Who was excited to start a new season? Forty teams gathered at San Jose’s Silver Creek Sportsplex over Thanksgiving Weekend to participate in the annual Nor Cal Cup.

Many of those same clubs will gather at the same site for January’s NARCh West Coast Winternationals.

The Nor Cal Cup has become the first big event to face off the new season for travel teams in Northern California. The tournament has grown in prestige over the years, just as teams in the region have evolved in terms of quality of competition.

This year’s event, which was held on Nov. 28-29, featured 13 sub-divisions for awards.

First-place medals went to the San Jose Inline Sharks (Atom, Mite Gold, Squirt Silver and Bantam Gold), Revision Revolution 05 (Mite Silver), the Delta River Rats (Squirt Gold), Silicon Valley Quakes (Pee Wee Gold), NCR Elite (Pee Wee Silver and Junior/Men’s Silver), Revision Revolution Black (Bantam Silver), NorCal Extreme (Midget Gold), Silicon Valley Quakes Black (Midget Silver) and Swiss G’s (Junior/Men’s Gold).

Second-place medals went to the Tour SV Quakes (Atom, Mite Gold), Delta River Rats (Mite Silver), Revision Revolution 03 (Squirt Gold), the SV Quakes (Squirt Silver), San Jose Inline Sharks (Pee Wee Gold and Midget Silver), Chico Firebirds (Pee Wee Silver), NCR Elite (Bantam Gold and Midget Gold), SJ Sharks EB (Bantam Silver), the Valley Stars (Junior/Men’s Gold) and 831 Scrubs (Junior/Men’s Silver).

Top goaltender award-winners included Owen Feary and Dillon Hall of the Inline Sharks in Atom; Alex Smith of the Inline Sharks in Mite; Tristan Tellers of Revolution 03 in Squirt; Jake Fuss of the Quakes 01 in Pee Wee; Maxwell Muller of the Sharks EB in Bantam; Cameron Hood of NCR in Midget; and Antonio Venezio of the Scrubs in Junior/Men’s.

Fuss had the highest save percentage of .910.

Top scorer award-winners included Isiah Castro of the Tour SV Quakes (Atom); Shaun Rios of the Inline Sharks (Mite); Jack Wedoski of the River Rats (Squirt); Daniel Cascarano of the Quakes 01 (Pee Wee); Chase Edwards of the Sharks (Bantam); Caleb Hermle of the Extreme (Midget); and Brian Gibb of the Swiss G’s (Junior/Men’s).

Gibb led all top scorers with 16 points (seven goals). Edwards was second with 15 (seven goals).

On Tap

The upcoming West Coast Winternationals is set for Jan. 15-18 with 15 divisions in play ranging from 6U to 40-plus.

The NARCh regional schedule is also taking shape. Its annual Northern California regional is scheduled from March 5-6 in San Jose while three regionals are slated to take place in Southern California: Huntington Beach (April 1-3), Irvine (April 22-24) and Escondido (June 3-5).

Other regionals have also been scheduled so far in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida and Michigan.

The 2016 NARCh West Coast Finals are scheduled to run from June 16-26 in Huntington Beach, while the NARCh East Coast Finals are slated for July 13-24 at Germain Arena in Estero, Fla.

There will only be one NARCh Pro finals in 2016; it will be contested in Florida where the prize money has been raised to a minimum of $20,000.

The NARCh West Coast Finals block schedule features the following divisions: Cub (6U), Atom Silver (8U), Mite Silver/Club (10U), Squirt Silver/Club (12U), Pee Wee Silver/Club (14U), Bantam Silver/Club (16U), Midget Silver Club (18U), Men’s Silver (18 minimum), Atom Platinum/Gold (8U), Mite Platinum Gold (10U), Squirt Gold (12U), Pee Wee Gold (14U), Bantam Gold (16U), Midget Gold (18U), Junior Gold (21U), Men’s Gold (18 minimum), Squirt Platinum (12U), Pee Wee Platinum (14U), Bantam Platinum (16U), Midget Platinum (18U), Junior Platinum (21U), Division 1 (24U), Men’s Platinum (18 minimum), Women’s Platinum/Gold (14 minimum), 30-and-Older and 40-and-Older.

– Phillip Brents