TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Shootout Sets Scene For Hockey

ADVERTISEMENT

By NICHOLAS J.E. MURRAY The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 10, 2008

BRANDON - With a month to go before the regular season starts, high school hockey teams faced off in the Hurricane Shootout at the Brandon Ice Sports Forum last weekend.

Seven of the 10 teams that competed in the Hillsborough (Lightning) Conference last season were present, with Newsome Blue, Freedom and Lakeland Jenkins looking as solid as they have in years past.

Newsome Blue went 3-0, with a win against Freedom on Saturday. Wolves captain Zach Vandelagemaat said he was pleased with the way his team played, and happy they were able to have the success they did.

"With a group of new players, we brought in about four or five new players this weekend, it was a good bonding time for us to get to know each other, get to play with each other, because a lot of us haven't played with each other," Vandelagemaat said. "Overall, just a good way to look at how the season is going to end up this year."

Newsome Blue finished its weekend with a 3-0 win against Plant, as new goalkeeper Kenny Roundy recorded the shutout with goals by Tom Kowalski, Mikey Semago and Christian Bonser.
Roundy was helped by what appears to be a strong Wolves blue line. Newsome coach Dan Rondeau said he thought the team's defensive strength would give the offense time to find its feet.

"We finished real strong," Rondeau said. "We have a real strong defensive core, and we're a real strong defensive team, and once the offense puts it together, it'll come around."

Freedom, which went 2-1 over the weekend, was also happy with the groundwork it put in. The Patriots defeated Wharton 6-2 in their final game, scoring three goals in the first three minutes, with Ryan Fries scoring twice and Justin Quillen and Shaun Dickinson also finding the net.

"It's a warm-up to see how our kids are coming off the summer, seeing what we've got and what we've got to work on," Freedom coach Mike Lufkin said. "Each game we progressively got a little better and today we came out really well, stuck to the system and played good hockey."

As with other teams, Wharton coach Tom Leechin used the weekend as a chance to get his team on the ice and see where they are. The Wildcats have a young team this season, and that was reflected in their winless record over the two days.

Leechin said there were positives to be taken from the weekend despite the lack of wins.

"The weekend was very good for us," Leechin said. "The scores didn't matter to us. We have so many new players it was my opportunity and the other coaches to see what we have and what kind of incoming players we had. For us, it was a great success, even though we went 0-3."

Wharton has eight new players, with all but one an underclassmen.

"We only have three seniors, a handful of juniors and a handful of sophomores," Leechin said. "For the whole weekend, it was pleasing to see the improvement in every shift and every game, and that's all I wanted to see."

HCU Under-16's Win Disney Qualifier

Hillsborough County United's boys Under-16 team secured its place in the Disney Soccer Showcase in December by winning its division at the Qualifying tournament over the Labor Day weekend.

HCU edged out SAA-Real Madrid 1-0 in the final, and as a result achieved one of the goals Coach Eric Sims had set for the team for this season.

"We set a couple of goals at the beginning of the season, and one was to qualify for the showcase," Sims said. "We definitely played very well, I'm very happy with the way the team's playing right now. They're playing a very high level of soccer."

HCU had four teams reach their division semifinals, with the boys Under-17 team losing 1-0 to Strictly Soccer from St. Petersburg in the championship game.

"We had seven teams go, and four of them got to either semifinals or finals," Sims said. "It's definitely the direction that as a club we want to be at. I know we're headed in the right direction because of that."

The Under-16's had reached the semifinals of the same tournament last year, losing to RSL Florida. Sims thinks if the team can maintain its defensive discipline, its offense can provide as much offense as the team needs to succeed. That was evident in the team's 3-2 semifinal win against the Florida Rush, where HCU took a 2-0 lead, only for the Rush to even the score 2-2 in the second half. HCU was able to find a winner, something Sims thinks said something about their attitude.

"The Florida Rush game was definitely the toughest one we played," Sims said. "To come back and score a goal after they came back showed a lot of character. These guys just worked real hard to get the win."

RSL Florida didn't come away with any titles, but Director of Girls Coaching Jim Cote said he was pleased with the way their teams played, and hoped they would get opportunities to play at the full showcase.

"I think the girls Under-15's have a very good chance of getting in because they made the final four, and they won there last year," Cote said. "Both teams that beat us in semifinals won the final, so we're going to be in the mix."

Keyword: Youth Sports, for more news, notes and live game coverage Nicholas J.E. Murray can be reached at (813) 259-8243 or at nmurray@tampatrib.com

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT