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09/13/01

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1999/2000 News

LIGHTNINGS WIN CITY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 26, 2000
by Larry Martinez

In dramatic fashion the Lightnings won a double overtime shootout to capture Woodland Inline Hockey's Senior League City Championship. The all day tournament was held over the weekend at Bush Field. The day began as expected with the Lightnings using the skating skills of Matt Henderson and the rocket shots of Seth Curran to win a 5-2 battle over the Sharks. That game was followed by the Yellowjackets beating the Spiders in a hard fought 2-1 contest. Ben Boyd scored both goals for the winners with Mike Lee scoring the lone goal for the Spiders. 

The third game left the tournament's outcome in doubt as the Sabres beat the undefeated regular season champion Bruins 5-4. The game was a hotly contested contest that Sabres scoring stars Elliot Jones and Brett 
Miramontes took control of by scoring or assisting with all five goals. Ken Martinez led the defending champion Bruins with two goals. Of the 15 first round games, only the Sabres managed to win all five of their contests. The Sabres were led through the preliminary bracket by the 14 goals scored by Elliot Jones. The Lightnings lost to the Sabres 5-4 in their earlier meeting but earned the right to a rematch by also defeating the defending champion Bruins in a overtime shootout. Seth Curran scored the winning goal for the Lightnings. 

The Bruins outplayed the Yellowjackets to capture the consolation bracket championship by a score of 6-4. In that see-saw contest, Ben Boyd and Adam Guerette scored two goals each to take early control of the game as only Chris Scheuerman and Austin Jull managed scores for the Bruins. Bruins team captain Brian Martin then managed to take his team past the Yellowjackets by scoring 4 goals in the second period. The Bruins were led through the tournament by Austin Jull's 12 goals, followed by Ken Martinez' 9 goals. The tournament's championship game brought together the tournament's undefeated first round team Sabres, and the Lightnings, the team that had already had managed to win two overtime victories. 

The championship game started with the Sabres jumping out to a 5-2 first period advantage on sharp passing skills of Jones and Miramontes. Only two goals by the Lightnings Seth Curran and Tom Gay kept their team in the contest. In the second period the Lightnings comeback was led by Matt Henderson and Tom Gay. Henderson scored two goals and assisted Curran with a third score that changed the momentum of the game. Richard Gay scored the Lightning's sixth goal to knot the contest at 6-6 at the end of regulation time. Brett Miramontes scored four goals for his team, with Jones and Teddy Richardson scoring the remaining goals. In the first overtime shootout Robert Toal scored the lone goal for the Lightnings with Elliot Jones scoring the tying goal for the Sabres. In the second overtime shootout, Richard Gay provided the winning goal to bring the Lightnings the City Championship crown and a joyous celebration from his team mates. 

Lightnings Coach, Jordan Fann gave credit to his team's great team work, outstanding goal-tending by Roland Chu in three overtime shoot-outs and the man upstairs for bringing his team the championship. Mark Jones, Sabres Coach gave credit to the Lightnings for winning the crown after winning all three overtime shootouts. "After seven years in existence, this was by far the best tournament with a number of games in question until the final second," Jones said. The tournaments high scorers were: Elliot Jones, Sabres-15 goals, Austin Jull, Bruins and Ben Boyd, Yellowjackets-12 goals, Seth Curran, Lightnings-11 goals, Brett Miramontes, Sabres and Ken Martinez, Bruins-9 goals. 

 
Panthers and Devils Crowned City Champions

Woodland, California.  The Panthers and Devils were crowned City Champions for the Woodland Junior and Intermediate Inline Hockey League Tournaments held this past weekend. 


The Panthers, junior league champions were able to repeat their winning ways with a hard fought five to two win against the Stars. Mickael Preciado and Travis Geerts led the offensive charge while B. J. Zimmerman and goalie Thomas Leacox led the defense for the champion Panthers . The Stars were led by scoring ace, Tyler Gennick who scored both goals for his team. Preciado's skating skills often led to break-away scoring attempts on Stars goalie, Tyler Robertson who kept the game close by stopping a high number of goal attempts. 
 
