Lonestar Lions win 2015 Southwest US Floorball Championship

PHOTO: The Lonestar Lions celebrate the 2015 Southwest US Floorball Championship. Front row: Goalie #11 Drew Pelto (head coach); Second Row: Defenseman #21 Tara Prather, Forward #86 Ben Trevino, Forward #91 Matt Nunez (captain), Forward #10 Ryan Magby, Forward #2 Alex Poeppel, Forward #73 Brandon Enriquez; Back Row: Forward #19 Adam Niemuth, Defenseman #15 Erik Hammar, Forward #16 Josh Roberts, Defenseman #3 Andreas Jonsson, Forward #42 Mike Buszczak, Forward #26 Jeff Epstein. Not pictured: Defenseman #66 Calle Karlsson. (Photo courtesy of Brandon Enriquez)

Lonestar Lions win 2015 Southwest US Floorball Championship
by Drew Pelto (re-posted here with permission)

KEENE, TEXAS - The Lonestar Lions edged out the Dallas Fireballs in their quest for a three-peat as Southwest US Floorball Champions. The Lions took home the trophy with a 4-1 record on Sunday in Keene, TX. With both teams holding an equal record, the Lions took the goal differential tie-breaker for their first championship as a club. Erik Hammar led the team in scoring with 4 points, Adam Niemuth had three goals including the championship clincher, while goaltender Drew Pelto finished second in the tournament with a 0.61 GAA and two shutouts. The Lions relied on strong defense and a balanced offensive attack: 11 of the team's 12 floor players figured into the scoring.

Texas has become a floorball hotbed of late. Several cities including Austin, Houston, and Round Rock have their own clubs while the Dallas-Fort Worth area is home to the North Texas Floorball Association, which features Lonestar, Dallas, and the DFW Longshots. Hockey has exploded since the arrival of the Dallas Stars in 1993, and floorball has grown heavily as hockey players look for activities in the offseason. With temperatures reaching over 100 degrees in the summer, it's not always feasible to keep ice in every arena in the state. Floorball easily enters the picture to keep a player's skills sharp during the down time.

Just south of the Metroplex is the town of Keene, population 6,100, and home to Southwestern Adventist University. While some colleges around the country feature intramural leagues in wiffleball, flag football, ultimate frisbee, and even quidditch from the Harry Potter book series, SWAU is the only college known to feature floorball. They have hosted this tournament since 2012.

"The first teams that played in 2012 were the two teams from SWAU, Dallas Fireballs, Austin, Oklahoma Twisters, and the Southwest US Floorball Open Rec Team," said Vesa Naukkarinen, chairman of SWAU's Department of Kinesiology. "When we got our new gym floor, we switched to floorball from floor hockey. It took a year or so to get students involved but now we have several students who play regularly. For the past two years, we have had six to eight teams participating during intramurals and between seventy and ninety players have signed up to play per season."

The Knights were the first winners of the Southwest US Floorball Championship. While their program is mainly geared toward current students, Vesa noted that they often get faculty members and nearby alumni to participate as well.

For the first time, the group also ran a youth tournament in addition to the annual adult tournament for players aged seven to fourteen. "Southwestern's program has influenced the youth in the area to pick up the sport," Vesa pointed out. "We run a Sunday morning program for kids and it's been a success.. I think we will have more teams in the future since we have more opportunities for the youth to play through partnerships with the Dallas Stars, local schools, and Dallas-area groups playing weekly." The North Texas Floorball Association also sent their own youth players to participate. Several of those players' parents participated in the adult tournament, and at least three players participated in both the youth and adult tournaments.

Vesa pointed out the efforts of his students in pushing the sport into new frontiers in and around Keene. "Senior elementary education major Ella Nguyen has volunteered her time to help with kids' floorball every Sunday and was helping with the kids' tournament this week as well. And Branislav Muntag, a junior computer science major, deserves recognition for his performance and for getting more students involved." It has been a community effort to spread the sport at the University. Naukkarinen also hopes that more colleges take it up and perhaps to someday be able to see a National College Championship Tournament contested.

Meanwhile up in Arlington, the Lonestar Floorball Club has become one of the fastest growing clubs in the country, transforming from their initial founding into a tournament champion in the span of only three months.

"When Drew, Kira, and I set this up, our goal was to have three to four total teams from elite, to competitive, to beginner," said Lions' team captain Matt Nunez. "I believe that the passion the three of us have for the sport mixed with the crazy amount of marketing we do has led to us finding good players and good people."

The Lonestar group has maintained a professional-style staff setup since their founding, successfully turning themselves into an elite club quickly. Drew Pelto was named head coach over the entire organization, while Nunez has been the Lions' captain and assistant coach. Joe Cerquitella is the captain and assistant coach with the organization's development team, the Lonestar Lynx. Kira Rudnick covers marketing and promotions while playing for the Lynx.

"Our team defense sticks out; hustle and heart as well," Nunez said of the keys to his club's rapid ascent. "Drew was great in goal when he had to be. The desire to win was there with everyone on the team. That's something I'm not sure I've ever seen as a floorball player."

In only three months, the club has gotten enough players to easily form two teams for tournaments. They plan to host a league in Arlington throughout July and August, as well as a four-on-four tournament on June 13.

"The hardest part is getting people to try it for the first time," Nunez noted. "If you get a hockey player to try the game, they fall in love with it and never stop. Once you get a player in, he brings friends, and it continues from there. Posting photos all over Facebook has helped; people see it and get curious. When I first started it was just the Dallas Fireballs and SWAU that were any good in local tournaments. Now you have a second SWAU team, the Lions, even the Longshots, and one day the Lynx. That doesn't even cover how far Houston has come."

They must be doing something right down South: besides the Southwest US Championship, three players on the USA Men's Under-19 Team are members of the Lonestar club. Of the thirteen players on the Lions' roster this past Sunday, four had started playing the sport within the previous six months, and only three had played for more than three years.

The tournament also received support from Floorball Planet, a major supplier of the sport's equipment to the area. They have a store in Benbrook, near Fort Worth and have greatly helped new players get equipment and aid in keeping the local clubs stocked for practices and drop-in sessions. Their continued efforts are helping to keep the sport growing into brand new areas throughout the state and all over the country.

2015 SOUTHWEST US FLOORBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Lonestar Lions 4-1-0
Dallas Fireballs 4-1-0
SWAU I 3-2-0
DFW LongShots 2-3-0
SWAU II 2-3-0
Lonestar Lynx 0-5-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS
POINTS: Branislav Muntag, SWAU I, 8
GOALS: 3 players tied with 5 each
ASSISTS: Branislav Muntag, SWAU I, 3
GOALIES: Risto Kotti, Dallas, 0.40 GAA, 4 shutouts