Texas High School Playoffs and U18 World Championships

High school playoffs in the Lone Star State are starting to heat as last night, the 1st round of the AT&T Metroplex High School Hockey League in the Dallas area were played last night and I was in Grapevine for the Bishop Lynch VS. Frisco Silver Games and then for the Flower Mound VS. Mckinney Games.

Bishop Lynch VS. Frisco Silver

If you looked at the stats and team records, this should have been an easy one for the Bishop Lynch Friars. However, Frisco Goalie Andrew Campbell was brilliant at times stopping 41 of 43 shots in the game, but couldn't get much help on the offensive end only getting 13 shots the entire night. Bishop Lynch got the scoring going with a goal midway through the 1st by Hassan Makke on an unassisted SH goal 8 minutes left that Frisco were able to shave off very quickly as they had probably their best attacking motion of the night with players like Austin Adams and Kyle Flowers trying to get Bishop Lynch goalie David Kindell off guard but was poised as he made the saves. Bishop Lynch also had to kill of 3 PPS, but did it with realiteve ease and had little danger to face. After Ian Kelso scored to make it 2-0 on the PP, after that, Bishop Lynch started to pour on the Frisco Goalie to attempt to put the game away, but once again Andrew Campbell kept the team in it till near the end of the game where with 5 seconds left, Brandon Holy scored on a penalty shot to put the game away by the score of 3-0 after a Frisco Defensemen threw his stick to attempt to stop the shot and that pretty much ended any hope of a Frisco comeback. After the game however, their was some post game inicdents were a pair of players on both teams were called for roughing, but those penalties won't have any effect on the Bishop Lynch Quarterfinal game comming up tomorrow night. Frisco has ended their season with a record of 4-20-1 and finished 15th in the Varsity Silver Division, while Bishop Lynch will play FM Marcus Silver tomorrow night in Euless.

Flower Mound VS. Mckinney

Just like the Bishop Lynch VS. Frisco game, looking at the stats would have you think that this would be an easy game for Flower Mound. This game was a fight filled game where they espically Mckinney was trying to rough Flower Mound was pretty much their only hope to advance and pull off a huge upset. The Jagurs got going quickly with 2 goals from Kennedy Oleary and Adrian Acee just 20 seconds apart early in the 1st period. As for both teams were playing very phyiscal as a preview of what we would see later in the game. Starting at just over a minute into the 2nd period, the melays started to begin with Dane Taylor and Matthew Raimondi got roughing minors of which were the 1st of 21 penalties in the 2nd period (6 for Flower Mound, 15 for Mckinney) some of the penalties included Parker Lorenzini who had a minor for elbowing then lashed out at the refs and given a 10 minute misconduct, at one point, Mckinney had 5 players in the box at one time and should of have been a huge oppurinty to blow the game wide open but didn't score once during that time frame midway through the 2nd. It countied near the end of the 2nd where a brawl nearly broke out where Sean O Connor and Jake Newton for Flower Mound, and then Tommy Trenhaile had 2 minute unsportsman like penalties to end the period. Also to be included was Mckinney head coach Dainel Dolan who committed a 10 minute abuse of officals penalty with about 6 minutes left. Flower Mound showed their muscle in the 3rd as 4 goals were scored at different points of the 3rd period to put this game away 7-0, but the big story was all the fights in which the Flower Mound head coach nearly missed being suspendsied for the Quarterfinal against Mansfield where the rule in the USA is that if a team has 15 penalties in 1 game, the head coach is suspendsied for the next game. Mckinney has finished the season with a 2-23-1 record and finishing last in the Varsity Gold Division, while Flower Mound will get Mansfield over at the Duncanville Stars Center tomorrow night.

