This is not the Mililani In-line Hockey Association select teams from 1997 or 1998 and in no way assures a position on those teams.
The California Koho Cup hosts the Official California State Roller Hockey Championships and is the Official Qualifying Regional Championship for the North American Roller Hockey Championships (NARCh). Lanakila will have an opportunity to participate in Koho Cup International as an out-of-state team. The California teams that we will be competing against have an opportunity to apply points to their qualification process for a seed in one of the NARCh finals - Platinum, Gold or Silver.
The Koho Cup age brackets are as follows:
Over this hockey-filled weekend, our kids will participate in more games than any team from Oahu has yet! We will arrive in California early Friday to go to a roller hockey clinic put on by Joe Cook at the Inline Sports Center in Corona. This will allow our kids to become accustomed to the smooth surface, dasher boards with plexiglass and the new environment. I am sure being out of the Hawaiian sunshine will be thrilling. Early to bed that Friday evening and on Saturday morning the first tournament of 4 games begins at Coast2Coast in Huntington Beach. Each tournament will have 5 teams total and everyone plays each team once in the round robin format. At the end of the 4 games, the team with the best record wins first, second best record wins second, etc. On Sunday at Glacial Gardens in Lakewood at 6am, a second tournament with 5 different (except for us) teams will be played. That will be another 4 games to play. Each of the teams from Hawaii will play a total of 8 games over the two days. WOW! At the conclusion of each tournament, First and Second place individual awards will be given along with Top Goaltender (based on the best save percentage) and High Scorer for each tournament. That Sunday evening after the tournaments are over, we will be going to the Anaheim Pond to see the Mighty Ducks play the St. Louis Blues. It is the last game of the regular season.
Why should all these parents pay all this money for these kids to go to California to play roller hockey? I guess there are many reasons. Here in Hawaii we are a bit behind. A lot of our kids have never seen or skated on a "real" hockey rink. We may become very inspired as we see the puck whiz on Sportcourt or Flightdeck. After a clinic with Joe Cook, we may return home very motivated to improve on our skills. When we see these kids our own age playing with skill and finesse, we may be humbled and seek to strive for a higher standard. I guess there are so many reasons why we would want to participate in this roller hockey tournament. I would think the most important is that the player really loves the sport and would want to learn more.
The game schedule is not available yet, however, we will be playing in the morning.
Be sure to look for hockey players selling Zippy's chili tickets as a fundraiser. We also had a successful garage sale and our parents got rid of a lot of junk.
Cool Hockey Links
Mililani Inline Hockey Association
Cool Hockey Store
California Koho Cup
1998 Lanakila
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