably going to enjoy Boise hospitality for one more night.
After a resurfacing of the ice and a break to the dressing room, the Bulldogs continued their offensive game in the first sudden death overtime period. Alliance continued to deny scoring chances to the Hawks, clearing the zone to relieve pressure, denying speed through the neutral zone, and just playing with heart since their legs were gone. At the end of the first overtime period the game was still tied, the players and fans were exhausted. The boys had another 5 minute break and then came back on the ice for one more 10 minute sudden death overtime.
The Alliance Bulldogs out shot the
Littleton Hawks 10 to 6 in the combined overtime periods but Littleton still
had their scoring opportunities. Every time one of the teams went up or down
the ice everyone knew the opportunity was there. Alliance had fallen victim
earlier in the season to Littleton’s ability to turn the tide on a dime and
score, with 19 seconds on the clock in the semi-final game in Littleton.
Eight minutes into the second sudden death period Christopher Boe shot the
puck into the zone to enable the boys to have a line change. Blake Coleman, who
had not yet cleared the zone, suddenly found the puck
at his feet with an opportunity to score. He turned around and headed back
towards the Littleton goal, deked the goalie and backhanded the shot into the
upper right corner for a hat trick and the game-winning goal.
Alliance was out shot during the game 39 to 32, due to a slow start in the game but they dominated the 3rd period and the two overtimes. The Bulldogs finished the Rocky Mountain District Regional with 4 wins, 1 loss, 27 goals scored, and only 12 goals allowed. Good Luck in Nationals! The top 12 Pee Wee Tier II teams in the country will be represented. The Alliance Bulldogs will represent the Rocky Mountain District.
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