RYE FHC, Cougars and University of Maryland took home the honors at the 2012 International Indoor Hockey Championships hosted by Big Apple Hockey (BAHF) and Field Hockey America (FHA) in Feasterville, Pennsylvania on February 18 – 19, 2012. It was also the conclusion of the 1st Annual Junior Premier Indoor League.
With the Toronto Lions looking to capture their fifth straight Men’s Championship, they were denied that opportunity by another Canadian Club, the Toronto Titans in the Quarter Finals. This left their arch rivals RYE FHC very happy as they advance to the Semi Finals against their own local rivals the New York City FHC.
The Finals were set up with the Toronto Titans FHC (Canada) against RYE FHC (USA). Will the Championship remain in Canada or will the Runner up over the past few years RYE FHC keep it in the USA.
We witnessed an exciting final between these two Clubs, with lots of highlight goals on both ends. In the end, the American Club was too much for the Canadians to handle and they suffered a convincing defeat 9 – 4. The Dita Most Promising Player award went to Austin Groeneveld of RYE FHC.
Umpires: Thomas Eilmer (Austria), Constantine Soteriades (USA)
In the Women’s Division we also crowned a new Champion. With a rematch of last year where the young legs of Team USA proved too much for the veterans Cougars, thisyear was a totally different story.
With great Goal Keeping by Maria Keesling the eventual MVP, and the experience of the other ex-national players that played in front of her, the Cougars were able to pull out the biggest upset of the tournament by a 4 – 3 margin and got their revenge. It was an exciting game all the way down to the last whistle and they were able to hold off the charge of Team USA.
Umpires: Ayanna McClean (Trinidad & Tobago), Stephanie Judefind (USA)
54 teams competed in this year’s International Indoor Hockey Championships. In addition to the men and women divisions, competition was also held in University, U-19, U-16, and U-14 divisions.
One of the many benefits of the partnership formed with FHA, we are able to expand the tournament and created a separate University / Collegiate Division as well as U-19, U-16 and U-14 Girl’s Divisions.
In the University / Collegiate Division, after watching two highly competitive semi-finals between University of Maryland – Black over Albany Great Danes by a score of 2 – 1, and the University of Maryland – Red over Ohio State University 6 – 3, the finals was an all University of Maryland affair with the Red team beating the Black for the second consecutive year 7 – 3, the same identical score and outcome as last year. Jill
Whittmore from the Red team took the Dita MVP honors.
Umpires: Thomas Hobbs (USA), Susan McHenry (USA)
In the Youth Divisions, we saw Xcalibur FHC returning to dominate all divisions and taking home all of the honors this year. In the U-19 Girl’s Division, Xcalibur FHC defeated Mystx Storm convincingly by a score of 7 – 1, with Gabrielle Major of Xcalibur FHC taking the Dita Most Promising Player award.
The U-16 Girl’s final also went to Xcalibur FHC over The Gaels Blue 11 - 3 with Ashley Hoffman of Xcalibur taking home the Dita Most Promising Player award.
Xcalibur FHC had a little more trouble capturing the U-14 Divisions and the sweep of the youth divisions. They held on to an early goal to beat Jersey Intensity FHC by a score of 1 – 0. Of the three youth finals, this was by far the most exciting and enjoyable to watch. Kathryn Roncoroni of Xcalibur FHC was named the Dita Most Promising Player.
A special thanks to the Umpire Manager, Steve Horgan, Director of USA Umpiring, Technical Director, Jeffery Grosvenor and all the Umpires, Technical Officers, Judges and volunteers who worked under their watchful eyes and guidance to make this event a huge success.
Thanks to our foreign Umpires who visited our shores this year. We hope you had a rewarding experience and enjoyed your visit. We look forward to having you back sometime soon!
Thanks to the Owners and Management of the Sportsplex at Feasterville for making the facility accessible to us and we look forward to continuing this great relationship in the interest of the sport of Indoor Hockey.
On behalf of BAHF, Inc, and the organizing committee, we want to thank everyone for your participation and continued support. Hope your participation was as rewarding as expected and look forward to having you all back next year.
Next Big Apple Event: Big Apple Memorial Six-A-Side - May 26 & 27, New York City
For complete results and standings please visit www.bigapplehockey.com.
