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EAGLES CAPTURE CROWN AT THE MITE HOCKEY SHOWDOWN

03/13/2012, 6:55pm CDT

By Jamie Stebbeds

EAGLES CAPTURE CROWN AT THE MITE HOCKEY SHOWDOWN

The Southwest Eagles Hockey Association held the annual Mite Hockey Showdown this past weekend at the Eagles Nest (March 9-11). The Showdown is an invitational tournament that was made up of 12 teams from around the state including two from Stevens Point and one each from Janesville, Beaver Dam, Waupun, DePere, Wausau, West Madison, Middleton, Reedsburg, Fox Valley, and the host Southwest Eagles. Teams consisted of 7-8 year old Mite Red Skaters and drew more than 500 visitors to Verona for an exciting weekend of hockey.

The hometown Eagles opened up the tournament on Friday with a 6-0 victory in Game 1 against the rival Middleton Wings and easily handled the DePere Voyageurs 11-0 on Saturday afternoon. The two victories lead to a semi-final match-up on Sunday with the visiting Fox Valley Blades. When the horn sounded to end the game, it was the Eagles who once again found themselves victorious with an 11-3 win and on their way to the championship to face the talented Waupun Warriors.

In the Championship Game, it was the Warriors that tallied first and jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The Eagles fought back in the 2nd period to score 3 goals and capture the lead. Stellar goaltending and excellent team play was enough to help the Eagles hold on and claim their first ever Showdown Title and win their second tournament in as many weeks.

The Mite Hockey Showdown is a major fundraising event and is expected to make more than $6,000.00 for our club this year. The success of this event is a result of the support and dedication of every family member and skater of the Southwest Eagles Hockey Association. Thanks go out to all of the teams that provided raffle baskets, as well as the membership that helped plan and staff the event over the weekend. Finally, a big THANK YOU to all the Mite Families that worked so hard this season to plan and organize the best run mite hockey tournament in the state of Wisconsin.

Congratulations Eagles!

Southwest Eagles Mite Red team members include: Logan Roth, Sammy Iszczyszyn, Parker Murn, Ben Melvin, Troy Tollefson, Carson Lindell, Sam Severson, Brady Stebbeds, Sam Sims, Joe Bakalars, Anthony Heinrichs, McCarthy Reed, Easton Simpson, Owen Hebgen, and Cole Montgomery.

The team is coached by: Jamie Stebbeds, Tony Heinrichs, Steve Simpson, Jason Melvin, and JR Reed.