Syracuse Stars Squirt Minor Tournament

Below is the schedule. Prediction coming soon!

98 SYRACUSE STARS FEBRURARY FACE OFF SCHEDULE AND RESULTS
DATE TIME GAME # LOCATION VISITOR HOME TYPE
February 8, 2007 3:30 PM 1 Cicero -NHL Syracuse Stars NJ Rockets RR
February 8, 2007 4:00 PM 2 Lysander Top Gun Amherst Knights RR
February 8, 2007 5:00 PM 3 Cicero -NHL Albany Storm Minuteman Flames RR
February 8, 2007 5:30 PM 4 Lysander NE Jr Falcons Rochester Americans RR
February 8, 2007 6:30 PM 5 Cicero -NHL Mid Fairfield Blues Valley Jr Warriors RR
February 8, 2007 7:00 PM 6 Lysander Westchester Express NJ Jr Devils RR
February 9, 2007 7:45 AM 7 Cicero -NHL Amherst Knights NE Jr Falcons RR
February 9, 2007 8:00 AM 8 Lysander NJ Rockets Albany Storm RR
February 9, 2007 8:30 AM 9 Cicero-OLYMPIC Minuteman Flames Mid Fairfield Blues RR
February 9, 2007 9:15 AM 10 Cicero -NHL Rochester Americans Westchester Express RR
February 9, 2007 10:45 PM 11 Cicero -NHL Valley Jr Warriors Syracuse Stars RR
February 9, 2007 12:15 PM 12 Cicero -NHL NJ Jr Devils Top Gun RR
February 9, 2007 1:45 PM 13 Cicero -NHL Mid Fairfield Blues NJ Rockets RR
February 9, 2007 2:00 PM 14 Cicero-OLYMPIC Westchester Express Amherst Knights RR
February 9, 2007 3:15 PM 15 Cicero -NHL Syracuse Stars Minuteman Flames RR
February 9, 2007 3:30 PM 16 OLYMPIC Albany Storm Valley Jr Warriors RR
February 9, 2007 4:45 PM 17 Cicero -NHL Top Gun Rochester Americans RR
February 9, 2007 5:00 PM 18 Cicero-OLYMPIC NE Jr Falcons NJ Jr Devils RR
February 10, 2007 7:15 AM 19 Cicero -NHL Adams 3 Norris 3 Cons
February 10, 2007 8:45 AM 20 Cicero -NHL Smythe 1 Patrick 1 Gold Semi
February 10, 2007 8:45 AM 21 Cicero-OLYMPIC Norris 1 Adams 1 Gold Semi
February 10, 2007 10:15 AM 22 Cicero -NHL Norris 2 Adams 2 Silver Semi
February 10, 2007 10:15 AM 23 Cicero-OLYMPIC Patrick 2 Smythe 2 Silver Semi
February 10, 2007 11:45 AM 24 Cicero-OLYMPIC Smythe 3 Patrick 3 Cons
February 10, 2007 2:00 PM 25 Cicero -NHL Winner 21 Winner 20 Gold Champ
February 10, 2007 3:00 PM 26 Cicero-OLYMPIC Winner 22 Winner 23 Silver Champ

Reponse to 5 Trashiest Fan Base Article

Yes, I am youth hockey parent, and yes I have seen some serious lunatics!!! That said, I know that this is a case it is a few bad apples ruining the bunch. My experience with hockey parents has been great. They are people who care so much about their children that they do things that make no logical sense. They travel, they wake up early and they spend lots of money. They also rarely go out socially because they are either to tired or to busy. The time I have spent with my children driving to games and practices, and staying hotels will be the things I will think back about and remember as the greatest times of my life. Sure we sometimes get caught up and carried away but I have certainly seen that in soccer, baseball, football, cheerleading, the list goes on. I would make the argument that hockey parents are among the greatest fan base. There is nothing wrong with rooting for our children as long as it is done responsibly.

