Lonestar Players LIFT Another Trophy

Less than two months after taking home the 2015 Southwest US Floorball Championship, the Lonestar Lions are crowned again, this time taking home the trophy at the first ever Lonestar Invitational Floorball Tournament (LIFT). They won the championship game in overtime 7-6 over the Austin Floorball Club. Scoring the game-winning goal for the Lions was US Men's U19 team member and LIFT MVP Isak Angerstig. The tournament was played 4-on-4 at the Elzie Odom Athletic Center in Arlington, TX.

The two finalist teams were the only two to go undefeated on the day up to that point. They played earlier in the day, a 5-5 tie in a chippy affair that saw 16 minutes in penalties handed out.

In the Gold Medal match, Austin jumped out to a two-goal lead at halftime off tallies from Bobby Nodea, Adnan Raja, Jack Bryant, and Eric Hickey, but the Lions came back in the second half. Erik Hammar cut the deficit to a single goal 40 seconds in, followed by Angerstig scoring both the tying and go-ahead goals two minutes apart.

After tying the game up, Austin had a chance to regain the lead on a penalty shot, but netminder Ryan Magby came up big, shutting down Todd Geldon. On the ensuing power play, Austin regained the lead with 3:30 to go. But for the second time in the afternoon, Hammar's stick deposited a clutch goal, putting the equalizer past Austin netminder Lee Payne to tie the game up at 6-all. Then 1:14 into overtime, Angerstig completed the hat trick and capped off his MVP effort, sneaking the ball off the post and in at a bottom corner from Calle Karlsson's free hit.

Of the eight teams involved, seven of them were from Texas along with one Colorado. The host Lonestar Floorball Club had enough players to field three teams at the tournament, with the Lonestar Ligers taking fourth and the Lonestar Lynx seventh. The Ligers were easily the youngest team in the tournament, with six of their twelve players being under 18. Each of them had at least one point during the tournament as well, with Arttu Makinen scoring seven goals.

As with April's Southwest US Floorball Championship, Floorball Planet was on hand selling equipment and graciously supplied boards and goals for the gyms. The tournament also featured a brief refereeing clinic on Friday evening, led by USA Floorball's Vince Faso. The Lonestar Floorball Club featured the weekend's events as a kickoff for their Summer 2015 schedule, which will include a weekly 4-on-4 league at the same venue, as well as a number of open sessions in the area for beginning and advanced players alike.

By Drew Pelto

You can find the Lonestar Floorball Club website here.

Awards
Tournament MVP: Isak Angerstig, Lonestar Lions
Top Forward: Jyri Koivisto, Houston Pioneers
Top Defenseman: Andreas Jonsson, Lonestar Lions
Top Goalie: Lee Payne, Austin

All-Tournament Team
Forwards: Angerstig and Koivisto
Defensemen: Calle Karlsson, Lonestar Lions; Matt Nunez, Lonestar Lions
Goalie: Payne

Statistical Leaders
Goals: Angerstig, 11
Assists: Koivisto, 11
Points: Angerstig and Koivisto, 18 each
GAA: Ryan Magby, Lonestar Lions, 3.36
Shutouts: Drew Pelto, Lonestar Ligers, 1'
Wins: Magby and Alex Fluegel, Houston Pioneers, 4 each

PHOTO CAPTION: The Lonestar Lions celebrate their victory at LIFT. Front row: Goalie #10 Ryan Magby. Second Row: Forward #44 Patrick Dousa, Forward #6 Alex Gross, Forward #98 Isak Angerstig, Defenseman #91 Matt Nunez (Captain), Assistant Coach Tara Prather. Back Row: Assistant Coach Ben Trevino, Defenseman #66 Calle Karlsson, Defenseman #3 Andreas Jonsson, Defenseman #15 Erik Hammar, Forward #97 Jari Laurila, Head Coach and Backup Goalie #11 Drew Pelto. (Photo Courtesy of Kira Rudnick)