The Devils saved their best effort to defeat the Avalanche 9 to 5 to gain their first undisputed Woodland Intermediate League Inline Hockey City Championship. The Devils gained their revenge by first defeating the Avalanche, the undefeated regular season champions in an exciting double overtime shoot out. The Avalanche showing the championship spirit were forced to play their way back through the losers bracket to gain a second opportunity to meet the Devils in the championship game played at Bush Field. 
The loser's bracket championship game saw the Avalanche defeat the  Kings 6 to 5 with the outcome in question because of a last second goal by Tyler Bruhn which would have tied the game. Officials determined the  last goal was made after time had elapsed thereby nullifying the goal. The Kings were led by Spencer Jones and Bruhn while the Avalanche were led by Sal Hernandez, Dustin Timm, Skylar Curran and Craig Cannon. The championship game was an exciting see-saw battle with hundreds  of spectators packing the arena. The Devils jumped out to an early lead with goals by Moses Abaca and Markus Preciado. The Avalanche bounced back with goals by Sal Hernandez and Craig Cannon to pull back within striking distance. More goals by Abaca and teammate Ian Sunderland put the Devils back on top to stay, even though Avalanche goals by Dustin Timm and Cannon made the outcome exciting until the final minutes. Outstanding goal tending by Devils goalie Joey Turner made the difference as repeated scoring attempts by the Avalanche were turned away. 


Going into the last period fatigue became apparent as the Avalanche players showing the effects of working their way back through 
the losers bracket seemed to be missing their sharp passing skills. Seizing missed passes that led to break-away scoring opportunities, Moses Abaca and Markus Preciado stepped up their scoring efforts to pull away from the Avalanche despite two more goals by Craig Cannon. The Devils were led by Moses Abaca, four goals, Markus Preciado, three goals with single goals by Ian Sunderland and Thomas Ng. The Avalanche were led by Craig Cannon's three goals with individual goals by Sal Hernandez and Dustin Timm. The City Tournament continues next Saturday with the six team Senior Division taking center stage. Complete schedules and results can be found at http://www.jennings-jones.com/wiha. 

 

(December, 1999) WIHA Takes Over Former BushFields

As the year of the new millenium begins, big changes are coming to WIHA.  We have entered into a month to month lease with the owner of the former BushFields Hockey arena which should get us through this season.  The new name of the arena is "WIHA Arena".  Whether we can keep the place on a permanent basis will depend on our ability to raise the money for rent.  We will be working on that issue, but for now, let's just enjoy the dry, warmer conditions.   Coaches wishing to practice at the WIHA Arena will have to raise $10.00 for an hour (about $1.00 per player) and arrange the schedule time with Sharlene (661-6505).

All games will remain at the same time, except the Senior league.  We decided to have those games at 11:00 AM, 12:00 noon, and 1:00 PM Saturdays.  This way, we get all the games done in one day and the teenagers are free for evening events.  The new Senior League schedule is available at this page.

Other events (tournaments Etc.) are in the planing stages.  

 

Coaches--Please Help Keep Track of Player Statistics

This year, we are asking the coaches to keep track of his/her players' goals, assists, and penalties.  We will have score sheets for each coach at the snack bar that can be filled out for his/her own team.   There will be a place on the form to keep track of opponents goals too, but you are only asked to keep track for your own players.  If you have a make-up game, we ask that you do the same thing, so take extra sheets.  Turn them into the snack bar and we will match them up to each other.  The score sheets will be the official score of the game, so check your scores against your opponent's and ask the referee to make the call in case of dispute.  Make sure you put the date and opponent on the form, or they may get mixed up.

FYI

For Park Maintenance (lights, water, & garbage problems) call 661-5896 or 661-5880. After 5PM and on weekends call 666-8920.

Please, NO drinks (other than water), gum, food, chairs, baby buggies, etc. on either rink.

98/99 News

Woodland Inline Hockey Association 1998 Winter Season Ends With Three Tournaments

Woodland Inline Hockey Association (WIHA) ended its 13 game winter youth season with its traditional tournaments for the Junior, Intermediate and Senior leagues. In its eighth year, WIHA is a nonprofit association sanctioned by the Woodland Parks and Recreation Department. The Winter season runs form November through March and culminates in tournaments for each league.

