DCStreet Phantoms Decimated by Injuries - Do Not Advance
COOL Hockey Phantoms Lose in Semi-finals to Eventual Champs
Starboard Dominates Tourney But Gets Attacked in the Finals.

The DCStreet Phantoms failed to advance for the first time in years. The Elite team’s success over the past two years made it an even more bitter disappointment. After winning the first game 2-1 against the Phoenixville Misfits they found themselves in a good position with only needing one win to advance. The Phantoms fought back from an early 3-1 Buffalo lead to tie the game but with injuries to two of their top players they ran out of gas and eventually lost 5-3. Because of this they now needed to beat one of the top silver teams in the country, RT Express from Bridgeville, PA. With a reduced line-up due to injuries the Phantoms were outmatched and lost in a romp.

The COOL Hockey Phantoms struggled to generate offense early in the Novice division but came out strong with a convincing win in the quarter-finals eventually losing to the Atlanta Attack/Division Champs in an exciting tightly played game. Coach Dan Maceda stated that he was very happy in his teams play but felt they could have won the semi-finals game against Atlanta. If they did, it would have caused an all DCStreet Hockey Final but it was not to be. The Phantoms were lead by Robert Bloom, Fran Graziano, Kyle Riismandel, Gene Bransfield, Chris Doyle, Rich Sarahannas and Rob “The Mouth” Pendleton.

The Starboard dominated play early in the tourney with an explosive offense lead by Mike Miller, Ken Robey, Rich Shea, Matt Kopczak  and Joe Polowczuk and disciplined defense lead by Jason Long John “The Turtle” Coucci, Mark White and Tom Perischetti. Lee Margolies was stellar in net.  The Starboard dominated play until the finals where they lost Polowczuk to an injury and seemed to not be able to build any momentum against an Atlanta team that improved throughout the tournament. After a hard fought first period Atlanta gained control and won 5-1.  Atlanta was lead by Turks Team USA player select Matt Leslie, Chris Haynes and goaltender Larry Johnson.

Congrats to the two novice teams on their great play and also to the Atlanta Attack who were managed by ex DCStreet Hockey player Sean McKaharay. It was bitter sweat revenge for McKaray after being traded to Atlanta for a six pack of Bush lite.

DCStreet Hockey players Jamie Cooke, Wayne Barrett, Jeff Dunn, Stan Pagel, Lee Margolies, Rich Wagner, Tom Houston, Drew Kudrick, Pete Okeefe, Patrick Young, Jason Topercer, John Cuocci, Mike Waite, Ed DeSabetino and Atlanta native Matt Leslie had no idea what to expect at the Turks International Event.

Playing as one of two teams representing the USA they had no idea how good the competition would be. They learned real quick what playing at this level can be like. Unknown to the team at the time, they were scheduled to play the 5th seeded team in Canada, representing Canada, in their first game. Canada is such a dominant ball hockey presence internationally that their top 20 ranked travel teams would most likely win the world championship out right. Well, ignorance can be bliss, and as the game started it seemed that way with the USA SOUTH squad matching the Canadians early in first period play 2-2. But, late in the period the Canadians took it to the next level and dominated the USA team and went on to win 14-2. To note, the Canadians went on to 10 point everyone but at the time of the defeat Team USA SOUTH didn't know this. They only knew they lost by the biggest margin in most of their travel experiences.

Most teams would have folded, but DCStreet Hockey players pulled together and tied their next game against a scrappy Barbados National Team. After finishing the first day of the tourney at 0-1-1 the team regrouped over a few cocktails and changed their strategy and intensity. They started the next day of the event against the Turks National team and lost a hard fought game in the final seconds. Now they were playing for a better seed and needed to beat the Caribbean Island All Stars, which they did easily 6-1.