Big Squirt Major Match up

The St. Louis Blues Squirt Major team takes on Team Illinois, two of the nations best teams in what should be some interesting games.
Tomorrow- Squirt and Pee Wee Rankings and coming soon Prediction for the MLK weekend tournaments including Silver Sticks in Sarnia!!

Very Sad

Body of Missing Teen Found; Vigil Held

Last Update: 8:52 am
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Slideshow
(Perinton, N.Y.) – Tuesday night, friends and classmates of Andrew Dezio held a candlelight vigil for the 15-year-old sophmore at Penfield High School in his memory.

Penfield High Principal Mark Van Vliet said. “I knew Andrew and I know that many of the students here will miss him deeply. I been in communication, especially with his Dad, and, I think it’s just a state of disbelief right now.”

Searchers found Dezio’s body within ten minutes of entering the woods Tuesday, just one street away from his home. This area had been searched by air, but not on foot.

Cell phone records helped Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies narrow their search to a one mile area near Dezio’s home on Golf Stream Drive. The phone he’d been carrying last sent a signal to a nearby tower December 27.

Andrew’s body was discovered in thick brush within a wooded area.

“It’s an unfortunate set of circumstances…extremely unfortunate,” said Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn.

There were no signs of foul play or obvious trauma. An autopsy will be performed to determine how he died.

Since the area had already been searched by helicopters, O’Flynn said it’s possible the body was covered by snow and was visible Tuesday because of the thaw.

Andrew had disappeared from home on December 23 after an argument with a family member.

Fellow classmates said it was out of character for their friend to run away from home.

Classic

TOP FIVE TRASHIEST FANBASES

by Dan Raspatello, draspatello@rivalfish.com
In light of THE OSU once-again being invited to the dance only to watch a kid from another school bone their date in front of friends and family, I’d like to reiterate the worthlessness of their loyal following. If their fans were only half as dedicated to paying child support, wearing jeans without holes, and finishing high school as they are to criminally frottaging Eddie George every time he steps foot on campus, maybe they would have been left off of this list…

Top Five Trashiest Fanbases

5. THE Ohio State University: The best college sports teams money can buy. But still just the, uh, 7th best team. But you’re right, OSU fans, any basketball program can pull a complete 180 in their recruiting capabilities while following NCAA guidelines. Keep lying to yourself as much as Bob Huggins has been for twenty years.

In case you had any doubt about the trashiness of this fanbase, their current “celebrity fan” is Animal from the ‘90’s tag-team powerhouse Legion of Doom (or Road Warriors) who owned the WWF tag-team titles multiple times. His son is a stud starting linebacker for the football team. The fans were so excited that a WWF alum was representing their school that it became very popular to wear the spiked shoulder pads and paint your face just like Animal at all of the games. Nothing reeks of trashy quite like dressing up like a WWF wrestler on a Saturday afternoon. It isn’t like pro wrestling’s fan base is comprised solely of1 3 year olds and hicks…

4. Chicago White Sox: This one hurts to admit because I am from Chicago and my entire family is in love with the White Sox. But nothing solidifies the trashy stereotype of your fanbase like a shirtless father-son duo attacking the lowly Royals’ 54-year-old first base coach, Tom Gamboa, with a knife. Nothing quite says “father-son bonding” like taking off your shirt and attacking an old man with a knife on live TV. God, My dad and I haven’t even committed a felony together, let alone a televised felony. He must not love me.

The father was 34 years of age, and impressively had a 15 year old son. Apparently White Sox fans get after it at a young age. Is there any doubt that both of these guys have their ex-girlfriends name tattooed somewhere on their body, and they have both hooked up with at least one of their first cousins?

Let’s not forget that a fan has also attacked an umpire at “The Cell,” but the ump was an ex-military man and easily handled the fan.

