Rocky Mountain Roundup - Week 2

Week 2 in the Rocky Mountain Division was a busy one, with three matches.

Saturday night saw the return of the Denver Dynamite in Edwards.  In a match of streaks, the Dynamite started out with a 3-0 lead, only for the Freedom to score 4 straight to take a 4-3 lead.  The teams then traded goals until the halftime break, where they were tied 5-5.  Mike Ogletree was the star of the first half and the game, with 4 first half goals.   The Dynamite would then score 3 straight goals in the third quarter to take an 8-5 lead.  The teams traded goals the rest of the way and the Dynamite would win, 10-7.

At the same time the Colorado Blizzard made a statement that they are still the team to beat, turning in a dominating performance in Ft. Collins, beating the Fury 10-2.

Sunday night the road weary Dynamite would travel to Ft. Collins, and the Fury came out guns blazing, looking to prove that Saturday night was a fluke.  They certainly looked the more motivated of the two squads, dominating the first half and taking a 5-0 lead into the break.  The second half would see the Dynamite offense start to pick things up, aided by a number of power plays, but it wasn't enough as the Fury prevailed, 7-3. 

After two weeks, the standings look like this:

Rocky Mountain Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts
Ft. Collins Fury	3	2	1	0	6			The Fury have the most wins, but only one home game remaining in the regular season.
Colorado Blizzard	1	1	0	0	3			The Blizzard look like the team to beat after an impressive 10-2 victory in Ft. Collins.
Denver Dynamite	2	1	1	0	3			After splitting two road games the Dynamite await the Blizzard on Jan. 6th...
Edwards Freedom	2	0	2	0	0			A quality squad, but this is shaping up to be a tough division!

Next weekend the Edwards Freedom return to Ft. Collins for the first rematch of the season, on Saturday December 17th at 7pm.  Both teams will be motivated to win this match.  Edwards will not want to be 0-3 going into the holiday break, and the Fury will want to win their final home match of the regular season before they embark on 4 straight road matches.  This will be the last match until Friday January 6th, 2012.

Dynamite fall in Ft Collins

The Dynamite came out flat in the second of back to back road games in their opening weekend, losing 7-3 to a Ft. Collins Fury club looking for redemption after a loss to the Blizzard the previous night.

In a reversal of fortune for both clubs, the Fury scored goals at the 10:15 and 15 second mark (the second goal by Zach Speed) of the first quarter to take a 2-0 lead.  Dynamite veteran Tony Thomas would leave the game with an injury in his first match of the season.

The trend would continue in the second quarter, as the Fury rattled off three more goals, at the 10:55 mark, at 7:40 - a second goal by Speed, and at 1:32 by Justin Mynatt.   The Dynamite could not connect on their passes in the first half, combined with a few defensive mistakes, which would result in the Fury taking a commanding 5-0 lead into the half.

In the 3rd Quarter the Dynamite started to wake up, with a power play goal by Chad Pearson in his debut match of the season.  Fort Collins would score with 30 seconds remaining in the quarter to keep the margin at 5 goals, 6-1.

The Dynamite really started to click offensively in the 4th Quarter, with a Sean Stedeford goal with 9:40 remaining.  With about 5 minutes remaining, the Dynamite brought in Tony Avery as the sixth attacker.  Combine this with a power play, and the Dynamite scored quickly with a Mike Ogletree goal, assisted by Jay Hamilton (at 4:18).  The Fury would put the game away with an empty net goal at 1:48, to win 7-3. 

The Dynamite go into the Christmas/New Year's break with 2 road matches under their belt and a 1-1 record, awaiting the Colorado Blizzard for their January 6th home opener. 

Dynamite Prevail in PASL-Premier Debut

The former PASL-Pro club began their new existence in the PASL-Premier Rocky Mountain Division, with a 10-7 victory at the Edwards Freedom.

After a scoreless 8 minutes, Mike Ogletree scored the first goal for the Dynamite in their new era.  Ogletree scored the second Dynamite goal as well, quickly followed with a breakaway goal by Poncho Puente, to give the Dynamite an early 3-0 lead. Tulio Fayre scored for Edwards with 36 seconds left in the first quarter to cut the lead to 3-1.

