KMC Eagles News


Wednesday, September 9th, 2015 - 2:25AM
The Eagles take home the Island Cup: A 3-peat for the record books!

Eagles back to back to back Island Cup Games Champions!

Wow, is all that can really be said for the squad that went up to Dordrecht, Netherlands to represent the Eagles and compete in the 2015 Island Cup Games.  The Eagles have competed in the Island Cup Games for four years now and this one would be one for the ages and also the record books!  The Eagles have won the Island Cup championship the past two years (2013 and 2014), and as the tournament directors stated, "If a team is some how fortunate enough to win the champioship three years in a row (which has never happened) then they will actually get to take home and keep the Island Cup Games championship trophy with every past teams' championship and year engraved on it."  For a team to accomplish a feet such as this, it needs dedication, effort and heart.  This was all it lived up to be, Labor Day weekend at it's true definition.

On Friday, the Eagles took on The Hague (Netherlands) and commanded an 8-2 win at will.  Brandon Tudball and Pavel Kovalchuk came up big offensively and Cameron Gerlich and Chris Lee would show a calming presence back on defense, barely allowing the Hague any offensive production.  The 2nd game of the day was against the Stavanger Sunrisers (Norway).  This would prove to be a test for the Eagles and after a long evening and travel time up that morning - how would they fair?  The Eagles prevailed to a 4-1 win and Adrian Bautista and newcomer Sean Carlock showed up in force offensively for this one - whether with the puck or with out; effort, effort and more effort.  Saturday's games begand bright and early with the Eagles facing off against AHK Makovci (Bratislava, Slovakia) at 8:30am.  One phrase described how this game went, "Brubaker the Garbage man".  Justin Brubaker aka the Garbage Man... came up huge with scoring 3 goals and all in the same fashion... out in front of the net getting slashed and sticked, but still putting the puck in the net!  Jimmy Koehler was a huge factor in this, setting up the garbage man a few times.  Eagles won 4-1.  The Eagles next faced the Hot Shots (Finland) and took care of them with ease, winning 6-1.  Todd Lutz being is old self clearing every puck out of the zone imaginable on his side of the ice.  And other newcomer Jack Russ, stepped up his game on defense with Adam Sacchetti to easily defeat them.

The last and third game of the day for the Eagles would be against Meteor (St. Petersburg, Russia).  This team was very evenly matched with the Eagles.  It was a hard fought back and forth game.  Ryan Wehrman was coming up solid in net for the Eagles.  Unfortunately late in the game Meteor scored and then added an empty netter with seconds left to defeat our boys 2-0.  The Eagles took it pretty tough knowing that now their chances of advancing to the finals for a third year in a row were virtually out of the question.  As they entered Sunday mornings and final group play game against The Outlaws (Zoetermeer, Netherlands), they were given some seemingly impossible news... The Russian team had lost a game they should have one and hour or so earlier to advance to the championship game!  This meant that if the Eagles defeated The Outlaws, the Eagles, Meteor, and Stavanger Sunrisers would all be 5-1 and the team with the most goals for would be seeded 1st in the group and advance to the chamionship game.  The Eagles breathed easy knowing that they had scored the most goals in the tournament with 24 at that point without even playing their last group play game!  So easy translation.... the Eagles beat the Outlaws they play in the championship!  Newsflash... the Eagles BEAT the Outlaws 5-1 completely dominating them in every facet of the game.  This was due to the fact that just a few hours earlier they were down and out and them somehow things were set into place for a shot at the record books!

The Eagles were pitted up against Evu Ukot (Vantaa, Finland).  They had 4 wins and 2 ties with no losses!  This game was everything it lived up to be... complete stellar goaltending from Ryan Wehrman... solid lockdown defense from Sacchetti, Russ, Gerlich and Lee... and phenomenal offense from Jimmy, Tudball, Carlock, Lutz, Bautista, Pavel, and Brubaker.  The Eagles etched the organization into Island Cup Games history winning the championship game 4-0 and making it three years in a row!  '13, '14, and now '15.  The tournament directors applauded the Eagles sportsmanship and dedication on and off the ice.  This championship means a lot to the organization and they were represented proudly in Dordrecht!  We now know that there will be a new Island Cup trophy... so maybe in three years we will snag that one too!

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