On the weekend of February 9-11, 2007, SoCal Street Hockey hosted its second annual Sin City Shootout Street Hockey Tournament at the Las Vegas Roller Hockey Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. A total of twelve Open Division teams and three Rec Division teams gathered in “Sin City” to participate in this year’s event, with teams and participants hailing from as faraway as Vancouver (BC), Toronto (ON), Calgary (AB), Philadelphia (PA), Tampa Bay (FL), Washington D.C., Pittsburgh (PA), Las Vegas (NV), San Francisco (CA), San Diego (CA) and Los Angeles/Orange County (CA).
The format for the Open Division tournament had teams placed in three separate pools consisting of four teams each, with teams participating in round-robin play within their given pools (each team guaranteed 3-pool games). Once pool-play was concluded, all twelve teams were re-seeded based on performance, with the top six teams being placed in an A Division playoff bracket, and the remaining six teams being placed in an a B Division playoff bracket. Pool-play games consisted of two 16-minute running-time periods, while playoff games consisted of two 20-minute running-time periods. Standard Dek/Street Hockey rules applied for all games.
The first game of the event set the stage for what would prove to be an exciting and highly competitive tournament, as the Tampa Bay Vipers scored with just over two minutes remaining in regulation to defeat the Withrow Part Knights (Toronto, ON) 1-0. Outstanding hockey and sportsmanship was displayed over the course of the two days of pool play, with one of the best games of the event closing out pool play on Saturday evening. In the last game of Open Division pool play, the #1 ranked team in the event (Philadelphia Firewater) was heavily favored heading into their game with the SoCal Chiefs. After an incredibly fast-paced first half of hockey, the score was knotted at 0-0 and fans were cheering for the upset in the making. Though the Chiefs did take the battle to Firewater, a mistake in the Chiefs’ zone created an excellent scoring opportunity that Firewater was able to take advantage of to take the 1-0 lead. The pace of the game never changed, but a controversial goal and an empty-netter found Firewater victorious as the final buzzer sounded.
At the conclusion of pool play, teams were then re-seeded into the separate playoff pools for the remainder of the event.
Championship Sunday definitely lived up to its hype, as teams lined up to upset favorites Philadelphia Firewater and Vancouver Pirates in the A-Division Playoffs. Playoffs were highlighted by the hotly contested semifinal match which Firewater and the Withrow Park Knights hang on for a close 2-0 win. In the other A-Division semifinal match, the Vancouver Pirates defeated the Defending Champion Tampa Bay Vipers by a score of 4-1 on their way to the Finals, though the win proved costly as the Pirates’ star player (Marcel Lafortune) suffered a serious hip injury.
In contrast to the A-Division, the B-Division Playoffs shaped up to be a war with no clear-cut favorites heading into the first games of the day. Arguably one of the most entertaining games of the entire event took place in the semifinals of the B-Division as #2 Calgary Outlaws squared off against the SoCal Crush. After 45 minutes of a see-saw battle between the team, the game went to a 3-man shootout that saw forward Tim Quiggle score on the final shot to give Calgary a 3-2 win and berth into the B-Division Finals. The other half of semifinal play saw #6 seed D.C. DeathRow try to knock-off #1 seed San Diego Surf. Though D.C. looked strong early on, the San Diego Surf proved that their #1 seeding was no fluke in route to their 2-0 win and berth into the Finals.
The highly anticipated A-Division Finals followed with #1 seeded Philadelphia Firewater squaring off against the #2 seeded Vancouver Pirates. The first period of hockey was amazing to watch, but fatigue took its toll on Vancouver’s reduced roster (down to 9 players). Firewater’s three full lines of relentless effort inevitably proved too much for the Pirates, as Firewater went on to a 4-0 win to capture the 2007 Sin City A-Division Championship.
In August of 2005, SoCal Street Hockey, Inc. set into motion plans to host an annual ball hockey tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada with the intent of providing an annual event to help both promote the sport of ball hockey and showcase existing leagues on the West Coast. With participation more than doubling to include teams from throughout North America and expansion to a third division in only its second year, the Sin City Shootout Street Hockey Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada proved to be a rousing success both as an event, as well as in helping to further establish ball hockey in the western States.
Warmest regards,
Terry Cox
SoCal Street Hockey
562-944-5737
562-944-233-8969
