ECHO Hockey Inc.

By Andrew B. Adler
For the Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/24/08

Trace Williams, a graduate of Brookwood High School and a six-year veteran with the Action Awards Screaming Eagles, predicted a close, physical contest before suiting up against the Southern Smoke in the Adult 18-and-over Inline Hockey Nationals championship.

Tied 4-4 heading into the third period, the New Orleans-based Smoke took full advantage of their power- play opportunities to defeat the Screaming Eagles 7-4 and claim the title.

"It was a combination of us clutching and grabbing and their being hungrier in the third period as to why they beat us," said Screaming Eagles coach Ronnie Williams of Monday's match-up that culminated the five-day, 2008 ECHO Inline Hockey National Championships, held at the Dual Deck Hockey Arena in Snellville.

While the Screaming Eagles were brought to earth, the tournament and the sport are soaring, organizers and participants said. Starting at 6 a.m., Thursday and ending around 3 p.m., Monday, 103 teams played more than 250 games.

"This tournament has grown substantially," Williams said. "We had 34 teams competing in the Nationals four years ago. Last year it was approximately 70 teams. This year, we have more than a hundred. The reason for that is the sport's growing popularity."

Tom Basile, 47, of Snellville and Eric Vanophuijsen, 41, of Athens each play for the Snellville Snoozers, who placed third in the 30-and-over Masters Division.

"Since we work, our goal is to have fun playing," said Vanophuijen, who had no problem making the one-hour drive from Athens to Snellville. "You'll find everyone either shaking hands or congratulating each other during the course of the game."

Of the more than 100 teams representing Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and the Turks and Caicos Islands, four were women's squads.

"The women's teams were very competitive," noted one observer. "This was the first year we had women's teams competing at the Nationals," said Jason Munger, the tournament's organizer and ECHO's owner. "Hopefully, we will have more women's teams next year." The Maryland Thrasers defeated the Atlanta Aces to win the first women's Nationals championship.

And despite the odd, marathon-like hours teams had to keep, no one seemed to complain ... much.

"I think we played 12 games in all," Southern Smoke coach Don Renda said. "One of those games started at 2:20 a.m., in which we didn't get back to the hotel until 4 a.m. Another game we played started at 1:30 a.m. But as I told people before the tournament started, this is not the type of vacation you want to take. We knew were not going to get much sleep."