<h4>MURRYSVILLE TEAM WINS MADDEN TOURNAMENT</h4>
Michael Jackson enters a team in every Madden tournament and for the most part, they are always competitive. Occasionally they make the semis before bowing out gracefully. This tournament was much different as he made several key roster changes and it paid off. With key additions of Anthony Segreti (Snipe Cheese), Chad Danka (Snipe Cheese), Dave Hopper (Brew Crew), and Mike Alton (Snipe Cheese), Team Beat-it was able to roll three very skilled lines (Line 1 Segreti-Hopper-Alton, Line 2 Danka- Hammack-Kraly, and Line 3 Roberts-Perriello-Llaneza) all game long. Each line was able to generate offense differently but all of them were very successful. They also made some excellent changes on the Blue line as they added Danny Bac (Snipe Cheese) and Tim McDonough (Brew Crew).
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Team Beat-it got off to a slow start in the preliminary round as they took on Bill’s (from route 51). The game was scoreless until late in the 2nd when Bill’s got a lucky break. Tim (Pronger) McDonough made his only mistake of the tournament as he turned the ball over behind his own net and when he tried to recover the ball deflected off his stick and into the back of his own net. Team Beat-it got an early power play in the 3rd and they wasted no time tying the game. Anthony Segreti passed it back to Tim McDonough, Tim hit Chad Danka in stride down low who tipped it 5 hole. Team Beat-it had multiple chances to take the lead but let them go by board as Dave Hopper and AJ Llaneza missed tap in goals. Bill’s had several golden opportunities with under a minute to go but Michael McClure closed the door. Team Beat it earned 5 points for the tie.
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In Team Beat-it’s second preliminary game they faced off with Bloomfield. Chad Danka, Anthony Segreti, and Dave Roberts each tallied first period goals to put Team Beat-it up 3-0 at the end of one. Bloomfield generated a lot of offense down low but was not very good in their own end. After dictating much of the play in the second period, Bloomfield finally got on the board with traffic in front as a perfectly placed wrist shot from the point found the net. Bloomfield had all the momentum until Cory Hammack and Chad Danka each scored goals with less than a minute to go in the second. Danka’s second goal of the game came with 1.5 seconds remaining and appeared to have broken Bloomfield’s will. The third period was all Team Beat-it as they scored three more times on goals by Dave Hopper, Cory Hammack, and Anthony Segreti. Team Beat-it earned 17 points for the win. Team Beat-it ended up the 2 seed behind Black and Gold (a team from Dek Star) in the playoff portion with 22 points.
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Team Beat-it was paired up with the 7 seed who were outscored 14-0 in their two preliminary games on Saturday night. Team A.P.S had internal issues as their goalie quit after Saturday night. Team A.P.S did not find a replacement and played with 6 attackers and no goalie. Team Beat-it showed no mercy as they piled up the goals very quickly and mercy ruled them to conserve energy. Newly acquired Mike Alton scored his first two goals playing for Team Beat-it. Anthony Perriello, Anthony Segretti, Chad Danka each scored a pair and Cory Hammack and Dave Roberts netted one each for Team Beat-it in the 10-1 win. The only goal that A.P.S. was deflected in by Team Beat-it’s own captain, Michael Jackson.
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Up next for Team Beat-it was the 3 seed from Dek Star. The Slashers had a very strong goalie but may have been the worst team that they faced all tournament long. Chad Danka set the pace as he scored early in the first period. A few minutes later Aj. Llaneza scored a somewhat controversial goal as the net may have been off its moorings prior to the ball going in (at the time it seemed important but definitely didn’t make much of an impact on the game). Team Beat it led 2-0 at the end of one. The Slashers had very little offensive ability and Team Beat-it limited their chances. The game stayed that way until the hot hand struck again as Chad Danka scored two more goals late in the second period to put Team Beat-it up 4-0 at the end of two. Chad’s third goal was absolutely disgusting as he faked forehand and roofed it on the back hand. Aj Llaneza and Anthony Segreti each tallied third period goals to close out the scoring and Michael McClure was able to keep the Slashers and his own team off the board to collect the shutout as Team Beat-it moved on to the finals.
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In the finals Team Beat-it squared off with the 4 seed. The Tough Guys were a team from Penn-Hills and were captained by Rob Whithers. The Tough Guys came out flying as they had numerous chances to score early including to one timers in the slot by Dizz. A Big save at one end turned into a goal at the other as Mike Alton set up Dave Hopper high in the slot and Anthony Segreti was able to jump all over a juicy rebound to put Team Beat-it up 1-0. Chad Danka also scored in the first period as they built a 2-0 lead at the end of one. Cory Hammack scored twice in the second including a sick breakaway goal set up by Tony Curry. Chad Danka also scored as Team Beat-it had a commanding 5-0 lead at the end of two. Team Beat it did not sit back as Dave Hopper, Chad Danka, and Dave Roberts rounded out the scoring and mercifully the game was called with 5 minutes remaining.
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Team Beat-it was very strong on defense (Townsend, Bac, Jackson, Curry, Yoester, and McDonough)as they kept the opponents chances to a minimum and helped generate a lot of pressure in the attacking zone all tournament long. For the tournament Team Beat-it outscored their opponents 33-3 over the 5 games. Michael McClure’s GAA was a robust 0.60 for the tournament. Chad Danka won MVP honors as he was a scoring machine collecting 11 goals. Mark Madden said “It was nice you guys finally won one, well played! Jackson? You know what that means? D LEAGUE!� Team Beat-it will be competing next month in Nationals at the Neville Island Complex.
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Good luck boys! Do it again.

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