Inline Hockey Association of Arizona

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Team and player
State Champions

8A – Prescott Storm
MVP – Jake Chavez
Top Offense – Colin MacKenzie
Top Defense – Jeffrey Montoya
Top Goalie – Sarah Jacobelli

10A – Caseys Crushers
MVP – Bob Curley
Top Offense – Ryan Savage
Top Defense – Chase Holdman
Top Goalie – Shaun Macdonald

10B – Yuma Blaze
MVP – Luke Pancrazi
Top Offense – Coralie Pancrazi
Top Defense – Luke Athelli
Top Goalie – Jason Nelson

12A – Yuma Blaze Black
MVP – Jack Allen
Top Offense – Chase Pancrazi
Top Defense – Kevin Mooney
Top Goalie – Wyatt Dennis

12B – Sharp Shooters
MVP – Nick Setzer
Top Offense – Josh Klugman
Top Defense – Wyatt Savisaar
Top Goalie – Dylan Zawicki

14A – Rollerplex Panthers
MVP – Kyle Carroll
Top Offense – Zach Soucie
Top Defense – Kasey Caruso
Top Goalie – Tim Harlin

14B – Prescott Storm
MVP – Joshua Burkeen
Top Offense – Cooper King
Top Defense – Chris Lawrie
Top Goalie – Jimmy Curley

16u – Rollerplex Panthers
MVP – Kevin Smith
Top Offense – Shea Taylor
Top Defense – Trevor Needle
Top Goalie – Jeff Portik

Aside from the shift in dominance, the AIHA implented, for the first time, a two day championship event for all divisions, with round robin play on Saturday and playoffs on Sunday.

8u Division

Prescott put an exclamation point on the dominance that the Storm program has suddenly grabbed onto when their 8u team culminated an exciting and dominating season by winning the state championship game against the surprising Yuma Blaze 9-1.  The Storm had the top 4 scorers in the division with Jared Shuter topping the scoring table with 9 goals. 4 assists.  And whatever shots that were taken on net were easily handled by Storm goalie Sarah Jacobelli. The team that truly made a move to the next level was Yuma Blaze as they battled it out with Havasu Dust Devils.  Up and coming Yuma goalie Nicholas Johnson, younger brother of the legendary David Johnson, pulled off a shutout against the Dust Devils in round robin play 1-0 and then proceeded to shut down the Dust Devils in the semi-final 5-1.  Yuma’s Geren Brothers, Brenden and Ryan, scored all of their team’s goals but one.  The future looks bright for Yuma’s troopers as they made a statement that they are here and they will indeed improve.  Havasu will improve as well, as their featured players of Petyon Luzzi and goalie Even Anderson had an outstanding season.

10u Division

As expected, the Casey’s Crushers continued their dominance over their season long rival, Team Excalibur, taking the 10uA championship game against Team Excalibur 4-2.  Casey’s offensive output was simply too much for any of the other teams.  Both Crushers and Team Excalibur 98’s had very balanced scoring and excellent defense throughout the state finals.  Crushers goalie, Shaun MacDonald, was on his game as he turned away a fiercely determined Excalibur team as well as recording 2 complete shutouts.  Excalibur’s Tanner Paterno did what he could as he was the top scorer in the division topping out at 7 goals and 3 assists.  However, Casey’s mighty might, Joey Strada, matched that performance with 9 goals.

The 10uB division came down to the expected matchup of the Yuma Blaze versus Prescott Storm.  Yuma’s Luke Pancrazi, did indeed go crazy as he put up 4 goals and 1 assist as he propelled the Blaze to a 5-1 state championship victory over the Prescott Storm.  It was Prescott Storm’s goalie, Jason Nelson, who performed like a trooper, taking almost 20 more shots on net than any other goalie in the division for the tournament and walking away with top state championship goalie honors.

12u Division

The 12uA division turned out to live up to the hype that was expected as 3 very highly regarded and class programs battled it out for the prestigious 12A title.  First up in round robin play was Rollerplex Panthers vs Yuma Blaze Black.  Both teams made a valiant effort to establish the tempo for the rest of the tournament, but neither one could gain any advantage as they tied 3-3.  Yuma then edged into the final bracket after a sterling 6-4 victory over a very well coached Casey’s Crushers Blue team.  Rollerplex edged past Casey’s Crushers Blue in the semi-final game 5-4 after the Crushers rallied from being down 5-2. It was all Yuma Blaze Black in the championship game as Yuma’s top scoring phenom, Jack Allen, put 4 scores into the net, giving the Blaze all they really needed to take the title.  Yuma’s Kyle Land had one goal, Ben Decky had one assist and Joey Perricone had one assist.  Yuma’s goalie, Wyatt Dennis, until 9 months ago, had never played in the “A” division, had an outstanding season, had a terrific state championships and was honored as top goalie for the state championships.

