Two days have passed at the National Jr. A Tier III tournament in Boston and the Seattle Totems find themselves at 0-2 in round robin division play. While the Helena Bighorns earned a couple of wins and are at 2-0. Today, Sunday, March 28 is the final day of round robin play in the three divisions; only the top teams in each division will move on to the Semi's. That means the Totems are definitely out, and the Bighorns still have a chance.The Totems lost to the Atlantic Junior Hockey League Champion Northern Cyclones 1-4 on Friday. Then on Saturday, the Totes lost to the Minnesota Junior Hockey League Granite City Lumberjacks 2-3. Former Wrangler goalie Nick Cafrelli was the losing goalie. Nick faced 34 shots and had 31 saves. The Totems made 21 shots on goal in their effort against the Lumberjacks. Today - Sunday (3/28) - the hapless Totems find themselves hosting the Central States Hockey League Dubuque Thunderbirds. The T-Birds were second in the Central States Hockey League. In tournament play, the Dubuque T-Birds tied the Granite City Lumberjacks (2-2 OT) and thoroughly beat the Northern Cyclones (6-2). So, the odds are that the Dubuque T-birds will win this one.
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UPDATE! The Dubuque Thunderbirds defeated the Seattle Totems 5-1. The Totems go 0-3 at the National Junior A Tier III Tournament.
Our favorite "Pride of the NorPac Pacific Division" Totems are struggling. They are in Division II of the 3 Divisions at the Junior A Tier III tournament. They have a 'whopping' 3 Goals For (GF) and 7 Goals Against (GF). Only the Western States Hockey League Phoenix Polar Bears are worse with a GF: 1 and GA: 11. However, I will give the Totems some credit in that they are not playing 'goon hockey' since they have the second lowest penalty minutes at 26 out of the whole tournament. Good job! The Polar Bears are the worst with 81 penalty minutes. Defensemen Sam Ballenger is leading the Totes at the tournament with 1 goal and 1 assist for the past 2 games.
Meanwhile, NorPac Champion Helena Bighorns have had a couple of wins. The Bighorns beat the Atlantic Junior League New York Bobcats 3-1 on Friday, and beat the Western States Hockey League Champion El Paso Rhinos 4-3 on Saturday. Today (3/28) the Bighorns play the very tough and last year's Champions, the New Hampshire Monarchs. If the Bighorns win this one, it would definitely put them as a team to beat in the finals. It will be a tall order for the Bighorns. The Rhinos lost to the Monarchs, 2-7 and the Monarchs beat the Bobcats 6-2. So, unfortunately the odds are favoring the Monarchs. Wouldn't an upset be nice?
Update! The Helena Bighorns lost to the New Hampshire Monarchs 3-6.
All in all I'm not too surprised in the tournament results for our NorPac teams. However by looking at the gamesheets, reading game summaries, and looking through the stats does tell me that Totems and NorPac scoring leaders Schulze and Stombaugh are not succeeding. However, Bighorns' Sean Connolly is #2 with Branden Parkhouse and Willie Boyle tied at #4. Hmm? Anybody want to venture a guess? My thoughts are... Well, I've been told that if you can't say anything nice don't say it at all.