Boston Goaltimate Challenge, June 21

Five “Pro” teams competed for a $500 first prize in this hot one day event. 21^st Century DoG emerged victorious in the finals over the Tea Party, while Blackjack defeated Texas for the 3^rd spot. The fifth team had over 100 years of Goaltimate experience with 8 40ish recruits from Wellesley (birthplace of Goaltimate) and Natick, but couldn’t run with the younger teams.

21^st Century DoG was the top seed based on their 3^rd place finish at the Phase II Goaltimate tournament in West Palm Beach this February, and looked strong as they swept through the lower seeds in pool play. The sentimental local favorite Wellesley Founders, runners-up in the Inaugural Goaltimate Tournament last June in San Diego, were unable to field their regular team. Instead they entered as the Tea Party as they supplemented the lineup with teammates from ultimate dynasty Death or Glory, two of whom also participated in the Phase II event with other teams. The Tea Party struggled to find its groove, dropping individual games in two of their pool play matches, thus raising doubts going into the final match against 21 Century DoG.

The setup for the final was remarkably similar to the quarterfinals in Phase II, when 21^st Century had squared off against the tired, aged Wellesley Founders after a full day of play, ran off a 3-0 lead in the opening minutes, then never looked back in cruising to a demoralizing straight-sets victory. History seemed to be repeating itself in the finals, as 21^st Century again ran away with Game 1, 5-1. The Tea Party battled back to win Game 2 by a point, raising hopes in the crowd that an epic was in the works. At the start of Game 3, the Tea Party nearly capitalized on their momentum but a two point launch ricocheted off the top of the goal and fell harmlessly to the ground. The teams struggled forward to a 3-3 tie that game, but the tide had clearly shifted to the younger DoG players. Two quick goals closed out Game 3, then the Tea Party provided merely token resistance in a 5-1 Game 4 clincher. Walking off with the title were original 21^st Century members Nathan Wicks, Doug Moore, Tom Mathews, Lyn Debevoise, Fortunate Mueller, and Justin Safdie, plus San Diego transplant Dan Stine.

Many thanks to tournament director Tom Proulx of BUDA and to IGO founder Rick Conner for his sponsorship effort.