Dallas HS Hockey League Championships and Texas HS Hockey State Championships

Wednesday night was championship night for the AT&T Metroplex High School Hockey League as the Arlington Martin and Bishop Lynch for the Silver Championship and then Flower Mound VS. Southlake Carroll for the Gold Championship. Both games had their compelling stories and great drama as the league championships were crowned and State Tournament Seeds were on the line.

Arlington Martin VS. Bishop Lynch, Silver Division Final

Bishop Lynch was going into this game as the underdog, but goalie David Kindall provided to be the major equaliser as the Fyars were outshot 42-15 but he put an incredible 41 save performance to help a Brandon Holly goal just 29 seconds into the game stand up for a huge part of the game. After that early goal, the Warriors came up with a barage of shots throughout the game as players like Brett Jacobsen and Hayden Pierce attempted to get the game to even but Kindall denied them on every shot from slap shots to several flurys throughout the 1st period. On the only penalty of the period, the Warriors made the most of their few PPS of the game. Prehaps the best opprunity by the Warrios Breet Jacobsen on a strong coast to coast play before being denied by the Bishop Lynch defense. Late in the period, Lynch Forward Ian Kelso stole a pass from Warrior defense to get off a great slap shot that missed wide and was deflected off 2 players pads before just ending up under Matt Dow's pads. At the end of the 1st, the shots didn't yet play a part as the shots were 13-8 in favor of Martin.

During the 2nd, both goalies contuined to be big parts of the game where Kindall early in the 2nd. Time for the defense to come up big with some big hits in the game were guys like Steven Rennard and Brad Shannon were looking to take over control of the game for both sides. It contuined to be 1-0 till 8:30 mark of the 2nd where Arlington Martin's Brett Jacobsen scored on an unassisted SH Goal to tie it 1-1. It looked like the Warriors were finally ready to take over, but once again David Kindall made a pinball save where Jacobsen and Zaporozan deflected a shot and then Kindall found the puck under his goalie pad right on the goal line to keep it 1-1. Just before the 2nd period ended, Quinton Williams fanned on a perfect shot which could have given Warriors the lead once again.

During the 3rd period, the Kindall took over the game while few chances on the other end. It was getting frustrating for Arlington Martin to take over the game and then 6:02 into the 3rd, Nich Moody scored what would be the game winning goal with assist from Hargrove and Nick Earhart to put them up 2-1, but it wasn't over yet. For Arlington Martin a PP for the 3rd period midway through, Kindall made what was probally his biggest save with a huge slap shot Hassan Makke where he made a huge glove save with 5 minutes left. In the end, David Kindall turned out the be the star of the game as Bishop wins the Silver Title 2-1.

With the win, Bishop Lynch gained the #1 seed for the State Championship Silver Division while the Arlington Martin Warriors they will be the #3 seed in Austin with the tournament starting up today.

Varsity Gold Division Championship: Flower Mound VS. Southlake Carroll

In the 2nd game of the night, it was a goal fest as 13 goals were scored in a very close and exicting game to decide the Dallas Championship.

By 4 minutes into the game, it was already 2-2 with F.M. Goals scored by Jake Newton and Dannyne Bell while S.L.C. goals scored by Taylor Nyoff and Blake Bell as the goalies had bad starts to this one. After a brief break in the scoring, Flower Mound went up 3-2 with a goal from Sean O Connor with an assist from Dane Taylor just under 6 minutes into the game, keep in mind that all these goals early in the game were even strength goals and the 1st penalty wasn't called untill 9 minutes into the 1st period. For Southlake Carroll, Kyle Stephenson made it 3-3 basically midway through the 1st period and then the final goal of the period was scored by Dannye Bell with his 2nd goal of the period.

When the 2nd period started, Flower Mound pounded even more as Jake Newton and Adrian Acee scored 2 goals in just over 90 seconds to make it 6-3 and then after, Southlake Carroll made a goalie change Louis Daley was pulled after just making 10 of 16 shots. After Nick Daley was put in to stop the bleeding, with the shots on goal at 17-13, the goalies were having problems to keep the puck out of the net and then with less than a minute left in the 2nd period, Blake Beall scored his 2nd of the night on a fairly strong back hand shot being passed by Zach Halle on a very crisp and perfect pass to make it a strong 6-4 game and to turn tide for the Dragons.

Just 26 seconds into the 3rd period, the Dragons closed the gap again to 6-5 with Marcel Toure's 12th goal of the season for the big power forward to close the gap. For the Jaguars. Something was needed to turn the tide and they started to get physical with players like Jimmy Woods and Dane Taylor to hit their way back into the game to keep them in. However, the Dragons conutined their quest to tie the game at 6-6 with Jack Daley almost tied the game with just over 3 minutes left on a quick wrister where Jagaurs goalie Bryan Mills made a big save on a break away that almost tied. Then with just 2 minutes left, the pressure finally paid off for the Dragons as Zack Hale tied the game at 6-6. After the game tieing goal, both teams had great chances as Flower Mound almost took the lead with 30 seconds left with a great shot that hit the side of the net taken by Adrain Acee and then in the final seconds, the Dragons had a great fluery which included a shot with 5 seconds that wide of the net. This game was going to OT with the Dragons comming back from a 6-3 defeict.

