First off, let's see if I can job my memory to remember who was on who's team.

Team listings go - Goalie: Player 1, Player 2, Player 3, Player 4

George Brown: Kyle Baumgartner, Daniel Wendt, Joe Malinowski, Sam Monin

Jason Flowers: Kyle Kozlowski, Nicky Guagenti, Scott Gliss, Matt Milliman 

Eric Werner: Eric Haak, Jermo, Ax Chop, Eric Glosser

John Brown: Ricky Nawojski, Russ Folga, Brian Gliss, Ryan Wendt

Chris Gump: Tyler Walser, Cory Clark, Shawn Golden, Nick Narchus

If I mis-placed a couple of guys, I apologize, but from my recollection, that's how it was laid out. In my opinion, this was one of the most stacked, and evenly competitive ironman's ever. What a great tournament to be a part of! From the get-go, it seemed that Jason Rowler's team was going to be the dominant force to beat. Through the round-robin, that was true. Team Rowl went 4-0 and steamrolled it's way to the #1 seed in the playoffs. Hindered only slightly by a "supposed" shoulder injury to Kyle Kozlowski (Rowl thinks he faked it), the team shared offensive scoring duties while Koz was able to take it a little easier on the back end and save it up for the playoffs.

Team George has a bit of a tough go of it throughout, going 0-3-1 in the round robin. The boys just couldn't put it together on the front or back end, and ended up falling into the 5th seed, getting it's tie against Team Gump.

Team Brown came on late, and seemed to get better game by game. Ricky Nawojski seemed like he was getting back into the swing of things better and better by the minute, working very nicely with fellow PRO team member Russ Folga. These two prolific offensemen went nicely with the grinding two-way presence of Ryan Wendt and defensive stalwart Brian Gliss. John Brown can always lock it down on the backend, so this was looking to be the darkhorse team heading into the playoffs, though they were only to land the #4 seed (1-2-1).

Team Gump looked to be fairly solid top to bottom, with probably the most explosive offensive player in the draft in Tyler Walser, and a couple of JR./PRO team members and strong defensive players in Cory Clark and Shawn Golden, this team seemed like it might be one of the more solid teams through the round-robin. Though the record might not have reflected success (1-1-2), the way Team Gump got there was rather interesting. Two of the ties came with Team George scoring with around 10 seconds left as the puck went in off Shawn Golden's stick, and Cory Clark scoring with 1 second left against Team Brown when all seemed lost. The win came on a go-ahead goal by Cory Clark with around 10 seconds left to go up 2-1. So while the record may have not reflected greatness, the adversity overcome would prove to be greatly beneficial in the playoffs as the #3 seed.

Team Werner played as you would expect any team to play with both Eric Haak and Jermo on it... extremely defensively. Their goals against average reflected this, and their record of 2-1-1? (I think) earned them the #2 seed.

Heading into the playoffs, Team George was defeated by Team Brown (#4 vs. #5) to get into the 4-team showdown for the championship. Now that the final field was set, Team Brown took on the juggernaut Team Rowl. This game did not go as scripted. Team Brown really started to come together, and jumped out into a 3-0 lead, as their offense was flying. Team Rowl would not go down without a fight, and although I'm not sure how the score changed after this as I had to dress for our playoff game, this one ended 4-3 with the #1 seed on the wrong end. This blew the field wide open and now made the title anyone's for the taking.

With this ironman being as competitive as it was, it was obvious that the title was going to be anyone's from the start, but this helped to add even more intrigue to the final outcome.

The next contest pitted Team Gump vs. Team Werner, a rematch of the 2-1 thriller from earlier in the evening. This game started a little faster as the first with Team Werner jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead, but Team Gump would not go quietly into the night. With Cory Clark's heroics already in the books, it was time for a new hero to step forward, and in this one, it would be Shawn Golden. When Team Gump needed it most, Golden starting pulling shots out of his arsenal that few even thought he possessed. Snipes, breakaway dekes, you name it, he was all over the rink, and led Team Gump to a come-from-behind victory by a score of 5-3??? I think....

So the final was set. Team Gump vs. Team Brown, who may have been two of the most evenly matched teams during the entire night, reflected by their 3-3 tie earlier in the evening (a game that saw Team Brown have the edge, in my opinion). This game started to look like it might go the same way, with Team Brown dominating early, jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead, but an extremely timely breakaway save by Gump on Ricky Nawojski kept Team Gump in it, and gave them some life of their own. The game was tied at 2, and Team Gump was about to blow it open. Everyone pitched in for this one. Narchus, Walser, Golden, and Clark swarmed the offensive zone, and it was a definite team effort to get Team Gump the big IRONMAN win. It was my first Ironman win ever, so it felt pretty great. Check out the picture page pretty soon to see a photo of the proud champions. We'll be back at the next one to defend our title as well, so make sure you're there!

Gump Out.