Congratulations to Early Birds for winning the Rocky Mountain Invitational Tournament.

They say the weather changes every 5 minutes in Colorado, well they are right. The weather on Saturday went from light rain, to rain, to heavy rain, to sleet, to snow, to sleet. At least Sunday was a normal Spring day in Colorado - hot and sunny.

The Early Birds quest for glory starting with a draw against local rivals Mile High, they then went on to a resounding victory against ASU, who were trying to get use to the freezing temperatures. On Sunday they had a close game with the other local rivals Colorado State, but came out winners 2-0. The nail biting final game for the Early Birds would decide the final standings...the crowd were going wild just trying to figure out what would be the outcome. In the end, Early Birds won 3-0 to win the league and take the "Champions" T-Shirts. Their extra game ended in another victory against ASU - Pankaj scoring the winning goal. Early Birds top goal scorer was Jerry with 4 goals. Nick and Sebastien got 2 and Spencer, Pankaj and Jaynie all got one each.


Colorado State lost the first game to ASU, maybe ASU weren't effected by the weather. The next game produced their game of the tournament (not that I was watching as I was trying to keep warm and dry in the car, but I can imagine!) Colo State beat the highly rated Chicago team 1-0 to give them 3 precious points, Austin scoring off an overhead pass into the d from miah. Sunday morning and most of the team were on time with no signs of last nights drinking. But 2 hard games in a row to both local rivals saw them losing both games 2-0. The game against Mile High was very close, Mile High scored against the run of play in the first half and scored (just) from a penalty stroke in the 2nd. Colorado States top goal scorer was Austin with 1 goal.

Mile High's first game was a draw with Early Birds (obviously, if you have been reading the whole report!) The next game ended in a loss to Chicago. We started well, but Chicago came from 1-0 down and scored near the end to win 2-1. Sunday was a better day, not only the weather but the hockey, we beat ASU 3-0, then Colo State 2-0. Phil scoring a trademark goal from a short corner - Colorado State fell for his dummy..again. Mile High won their extra game against Chicago 1-0, a bit of revenge for yesterday's game. It has to be said that they couldn't have done it without the two 5 minute cameo role by Jones - he ran himself into the ground to make sure of the victory!! Mile High top goal scorer was Rachel with 4 goals, thats one better than Phil who could only manage 3, Ono was the other goal scorer with 1. Captain Sheldon was feeling the pressure from being last tournaments highest goal scorer, and didn't get on the score sheet - as Trent was very nice to point out a few times.

Thanks to Early Birds for putting the tournament together.

RESULTS:

Mile High v Early Bird 1-1
(Rachel) , (Jerry)

Colo State v ASU 0-1


Chicago v Mile High 2-1
(Rachel)

Early Bird v ASU 4-1
(Jerry, Sebastien (2), Jaynie) , (Riyaz)

Chicago v Colo State 0-1
(Austin)

Mile High v ASU 3-0
(Ono, Phil, Rachel)

Colo State v Early Bird 0-2
(Nick, Jerry)

Chicago v ASU 1-0


Colo State v Mile High 0-2
(Phil 2)

Early Bird v Chicago 3-0
(Nick, Spencer, Jerry)

PLAY OFFS

Chicago v Mile High 0-1
(Rachel)

Early Bird v ASU 1-0
(Pankaj)

SCHEDULE:

ALL GAMES 20 MINUTE HALVES WITH 5 MINUTE HALFTIME