Welcome to the Tri-Valley Mites Website 03/23/09 In-House Championship and Consolation Games Sunday March 29th marks the end of the In-House Mite season with Consolation and Championship games. In the Consolation game the Rangers play host to the Canadiens at 6am. The Championship game is at 7am where the Oilers are home against the Blackhawks. 03/22/09 MITE MADNESS in MARCH !!   Playoff hockey returned to the old arena in Dublin last Sunday.  After a long season of rising before dawn, tough and sweaty practices, the Mites were ready to thrill the crowd again to show off all the great lessons learned this season ranging from hockey skills, teamwork, hard work, to never giving up.   The Canadiens and Oilers started things off in the early game.  The Canadiens entered the contest on a four game undefeated streak including a decisive 5-2 win against the Oilers.  The Oilers also entered the tilt playing great hockey to finish up the regular season and started things off quickly off a goal by the streaking Nic Ralston.  The Oilers extended the lead to 2-0 on a great display of teamwork with 4 players with Gavin Wallace, Oliver Rotundo, Michael Cassetti and Romeo Scallion all touching the puck before big Romeo lit the lamp.  The Canadiens then tightened up and showed their trademark grit and settled into the tough, defensive style influenced by the Canadien school of hockey skillfully taught by coaches from the great North: Dean Skelton, Dave Mollard, Peter Graham, Pat Brennan and of course Coach Lino Persi.    The Oilers offensive machine was shut down, and the game opened up.  The Canadiens Miles Gross picked up where he left off from the last regular season game and showcased his blazing speed to put the Canadiens on the board.  The always dangerous Ethan Skelton quickly knotted the contest at 2-2.  Suddenly, the game transformed from a Western Canadien defensive grudge match to the wide open European style influenced no doubt in large part by Coach Chandler Grenier's recent scouting trips to Sweden, and Coach Eric Weinhagen's penchant for French fries.   The Oilers picked up the tempo and stretched out the ice with long break out passes to pressure the Canadiens defense resulting in a goal by veteran Gavin Wallace.  Scott McManus quickly answered to tie the game again at 3-3.  The Oiler trio of Jackson Butler, Oliver Rotundo and Andrew Ralston teamed up to re-claim the lead at 4-3.  Despite the prolific scoring, goaltenders Tyler Weinhagen and Cole Sniffin traded brilliant saves and sprawled to cover loose rebounds from frenetic action in the crease.  Gavin Wallace scored again to extend the lead, thanks to huge second and third efforts to keep the puck alive by Romeo Scallion and Casey Godfrey.  Jackson Butler finished the scoring on a breakaway with a forehand deke and nifty backhander.   The Canadiens never stopped battling.  Jared Werlein and Cristian Wong Ramos both played hurt, and all the Canadien players supported each other through the final buzzer.  Every player held their heads high, knowing there would be more ice and thrilling playoff action next Sunday !   In the second game featuring a battle of the regular season champion Rangers versus the upstart Blackhawks, the crowd was treated to another thrilling back and forth battle of two teams that only know how to play hard and leave it all out on the ice.   The Rangers jumped to an early 1-0 lead and looked poised to play shut down playoff hockey, especially with Anthony Persi in net who stopped sniper Noah Faust on a breakaway to preserve the lead.  In the next shift, Anthony held his ground with veterans Harrison Folmar and Joe Cardoza cycling and passing beautifully and flashing the leather with a glove save on Harrison at the first period buzzer.  Stymied on his first shot, Noah ripped a nasty wrist shot off a partial breakaway to put the Blackhawks on the board.  Playing absolutely inspired hockey, Harrison Folmar put the Blackhawks ahead 2-1.  The Rangers Andrew Chern took matters into his own hands with lightning speed and went in on Blackhawks goalie Cristian Wong Ramos.  Andrew fired a hard shot, only to be stopped by the goalie's best friend - the post.  The Rangers went on the attack.  Connor Dobbs showed off his defensive skills for the Blackhawks with a great play to break up a Ranger rush in the neutral zone and the Blackhawks scored again.  