In the regular season, the Junior League, Ducks, Jets, Panthers and Stars traded the lead four times with the Stars and Panthers finishing just one game behind the Ducks and Jets. The Junior League Tournament was held on Friday, February 19th.   All but one of the games was decided by only one goal, including the finals between the Panthers and the runner-up Jets. In that game, the goalies ruled keeping the scoring down to just three goals total. Despite a flurry of shots on goal by the Jets at the end, the Panthers emerged victorious by a score of 2 to 1. Congratulations Jets and Panthers for an exciting championship game. The top ten Junior season goal leaders were Manual Abarca with 49 goals; Oscar Herrara, 26; Stewart Zane, 22; Ryan Naake, 19; Michael Preciado, 15; Allen Pena, 13; Daniel Bryan, 12; Kenny Lee, 9; BJ Zimmerman, 8; and Garret Durst had 7. Tops in assists were BJ Zimmerman with 3; Derek Smith-Brothers, Ramses Tamayo, and Taylor Bozen with 2 each; and Michael Preciado, Daniel Bryan, Travis Geerts, and Billy Manson had 1 each.

The Intermediate regular season included eight teams. The Coyotes were the season champs and went undefeated. Next came the Kings with a record of 11 wins and 2 losses, the Flames who went 8 and 2 with one tie, the Blackhawks at 6 and 6, the Devils at 5 and 7, the Whalers at 4 wins 8 losses and a tie, the Hurricanes at 2 and 11, and the Flyers at 1 and 12. The tournament was held on February 27th from 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and included a pancake breakfast, lunch and dinner provided by the WIHA Board of Directors. Batter and Sausage was donated by Both Denny's restaurants. In the tournament, the Kings advanced through the winners bracket to play in the finals against the Blackhawks, who had to defeat the season champion Coyotes to make the finals. The Blackhawks showed the fatigue of having to come through the loser's bracket and were defeated by the Kings 6 to 1. Top Intermediate goal scorers for the season were Tyler Bruhn with 62; Jesi Vargas, 56; Moises Abarca, 48; Kevin Johnson, 36; Markus Preciado, 33; Dustin Timm, 31, Darly Moe, 27; Sal Hernandez, 25; and Spencer Jones, Nick Kershner, Skylar Curran, and Zachary Vidales all with 19. Tops in assists were Spencer Jones and Doug Murphy with 10 each; Tyler Bruhn, 6; Dustin Timm, Alex Kershner, Andrew Hendrix, David Morrison, and Logan Zane, with 5 each; and Moises Abarca, Nick Kershner, Richard Vigil, and Peter Scheuerman all with 4.

The Senior season was won by the Bruins who's only 2 losses were to the Sabres. But the Sabres lost 2 to the Bruins and 2 to the Lightnings for a record of 8 and 4 to come in second. The Lightnings ended with a 5 and 7 record and the Blades finished at 1 and 11. In the tournament held on March, 5th the Sabres got off to a slow start against the Lightnings but tied the Bruins only to lose in double overtime. In the consolation game the Blades defeated the Sabres for third. In the Championship game, the Bruins showed their championship colors by defeating the runner-up Lightnings 5 to 1. Top goal scorers during the season were Justin Schultz with 43; Elliot Jones, 31; Ben Boyd, 29; Austin Jull, 26; Anthony Rodriguez, 26; Brian Martin, 22; Chris Scheuerman, 19; Bret Miramontes, 17; Ted Richardson, 15; and Michael Matter, with 14. Tops in assists were Elliot Jones with 15; Bret Miramontes and Cris Scheuerman with 11 each; Justin Schultz, 10; Austin Jull and Brial Martin with 8 each; Kenny Martinez, 7; Michael Matter, 5; and Craig Martinez, and Janice Schultz with 4 each.

If you are interested Woodland Inline Hockey, call 661-6505 or 668-1930 or email wiha@pacbell.net.