Game 1: Euro America knocked off the Thunder Bay Bulldogs. A very well played game, both teams had their chances and both teams had a few very talented players. Standing out today for the Euros was #10 Michael McNeil...very good skater, smart D Man who plays with great patience and confidence and Trevor Janicke, despite being a younger '00 showed no signs of being intimidated by the physical play added a goal (cough, cough he was offside by a mile) and two nice assists..one a worker and another off of a won faceoff. The Bulldogs played a great game. This was a fun team to watch. They had some nice players, team speed up and down the lineup and played a great physical game. Jesse Tucker and his twin brother Tyler were two very fun players to watch. Jesse had a highlight reel slapper and Tyler had at least five pretty body checks on the Euro forwards.

Game 2: The Machine Black turned back the Madison Capitols 12-3. Dylan Zitzloff is an incredible talent. He skates well with the puck and has filthy hands. On Saturday he had the hat trick in dramatic fashion...all three were bar down shots...one on a Patrick Kane backhander over the goalie's shoulder. The score was 2-1 after 1, both teams having equal scoring opportunities. But the Black scored 6 goals in the second to take a 8-2 lead and never looked back from there.

Game 3: The '04 Blades took on the '04 CA Brick team. It was a tale of two halves. In the first half, the Blades were in complete control, leading 6-2 and quite frankly it could have been 12-2 had they gotten a few bounces. But with 20 seconds left in the second, the Beach Boys got a goal to make it 6-3. Early in the third, California got four goals in 2 minutes and 30 seconds to from 3 down to one up. The Blades could not restart the engine and went on to lose 9-6. Watch out for speedy Pavit Mehra and goal hungry Ben Ivey for the Team Baywatch come July.

We mentioned a few names in what we saw (Tucker Twins - Thunder Bay, McNeil - Euro, Zitzloff - Machine Black)...here are few more and some kids with impressive stats through Saturday's games.

Jaxson Ezman - Madison Capitols, the kid was all over the rink for the Caps. Made a positive contribution each time he hit the ice. Had a beautiful back door feed to Drew Lenz.

Cameron Boche - Machine Black, fast and smart player. Played with amazing speed and patience with the puck. A future star for Lakeville South.

Tyler Borsch - Euro '00, along the same lines as McNeil. Very poised, smart with the puck. A steady presence in both zones.

Jimmy Clark - Blades '04, had a natural hat tricky plus another for a total of 4G. Has seven on the weekend so far.

Nick Mikan - Blades '04, impressive skill...moved back to Defense. The Team MN Blue Line will be as strong as any that they have sent to the Brick.

JJ Wiebusch - Miracle Gold '04, Nine goals and 14 points for the weekend so far.

Christian Kim - Bauer Selects '05, 16 points..not a bad week's work for a 8/9 year old.

Chaz Lucius - Blades '03, a gaudy 23 points as the Blades head into Championship game against Machine Orange (a rematch from last year)...they should charge to see this kid to play.

Jack Harvey - Blades '03, a meagher 17 points. One of the most impressive all around players YHH saw this past Winter.

Chase Beacom - Machine Orange '03, one of the quickest and smartest kids we saw this weekend...very dangerous in open ice.

Tristan Broz - Machine Orange '02, has 14 points..has been a key contributor for the Orange all year.

Judd Caufield - American Stars '01, leads the Stars with 17 points. The power Forward from Grand Forks will need to be a force Sunday for the Stars to beat the Blades.

Jake Hale - Blades '01, leads Blades into Championship against Stars with 19 points. 

A lot of great Championship games on tap, here are some revised thoughts on how we see this unfold. On Thursday we made picks...we list a team in BOLD CAPS if we changed our mind.

'05: BAUER SELECTS over Machine Orange

'04: MIRACLE GOLD over CA Brick

'03: Blades over Machine

'02: MACHINE ORANGE over Euro Red

'01: Blades over American Stars

'00: Machine over Thunderbirds