By Jawwad Qamar

New York, Feb 24: Two thrilling finals concluded a hectic weekend of indoor hockey featuring 12 ladies and 8 men’s teams at the 2008 Big Apple Hockey International Indoor tournament at Riverbank State Park, New York.

After a scoreless first-half, in what was a rematch of 2006 finals, Sarah Scholl started a 5-goal onslaught for the University of Maryland for which a veteran but tired Team Kool had no answer thus enabling the Terrapins to a third straight Big Apple indoor championship. College All American and tournament MVP Susie Rowe scored two goals on penalty corners and Ellen Ott and Nicole Muracco added one each while on the other end goalkeeper Alicia Grater did her bid to preserve the 5-0 shutout much to the delight of Head Coach Missy Meharg. “We were hoping to do this outdoors,” said Meharg on the threepeat. “But we will take it indoor.” After winning the NCAA title in 2005 and 2006, University of Maryland was not so lucky in 2007.

The Terrapins were equally dominating in the semifinals beating GOA Reds 6-1 while it took a golden goal by Denise Zelanak in sudden death overtime for Team Kool to get past the University of Virginia in the other semifinal after a scoreless tie in regulation.

The men’s final saw five different Toronto Lions score on their way to a 5-3 thriller over the Charlestown Chiefs. After Eric Enters put the Chiefs ahead 0-1 in the second minute, the Lions took control with goals by Raji Singh, Devohn Teixeira, Satnam Dosanjh, and Jeewanjot Bath for a 4-1 lead. Tjerk van Herwaarden got one goal back for the Chiefs as the first half ended 4-2. Tournament MVP Micah Teixeira built a 3-goal cushion for Toronto in a second half that saw more physical play by both sides as Andrew Thornton’s tally for the Chiefs made matters interesting at 5-3 with 5 minutes left. However, no further damage was done by either side and the 5-3 result stood for the talented Lions team.

Toronto Lions had a much easier time in the semifinals, blanking Greenwich 5-0, while the Charlestown Chiefs needed 4 goals by Ross McPherson to defeat GOA Reds 7-3 in the other semifinal.

Next on the schedule for BAHF is the Big Apple Six-A-Side Memorial Tournament to be held on May 24th, 25th, featuring four divisions: Men, Women, U-19, and U-16. Following this tournament will be the “winner-take-all” Big Apple Hockey Festival – Mayor’s Cup, a four-day international field hockey tournament over Labor Day weekend, August 29th thru September 1st, 2008. BAHF is currently accepting applications for this tournament where prize money is awarded to the winners. Please see www.bigapplehockey.com for details.

Women
1st Place – University of Maryland: VASSALOTTI, Melissa; RISCHEN, Ameliet; DAVIES, Brianna; ELLENBERGER, Emily; ROWE, Susie; DEAN, Meghan; GRATER, Alicia; KEELEY, Danielle; REILLY, Mary; MURACCO, Nicole; HIMMELHERBER, Amanda; OTT, Ellen; PAPPAS, Alexis; FOSTER, Kristina; MARAWSKI, Alicia; SCHOLL, Sarah
2nd Place – Team Kool: MATHIS, Jennifer; SUSKO, Kim; ZELANAK, Denise; DESMOND, Sophie; RANDALL, Meredith; McDAVITT, Tina; HITCHINS, Nicky; BRIANNA, Kasu; BRODERICK, Sarah

Umpires: Vanessa Williamson (Canada), Dorinda Toney (USA)
Most Valuable Player: Susie Rowe, University of Maryland
Dita’s Most Promising Junior: Alice Zhao, University of Toronto

Men
1st Place – Toronto Lions: GREWAL, Monvir; BATH, Jeewanjot; ALI, Adam; TEIXEIRA, Micah; DOSANJH, Satnam; SINGH, Raji; SINGH, Arminder; SINGH, Manjot; TEIXEIRA, Micah
2nd Place – Charlestown Chiefs: ENTERS, Eric; LANGFORD, Ryan; THORNTON, Andrew; McPHERSON, Ross; HERWAARDEN, Tjerk van; WEISE, Rutger; O’HAIRE, Jon; SYKES, Phil

Umpires: Keith Stephenson (USA), Dean Wenrich (USA)
Most Valuable Player: Micah Teixeira Toronto Lions
Dita’s Most Promising Junior: Keegan Pereira, Ontario U-19