An improbable state title
HOCKEY
Those close to the Coeur d'Alene Thunder Pee Wee team referred to it as having "Salmon for breakfast and Steelhead for lunch."
Whatever it was, it tasted mighty fine as the Thunder Pee Wee B (ages 11-12), despite being displaced from its home arena for more than a year, went down to Boise last weekend and won its division at the Idaho state tournament.
In December 2008, the Thunder lost its ice hockey rink when the roof of the KYRO ice rink came crashing down due to heavy snow pack. The loss of the Thunder's ice rink didn't mean this was the end of their hockey season by any means, as parent volunteers found other ice rinks in Spokane and Cheney so the Thunder ice hockey teams could finish their seasons.
When the new hockey season began in September the Thunder were still without a home rink in the Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene areas, so the Thunder once again had to call on Riverfront Park's Ice Palace and Eastern Washington University's ice rink in Cheney as their home ice.
With the continued problems with the nation's economy and the distance required to travel for practices and games, the number of youth hockey players from the Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls area dwindled down considerably and with the exception of two players, those who showed up for the travel team tryouts formed the Thunder Pee Wee youth hockey team.
During a season of highs and lows with extremes at both ends, the Thunder Pee Wee team, traveled to Boise for state.
The Thunder started their championship run early Friday morning with a 5-4 victory over Idaho Falls. On Saturday afternoon the Thunder routed McCall 9-2. Next up was Treasure Valley, and the Thunder prevailed 5-3. Early Sunday morning, the Thunder concluded round-robin play with a 4-1 victory over Salmon.
That put the Thunder into Sunday afternoon's championship game vs. the Boise Junior Steelheads.
Boise took a 1-0 lead part way through the first period. However, the Thunder, spurred on by a boisterous following from Coeur d'Alene, plugged away, and scored late in the third period to tie the game at 1 and force overtime.
The Thunder started overtime skating one man up with the power play as a Boise penalty rolled over into the extra period. The Thunder took quick control in the extra period, taking the puck and scoring in just eight seconds to win the state title.
"This may have been Boise's rink but it sure felt like it was a Coeur d'Alene home game," one of the Thunder coaches said. "The family members and other CDAHA teams at state made sure our players knew they had plenty of support."
The Pee Wee team's state title marks the fourth state title by a Thunder team in the past three years. The under-18 girls and the midgets (age 15-18) both won state in 2008, and the bantam (age 13-14) team won state last year.
n AAU BASKETBALL
n Thunder third: The North Idaho Elite Thunder eighth-grade girls team went 3-1 and finished third at the Spokane AAU Spring Fling tournament.
The Thunder beat the Walla Walla Lady Rebels 49-43. Sydney Williams led the Thunder with 14 points and 10 boards, Hailey Jackson and Sara Chalich each had eight points and Sydni Parker followed with seven points and eight assists.
The Thunder beat the Lil Zags of Spokane 42-31. Sydni Parker led the balanced attack with 13 points, and Sydni Williams had 6 points and 15 rebounds. In an earlier game the Thunder fell to Roseburg of Missoula, Mont., 42-32. Sydney Williams had eight points and 10 rebounds.
The Thunder beat the Valley Suns of the Tri-Cities 52-40. Sara Chalich led with 12 points, and Sydni Parker and Hailey Jackson each had 10 points.
The Thunder are 18-5 on the season and will be traveling to the Wenatchee (Wash.) tournament next week.
n SELECT SOCCER
n Coeur d'Alene Sting under-12 girls (Croghan/Roop): The Sting made it to the semifinals before losing at the Blue Mountain Exchange tournament in Pasco, Wash.
The Sting beat THUSC Radium 12-0. Cydney Roop and Havanah Johnson each had a hat trick. Megan Daniels scored two goals, and Caitlyn Barber, Sydney Quimby, Julia McCaw and Shaylee Morlan each had one goal. There was one assist each from Cameron Croghan, Mackinzie Hague, Magen Daniels, Julia McCaw and Josee Bassett. Julia Roach and Kia Anderson teamed for the shutout in goal.
