Carroll, Arlington open state hockey bids today

By Rick Mauch
Special to the Star-Telegram

Neither team took the smoothest route, but the Carroll Dragons and the Arlington Wolverines wound up where most who saw them this season believed they would -- in the Texas High School Hockey Association State Tournament in Austin.

The Wolverines (18-2-1) will open the tournament at the Chaparral Ice Center against Sugar Land Clements today at 10:30 a.m., the tournament's first game. The Dragons (20-1-1) will face Midland/Odessa at 2 p.m.

Joining the Wolverines and Dragons from the Southwestern Bell Metroplex High School Hockey League in the double-elimination tournament are Plano West (19-3) and Lewisville (10-7-4). Houston is also represented by Klein, Clear Lake and Cypress Fairbanks. The 10-team event is rounded out by Round Rock and Midland/Odessa.

"What is comes down to this time of year is not a team's record or always even who has the most talent," Carroll player Geoff Eames said. "It comes down to who has the most heart and soul, and who is the most determined."

The Wolverines were so determined that they had to win a court battle to advance to the playoffs. The Wolverines were disqualified after the Southwestern Bell league ruled that Luke Webster was ineligible because he played only nine regular-season games, one shy of the number required for postseason eligibility, and therefore should not have played in the 8-1 first-round victory against Mansfield.

The Wolverines challenged the disqualification in district court, saying Webster had played in 10 games but that his name was inadvertently left off the official scoresheet in one game. The judge agreed and put Arlington back in the playoffs, giving the Wolverines a berth at state after Mesquite and North Crowley were also disqualified from the Section 2 playoffs for playing ineligible players.

"I didn't believe it at first," Wolverines player Will Petty said. "It seemed like everything was against us. I think we can still win state."

Doing so might require winning a rematch against Plano East, which defeated the Wolverines, 3-2, in overtime Tuesday in the Southwestern Bell semifinals. It could also require defeating Carroll, a team the Wolverines have not played this season, but which battled through its own form of adversity to reach Austin.

For the first three games of the playoffs, the Dragons were without five players. Willy Quinn (broken ankle) and Adam Linville (broken collarbone) are out for the rest of the season, while Erik Ahlund, C.J. Johnsen and Ryan Hopkins returned Thursday after serving a three-game suspension for fighting.

"It was frustrating watching," Johnsen said. "I have really been looking forward to state."

Despite the absence of that quintet, the Dragons outscored their opponents 12-4 in the three games. Their return has Johnsen optimistic about Austin.

"This team has drawn even closer together with us out," Johnsen said. "They filled our spaces nicely and now that we're back, we're that much stronger."

The Wolverines, on the other hand, will be without their leading scorer for two games in the state tournament. Chris Nichols (15 goals, 14 assists in the regular season) was suspended for three games for fighting against Mansfield and sat out his first game against Plano East.

"We'll just have to pull through it," Wolverines coach Jim Villemaire said. "We'll miss Chris, but we got here because of a lot of players."