Other Varsity Gold Division Games

For the most part, not much drama last night in the Varsity Gold Division as Plano West and Southlake Carroll won in shutout wins as Plano West shutout Highland Park 4-0 and Soutlake Carroll knocked out Coppell 3-0. As for the FM Marcus Gold and Frisco went to a shootout where FM Marcus didn't lead a single second but won in a shootout 4-3 over in Euless, Frisco Goalie Tony Girard was very good last night by stopping 35 of 38 shots, but couldn't keep it together in the shootout. For FM Marcus, 3 seperate 1 goal comebacks as Marcus cameback from 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 down in the first 2 periods with goals from Travis Reed and David Wirth scoring twice in the 2nd period. Then in the SO, FM Marcus goals from Barrett Turner and Patrick Price helped Marcus win in the game breaking shootout as the Marauders will next travel to Plano to take on the Plano Senior Wildcats in the next game.

All 4 Quarterfinal Matchups will be played tomorrow night, with the Semifinals comming up on April 13 then the League Championship on April 15.

Gold Division Quarterfinals

#1 Allen VS. #9 Southlake Carroll 6:45 PM at Plano Starscenter

#2 Plano Senior VS. #7 FM Marcus 8:30 PM at Plano Starscenter

#3 Dallas Jesuit VS. #6 Plano West 8:30 PM at Farmer's Branch Starscenter

#4 Mansfield VS. #5 Flower Mound 8:30 PM at Duncanville Starscenter

Varsity Silver Division Quarterfinals

#1 Arlington Martin VS. #12 Grapevine 6:45 PM at Duncanville Starscenter

#2 Bishop Lynch VS. #11 FM Marcus Silver 6:45 PM at Euless Starscenter

#3 Rockwall VS. #8 Plano West Silver 8:30 PM at Euless Starscenter

#4 Plano Senior Silver VS. #7 Plano East 6:45 PM at Farmer's Branch Starscenter

Houston Area (ISHL)

Last night was the 1st of 3 games for the ISHL League Championship Round Robin. The 4 teams left that are looking towards a Houston Championship are Cinco Ranch, Ft. Bend Austin, Fair/Creek, and College Park. In the 1st set of games, Ft. Bend Austin contuined their Houston Area Dominice with their 3rd straight double digit goal total with a 10-0 beating of College Park which included a 7 goal period in which are probally the favorite to win the ISHL Championship and possibly be the main challenger outside of Dallas to contend for the State Championship. Last night's other game had a 2-0 win for Cinco Ranch over Fair/Creek with goals from John Schroeder and Wayne Hubley to win the 1st game of the Round Robin. Tonight's games which were at the Space City Station with Fair/Creek VS. Ft. Bend Austin and Cinco Ranch VS. College Park. A win by either Cinco Ranch or Ft. Bend Austin tonight would pretty much clinch a League Championship spot.

Here's the Interscholastic Hockey League Website: www.ishl.org

Reamining ISHL Round Robin Games

4/9
College Park VS. Fair/Creek at 7:00 PM

Cinco Ranch VS. Ft. Bend Austin at 8:30 PM

Both games are at Sugar Land Ice and and Sports Center

4/10
League Championship game 6:30 PM at Willowbrook Aerodome

2009 IIHF U18 World Championships

In Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota, the U18 World Championships will get underway, 10 teams filled with the best players under the age of 18 will compete for their world championships. Team USA has medaled in 5 straight years (2 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze) in this tournament and hope to contuine thier streak on home ice. Canada is the defending champions after pulling off a huge upset against Russia after the Russians looked just unstoppable in this tournament last year in Kazan, Russia.

Tournament Format:The 10 teams will play in a 4 game group stage, then after the group stage, the group winners will get a bye straight to the Semifinals while the 2nd and 3rd place teams move on the QFS, then the 4th and 5th place teams will play in a relegation battle where they will play the 2 teams from the other group where the score from the 2 games invloving the relegation teams will come from the group stage, the 1st and 2nd place teams will keep their spots for 2010 while the 3rd and 4th place teams will be relegated down to the 2010 DIV 1 U18 Touranment and will be replaced by the 1st and 2nd place teams from this year's tournament.

Group A: Canada, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic
Group B: Russia, USA, Finland, Slovakia, Norway

For more on the tournament, log on to www.iihf.com or www.2009u18.com