2007 WSHL

Showcase in San Antonio

The 2007 WSHL Showcase December 14-16th in San Antonio gave the fans three days of exciting, fast-paced competitive hockey.  Beginning with the opening game on Friday morning, and the San Diego Surf out skating the Diablos with a hard fought 2 – 1 victory, and ending with the much anticipated heavy weight battle between the two division leaders, the Phoenix Polar Bears and the El Paso Rhinos putting on an awesome display of speed, skill, and all out effort. The Rhinos came out on top with a thrilling 5 – 4 win.  Crowds for every game were loud and supportive of all the teams.  Fans came from all over the globe to cheer for their favorite players.  The largest crowd was Saturday night’s game between the Polar Bears and hometown Diablos.  The Polar Bears were impressive with a shut-out win of 5 – 0. All the games were close and hard fought, with only one lop-sided contest all weekend, which was a Sunday morning game seeing Cap Thunder overpowering the Cajun Catahoula.

The many college scouts in attendance all weekend, were impressed with the overall talent level of the entire league.  Recruiters from schools such as Milwaukee School of Engineering, Adrian College, Westfield State College, SUNY Brockport, Robert Morris, University of Minnesota at Crookston, plus others were excited to find players with such desire and abilities who all are wanting to move on to the next level of competition.  The Head Coach of the Wichita Falls Wildcats in the NAHL, Jack Bowkus, made the trip down from Dallas on Sunday morning after his team had played the Texas Tornado the night before.  Every scout spoke to players they were interested in after all the games were over.  There will be many players moving on to the college level because of the success of this Showcase.

The Diablo’s staff and players along, with the staff of the Ice & Golf Center at Northwoods want to acknowledge all of the hard work put in by the large volunteer base that all helped out tirelessly over the weekend.  The hours were long and hard, but much appreciated – Thank You.  We want to give a Texas sized “Thank You” to the two video crews that broadcast most of the games over the weekend. The Tulsa Rampage team and especially Mike Randolph who does such an incredible job, which without his help and many hours of sitting in the cold, we would never have the quality broadcast that play by play announcer Doug Tresnak lends his expert commentary to.  Last, but certainly not least, a big “Thank You” to all of the fans, teams, team staff members, and league officials who made the Showcase such a huge success. Good Luck the rest of the season and all of 2008.