Game 2 was a 13-0 victory over 3RSC Neubauer. Havanah Johnson had a hat trick, and Caitlyn Barber and Mackinzie Hague had two goals each. Cameron Croghan, Zoie Cloutier, Shaylee Morlan, Cydney Roop, Isabella Scott, and Josee Bassett all had one goal each. Cydney Roop, Zoie Cloutier and Josee Bassett each had an assist, and Julia Roach and Kia Anderson teamed for the shutout in goal.
Game 3 was a 7-0 victory over 3RSC Thielman. Cydney Roop, Cameron Croghan and Havanah Johnson each scored two goals. Allison Branscome scored on a penalty kick. Julia Roach had one save in goal and Kia Anderson had two saves in the shutout. Sydney Quimby and Havanah Johnson each had an assist.
Game 4 was a 3-1 loss to THUSC Iridium in the semifinal game. Cameron Croghan had the lone goal for the Sting, and Julia Roach had seven saves in goal.
n BOWLING
River City Lanes
BANTAMS
HIGH GAMES - Justin Wiggers 74, Aiden Carlson 69.
HIGH GAMES - Tannis Iversen 69, Kaitlin Federman 54.
HIGH GAMES - Ira Fernandez 116, Dylan Sears 109.
HIGH SERIES - Ira Fernandez 276, Dylan Sears 273.
HIGH GAMES - Natalee Findley 121, Ashley DeWit 96.
HIGH SERIES - Natalee Findley 269, Ashley DeWit 231.
JUNIORS
HIGH GAMES - Dan Schaefer 162, Ryan Santoro 419.
HIGH SERIES - Dan Schaefer 438, Ryan Santoro 419.
HIGH GAMES - Savahnnah Stocker 179, Rachel Joseph 124.
HIGH SERIES - Savahnnah Stocker 474, Rachel Joseph 366.
Sunset Bowling Center
JUNIORS
HIGH GAMES - Adam Smith 248, Cameron Dominguez 227, Sean Stan 225.
HIGH SERIES - Noah Cain 641, Cameron Dominguez 612, Sean Stan 610.
HIGH GAMES - Leah Anderson 179, Tori Howell 166, Chelsie Delcomte 153.
HIGH SERIES - Leah Anderson 514, Robyn Prescott 409, Chelsie Delcomte 370.
HIGH GAMES - Taylor Rose 183, Mikey Pederson 148, Joe Bates 127.
HIGH SERIES - Taylor Rose 397, Mikey Pederson 383, Trevor McKinley 336.
HIGH GAMES - McKenna Henderson 134, Heather Fischer 105.
HIGH SERIES - McKenna Henderson 317, Heather Fischer 299.
BANTAMS
HIGH GAMES - Timothy Blaski 117, Aaron Hast 105, Destin McWilliams 61.
HIGH SERIES - Timothy Blaski 391, Aaron Hast 281, Andrew O'Neil 151.
HIGH GAME - Violet Hammond 60.
HIGH SERIES - Violet Hammond 222.
n Submit items for youth and non-varsity high school sports by noon Tuesday for publication Wednesday. E-mail stories and photos (in jpeg format) to [email protected].
Information: 664-8176, Ext. 2019
n NOTE: Due to space constraints, not all photos may run the week they are submitted. Be patient; they will run as space allows.
ELLIOTT
from B1
Almost a decade ago, you could turn on ESPN and find a hockey game on almost any night - but after losing out to Versus, the league is an afterthought it seems anymore.
Along with the NBA playoffs, which start at the same time of year in mid-April, it's even easier to lose sight of who is winning in the NHL and unless it comes down to a big matchup between Crosby and Ovechkin in the finals of a playoff series, there is a chance that it may not be shown on a channel fans could find to start with.
SHOULD THE popularity of hockey start to climb due to the Olympics, it won't surprise me, with a lot of good players within the league.
Watching the Stanley Cup playoffs, I'm not so sure about it quite yet.
Finding it on television is a good start.
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by phone at 664-0239 or via e-mail at [email protected].