This set the stage for a quarterfinals re-match against the Barbados national team. The USA SOUTH Team felt they dominated the first game which ended in a tie so they were confident going into the game. The Team played its best game to this point in the tourney and dominated the Barbados squad and easily advanced to meet the Canadians. Yes, the same team that humiliated them and every other team for that matter. The team met and came up with a different forechecking plan that forced the ball to the middle of the rink and allowed for a trap and hopeful giveaway. The plan also required the team to play at a very high intensity and physical nature. Going into the final period the score was 2-0 and although the Canadians were winning they were frustrated by the USA team and knew that the game could have been tied at this point because the USA team had numerous opportunities. The game ended in a 4-0 win for the Canadians, the 4th being an empty netter. The crowd, other teams and Canadians themselves knew who the 2nd best team at this event was. DCStreet Hockey USA SOUTH!

To put a final stamp on the event Pat Young was selected to the All-tourney team. Congrats to Pat and all of the players. Until next year!

January 2006
Reading Super Bowl Bi-week Tourney,
A Division – Quarter-finals
 

The DCStreet Phantoms entered their first “A” division event in the history of the club. The event had 12 teams from the east coast, 8 of which ranked by COOL Hockey Events in the top 10. 11 of the 12 teams were ranked in the top 25. DCStreet was ranked number 10 in the event (24 Nationally) so the team was a heavy underdog going in.

Well, the team came away with a win in the preliminaries to advance to the quarter-finals, lost 0-1 to the eventual finalist & number 3 ranked team in the country (NY Shock) and were tied with the number ranked team in the country 2-2 going into the 2^nd half of the 3^rd period before losing (Boston Stars). Respect was gained from the elite teams but the boys in orange and blue knew they could have done better. The team was lead by Jeff Dunn & Mark Genest on offense and Chris Adukaitis on defense. Stan Pagel played incredible in net and was a finalist in the MVG voting. Special thanks to Dan Maceda for stepping onto the bench to assist with coaching.

April 8th/9th 2006
North American Championships PHL PA,
Open – DCStreet Phantoms, DCStreet Sharks and 2 Womens teams to be named.

The D.C Phantoms came into Nationals as one of the favorites to win the
D division as they lost in the finals in '04 and to the eventual champion
Mercenary in the semi's in '05. Round robin play had the Phantoms
beating Top Flight 3-2 in their first game with goals by DeSab and Cooke and an
unusual game winning empty net goal by Young when they gave up a goal
in the last few seconds. In their second game the Phantoms beat Demolition 4-2
on goals by Cooke, Dunner, Sparky and Adu in the empty net. By winning
their first 2 games on Saturday their Sunday morning matchup against the
Rebels, who were winless, was only worth seeding. The Phantoms came away with
an easy 4-0 win and many altercations, led by Crazy Desab, that prepared
them for elimination play. The line of DeSab, WayneO and Dunner combined for
2 goals by Dunn and a highlight reel goal by Young with O'Keefe throwing
the 4th and final goal in.

Their first round matchup was against the hometown Pittsburgh Dragons,
or Team Pittsburgh, and this game proved to be a tough test. The first
goal was scored by Young and the DWD line hooked up with another goal by DeSab
followed by a 3rd goal by the kid Roby. The defense was fantastic led
by Kudrick, Adu, Wilson and of course Stan the Man Pagel. The Phantoms
came away with a 3-1 win and entertainment of watching Howdy take on the UFC
fighter on the Dragons with not much luck.

The semi's brought on a highly talented Canadian team named Simcoe. The game was extremely chippy and
physical and the Phantoms had to dig down deep to hold on for a 2-1 and
solid goaltending from Stan, the man, Pagel. This game took it's toll
on the team  as Sparky and Dunner both were injured and nowhere close to
100% for the finals against Dek Star. The Phantoms were favored in the
finals but down a man on each of their top lines hurt and the offense just
couldn't get anything by the brick wall of a goaltender for Dek Star who made save
after save. Dek Star scored first and had a 1-0 lead in the 3rd when the
Phantoms began to press and finally led to a 3 on 1 which Dek Star converted for
a 2-0 lead. The Phantoms dug deep and DeSab got a goal and the the
Phantoms pulled Pagel for the extra attacker and had numerous shots, chances and
faceoffs before O'Keefe hit the post and time ran out on another tough
luck loss in the finals for the Phantoms. Dek Star's goalie was named MVP
for his stellar goaltending and Pagel was named MVG yet again for his play all
weekend. The Phantoms were crushed by the defeat and need to regroup to
come back in '07 to finally become National Champs.