The highlight of ChiSox trashiness was when they gave out tickets to games as an attachment to “Biggie Fries” from Wendy’s. I can’t remember what year it was, but I believe it was a year or two before the 2000 Division Championship year (aka “These kids can play.” era). I wonder how this conversation went with Jerry Reinsdorf (Sox and Bulls owner) and Dave Thomas of Wendy’s.

“Hey, Dave, it’s Jerry Reinsdorf. How would you feel about a cross promotional deal in which for every ten Extra Value Meals a customer buys they win a free Sox ticket! We can work on the details of the deal later.”

“Jerry, how about you just give me all your extra tickets and I will give them to people who order fries.”

“Deal.”

It’s a wonder how the White Sox don’t attract classier fans with promotions like that. If it wasn’t for Snoop and Dre repping the ChiSox in the early ‘90’s than they would have been #1 for sure. I mean, AJ “7th grade rocker or pro wrestler haircut” Pierzynski is the fan favorite. The Sox fans must feel like they’ve won the lotto: “He is our favorite player and he participates in pro wrestling?!?! The only thing better than this would be kissing my 2nd cousin while watching The Fast and The Furious.”

3. Philadelphia Eagles: They booed Santa Claus off the field (The Actual Santa Claus), and cheered as Michael Irvin got carried off on a stretcher. Eagles fans also showed up to the 1999 draft and booed Donavan McNabb when the Eagles selected him in the first round. Donavan McNabb would later bring them to 4 straight NFC Title Games (’02-’05). Good call on that one.

Alright, so maybe you guys were right to cheer when Irvin got a potentially life-threatening injury. Philly fans probably saw the future, and knew before the rest of us how terrible he would make ESPN’s NFL coverage. But the Santa Claus incident? Come on. Did a lot of NY Giants and Jets fans drive down for that game? Or does Philly just have way more Jews than often thought?

2. Detroit Pistons: It is kind of hard to blame Pistons fans for their trashiness because it isn’t entirely their fault. I believe their trashiness began from mimicking the “Bad Boys” of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. The “Bad Boys” era was led by the two biggest dirtballs in the history of the NBA: Bill Laimbeer and Isaiah Thomas. Isaiah now is the head coach and GM of the biggest dirtball team in the NBA, New York Knicks.

As the Pistons have dominated The Eastern Conference for the past few years ,they have fielded some of the classiest players in the NBA (Rip, Ben Wallace , Tayshaun Prince, Chauncey “horse mouth” Billups, and Lindsay Hunter). However, the fans haven’t followed the lead of their team. I guess for every Jimmy ‘B-Rabbit’ Smith, Jr. Detroit has there are ten Clarence ‘Papa Docs’ (he went to Cranbrook – that’s a private school).

Detroit fans have gotten in a seat clearing / bench clearing brawl with the Pacers, and last year threw lip balm at Tyrus Thomas and hit him in the face. Impressively, they are the only fanbase to actually physically antagonize a pro team into fighting them. Even their homosexual fans are a bunch of bad asses, which explains the lip balm throwing.

It’s alright, Detroit, at least your inner-city area is prosperous and not filled with a bunch of burned out buildings or anything like that.

1. Youth Travel Hockey: For those of you who didn’t grow up playing hockey year-round at a creepy level of intensity, this might come as a surprise to you. But, for those of you who are like me and played 100 hockey games a year starting in 1st grade, this is no surprise at all. What sane parent drives their pre-pubescent son to every surrounding suburb and state all year, forbids them from other sporting events, and spends thousands of dollars on their equipment? An out of control fan with actual control over one of the athletes and an eerie indirect effect on the team, that’s who.

After my 11-year old Select team beat another Illinois Select team in the state playoffs, a group of parents from the opposing team hovered over the tunnel as we walked out, and started calling us “blue-collar trash.” (All of our parents could put us through a 100-game hockey seasons, so we weren’t exactly poor, but we also weren’t as rich as most teams.) We weren’t even old enough to check or take slapshots yet, but these “fans” were inclined to express their views on our parents’ wealth and its correlation to our level of societal worth.

