Roller Hockey: Sleepy Georgia town comes alive

By Andy Devlin
For Hipcheck: Volume 1, Issue 5
September/October 1998

On the morning of Aug. 15, Alpharetta, GA, a bedroom community for
Atlanta, awoke to the sounds of slapshots and snapshots, as the 5th
annual NARCh tournament launched into action.

Hosted at the Cooler, a modern three rink facility that has only been in
operation for less than a year, the event was anything but chilly with
temperatures soaring to the high 90's and with 190 teams and thousands
of spectators heating up the venue.

"It was a great success," said NARCh tournament director and head of
officiating Alex Brown. "The women's division was particularly exciting,
as almost every game was neck-and-neck."

While Toronto-area powerhouses V-Formation Cyclone and the Franklin
Typhoon dominated the women's division, San Francisco's Team Easton and
Femme Fatale of Long Beach placed third and fourth respectively, putting
a scare in the hearts of their Canadian rivals.

"The gap is definitely closing between the Canadians and the Americans,"
said NARCh competition co-ordinator Fran Weidinger.

Brown echoed Weidinger's remarks by adding, "The proof came when Team
Easton nipped Ontario's Mission Hurricane in the first round of the
playoffs, and made it exciting against the Cyclone in the semifinals."

"For a team with no national team ice hockey players, this was a huge
accomplishment," Team Easton manager/forward Jennifer Bertero said
proudly. "We know that the Canadian teams are deep with talent and a
third place finish was a statement for us."

"Coach Ryan had us totally ready," added the 26-year old Bertero, about
Easton head coach Patrick Ryan, a former Canadian junior ice hockey
player. "He instilled an appreciation of teamwork and that clearly
improved our level of play."

A notable performance was also turned-in by Arizona's Team Gear who
finished the preliminary round in fourth-place overall and narrowly lost
to Femme Fatale, 2-1 in the quarterfinals.

The championship final was a repeat of last year's final in Vancouver,
being an all-Canadian affair. The standing-room only crowd packed the
Cooler as the 1997 champion Cyclone, defended their title with a 2-0 win
over the Typhoon, who went into the test as the top seed.

In addition to the playoffs, the tournament's skills competition was
another highlight at the event, and the hardware was evenly spread out
between the challengers.

Fittingly, Mission Hurricane speedster Coley Dosser whipped around the
floor in 17.47 seconds to capture top honors as the fastest skater,
while Hege Ask of Team Easton won the top sniper award, and Team Gear's
Lindsey Washburn captured best backstop.  Team Easton also took second
place finishes in the skating and goaltending events.

"Our players shone," Bertero said about Easton's performance in the
showcase, which came midway through the tournament. "They really
inspired us heading into the playoffs."

St. Catherine's Ont., native and Cyclone forward Amanda Benoit did what
she does best throughout the championship, blasting home a
tournament-high 7 goals and adding 7 assists.  Meanwhile, Franklin
Typhoon netminder Keely Brown shone between the pipes with a .948 save
percentage and only allowed 3 goals against during first-round play.

Typhoon allstars Geraldine Heaney and Andria Hunter, who tied for
first-place in tournament scoring at last year's finals, also received
honorable mentions from NARCh officials.

Although the number of women's teams attending the event dropped from 12
squads in 1997 to 9 this year, tournament organizers seemed unconcerned.
"Frankly speaking, it's the continually improving level of play that
told the story in the women's division," remarked Brown. "Based on what
everyone saw at the Cooler, I can't see any reason why the women aren't
ready for a world championship event sometime in the near future."

Brown also added that the level of sportmanship among the teams was
outstanding, while several striped-shirts commented how refreshing it
was to see fierce competition that was, for the most part, penalty-free.

The event also benefitted from platinum sponsors Mission, Franklin,
Kryptonics, Rival, and Sport Court.

"We owe a lot of the success to our sponsors," Brown said thankfully.
"It makes a big difference to the overall quality of a tournament when,
you have first-class sponsors like ours."

Organizers are hoping for an equally successful tournament next year,
and if the parity in play continues to close at the current rate, an
American women's NARCh winner will not be far off.

More roller hockey on pg. 47

Hipcheck Volume 1, Issue 5, September/October 1998