Sharks:

Playing their previous tournament in the Open division paid off for the Sharks at least initially, as they opened Nationals with 2 solid wins and a close loss in round robin play. Their first game was a 6-1 win over Soul Train and had all 3 O lines and the defense involved in the offense. A win in their 2nd game gave the Sharks a chance to play for the #1 seed overall in their last game against Team Pitt B. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be as the Sharks fought hard but fell 4-2 with the last goal being an ENG. The lost proved to be costly as the Sharks ended up with the 4th seed and a matchup against last year's champs Echo Valley in the quarters. Battling fatigue and injuries the Sharkds put up a hard fight before falling 4-3 with tons of pressure at the end but without that last goal to tie the game up. The Sharks plan on building on this tournament in preparation for OC in August with the same core of players staying together. Great play up front from the line of Kapolka, Miller and Martin set the tone with the line of Wagner, Marwaha and Norman providing some scoring punch and physical
play. The defense also did a fine job led by Phantoms regular Tom Houston, recovering from knee surgery, Cuocci, Lydic and Lee Margolies playing solid between the pipes. Though the Sharks felt they had a chance to win this event they realized that blowouts of teams early sometimes backfires. The Sharks will be more prepared of what to expect in OC.

DC's Death Row also attended but there was no write up and they were knocked out in the prelims due to a short roster and will be better prepared for '07 with Jason Topercer and Fran Graziano running the team with some more DC players that are ready for the challenge.

 

Local Travel Team Up To # 14 in National Rankings:

The DC Phantoms, from Seminary, had an impressive showing at the North
American Championships a few weeks back and moved up from #29 to #14 in the rankings. The Phantoms started there event off with a 5-2 loss to a tough Boston Massacre Team though there were numerous chances for the game to be taken. Goals were scored by Kevin Roby and Eddie DeSabetino. The Phantoms second game they were up against the top ranked team going into the event, Greater Pittsburgh Dekhockey, which looked like a mismatch on paper.

The Phantoms played their best hockey of the tournament and came back from a 4-3 3rd period defecit with goals from Wayne Barrett and 2 from Roby as their line caught fire in the 3rd along with many outstanding saves from Stan "Stonewall" Pagel and the Phantoms had their largest victory in their 5 years of existence 6-4 over GPD. Goals were scored by Kenny Insley,Chris Howdeshell, Roby(2) and Barrett(2). The Phantoms finished round robin play
with a lackluster 2-2 against the PA Stars with most of the play being
spent in the Stars end. Goals were scored by Insley and Roby.

The playoffs on Sunday started with a quarterfinal game against the
WD-40's from NJ. The Phantoms were in a dogfight until the very end with a goal from the 4th line by Howdy. The Phantoms held on for a tough 4-3 to move on to the semi's. Goals were scored by Eric Emilo, Marc Genest, Pete O'Keefe and Howdy with 2 assists from Mike Miller.

The semi's had the Phantoms up against their nemesis of late, the Lancaster Wizards, who had beaten the DC squad the last 4 or 5 times that they had played. The Phantoms Genest capitalized on a turnover by the Wizards in the 1st period followed by a goal by Desabetino and the Phantoms, behind outstanding goaltending by Stan Pagel, won 2-0 and advanced to the finals against Graffix from Phoenixville.

In a tightly contested goaltending duel the teams played scoreless
hockey until Graffix scored with about 4 minutes in the game. The Phantoms could not get the equalizer and after pulling Pagel gave up 2 empty net goals to lose 3-0 in another heartbreaking 2nd place finish for the DC Phantoms. The defense led by Young, Kudrick, Insley, Ginevan and Lydic and goaltending by Pagel were superb as well as the line of Roby, Genest and Barrett.

The Phantoms made a strong statement this tournament and proved so with their national ranking moving to #14 from #29 going into the event. They hope to build off of this event and win Nationals in Pittsburgh April 28th and 29th.