Friday is 80's night, Win an Air Hockey tale on Saturday night, Opening night recap

Friday December 7th: 80’s Night at Omni Saturday December 8th: Win an air hockey table at Queeny!

Looking towards this weekend: “80’s Night” Friday night at Omni and “Mite Nite” Saturday night at Queeny Park.

Remember the 80's? Side ponytails, denim jackets, plastic jewelry, horrible sweaters, and*stone washed jeans? Time to BUST THEM BACK OUT for the River City Whalers home opener this Friday night (December 7th) at the Omni Sportsplex. Fans will be treated to the BEST INLINE HOCKEY IN THE WORLD and great prizes for fans wearing 80's costumes including a Saved by the Bell DVD and 80's music.* Other exciting events include:
-Special 80's version of UPS Chuck-A-Puck
*-80's music all night long with DJ/MC Andy Zilch
-Drink Specials for fans 21+ (get a free beer if you purchase a bucket)
-Prize packs including FREE 12-packs of Pepsi products, car washes, Tour hockey hats, and more.
-Need energy? Get energized with FREE 180 Energy Drink!
-Kids bring your pens, grab a free autograph book, and head to the Pepsi Autograph Booth to meet your favorite player!
...plus more surprises!!!

The hockey action will be fierce when the defending champion Southside Snipers visit the River City Whalers featuring JP Beilsten. The pro games start at 8:00 PM. Come early for the Minor Pro games at 6:30 PM and stay late for AAA following the Pros!

The Omni Sportsplex is located at: 4160 Industrial Dr. St. Peters, MO 63376

"Mite Nite" is going to be a blast on Saturday night! Saturday night at Queeny Park the Tornados will be opening up at home against the Cobras. The theme for the evening is "mite nite" and it will be a blast with the little 10-and-unders in the house. The kids will be playing a 15-minute mini-game at halftime and lining up for autographs from players at the Pepsi Autograph Booth.
-Midwest Sport Hockey will be rocking with FREE 180 energy drink
-Awesome UPS Jobs Chuck-A-Puck promotion:* TWO banners will be laid out on the floor and fans will have a chance to throw chuck-a-pucks for prizes. Land on the UPS banner and you will win a prize pack and gift certificate (to be announced where) and if you land on the special red area of the Tour banner you win an AIR HOCKEY TABLE which you can take home that night!

-This will be a great on-the-rink match up at all levels and the hockey will speak for itself. There will be PIHA Gateway prize packs and also other fun interactive games and giveaways. Pro games begin at 7:30 PM after the Minor Pros face-off at 6:00 PM. Stay late for AAA following pro!

Midwest Sport Hockey is located at 550 Weidman Rd. Ballwin, MO 63011

Tickets to all games are only $5 and kids 8-and-under are ALWAYS FREE~

Season tickets on sale at all games in December!
Our new website is now partially up! Many more sections will be added with tons of information but for now you can see the "skeleton". The address is www.pihagatewayhockey.com.

Professional Inline Hockey in St. Louis Opens Season Two By Lighting The Lamp
The Cobras hosted over 500 people on December 1st in battle with the Whalers.

December 4th, 2007- St. Louis, MO- The jerseys arrived, the players waiting anxiously, the fans enjoyed free BBQ and autographs while at last PIHA Gateway season two dropped the puck on an incredible night of fun and action at the Matteson Triplex. A lively crowd packed the house at the Triplex despite other obvious other entertainment options (Mizzou football and Blues hockey at home) to watch PIHA Gateway season two unfold with a red-worthy performance. A red-worthy performance, you ask? Besides fantastic giveaways from Pepsi and Tour Hockey, the professional atmosphere at the rink was heightened by new goal lights (which light up along with a siren after goals are scored) installed by Rick Matteson. Now the term, “the red light goes on” is truly applicable to PIHA. The rink was buzzing with kids getting autographs and UPS chuck-a-pucks, fans making predictions, refs talking with coaches, and the MC/DJ Andy Zilch entertaining the crowd with a combination of high-energy music and classic organ tunes. Once the puck hit the floor, the season truly began to unfold.

PRO: The St. Louis Cobras (2-0-0) huge off-season acquisitions paid off whole-heartedly in the Pro division. Jeff Hill, John McGuinness, and Matt Johnson along with the other new Cobras all delivered on their debut night. In game one, Blake Propp turned on the first red light of the season off a perfect pass from Jeff Hill just 1:35 into the game. The back-and-forth first period saw the first three shots of the season go in with the Cobras netting two and the Whalers one. St. Louis was able to defeat River City 5-2 with goals by Brandon Marchand (2), Propp, Jeff Perkins, and an empty-net goal by Jeff Hill. Brian Coleman was sharp in net for the Cobras turning away 17 of 19 shots to record his first win of the season. The shorthanded Whalers (0-2-0) (without the services of Team USA All Star JP Beilsten and high-flying Kenny Daleo) got help on the scoreboard from Minor Pro call-up Eric Leitman and hard-shooting defenseman Danny Frey. Mike Browne, making his pro debut, picked up the loss for the Whalers despite an incredible glove save in the first period robbing Blake Propp of a sure goal.

Key Player: Blake Propp. The second-year player out of St. Charles, MO had 1 goal and 2 assists.

Key Moment: Jeff Perkins perfect shot under the bar on a two-on-one put the Cobras up 2-0 just 2:12 into the contest

In game two, John “Johnny Mac” McGuinness and Jeff Hill took over the scoring in a 6-2 Cobras victory to complete the sweep. Mac, the heralded 18-year-old from New York known for his scoring ability and lighting fast hands, showed the crowd why he has a fantastic reputation by netting two perfect goals as well as adding an assist. Jeff Hill added two goals and Jason Shields and Brandon Marchand also contributed on the scoresheet for the Cobras. Florida import and rising star Mike Thiefault had a goal and numerous other opportunities (stymied by winning goaltender Steve Reed) for the Whalers. Bud Mueller converted a late pass from Dan Daleo to add a tally for River City. Craig Bremerkamp made 21 saves in a losing effort for River City. Bremerkamp, traded from the Southside Snipers in the off season, was making his pro debut.

Key Player: Johnny Mac showed the speed and shot with 2 goals and an assist.

Key Moment: Jason Shields' "changeup" goal slipped in to give the Cobras an early lead.

Minor Pro: The River City Whalers (2-0-0) earned two victories over the Cobras (0-2-0) in Minor Pro action winning the first game 2-1 behind solid goaltending of Joe Colmo and Greg Owens shut the door on the Cobras in game two with a 3-0 shutout. Josh Bryson was particularly strong for the Whalers with three points (2 goals 1 assist) in two games. The Whalers also got help from the Merkel brothers (Ken and Tony) as well as Eric Leitman who scored goals in two divisions on Saturday. The Cobras received strong goaltending from Gerald Addison and Brett Mertens, but the only St. Louis player to solve the Whalers goaltenders was Brent Propp.

AAA: The first-ever AAA game came down to the final moment when Josh Buehrig of the River City Whalers (1-0-0) beat St. Louis Cobras (0-1-0) goaltender Brett Mertens with just 5.8 seconds left in the game. The goal broke a solid goaltending battle between Mertens and Joe Colmo who had kept the score tied at one after goals by River City’s Kirk Huff and the Cobras Jason Doza.

Catch the online clip of David Garland (and PIHA players) on STL TV’s “Best of the STL” recorded on October 24th: http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/...l-10-24-07.wmv
(skip to the last few minutes of the clip)