The Junior Titan teams in the NAPHL completed their first league showcase. It was a sucessful weekend in many ways. "The league is professional all the way through", said coach Haviland. "They really do it the right way here. When you see 190 scouts watching games, even in the early morning its quite impressive. It was a long trip to get here, but the Schwan Super Rink is the largest ice arena of its kind in the world. This is a state-of-the-art facility, with eight sheets of ice under one roof. With all its varied amenities and services, the Schwan Super Rink is absolutely unique in the world of ice sport facilities.
These events are held in conjucntion with North American Junior League events and it shows. This league will be very important for giving our upcoming Junior Titan players a unique platform to be seen by top college and junior talent evaluators, who are here to develop their prospect lists. I was approached with questions about a number of our players. As the only team from our area, coaches are very interested in our guys. The 16s and 18s have shown they can compete at these levels, and win. We have 5 players in the top scoring categories and coaches have noticed our boys "
The 18Us went 1-4 over the weekend, losing their first two games by a pair of goals. After two additional losses to top league teams where they were heavily peanalized, they closed out Sunday's action with a win over the Omaha Lancers 5-2 Sunday. Matt Armenti was the top scorer for the squad over its first five games.
The 16Us were 4-1 with a close loss to first place San Jose in their first game 5-3. They were down 3-1 and tied the game at 3 before giving up a late goal and an empty net. The next three games against the Pikes Peak Miners, The Lancing Firebirds and the California Titans were relatively easy wins, before Sunday's exciting finale. The Titans went toe to toe with the Texas Tornado and fell behind 1-0 and 2-1 before RJ Steer tied the score at 2. Tommy Panico then gave the Titans a 3-2 lead and they looked to close out the win in regulation. Instead, they took a penalty with 30 seconds left, and the Tornado scored to tie it with 3.4 seconds to play. Chris D'alessio stuffed all 5 Tornado shooters while Tommy Panico buried his opportunity to seal the win. The 16Us have a number of top scoring players including Lucas Habich at Forward and three of the top scoring defensmen (Panico, Trevor Heuser, and Steer).
The next Propects event is in San Jose California 10/21 – 10/24/11