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Wolves Poised For League Title

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By NICHOLAS J.E. MURRAY nmurray@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 31, 2008

With only seven games remaining, Newsome Blue looks poised to win the Hillsborough High School Hockey League after back-to-back shutouts before the holiday break.

Kenny Roundy, who has four shutouts in six games for the Wolves, was in net for a 4-0 win against Plant and a 5-0 win against Wharton. Those results put the Wolves two points clear of Lakeland Jenkins after 11 games.

The performances of Roundy and James Tzilvelis (4-1-0, 1.00 GAA), still stand out for the Wolves, who, as a team, are still currently giving up less than a goal-a-game in league play. That has been despite recently missing Conrad Crawford, someone Newsome coach Dan Rondeau said is a key defenseman.

"Kenny and James have been solid in net," Rondeau said. "The pucks they've had to face, they've stopped the puck, which is big."
Rondeau added that because of Newsome's scoring prowess - the Wolves also lead the league with 63 goals - its goalies may not get the recognition they deserve.

"When we play against the top teams like Freedom in the league and George Jenkins," Rondeau said, "and when we play Gaither/Sickles or East Lake, you find out how good your goalies are."

The Wolves recently scrimmaged against Gaither/Sickles, which plays in the Pinellas High School Hockey League. The game ended in a tie at 2, Gaither/Sickles twice taking the lead through goals by Stephen Demarco and Shane Hurley, and Newsome replying with goals by Josh Revoy and Tom Kowalski.
Rondeau said he was hoping to play more teams in the Pinellas Division, to try and build greater experience for his team against different competition.

"It's nice to compete against other rinks' high school teams," Rondeau said. "We just need to keep doing it more. We want to play East Lake and the other top teams in the Oldsmar rink. I think to make competitive high school hockey on the next level, you've got to play those guys all the time."
Rondeau added that he would like to see the league's unify at some point, given the proximity of the two main rinks the league's currently play in.

"I'd like to see it," he said. "If I'm involved with the high school league here in Florida, I'd like to see them make a full high school league. The rinks are only an hour apart, not a big deal, and if Ellenton starts a high school program, too, we'd have three rinks within a two-hour drive and maybe 25 teams. That would be a really nice, strong, high school league, too."

With the way it has played so far this season, Newsome would appear to only have two major bumps left. On Jan. 10, the Wolves face Jenkins, the only team to defeat them this season, and then on Jan. 31 is the return match with Freedom, the other team to hold a lead on the Wolves this season.

Pelicans Gear Up For New Season

Being a defending champion is never easy. When you have to restock most of your team to do so makes it even more difficult.

That's what the Tampa Pelicans Under-19 rugby team will face this season. The defending state champions after an 11-10 win against Jupiter last April, the Pelicans have only eight players returning to the team this season.

One of the newcomers, however, could be the pivotal player the Pelicans will need to continue the team's success. Dion Opperman, a freshman fly half, will step into the gap left by the graduated Robbie Cribbs. A native of South Africa, one of the major cradles of the sport, Opperman kicked one penalty goal, and converted two of three Pelican tries in a 22-19 win against the Tampa Barbarians in a recent scrimmage.

The Pelicans got tries from two members of its front row against the Barbarians, with prop Jeremy Byrne and hooker Steven Gonzalez each touching down. But it was the quick thinking of scrum half Danny Del Pino, who caught the Barbarians off guard with a tap-penalty late in the game to give the Pelicans victory after trailing most of the game.

Ahead of the opening day of the season on Jan. 17, the Pelicans have two more scrimmages scheduled, on Saturday against the Cape Coral Black Hawks, and Jan. 10 against the Palmetto Bears.

In an e-mail, Coach Dave McFadden said while it was good to get the team in uniform for the first time, there were things his team would need to improve before the season. However, he was confident the new members would be ready for the challenge.

"The team settled in as the scrimmage went along," McFadden wrote. "The areas of improvement that we need to focus on are very correctable and included supporting the runner better, recognizing when the ball is out of the ruck, and tackling. With the athletes we have, I'm sure that we will improve over the next 2 pre-season scrimmages. We will be ready for the season by the time we play our first regular season match."

TENNIS: Danielle Collins of St. Petersburg took the girls under-18 title at the Seminole Lake Tennis Center New Year's Super Series with a 6-0, 6-4 win against Gyanna Mandic of Bradenton on Saturday.

The win capped a strong year for Collins, who is currently ranked the No.4 ranked player in Florida. Collins won four titles, including a USTA National Open in February and the ATP Gator Bowl Junior Championship.

CORRECTION: The South Palomino PONY Baseball Team won its World Series title in 1976.

Nicholas J.E. Murray can be reached at (813) 259-8243. Keyword: Youth Sports, for more news and notes.

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