One time, in high school, I saw a dad start a fight with a high school kid in the stands, and his son, the goalie, hopped the boards and jumped into the fight. The kid, in full goalie gear, was then escorted in ‘cuffs alonside his shackled father out of the rink as the on-ice action paused to gawk.

Keep in mind that all of these people can afford to spend upwards of $5,000 on their kid’s equipment and another $5,000 for their ice time annually. These are a bunch of upper-middle to upper-class parents doing this. As you can see, trashiness has no economic boundaries.

Albany Storm Squirt Minor Tournament Field Announced

The Albany Storm’s Squirt Minor Tournament field has been announced and it looks to be a great event.

In the March Event are:

New Jersey Devils, New Jersey Rockets, West Seneca Wings, Albany Storm, Syracuse Stars, Assabet Valley Patriots, Long Island Gulls, and the New England Falcons.

Good looking field. More to come.

2009 USA Hockey Nationals

USA Hockey Announces 2009 National Championship Sites

Indian Trail, NC will host the Tier I and Tier II 12 & Under National Championships from April 1-5 at the Extreme Ice Center.

Frisco, Texas will conduct the Tier I and Tier II 14 & Under National Championships April 1-5 at the Dr. Pepper StarCenter-Frisco.

Chesterfield, MO will be the site of the Tier I and Tier II 16 & Under National Championships from April 1-5 at the Summit Center.

Pittsburg, PA will conduct the Tier I and Tier II 18 & Under National Championships from April 1-5 at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center.

Rochester, NY will host all of the girls and womens national championships at the ESL Sports Center. The Women’s Championships are set for March 27-29, All of the Girls National Championships will be held April 1-5.

Great Hockey Article

This I believe — Hockey is the Cure for What Ails America

By Joe Scatchell – 3/2/07

Failing test scores, ill-behaved day care children, gangs, drug use, the list goes on of the ills facing our country. We look for quick answers that many times end up creating new issues and the circle of problems grows wider in an ever-spiraling pattern. So how do we stop the momentum and hope to reverse its damage?

Play Hockey.

I know that most of you are calling up images of stick swinging, lights out punches and bench clearing brawls. You’ve been fed a lie. That those things occur is a fact. That they occur so rarely to have painted an entirely incorrect picture of the sport is also a fact. Thousands of games are played each week all around the world now and you can probably name 3 or 4 incidents of outlandish behavior, total.

Here’s the truth. If you want society to be civil, its citizens polite, humble and respectful of one another get everyone involved in hockey. Hockey is above all else a family commitment that instills the values that our society holds dearest; that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, hard work has its reward, but most important, respect for others.

For the uninitiated, hockey starts at 6, both in age of player and time of morning practices! Moms and Dads, Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles load up the player and equipment and it’s off to the rink. Many times the rides to and from the rink are lengthy giving parents and guardians and the children quality time to do the unusual; talk to one another. The conversations are not always deep or life altering but that they happen at all is becoming rarer. How did you sleep? Did you like that cereal? No, I never heard of “Take it Back Sunday”, is it a song or a group?” It’s all good because you are establishing lines of communication that may be used for much more important matters some day.

At the rink, you get to watch your child learn. The early progress is breathtaking. Remember how you marveled when they learned to walk? Use a fork? How many chances to you get to see something as wonderful? Try skating sometime to see how difficult it is for yourself. It’s likely that in a short time, your child will be better at something than you are. Talk about a no lie dose of self-respect!

Teams often play in tournaments that take place over several days and far enough from home to require over night stays. Whole families attend these events providing yet another opportunity to do something that is vanishing from our American landscape; the family road trip. Again, conversation, whole discussions even, stops for meals and potty breaks, arguments over who is touching who and all the other things that those fortunate enough to have taken these trips in our youth, still remember fondly many years later. Siblings look forward to hanging with all the other siblings, the hotel pool, knee hockey in the halls, and yes, the excitement of the games themselves.

