USA Field Hockey crowned 27 high school-age group division champions ÔÇô including 14 from the state of Pennsylvania ÔÇô as the annual National Hockey Festival continued at the Empire Polo Club.
The tournament concludes Sunday with championships in the adult open and mixed divisions.
Seven teams repeated as pool champions including three-time champion Mystx Storm (Pa.) in pool U19A and back-to-back champions Skillsets Selects (B.C.) in U19E, First State Diamonds (Del.) in U19F, Jersey Intensity Silver (N.J.) in U16V, Pocono (Pa) in U16X, Xcalibur Silverhawks in U16YY and WC Eagles in U19ZZ.
Pennsylvania was once again hauled in the most age titles at the Festival earning 14 overall gold medals including nine in the U19 division. The field hockey hotbed captured ten pool titles at the 2006 event. Overall, nine states and a team from British Columbia split the remaining pool titles. New Jersey earned three titles while California, Maryland and New York earned two pool championships each. British Columbia, Delaware, Ohio, Virginia and Kentucky each took home one Festival crown.
In addition to their championship medals, teams winning their pools receive a coveted automatic berth in next year's National Hockey Festival when it returns to Indio in 2008. Other participants for the filled-to-capacity event are selected via a lottery held in the spring.
In the women's open division, defending champion Red Rose (6-0) advanced to the championship game and will take on Head to Toe (6-1-1) for the title.
In the mixed (co-ed) division, Jack & Jill (5-1) survived a penalty stroke tiebreaker in the semifinals to advance to meet ASU Sun Devils (5-1) in the championship game.
The world's largest field hockey event, the Festival features 3,800 athletes competing in more than 700 games during the course of the four-day event.
Additional information on the Festival, as well as teams, results and rosters is available on the USA Field Hockey Festival website at www.usfieldhockey.com/festival/.
Source: USA Field Hockey