The first half of the second quarter was dominated by the Freedom, with goals by Pavel Belov, Alex Darbut, and Roberto Morales. The Freedom took what would end up being their only lead of the game, 4-3.  Mike Ogletree scored back to back goals at 3:10 and 2:40 to put the Dynamite back in the lead, 5-4.

This capped an extremely impressive first half for Ogletree, who scored 4 goals.  Duane Pelz responded with a power play goal for Edwards with 55 seconds left in the half, and the teams would go into the locker room tied 5-5.

The first twelve minutes of the third quarter was a defensive battle, with the Dynamite killing off two penalties. During this time period, as well as in the first 8 minutes of the match, the Dynamite defense showed tremendous poise while shutting down numerous opportunities for the Edwards offense. In the last 3 minutes of the quarter, the Dynamite exploded with three straight goals by Jay Hamilton, Tony Avery, and Brandon Devores; to go up 8-5.

Duane Pelz scored his second goal to bring Edwards within two goals with 7:58 left in the match, but Jay Hamilton responded with a Dynamite goal 30 seconds later. Alex Darbut would score his second goal for Edwards with 3:42 left to cut the score to 9-7, but it was too late as Tony Avery would finish out the scoring with 21.4 seconds left, and the Dynamite won 10-7.

Mike Ogletree led the Dynamite with 4 goals, while Tony Avery and Jay Hamilton had 2 goals apiece. Poncho Puente had one goal but also contributed with a number of assists. It was a promising start for a club that only dressed 11 field players, and were missing Tony Thomas and Chad Pearson. Poncho Puente and Mike Ogletree were a great combo on offense,  with the duo being involved in the majority of Denver's scoring opportunities.

There is no time to rest for the Dynamite (1-0). With back to back road matches, they travel to Ft. Collins on Sunday night at 6pm to face the Fury (1-1).  The Fury will be looking to rebound after a 10-2 pounding at the hands of defending division champs the Colorado Blizzard.  Both the the Fury and Dynamite beat Edwards by a 3 goal margin, so it looks to be a good match up.

Rocky Mountain Roundup - Week 1

In the opening match of the 2011-12 PASL-Premier Rocky Mountain Division season, hosts Fort Collins Fury took the early division lead by defeating the Edwards Freedom, 8-5. The Fury withstood a first half 3 goal barrage by Duane Pelz of the Freedom to take a narrow 4-3 lead at the break, before pulling away in the second half.

Week two's busy schedule sees the return of the Denver Dynamite, when they travel to the mountains to take on Edwards, kicking off Saturday night at 7pm. At the exact same time, the Colorado Blizzard begin their title defense in Ft Collins against the only team to beat them in the division last year , the Fury (both squads finished 7-1 in the regular season). Sunday night at 6pm, the Dynamite takes their turn visiting Ft. Collins to re-kindle a rivalry with the Fury, who are successors to their original rival, the Colorado Lightning.

This weekend will be a pivotal one for both the Dynamite and Fury, who will each play two games. The Fury need to make the most of their opening 4 game home stand, while the Dynamite hope to start their new era with a bang on their two game road trip. With the top two teams from last year facing off, plus the return of the Dynamite, it promises to be a great weekend of Arena Soccer in Colorado!

Stay tuned, as the Rocky Mountain Roundup will be a season long weekly report on the happenings in the PASL-Premier Rocky Mountain Division.

Rattlers Prepare to Strike with More Veteran Venom

The Rocky Mountain Rattlers announced Tuesday the addition of 3 more notable veterans to the roster as the 2011-12 season quickly approaches. "When asked to take on the roll of head coach for the Rattlers," said Chuck Estrada, "I was excited to get a chance to bring a National Championship to Denver.  The first thing was to solidify a roster that would include experience and speed, with that I sought out my former pro players.  I feel by bringing back USMNT and MISL players and bringing on a great set of players from the Denver area that we could win our division and compete for the Championship."

Sean Stedeford played his high school soccer for Chatfield Senior High School and went on to play 3 years at Metro State College of Denver as a walk on. In his high school career, he was named a 1998 Denver Post player to watch and was named captain his senior year. Sean has previous semi-professional indoor soccer experience with the Colorado Predators/Denver Dragons  & Golden Strikers of the PASL-Premier including a stint playing professionally for the Denver Dynamite in the inaugural season of the PASL-Pro.