The 12uB division turned out to be very dramatic as Prescott Storm breezed into the championship game, going undefeated in the process.  The story of the state finals was that of the Sharp Shooters.  After losing to the Storm in round robin play 3-5 the Sharp Shooters had to contend with a very determined Casey’s Crushers Red team in the semi-final game.  With the game tied 1-1 Sharp Shooters Alex Centa put in the winning goal as Tim Dixon and Josh Klugman contributed with the winning assist.  The championship finale was dramatic from the outset as both teams scored the points they figured they’d need to take an advantage, but neither team seemed to let each other get away.  But the last 2 scores for the Sharp Shooters, from Wyler Yancy and Walker Yancy went unanswered by the Storm in the second period and the Sharp Shooters put the state title in the deep freeze with an 8-5 victory.  Prescott did indeed put on a show of power as Steven Rubio (10 goals, 9 assists) and Ethan Osburn (11 goals, 2 assists) topped the division scoring charts at #1 and #2 for the tournament.

14u Division

The outcome of the 14uA division had a completely unexpected twist.  Rollerplex Panthers cruised through round robin play without a hitch, as did Team Excalibur except for a close loss to the Panthers 2-5. But it was the simmering determination from the Hillcrest Falcons that began their resurgence to get back into the tournament with a 7-5 victory in the last round robin game against an excellent Yuma Blaze Black team.  But what will have to be remembered as the biggest upset in state finals history, Hillcrest had to face a very powerful Team Excalibur in a crucial semi-final game.  But to add fuel to an already crazy story, two of Hillcrest’s most experienced players, Ben Jackson and Daniel Diaz, were unable to participate, leaving some big holes in their roster.   In spite of this, Hillcrest found themselves in the lead 2-0 after a period of play.  But Team Excalibur would not go away without a fight.  Their outstanding forward, Stetson Dircks, began launching shot after shot on Hillcrest’s Dillon Klarer.  Dircks put 2 goals in after the furious rally, but Hillcrest’s Nick Colucci scored the go ahead goal and Alex Bohlman the go ahead assist, and Hillcrest put this one in the historic deep freeze with an unbelievable victory and a trip the 14uA state championship finale.  The championship game was a bit anti climactic after Hillcrest’s huge upset in the semi-finals, but Rollerplex Panthers simply had the firepower and defense to assure themselves a state title by beating Hillcrest 10-4.  Rollerplex’s 30 assists were outstanding for the tournament and saw 6 of Rollerplex players take the top 7 scoring totals for the division.   Rollerplex had last won the title back in ’04.

The 14uB division had been the most hotly contested division during the entire AIHA qualifying season.  After round robin play it was still any team’s title to win as no team emerged undefeated or untied.  The Storm appeared to pick up momentum in the Semi-final round as they took the victory against Yuma Blaze Red 5-3 on Joshua Burkeen’s hat trick.  On the other side, Casey’s Crushers and the division’s top scorer Alex MacDonald (3 goals in the game) put the Havasu Dust Devils on the ropes and did not let them off until they had the victory 3-1.  Crushers goalie, Jimmy Curley, and eventual outstanding state finals goalie, did an excellent job between the pipes.  Thus the stage was set for a true championship game. With Storm and Crushers tied 3-3 in the second period, suddenly Storm’s Brandon Eastman scored to break the tie to make it 4-3 and then, Storm’s Cooper King, out of nowhere, scored and then scored again to make it 6-3.  Ever so quickly, the Crushers simply had no answer to the scoring barrage, and it was championship game over.  Crushers Alex MacDonald was outstanding, even in loss as he still managed 2 scores and an assist in the finale.  And in fact, Alex MacDonald became the first player is AIHA history to top the regular season scoring charts in two different age divisions (12uA and 14uB).  Both Storm and Crushers played an outstanding game and was well worth any amount for a ticket to watch these two class programs go to battle.

16u Division

Perhaps the best way to describe the action in the 16u division would be to advise anyone interested in the outcome to only watch round robin play.  The Sweethearts made everything very interesting as they almost caught the Rollerplex Panthers napping in round robin play as the Panthers just did manage to take care of business 2-1.  Team Excalibur squeaked past the same over achieving Sweetheart gang 4-2 and then put it to the Sweethearts in the semi-final game 5-0.  Sweethearts goalie, the peerless Rianon O’Reilly, had the tournament of her life as she took 65 more shots on net than any other goalie in the division.  And even though Rianon did not take top goalie honors, her display of commitment to her team and her class and performance under tremendous pressure was a privilege to experience.   The final championship game was a bit of a disappointment as Team Excalibur simply did not match up against a very top Rollerplex Panther team which Excalibur repeated in round robin play, losing to the Panthers 4-1.  The finale saw Panthers Kevin Smith scored a hat trick in the first 5 minutes of play while team Excalibur could only sit back and watch the carnage.  After another goal by the division’s top scorer, Jesse Rooney and yet another goal by Tommy Tuohy it was lights out, game over and championship title to Rollerplex Panthers 5-0.  The Panthers goalie tandem of Greg Barnett and Jeff Portilk were outstanding throughout the tournament, allowing a collective 2 goals total.  The Panthers 16u state title ended an outstanding run of state championship titles by Team Excalibur dating back to 2006.