RIC BLACKHAWKS WIN IN DALLAS!

The RIC Blackhawks Sled Hockey Team opened their 2002-03 season by traveling to Texas for the 2002 Dallas Shoot-out. The Hawks started the weekend with an easy 12-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche. Matt Coppens led RIC with 5 goals, with Sylvester Flis scoring 3 and Jack Sanders, Mike Doyle, Brian Ruhe, and Patrick Byrne all scoring one goal. RIC's defense was iron tight. In three periods, the Hawks did not allow a single shot on goal.

Day 2 had the Hawks on the ice twice with games against the Team DeNiro and Dallas Sled Stars. Actually, the team Deriro was re-packaged of current and former Paralympians from other teams with several independent players. The facelift didn't work as the RIC Blackhawks took care of business with a solid 14-1 win. Sylvester Flis led RIC with a double hat trick (6 goals). Patrick Byrne and Matt Coppens followed with 3 and 2 goals respectively. Sanders, Doyle and Ruhe had one goal each. Once again RIC's defense came through and limited Team DeNiro to only 2 shots in 3 periods. Unfortunately, one of the two shots was partially blocked and caught goalie Ramon Canellada out of position, scoring the only goal against RIC all weekend.

RIC's third game was against the Dallas Sled Stars. Dallas had already had a shutout victory over Team Deriro, which guaranteed them a spot in the championship game regardless of the outcome of this game. The Hawks continued their on ice dominance shutting out Dallas 9-0. Matt Coppens led RIC with 4 goals followed with Sylvester Flis with 3, Jack Sanders and Ki Yun with one each.

The championship game was a re-match of Saturday night's game. The Hawks finished an outstanding tournament with a 4-0 victory over the Dallas Sled Stars. The single goal scored by Matt Coppens, Mike Doyle, Sylvester Flis and Jack Sanders was a clear indication of the offensive balance the Hawks have developed over the past year.

The Hawks' statistics for the weekend were simply overwhelming. In four games the Hawks had 110 shots on goal with 39 goals while limiting their opponents to only 4 shots and 1 goal.

Click Here for Dallas Shootout 2002 Stats