Key West Reflection
by Michael Coughlin
ECRHA January 9th, 2007 at 10:03PM
The
Army Black Knights headed down to Key West unsure how things would turn
out for them. After falling to both Nassau and Binghamton by substantial
margins earlier this season, they were hesitant to take to the surface
against #7 FIU and Colorado after seeing what they have done this season.
UMR quickly showed them that they needed to adjust to the humidity of
playing down in the Keys, handling the Black Knights 6-2. Army regrouped
back at the hotel and came out Friday night to take Colorado 10-6. While
all the other teams were out enjoying Key West, Army stayed in and rested for their
show down with #7 FIU in the morning, well except for two players who
went rollerblading with the UMR players around the island for a couple
hours. While that didnâ??t do much to help the team overcome a 8-6 loss
to FIU after an empty net goal, the Black Knights were able to upset
the #2 seeded Miners 6-5 in OT on a goal scored by freshman Michael
Fontichiario after a Herculean save from goaltender Sean Meberg. Unfortunately,
what goes around comes around as FIU turned the same result on the Black
Knights in the Championship Game Sunday morning.
The
Winter Cup was a great chance for teams to meet from around the country
and the city of Key West welcomed all with open arms. They bent over
backwards to accommodate the four teams and many of the police officials
and Navy enlisted came out cheering for Army. With the amount of time
allotted between games, the teams had the opportunity to get to know
each other and hang out between games, especially since they were all
located on the same strip of the hotel. This was definitely the most
exciting tournament and fun that Army has seen, and making both the
front page and the cover of the sports section images of the Key West
Citizen added to the energy of the Cadets. They had an awesome time
and hope that they will be able to attend next year.
Key West by the Numbers:
18- Number of penalty minutes
defenseman Nick Uhorchak compiled in Key West
14- Number of points Freshman
Nick Stortini had in Key West
10- Number of points from Captain
Pat Toffler
7- Number of Cadets w/o spending
time in the box
6- Number of goals scored by
Stortini against Colorado
3- Number of Black Knight Hat
Tricks
.871- Save percentage for Sean
Meberg