Sunday 9 January 2005 PA Centerpedes first tournament in southern New Hampshire

Despite a major winter storm Saturday, the first War at the Whit went off without a hitch on Sunday at the Whittemore Center on the campus of the University of New Hampshire. Ed Clark, Assistant Coach of the host team, Northeast Passage Wildcats was very pleased with the commitment all of the teams made to get to the tournament. "I think it's a real testament to the love that sled hockey players have for their sport," he observed.

From a hockey perspective, there was no question that the PA Center-Pedes were the best team on the ice on Sunday. They combined their youthful endurance and speed with a very well-disciplined game strategy that were indicative of the good coaching and good habits current U.S National Team player Jim Leatherman and former Team USA veteran Mike Doyle are bringing to the young team. "This was our first win as a team," said Doyle. "Our guys have all skated for other junior teams, but we have really just been able to get together for Center-Pedes practices this year. We got beat by New York in Philadelphia last weekend. I wasn't sure what to expect up here in NH," he said. "I'm very happy with the way we played today."

In the first game of the day PA took on a lethargic Maine Team and controlled play for almost the entire game, completely dominating the neutral zone. Maine was often unable to break the puck out of their own end of the ice, and when they did, PA's ability to quickly jump on the rebounds and turn them into breaks lead to a number of odd man rushes. Maine Player/Coach Craig Gray confessed after the game, "let's face it, PA was the better team today and really took us to school." Final score: PA 4, ME 1.

The Center-Pedes continued their masterful performance by putting a hurt on the NH Wildcats in the next game. "They had good players who could carry the puck, and they did it very well against us," said NH Forward Dan Sousa. Similar to the Maine - Pennsylvania game, PA simply took over the neutral zone. Skating back to back games didn't seem to have any impact on the young PA team. Final score: PA 4, NH 0.

The third game of the day featured NH against the Connecticut Wolfpack, who had traveled from Windsor that morning. NH skated well against the young, developing CT team. NH used their experience to their advantage implementing a cycling system that was a tactic that Connecticut had not yet faced. In a highlight for the Wildcats, NH Forward Jessie Nelsen lit the lamp with her first career goal. Final score: NH 5, CT 0.

The Center-Pedes were back on the ice in the fourth game of the day in a match with the Connecticut Wolfpack. Despite a victory for PA, several things started to click for CT in this game, with CT scoring a nice goal that the PA goalie had no chance on. CT also made several fine defensive plays characterized by good positioning and communication. Final score: PA 6, CT 1.

The final game of the day pitted arch-rivals Maine versus New Hampshire. The game, which was their 3rd match-up of the season was the most competitive game of the day featuring a good deal of hard-checking among friends that skate together for the New England Bruins far more often than they skate against each other. What made the game particularly interesting from the players perspective was that both teams were very familiar with what the other team was attempting to do offensively since they both follow the Bruins game plan. The game was much closer that the final score indicated. Final score: ME 3, NH 0. Maine leads the season series 3-0 with two additional games remaining to be played on New Hampshire ice this season.

Final Tournament Standings: 1. PA, 2. ME, 3. NH, 4. CT