Coaches are more than hockey fanatics; they are coaches of life. Players are correctly taught that hockey is a team sport. Everyone on the team contributes. Most teams keep playing time evenly distributed among the players in all but the most competitive situations to instill this fact. Parents are encouraged to bring school and home issues to the coach so that both the parents and the Coach are consistent. For example, it’s not at all unusual for Johnny not to play if he isn’t doing well in school or disobeying at home.

Hockey can be dangerous. Sharp blades, hard sticks and the speed of play demand that players maintain control and respect for themselves and their competitors. Players are taught to “play the body” and not go and “hurt ‘em”. Indeed, the intention of checking is to separate the puck from the player; take the puck not the player out.

The game’s traditions reinforce the basic tenets of a civil society. Before each game, kids as young as 8 years old and already placed in leadership roles as Captains, introduce themselves to the opposing Coaches and Officials and shake their hands. The rules of the game support the development of leadership by allowing only the Captains, not the Coaches, to talk to the officials about game calls. When a player scores, all his teammates join in the celebration. The players who assisted on the goal get the same point the scorer received. Showboating does not occur in hockey. At the end of every game, all players and coaches line up and shake hands. The same occurs at every level and even at the end of the NHL season.

Lest you think my arguments are specious, I offer these observations. Look at the other professional major American sports and compare them to professional hockey. Most of the players in the NHL and supporting professional leagues have lived away from their families and with host families at some point. Most of us would not think of taking a strange teenager into our home. If you speak to just about any host family, they will tell you that the kid came in with all of the attributes I speak of. They were polite, respectful, humble and thankful for the hospitality shown. Lifelong relationships were made. You don’t see professional hockey players being named in bar room shootings or taking steroids or other illegal drugs. Listen to the player interviews. Universally, they deflect any praise to their teammates and coaches. If they have a bad game or they’re in a slump, they talk about needing to work harder and blame only themselves. When they receive awards, they start by thanking their parents and talk about those long car rides to rinks early in the morning. They are humble, thankful.

These same things happen at every hockey banquet I’ve had the honor of attending. I was privileged to spend as much time as I did with my daughter and 2 sons and have been paid back many times over for those cold mornings when I see them working at something hard, being polite, humble and respectful.

Thank you hockey!

Tournaments

2007-2008 End of Season Tournaments

Tournament Dates Location
16&U, 18&U TIER I “AAA” & II “AA” PLAYOFFS Feb. 28, Mar. 1-2, 2008 Ice Works
Aston, PA
16&U, 18&U TIER I “AAA” & II “AA” CHAMPIONSHIPS Mar. 6, 8-9, 2008 Ice Line
West Chester, PA
16&U, 18&U TIER II “A” TOURNAMENT Feb. 28, Mar. 1-2, 2008 Ice Works
Aston, PA
12&U, 14&U TIER I “AAA” & II “AA” PLAYOFFS Mar. 7-9, 2008 Flyers Skate Zone
Voorhees, NJ
12&U, 14&U TIER I “AAA” & II “AA” CHAMPIONSHIPS Mar. 14-16, 2008 Ice Line
West Chester PA
12&U, 14&U TIER II “A” TOURNAMENT Mar. 7-9, 2008 Hatfield Ice World
Hatfield, PA
12&U, 14&U TIER II “B” TOURNAMENT Mar. 7-9, 2008 Hatfield Ice World
Hatfield, PA
GIRLS TOURNAMENT (12&U, 14&U, 16&U, 19&U) Mar. 14-16, 2008 Ice Vault Arena
Wayne, NJ
WOMEN’S B, WOMEN’S C TOURNAMENT Mar. 14-16, 2008 Ice Vault Arena
Wayne, NJ
SLEDGE HOCKEY TOURNAMENT Mar. 14-16, 2008 Ice Line
West Chester PA

Pee Wee Minor

Honeybaked over Compuware 6-1 this weekend. These programs generally are among the best although Compuware is struggling a bit this season at this level.