June 20th, 2008
In what will have to go down as one of the most unexpected and underdog victories in sports would have to be the Phoenix Dragons professional inline hockey team. Never mind that these local Arizona players took on some of the best players in the world and that they had to travel some 1400 miles by van when the rest of the national playoff teams were flying to the championship venues. The Professional Inline Hockey Association (PIHA), inline hockey’s version of the NHL, has been in operation for 8 years. This was the first year that an Arizona team made an appearance in the playoffs. And it was the first time that a team from the west won the championship. The Phoenix Dragons beat the Connecticut Blaze 4 games to 2 in a best of seven game series on June 12th, 13th and 14th.
Of the nine players that took to the floor for the Phoenix Dragons at the national championships in Colorado Springs, 6 of them had played as kids in the local Arizona Inline Hockey Association where they tasted some of their early tournament play in locations such as Tucson, Phoenix, Mesa, Yuma, Prescott and Lake Havasu. Local players Danny Marmorstein, Duane Jones, Cody O’Reilly, Tyler Koressel, Chad Chapman and team captain Alex Dodt all stepped up and brought home the prestigious national cup and a tremendous sense of pride in Arizona inline hockey. California native Josh Laricchia was the runaway top selection for tournament MVP for the Dragons while Pennsylvannia native Justin Maroon and Josh Joles rounded out the Dragons roster and were absolutely vital to the team’s success all season.