Winternationals East in the books!
Wow. What a weekend! The hockey was off the charts, and the atmosphere in the facility was electric. Not once, but twice we had teams tie up their games with less than one second on the clock. Not only were there some nail biters, but the cohesiveness of some of the teams was very impressive considering we are so early in the year.
As expected, the 8U division had the building electric, especially in the Final where the Lamplighters took the Gold in a very exciting game against the DSC Dragons. In 10U, the Alkali Dragons scored a late goal in a see-saw affair and took the Gold over the Richmond Rattlers and 12U featured a very impressive Alkali Dragons team that took Gold over TC 2000. In 14U, the Alkali Dragons topped the DSC Dragons Black in a heated game to take the Gold, while the 16U Division saw the Alkali NC squad top the Nightmare Blue. The Adult Division featured some very good teams. In the AAA Division, Alkali NC topped Team Playmaker White in front of a big crowd to take the Gold while the Playmaker Purple Cobras scored a late goal to win the AA Division.
With this event being our Winternational, we featured the 2H4I 'Killer' Skills Competition. Players in 8U, 10U, 12U, and 14U had the opportunity to show off their skills in the Breakaway Challenge, Shooting Accuracy, and Fastest Skater Competitions. We even had a player successfully pull off the Michigan but rang it off the cross bar. Look for the video on that one soon.
The atmosphere was something else. There wasn't a moment throughout the entire weekend where there were not kids competing against each other in our inflatable knee hockey rink. That certainly was a big hit. Our friends at Alkali Hockey showed why they are the buzz of our sport right now with all of their cutting edge products on display. The Reebok Lounge was rocking all weekend long, while Playmaker Apparel and Combat Hockey had all of their 2012 lines on display for everyone to see...Steve and his staff at Dreamsports were unbelievable, and we would like to thank them for being such a great host.
Sitting here and looking back upon the weekend it was is quite satisfying. 61 games, 4 Skills Competitions, and some of the best hockey I have seen in some time, but more than anything, it was the smiles we saw throughout the weekend on all the kids faces, as well as the compliments we received from so many of you. Our staff has worked extremely hard this off season to bring you the very best product in the industry. It was truly rewarding to finally put all the hard work into action. Thank you to all the teams for participating, and we look forward to seeing you soon.
