LHT 1 - 28 May, 2005
Awards
Singles
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Doubles
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Summaries
Singles Tournament
At the end of pool play, the 15 singles players were ranked and placed
in the single elimination bracket. Not that he needed it, but Ryan
earned a first round bye since we only had 15 players. Because of inexperience,
Adrian didn’t quite set up the brackets properly and several people
ended up playing against people that were in their pools already.
(In the future, instead of ranking all the players, we’ll
just have assigned places in the brackets based on pools. I.e. the winner
of Pool A will get the top left position, winner of pool B – the top right
position… etc.) One such match up was Jane against Darin. Jane had no mercy
in the pool play, and continued to shut him down in the opening round of the playoff.
Hollie and Preston were matched up in the first round and it was not the blowout
that everyone was expecting. In fact when the score was tied at 4 many were
expecting Hollie to get the upset… It turns out that Preston easily handles the
top seeds (Adrian & Randy) but struggles against his wife. In the end though,
Preston squeaked in the game winner. He went on to face Jane in the quarter finals
where again he again faced a 4-4 next-goal-wins situation. Jane played fantastic
hockey, but lost on an extremely lucky face-off that Preston won which bounced
around the ice and into Jane’s net. The most exciting upset came when Adrian
faced Jake in the quarter finals. Adrian quickly went up 2-0, then 3-1, but then
didn’t again. Jake’s defense was impenetrable and his offence unstoppable.
Dave Munson was fantastic, scoring convincing victories
against Joel, Liz and being the first to stop Preston. The Jolly Giant quickly
became a crowd favourite as the Cinderella who could bust in and win Lord
Hubbard’s Cup. But no one played as smoothly and compellingly as Ryan. He
quieted the boisterous John, quenched the raging offense of Jake and
dropped the mighty giant Dave. Ryan came in as a favourite to win and played
consistently and convincingly until he was drinking from Lord Hubbard’s Cup.
Doubles Tournament
The doubles tournament was organized into a double elimination bracket as couples arrived. We had tried to compile the brackets in advance, but with dropouts, and late arrivals we quickly learned that would be impossible. This tournament was very exciting. There were many close games and a few surprising victories.From the beginning of the first game it was clear that the Dukes of Chatteny were the team to beat. They had not only mastered the pass and one-time shot, but they possessed intimidating volume in their war cries. In stark opposition to the Dukes’ loudness was the Brumbaugh’s quiet confidence. Amazingly (to everyone, including themselves) they pulled off win after win. They quickly perfected the art of passing off control of the goalie to each other depending on the situation of play. Not to be underestimated the Slashers (Irene & Matt) played with unmatched intensity which won them some tough games early in the bracket. The Nuttalls started the tournament slowly, but after spending some time refining their strategy they went on a streak of wins to earn a position in the top 5 teams. Emilie inspired us to consider purchasing a “loudest squealer” award for the next tournament. The Munsons, after losing their first game to a strong Bruns team, went on to win 4 in a row. The Munsons just powered their way through each game and Kara somehow managed to score several times from behind the goalie with her right winger. Kara’s magic right wing shot was routine in comparison to the magic that Jayme and Jeremy were able to accomplish. Several times their shots seemingly turned in mid air to score from impossible angles. Jeremy’s calm, cool style of play effectively took the momentum away from opponents, but it wasn’t enough for this duo to quite get a win. Polly and Joe were another couple that had almost one win. They had a tough first round game against the Musters and then faced the Nuttalls. Their style of play was calculated, but crazy. For both it was their first time playing, and with all the pressure that this tournament brings, they couldn’t put it together in time. They have big plans for the next tournament. The Bruns’ were among the most feared team. Anne’s sheer nuts-ness coupled with Ryan’s innate skill certainly made them a dangerous force to be reckoned with. Their opener against the Munsons went exactly as the Bruns hoped. After being thrust onto the left side of the bracket by the impossibly good Brumbaughs the Bruns’ went on to eliminate Holly and Preston before they faced the Munsons for a grudge match. Dave, despite having recently come off an impressive slew of victories with Kara, was nervously shaking as he watched the Bruns’ assume their positions on the other side of the table. But history would not repeat itself this time as the Munsons exacted revenge at a crucial time and eliminated a very strong team. Near the completion of the tournament, the two undefeated teams took the stage to decide who would be in the finals. No one was expecting the Brumbaughs to win against Jake and Randy, especially the Brumbaughs. But their inconspicuous skill proved to be too much for the now-silent Dukes of Chatteny. Forced over to the left bracket, the Dukes had to face the Munsons who were on a winning streak. In a close fight the Dukes reigned and came to face the only team to have beaten them. The Dukes would have to beat the Brumbaughs twice to win though. The game was really intense, with the lead changing several times during the game. At 4-4 – a next-goal-wins situation it seemed like the fate of the championship lay on the scorer of the next goal. With a fantastic pass from Randy, Jake scored a one timer beating the strong defense. The final game lacked the passion of the first. The Dukes carried the momentum from the first game and convincingly won the championship 5-3. Their celebrations were unimaginably loud and pompous, but rightfully so. Randy and Jake were awarded the trophy and took it on several victory laps of the ice rink. Jake couldn’t stop cheering and Randy couldn’t stop kissing his new prize.Statistics
Click here for LHT 1 stats (coming soon)