UPDATED: Dodgie's/Need a Fifth, Too Old & Cold win Pond Hockey titles
By: Ken Olson, Superior Telegram
- Pond Hockey champs
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Dodgies/Need a Fifth and Too Old & Cold are back on familiar ice after winning 2010 Great Lake Pond Hockey Classic championships Sunday’s a Barker’s Island.
Dodgies/Need a Fifth defeated D.O.G.’s 19-16 in the regular division championship game while Too Old & Cold won the Over 40 division with a 20-11 win over Landing/Bulldog Pizza.
Dodgie’s/Need a Fifth won the Classic’s inaugural tournament six years ago and finished second two other times, including last year.
Too Old & Cold, and team members Terry and Travis Shold, Gary Kucharyski and Pete Hanson, won the Over 40 title two years ago and was second last year.
While Dodgie’s/Need a Fifth’s roster consisted of the usual Chad Matushak, Tim Nelson, Clayton Weiby and Kelly Stephens, Chris Sislo was a last-second replacement for Jay Matushak, who was hospitalized in a Twin Cities hospital over the weekend with an infected cut on his elbow.
The elder brother of Chad, Jay suffered the injury when he fell during a pond hockey tournament last weekend in the Twin Cities.
“We were worried about the infection, but he’s going to be fine,” Chad Matushak said. “I know he missed playing this weekend, he was e-mailing and texting the whole time.”
Dodgie’s didn’t miss a beat as they finished first in their round-robin bracket then advanced to the title game with wins over Heavy Metal, last year’s champion, and Bud Light, which included former UW-Superior Yellowjackets Kyle Nosan and Eric Bausanno as well as Eric Dahlberg, Joe Nosan and Kevin Kuklinski.
“We had a good run and it was really fun to get as far as we did,” Kyle Nosan said. “We ran into a good team that really know how to play this game.”
Heavy Metal’s roster included Rheese Carlson and Ryan Vieau, also former Yellowjackets. The two joined forces this year with Superior’s Trent and Doug Clark and Nate Cockerham, also a former ’Jacket.
D.O.G.’s advanced to the tile game by defeating the Gopher Rejects 21-9 and Moorsoupials 19-14. Members of the D.O.G.’s were Dan Olson, Jeremy Zaic and Dan Krunkkala of Ely, Minn., and Pete Sandelin and Josh Birchill of Duluth.
The championship game was a rematch from earlier in the tournament, which Dodgie’s also won by only a few goals.
“It was a very close game,” Chad Matushak said. “We both like to slow it down, so there weren’t a lot of goals scored. They’re a really good team, we also played them Friday night and that was also a neck-and-neck game so we knew it would be tough.”
Both Matushaks are planning on returning next year to defend their title.
“We had a great time, the weather was a lot better than last year and there were a lot of good teams,” Chad Matushak said. “We’ll be back next year, I know Jay’s already looking forward to it.”
Moorsoupials, which included the Superior High School coaching staff of head coach Jason Kalin and assistant coaches Chad Beiswenger, Kevin Harrington, Ryan Hendry and Geoff Torzewski, won its quarterfinal game over the Young Guns, which included former Spartans’ Eric Severin, Luke Mertz, Jake Williams and Chris Bachinski.
The remaining quarterfinal game had Bud Light defeating Play It Again Sports, which included George, Randy and Perky Hansen, Jake Nelson and Chris Stenberg.
Despite only 29 adult teams playing in the Classic this year, organizer Mike McCoshen was very pleased with the weekend.
“We had a very successful weekend,” McCoshen said. “We were down a number of adult teams, but we had eight mini-mite teams, which had a tremendous effect on the event.
“The weather also cooperated. With 15-degree temperatures and sunshine, people came out in droves. I don’t ever recall ever having that many people down here on Saturday and Sunday. I don’t have a hand on any finances yet, but we figure to have had a successful weekend.”
POND NOTES: Members of the Over 40 second-place Landing/Bulldog Pizza team were Jay Turnquist, John Homer, Mike Fowler, Ken Write and Rick Johnson. … D.O.G.’s stands for drunken old guys. They finished third in last year’s tournament as the North Stars. … The Gopher Rejects were Justin Johnson, Bend Delwiche, Chris Green, Drew Liebaert and Steve Murray.
2010 Great Lakes Pond
Hockey Classic
Quarterfinals
D.O.G.’s 12, Gopher Rejects 9
Moorsoupials 16, Young Guns 13
Dodgie’s/Need a Fifth 24, Heavy Metal 22, OT
Bud Light 33, Play It Again Sports 22
Semifinals
D.O.G.’s 19, Moorsoupials 14
Dodgie’s/Need a Fifth 25, Bud Light 22
Championship Game
Dodgie’s/Need a Fifth 19, D.O.G.’s 16
Over 40
Championship Game
Too Old & Cold 20, Landing/Bulldog Pizza 11
Tags: sports, superior, hockey
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