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By NANCY MORGAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 19, 2000
The Tampa Bay Junior Lightning Bantam team wants to break barriers in the youth hockey world.
First, the SunBlades-based squad of 13- to 14-year-olds became the first team from the area to advance to that division's North American Silver Stick Finals in Port Huron, Mich., according to team coach Jacob Brozyna of St. Petersburg. Second, the team hopes to return to the Michigan area for a youth hockey league national championship.
"We didn't win any games at the Silver Stick tournament," said Brozyna, who is assisted by Bryan Offerman, "but we earned far more in a better understanding of what ice hockey is all about."
The TBJL team faced teams from Canada, Ohio and Virginia.
"We gave them a good run with two games at 4-2 and one at 6-1," said Brozyna. "The best part of all was this team never gave up and came together with a full team effort. At an event of this level, there are no individuals but a full team effort."
Michael Bazzone, one of two goalies for the team, couldn't agree more. Playing against teams from areas where ice hockey is as common a sport as tennis is in Florida, Bazzone realizes there's much to learn.
"We had the best-ever time at the tournament," said Bazzone, 14, of Palm Harbor. "It was fast-paced, yet controlled and disciplined. Being there was such a great opportunity, and to be able to get to play with the best. You see ice hockey at its best."
Bazzone started out playing recreational ice hockey, but memories of his hometown Pittsburgh Penguins winning back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in the early 1990s sparked his interest to be more competitive.
In fact, not only did he get hooked, but his older sister, Lindsey, became involved, and her talent landed her at an Olympic Development Camp last summer.
To qualify for the 38th annual North American Silver Stick Finals, the TBJL team of 17 had to win four games in a regional tournament in Atlanta. In the final game against the Atlanta Fire -- a team TBJL had never beaten -- a shootout determined the winner, with Steve Ludzik, Steve Plathy and Dane Kuplicki connecting for one goal each.
"Getting to the Silver Stick finals was the best," said Bazzone. "To advance, we had to beat the Atlanta Fire, and we had lost so many times before. It was just a great feeling."
Today, the TBJL Bantam team is in Orlando competing for the Florida Youth Hockey League (FYHL) North Division Championship and the right to challenge the South Division champion for the state title.
Rounding out the team are goalie John Hallas and forwards Ryan Batty, Andrew Carlson, Clint Dockery, Richard Furlong, Billy Karns, Devin Letona, Nick Metts, Sean Mullany, Eric Pretto, Jean Paul Rioux, Brad Schmidt and Adam Weaver.
MORE ICE HOCKEY: The Mustangs Bantam (14-and-under) squad raised its record to 16-1-1 last week in the Florida Metro Hockey League. The Mustangs Midget (ages 15-17) and Raiders Pee Wee (12-and-under) teams controlled their respective first-place positions, as did the Mustangs Squirt (10-and-under) squad with two consecutive wins. In all, 21 teams compete among the four FMHL divisions.
GIRLS GYMNASTICS: LaFleur's Gymnastic Club in Largo won the Level 8 team competition in this month's Gemini Cup in Clearwater. Leading the way were Whitney Eberhart, Alyssa Wright, Amanda Ozack and Elizabeth Herman.
Ozack and Eberhart were first all-around; Wright and Herman second. In event finals, Ozack won the floor exercise and was third on the uneven bars and fifth on the balance beam. Eberhart was second on vault and beam and third on both bars and floor. Wright was third on beam, and Herman was second on floor.
LaFleur's Level 9 squad, with scores from Kim Conaway, Lesley Valenty, Jacqueline Smith, Aubrey Phillips and Cassie Hammock, finished fourth overall among 17 teams. Valenty was first on the vault.
In Level 7 team competition, LaFleur's team of Lindsey LeCroy, Amanda Smolen, Brittany Hunt and Karrah Nobel was seventh and the team of Lindsay DeAguila, Amanda Shoeck, Lauren Beard and Krista DeSantis was ninth. LaFleur's Jodie Heinicka was sixth all-around in Level 10 and placed sixth on the bars in the event finals.
Tampa Bay Turners in St. Petersburg won Level 10, Level 9 and Level 7 team competitions. Tampa Bay also was second in Level 10, 10th in Level 9 and third and sixth in Level 7.
Host club Gemini finished seventh in Level 8 based on the results of Toni Burney, Alecia Pollina, Sara Atkins and Jessica Petro.
BOYS GYMNASTICS: Colin Christ placed first and second all-around in two consecutive meets last month in Class 3 competition and helped his Gemini School of Gymnastics team win its competition in the Gator Swamp Meet in Gainesville. Josh Matson was Gemini's top Class 3 all-around gymnast.
At last month's Men's Gasparilla Classic in Tampa, the Apollo School of Gymnastics finished fourth in Class 7 team competition and fifth in Class 6. In Class 7, James Van Cleve III was eighth all-around with a win on parallel bars, Tomily Bourgoing was ninth and won the floor exercise, Jessee Scott was fourth all-around, and Bradley Hutson won his age group's floor event.
Top all-around gymnasts for Apollo in Class 6 were Jordan Loscalzo (fourth), Grant Brittain (sixth) and Jeremy Roberson (eighth).
BASKETBALL: The Elks Hoop Shoot held its Central Florida Region Championship last week in Hudson. Local girls competing were district champions Jessica Kenyon in the 12-13 age division; Jami Lucas, 10-11, and Jennifer Hunter, 8-9. Chris Libby was the district champ in 12-13 boys.
In Hudson, Lucas was the only Pinellas athlete to finish among the top three in any of the three girls and three boys divisions. Only the division winners advanced to the state contest later this month.
DIVING: Austin Hampton, 13, of St. Petersburg placed second among 20 divers in both the 1-meter and 3-meter Junior Olympic competition at this month's All-Star International Meet in Orlando. Hampton, who was among 32 selected nationwide to attend U.S. Diving Camp last December, trains with the Jetstream, a diving club in Brandon.
SWIMMING: Clearwater Aquatic Team members Michelle Smith, Raymond Rosal and Jay Carpenter were listed among the nation's best age-group swimmers for 1999.
In the recently published 1999 Short Course National Age Group Top 16, an enviable list for a swimmer to be represented, Smith was fourth in the 100 backstroke and 14th in the 200 back for girls ages 17-18, and Rosal was ninth in the 100 freestyle for 17-18 boys. In 11-12 boys, Carpenter was third in the 100 butterfly, 11th in the 50 fly, seventh in the 200 individual medley and 13th in the 100 IM.
Area swimmers will converge on the Long Center in Clearwater next weekend for the Clearwater Aquatic Team's Last Chance Qualifier for those attempting to qualify for next month's Junior Olympics Championships in Gainesville.
Swimmers from CAT, St. Petersburg Aquatics, West Florida Lightning Aquatics and Dunedin Aquatics will be among 800 swimmers from more than 20 teams in the three-day competition. Call the CAT office (791-9542) for specific competition times.
The Last Chance Qualifier is the first of three consecutive meets hosted by CAT at the Long Center. The Region IV Championships are March 2-4, followed by the Florida Senior Championships March 16-19.