In the OT, both goalies came up big including midway through the OT where Louis Daley stopped a great deflection to keep the game going. It eventully came down to a shootout where it went 4 rounds with Jake Newton, Dane Taylor and then Travis Donohue helped Flower Mound win the game and the championship 7-6 in a SO to take the title and the top seed at the State Tournament which starts up today.

State Tournament

Gold Division

The 8 teams will start their run for a State Championship today with the Quarterfinals then on Saturday is the Semifinals and Conslation Round then on Sunday will be the Championship and Tournament Placement games.

All Gold Division Quarterfinals are on the Blue Rink.

#4 Round Rock ISD VS. #5 Dallas Jesuit 4:50 PM
#3 Southlake Carroll VS. #6 College Park 6:30 PM
#1 Flower Mound VS. #8 Allen 8:20 PM
#2 Ft. Bend Austin VS. #7 FM Marcus 10:00 PM

Conslation Round

Both Conslation Round Matchups are on the Red Rink

Game 2 Loser VS. Game 4 Loser 4:40 PM
Game 1 Loser VS. Game 3 Loser 11:30 AM

Semifinals

Both Semifinal Games are on the Red Rink

Game 1 Winner VS. Game 3 Winner 1:10 PM
Game 2 Winner VS. Game 4 Winner 3:00 PM

Tournament Placement Games

7th Place: Game 5 Loser VS. Game 8 Loser 8:00 AM
5th Place: Game 5 Winner VS. Game 8 Winner 11:00 AM

Medal Round Games

Bronze Medal Game: Game 6 Loser VS. Game 7 Loser 1:10
Gold Medal Game: Game 6 Winner VS. Game 7 Winner 3:00

Silver Division:

Quarterfinals

#4 Leander ISD VS. #5 Plano Senior 4:20
#3 Arlington Martin VS. #6 Fair-Creek 6:00
#1 Bishop Lynch VS. #8 Ft. Bend Clements
#2 Cinco Ranch VS. #7 Plano West 9:30

Conslation Round

Game 1 Loser VS. Game 3 Loser 12:15
Game 2 Loser VS. Game 4 Loser 3:45

Semifinals

Game 1 Winner VS. Game 3 Winner 1:55
Game 2 Winner VS. Game 4 Winner 5:25

Tournament Placement

7th Place: Game 5 Loser VS. Game 7 Loser 7:30 AM
5th Place: Game 5 Winner VS. Game 7 Winner 9:10 AM

Medal Round

Bronze Medal: Game 6 Loser VS. Game 8 Loser 9:40 AM
Gold Medal: Game 6 Winner VS. Game 8 Winner 11:30 AM

Road to the RBC Cup

The League Championships are done and now it's time for the Regional Championships to determine who will advance to the RBC Cup in Victoria, B.C. as the Pacific Region and West Region Championships get underway tonight and then the Ontario and Atlantic Regions will be next week.

Here's a list of the teams that advanced to the Regional Championship

Pacific Region
BCHL: Vernon Vipers
AJHL: Grande Prairie Storm

Western Region
SJHL: Humboldt Bronocos
MJHL: Portage Terriers

Ontario Region
Tournament Host: Schreiber Disels
NOJHL: Soo Thunderbirds
OJHL: Kingston Voyageurs
SIJHL: Ft. William North Stars

Atlantic Region
Tournament Host: Dieppe Gagon Commandos
MJAHL: Summerside Western Capitals
CJHL: Pembrooke Lumber Kings
LHJAAAQ: Sherbrooke Cougars

For the Western and Pacafic Region, it's a best of 7 series with the winner advancing to the RBC Cup. For the Ontario and Atlantic Region Championship will be a 4 team round robin with the top team to go to the final automatically with the 2nd and 3rd seed will play in a single game semifinal which is followed by a single game final.

Road to the Memorial Cup

Were are down the last 4 in the major junior leagues as just 12 teams reamin in the race for the Memorial Cup as we basically now just a month away from crowning the 2008-09 Major Junior Champion. All the USA Teams are gone as the Spokane Cheifs were ousted by the Vancouver Giants and then both Michigan teams as the Plymouth Whalers were ousted by the Windsor Spitfires while the Saginaw Spirit were downed by the London Knights. The city of Rimouski, Quebec and their home town team Rimouski Oceanic are hosting and will be in the tournament automatically. If Rimouski advances to the final, their oppenents will also make it to the Memorial Cup.

Here's the league Semifinal Matchups, the OHL got going last night while the QMJHL Semifinals will start tonight and the Eastern Final of the WHL will get going tonight. The final Semifinal will get underway tomorrow night as the Vancouver Giants will play the Spokane Cheifs.

Ontario Hockey League

Western Conference

#1 Windsor Spitfires VS. #2 London Knights

Eastern Conference

#1 Belleville Bulls VS. #2 Brampton Battalion

Western Hockey League

Eastern Conference

#1 Calgary Hitmen VS. #3 Brandon Wheat Kings

Western Conference

#1 Vancouver Giants VS. #3 Kelowna Rockets

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

League Semifinals

#1 Drummondville Voltigers VS. #7 Rimouski Oceanic

#3 Quebec City Ramparts VS. #5 Shawinigan Catarctes