The Rangers were down 3-1 until Jack Ronan blasted up the the ice to score another breakaway goal.  The Rangers were throwing the kitchen sink at the Blackhawks and capitalized on dynamo Christian Grenier's second effort to bury a rebound to lock up the game at 3-3.  Showing veteran leadership, Harrison Folmar rung up a hat trick in style with a top shelf wrister off a breakaway to put the Blackhawks ahead again.   Down 4-3 with the clock winding down, the Rangers accelerated the pace and poured on the pressure.  On one memorable shift, the Blackhawks held on as the Rangers maintained control of the puck for a full 2 minute shift in the Blackhawks defensive zone.  Travis Denton, Matthew Adrian, Kyle Rodgers, Joe Fogelman, Ricky Brown, and Caden Mollard kept their cool and held on to preserve the lead.   On the game's final shift with their goalie pulled, the Rangers' speedster Jack Harker came screaming off the bench to join the play in the Blackhawks defensive zone and scored the dramatic tying goal with seconds left on the clock.  Just when the crowd thought they'd seen it all this Mite season, the coaches filled out their line up cards and prepared their Mites for the Shootout.   Tommy Seuis started things off with a breathtaking series of moves and dekes to light the lamp for the Blackhawks.  With the game on the line, Jack Harker answered the bell again for the Rangers to extend the contest.  Both goalies traded dazzling saves to build the intensity and anticipation inside the arena.  After a brilliant save by goalie Cristian Wong Ramos, Cole Sniffin lined up at center ice and waited for the signal from the referee.  With blinding speed and smooth stickhandling, Cole capped off a Cinderella run by the Blackhawks and lifted them into the final round.   There will be standing room only at Dublin Iceland this Sunday to see the final round of games in this magical Mite season.  Grab your coffee and blankets for what is sure to be another wild ride on the ice.  Canadiens vs Rangers in the early game; Oilers and Blackhawks at 7:00am for the marbles - all of them.     03/15/09 In-House Mite Game Recap Game 1: Rangers 5, Oilers 6 These two teams have staged epic games all season and this latest clash lived up to its pre-game hype. The Oilers opened up the scoring with a quick 2-0 lead, as Gavin Wallace raced down the right wing and slipped the puck passed the net minder. The Rangers answered quickly and proved why they finished in first place in the regular season. The "Triple Jack" line (Jack Ronan, Jack Harker, and Jack Ruble) made some nifty passes through the neutral zone, dumped the puck into the Oilers corner where Jack Ruble passed to an open Jack Harker in front of the net who banged it home. The Oilers kept the momentum as Anthony Persi received an awesome pass from AJ Hisquierdo up the middle, and went on a break away to score his first of two goals. Andrew Chern, however, gave the Rangers a lift by muscling his way through the Oilers defense and scoring the Rangers 5th goal, putting them only one goal behind. In the end, the Oilers hung on after a fierce last minute assault by the Rangers. A playoff-type game, no doubt. Great job Teams!!!! Game 2: Canadiens 4, Blackhawks 3 A great back and forth game that had true playoff flare. The Canadiens and Blackhawks traded early goals. In the third period, Miles Gross took a pass from Ethan Skelton in the slot and wristed home his first goal of the season and bringing the entire Dublin Iceland crowd to its feet !!! Congratulations Miles - wow what a great time to get your first goal. The Canadiens, ecstatic about taking a 3-2 lead never looked back as the netted an empty net goal in the last seconds of the game to win their 5th game of the year. The game had some great defensive plays too, as Jacob Frautnick and Cristian Wong-Ramos were solid on the blue line taking away key passes from speedy Blackhawk forwards. Speaking of which, Harrison Folmar showed his leadership on the ice, scoring twice for the Blackhawks to keep them in the game. Alex Lennox, Christopher Norell and Cole Chimenti chipped in with an assist each for the Blackhawks as well. This regular season finale was a solid end to end game from two teams that improved each week of the season. Tri-Valley Blue Devils - Mites