Michael Ogletree graduated from Loyola Marymount University, where he played 3 years as a right back before being invited to both the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA combine. He subsequently was invited to the CD Chivas USA training camp and later signed with the team for the second half of the 2007 season. Prior to moving to Denver to play for the PASL-Pro's Denver Dynamite, Michael played for several teams in the Los Angeles area including semi-pro Hollywood United who had a great run in the 2008 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup that included a 3-2 victory over the USL-(United Soccer Leagues 1st Division) Portland Timbers.

Boulder native, Ryan Slaughter attended William J. Palmer High School and was affiliated with the Colorado Springs Chargers Youth Club and also played soccer for his high school. Slaughter attended University of Colorado at Colorado Springs where he graduated with a Psychology degree. During college, he received NCAA first and second team honors for soccer. Slaughter also played for several Semi Professional teams in Colorado such as, the Denver Kickers, Colorado Blizzard and Colorado Ascent before turning pro with the PASL-Pro Ft. Collins franchise, the Colorado Lightning for the inaugural '08-09 season before being picked up in the dispersal draft by the Denver Dynamite in '09-10.

Coach Estrada, "We may have a new team but this team is just as explosive as the Dynamite if not better!  Having just about everyone back from the former PASL Pro team that went to the playoffs in 09 is a blessing for us.  We look forward to a competitive season and showcasing ALL of our talent this season!"

The Rattlers will look to capturing their first division and PASL-Premier championship titles when their inaugural season gets underway in December. Single game tickets are just $5 at the door for general admission and $1 for HRCA members.

Rattlers Core Looking Dynamite

The Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL-Premier)'s Rocky Mountain Rattlers announced that they have reached agreements with 3 more former US National Arena Soccer Team's (USNAST) and Professional Arena Soccer League players from the now defunct Denver Dynamite.

Chad Pearson, a graduate of Heritage High School and Metro State College (Denver, CO)., was one of the most offensive defenders on the Denver Dynamite professional arena soccer team, which included a hat trick against the San Diego Sockers back in November of 2009.  Chad has also shared successfull seasons in the PASL-Premier with Player/Coach Tony Avery, Tony Thomas and Jay Hamilton for the Colorado Predators.

Tony Thomas, also named to the USNAST squad with 4 Caps and one of the two Colorado representatives to the 2007/08 Premier League all-star squad. Tony was a significant force in leading the Colorado Predators to an unblemished regular season record. Following a successful stay with Metro State College--where he was named an All-American-- Tony also played for the Springfield Storm and the Boulder Rapids Reserves (Colorado Rapids U23s) of the USL Premier Development League, while also becoming a member of the US Amateur National Team.

Jay Hamilton played college soccer at both the University of Nevada (Las Vegas, NV) and Metro State College.  He has not only played professionally with the San Diego Sockers of the MISL, but with the Denver Dynamite, where he set and holds the league recod of 7 goals and 11 points in one game, as well as Semi-professionally with the two-time PASL-Premier Rocky Mountain regular season champions, the Colorado Predators. Also, as another member of the USNAST with 4 Caps, he will not only add leadership as a core member of the team, but will bring another dimension of technical ability to the game.

The Rattlers will look to capturing their first division and PASL-Premier championship titles when their inagural season gets underway in December. Single game tickets are just $5 at the door for general admission and $1 for HRCA members.

Rattlers Announce First Players/Coach to Sign in Franchise History

The Rattlers announced Thursday the first two members to have agreed to terms for 2011-12 with the Highlands Ranch's Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL-Premier) club.

Playing together for the first time since the days of the Denver Dynamite (former Professional Arena Soccer League club) are goalkeeper Danny Main and forward Tony Avery who both also spent some time previously with the World Indoor Soccer League (WISL)'s Utah Freezz and Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL)'s Kansas City Comets respectively.

Tony Avery will also be serving double duty as player/coach along side Chuck Estrada (Former Denver Dynamite head coach) and are in the final stages of selecting players from the tryouts that were held earlier this month.  Further player announcments to appear prior to the initial roster deadline of November 28th.

The Rattlers will look to capturing their first division and PASL-Premier championship titles when their inagural season gets underway in December. Single game tickets are just $5 at the door for general admission and $1 for HRCA members.

Rattlers Announce Tryout Dates for Inaugural Season