UNITED STATES
QUAD RUGBY ASSOCIATION
Related Pages
Scores & All
Tournament Selections
|
|
Warfare
at the Armory
by Terry Vinyard
Imagine, if you will, the United
State’s top ten Wheelchair Rugby teams in the same
field as the Canadian National team (Silver at the
‘96 Paralympic's) and Sweden's National Champion
Pick Pack.
The 1997 Conveen/Action International
(formerly Top End Invitational) Wheelchair Rugby
Tournament held February 14-16 in Tampa, Florida made
that competitive field a reality. Sixteen teams engaged
in battle at Tampa's Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in a
rigorous 48 game schedule. Rugby enthusiasts could take
their pick from triple court play, as to which game they
wanted to watch.
The annual event, hosted by Tampa General
Rehabilitation Center, is the largest Wheelchair Rugby
Tournament in the world. For the first time, the host
team Tampa Generals, were not the top seed. San Diego's
Sharp Shadow, which has not lost this season including
three meetings with Tampa, drew the top seed. The
Conveen/Action International was sanctioned by the United
States Quad Rugby Association, which made outcomes very
important for this year’s seeding at the National
tournament in Spokane.
As usual, the first day of competition began with the
higher seeds playing lower seeds in pool play. The first
upset occurred early on Friday when the 11th seed Atlanta
pushed 6th seed Casa Colina Buccaneers
into overtime. The Buccaneers led Atlanta by three going
into the fourth period. However, the Rolling Thunder came
back and actually took a lead when they scored four
unanswered goals. Trailing by two, Casa was now chasing
Atlanta as time was ticking away. Dean MacCabe's 17 goals
in regulation led Casa's late comeback. Atlanta was able
to shut off MacCabe’s scoring run in the overtime
periods. The first overtime ended in another deadlock as
Atlanta, who trailed by two, scored the last two to tie
Casa at 44. Atlanta's emerging class 3.0, Mark Zupan,
scored three of his game high 18 goals in the overtimes.
The Thunder outscored the Buc's 2-1 in second three
minute overtime to pull off the tournament’s biggest
upset.
In the final game of Friday's action, Tampa's spin-off
team, Suncoast Storm (13th seed) dueled Sweden's National
Champ Pick Pack (8th seed). Sweden jumped out to a four
goal lead to start the game but the Storm battled back to
trail by only one at the 1st quarter’s end. In the
second period, the Storm tied the score but Sweden came
back with seven 2nd period goals by Paralympian 3.5 Tomas
Erickson. After that surge, Suncoast trailed by five!
Suncoast quickly responded after the five minute
half-time break by scoring four straight goals at the
beginning of the half to pull within one. They gradually
managed to tie and then took a one goal lead into the
final period. The Storm was able to maintain that lead
until late in fourth period when Sweden capitalized on a
turn over in the final minute of regulation to go ahead.
With time
running out, the Storm’s class 2.0, Dan Casady was
hit and turned away from the goal. His only chance was a
Hail Mary pass in the direction of class one, Norm Lyduch
who was at the goal line. The desperation pass was off
the mark but Lyduch adjusted perfectly to make the catch
and go over for the buzzer beater. In the overtime, both
teams had a chance to put the other away but failed.
Fatigue was definitely taking it’s toll. Suncoast
class 3.5, Vi Vorasane snuck around a corner to score the
go ahead goal with only 11 seconds left. But Sweden came
back with a buzzer beater of their own when Erickson
scored with no time left to send the game into a second
overtime. Both teams looked spent. Those who could sweat
were soaked, those who couldn't were also soaked with
water in attempt to keep cool. Sweden opened up the
scoring in the second overtime, but Suncoast found enough
energy to put together a four goal run to defeat the
Swedes 41-38.
The Storm was not finished with their role as
spoilers. After playing the last game on Friday, they
were faced with the first game on Saturday against 9th
seeded New York (EPVA). They met the challenge by
defeating the perennial National qualifier by a score of
33-28. In less eventful games, the top seeds Shadow,
Tampa, Tennessee, and the Canadian National team were all
unscathed in pool play. The matches would now get more
intense as crossover play began. A loss at this point
would eliminate a team’s chance of making it into
the final. The Gulfcoast Hurricanes, whose only loss in
pool play came at the hands of Shadow by a lopsided ten
goal margin, were still alive in the bid for top spot and
made the best of it in a crucial match against Canada.
Each team used lineups of 3.5, 2.0, 2.0, and a .5 with
offensive attacks led by the dominating 3.5 players.
Canada was lead by Paralympian standout, Garret Hickling
with 22 goals to keep Canada within reach of the fourth
ranked team in the U.S.. The Hurricanes also had a
Paralympian leading them in Brad Updegrove.
Updegrove’s speed kept the Canadians on the run and
kept the Canes just in front of Canada in a 41-38 win
over the ’96 Silver Medalists.
Shadow's Mike Wyatt, who had hoped for a shot at
Canada, said "We’ve had opportunities to play
Gulfcoast this season, so it would have been nice to play
another strong team." He added, "This is
probably the only opportunity for our club team to play
them." Shadow instead had to settle for pool D
runner-up, Suncoast Storm. Shadow quickly ended any
thoughts of a Cinderella story by pounding the Storm
42-24. In the other top bracket crossover, Tennessee
easily took out the Atlanta team (who had upset the 6th
seed and played Tampa tight for a half of Rugby). Tampa
closed the day with a tough battle with the Lakeshore
Demolition who are ranked seventh in the nation. Although
the score was tied 17 all at half, the Generals only
trailed in the opening two minutes. The Generals
eventually won, 36-30, to advance to the semi-finals.
The final day began with the bottom eight teams
jockeying for final placing spots. Casa and Colorado were
emerging from the pack for a probable showdown for 9th
place. Gulfcoast earned a rematch against Shadow in the
semi-finals. Despite a better start, the result was the
same as Shadow cruised to an easy
victory. One court over, Tampa and Tennessee engaged in a
battle for the chance to end Shadow's unbeaten streak.
The Generals came out strong while building a three goal
cushion. They built it to four by
half time while using their bench. Geremy Tinker scored
the final goal of the third period to give Tampa a six
goal lead. Tennessee would not quit and managed to cut
the margin to three, behind class 3.0 Wayne
Romero's 8 goals in the final period. Time, however, was
running out on the Quad Crusher’s come-back bid and
Tampa went on to their 39th straight Tournament Final
appearance.
The sixteen teams would now play for final placing on
a beautiful Sundayafternoon. Sixteenth-seeded South
Florida earned their first win by defeating Ontario,
39-33, for 15th place. Another Florida entrant,
Sarasota was soundly defeated by Sweden 35-25 in the
13/14th game. Sweden's Tomas Engbloom said "the heat
on the first day factored into a poor showing from
us." New York behind Angelo Mongoivi's 25 goals
whipped the 10th seeded Chicago Cruisers 41-29.
A disappointed Casa team that was still in shock over
their loss to Atlanta, won their last three games
including a 39-26 pasting of Colorado to take 9th place.
The 7th/8th place game featured the two surprise teams,
Atlanta and Suncoast. Atlanta maintained a small lead
early, but Suncoast came back to tie the score at 15 with
one minute to go in the third period. Suncoast using most
of their bench couldn't
keep pace in the fourth and fell to the Rolling Thunder
24-29. The Lakeshore Demolition couldn't keep pace with
the Canadian National team in the 5th/6th place game. The
Canadians raced to a 10-5 first period lead. They coasted
to 32-26 victory. Garret Hickling’s 21 goals gave
him 144 for a new tournament record. He was also voted
the Coloplast MVP of the tournament.
The bronze medal game between Tennessee and Gulfcoast
was a rematch from last year’s tournament. As a
matter of fact, these two have met in almost every major
tournaments’ 3rd/4th place game. Tennessee has come
out on top each time. This game would be no different as
the Quad Crushers controlled throughout to take 3rd place
with a convincing 40-31 victory. They often played with
less than 8.0 points on the floor, thanks to class 2.0
phenom Cliff Chunn, who can come in for class 3.0s Wayne
Romero and Lee Moore and not lose stride. Chunn's efforts
earned him Action All tournament first team honors.
ESPN's crew was in town the final day filming tourney
action for an upcoming segment on the show 'In
Pursuit." They were treated to one of the best
played final games in the history of the sport. Shadow
was
looking to add to a growing list of tournaments won. The
hometown Tampa Generals, who had never lost this annual
tournament, hoped to derail Shadow's unbeaten string.
Tampa, who is usually able to control the tip, lost it
when the ball careened off of the referee. Shadow's Troy
McGuirk picked up the loose ball and took it in for the
game’s first goal. The teams traded goals
until the game’s first turnover which was turned
into a goal and a Tampa advantage. Shadow managed to
score the last goal of the opening period to tie the game
at seven. Each team continued errorless rugby for over
seven minutes in the 2nd period. With only 22 seconds
left before the half, Mike Wyatt snuck his hand in for a
held ball against Tampa's Joe Soares. This set up the
go-ahead score just before half-time to give Shadow a
14-13 edge. Both teams came out committed to mistake-free
rugby and didn't make or create one until late in the
third period. Shadow benefited from a Tampa turnover when
Wyatt and Brent Poppin drew a holding call on Tampa class
2.0 Geremy Tinker. Tinker had already unleashed a pass,
that teammate Dave Gould would have easily taken in for
the tying goal at minute seven of the third period, when
the ref blew the play dead. Tampa did get the final goal
of the period to trail by a mere goal, but Shadow would
get the valuable first possession of the fourth period
and score. The two power houses of the USQRA traded goals
for the first part of the last period. Tampa knew they
were only one turnover away from making it a last
possession game. They tried desperately to produce a
turnover. Shadow would not relinquish the ball and
continued scoring on practically every possession, as it
only had two turnovers during 32 minutes of rugby. With
two minutes and change to go, Shadow's Rick Draney beat
Tinker to a pass from Soares for the steal. Seconds later
Draney put a monster hit on Tinker who went into a 360
degree spin and lost the ball to virtually doom the
Generals. McGuirk alertly scooped up the sphere and
dished to Dan McCauley for a goal to take a 32-29
advantage.
Shadow worked on the clock whenever possible and shut
the door on a 34-31 championship win. Tampa's coach Terry
Vinyard credited their rival by saying "If you only
turn the ball over four times you win, but against this
team you have to be near perfect"
A special thanks to Coloplast Urologicals, Action
Invacare, and DS Medical for their generous
contributions. We would also like to thank SPORTAID,
Custom Mobility, and Alpha Rehab for supplying much
needed fix-it stations.
|
