Patagones is the team name and the Captain of it is Gonzalo Avendano.  He made a big splash at Santa Barbara.  Avendano was tough and even took a few stitches in the eyebrow, but never stopped hustling as he helped his team in a major way to their victory.  There were a couple of careless fouls in the 6th,  but he came roaring right back with some big plays as Patagones took the last chukkar for the Silver. It was a very good game after the first chukkar. Grant’s Farm was at the beach at the start, but after giving up 4 goals and one in the second to be down by 5, they came roaring back. Andy started closing the door and Jeff Hall started to run forward and the lead of Patagones was diminished by the 3rd. It was a new game 5 to 5. Grant’s Farm went in front in the 4th for a little bit, but Carlos G. tied it up at the end of that chukkar. The 5th was tied at the end and the 6th looked like Grant’s Farm had it, but 3 near misses put them in the tie.  Then up on a # 2 then Patagones returned the favor with a tie on another #2.  In the last few minutes it was NY traffic, but chances happened and Patagones took the advantage with 50 seconds on the clock.  They took the lead with 4 seconds to first bell.  A throw in looked good, but a couple of misplayed errors stopped the ball to run out the clock for Grant’s Farm.

Patagones are the 2009 Champions of the Robert Skene, the first tournament of the High-goal season. To me Carlos Avendano was the MVP as he had a huge game for the big part of the game. Carlos Gracida and Brandon Phillips were the teammates who kept it rolling, but Carlos and Gonzalo were amazing with how much they did for the team.  They were so strong and they had little doubt it was their line and their play.

It was a fun game with a good crowd. Ms. Ellen has a great idea with east side canopy’s but its not the same.  For 3 years Matt Ladin and I have had that all to ourselves except for the finals of the PCO. Bad Girl . . . but great idea. The America’s Cup starts Friday so we will keep you up on the times and games.

It is great to have the Pataones team here.  Yhey have been in West Palm Beach as well were they also won a tournament last winter.  There is another newcomer we want to welcome this year.  He is Robert Jornayvaz from Denver (team Valiente) who played at Eldorado the past two winters.

Score by chukkar

1   Patagones 4                  Grants Farm      0

2   ”’                    1                     ‘ ‘              ”            3

3                         0                      ”              ”           2

4          ”              1                        ”           ”             1

5         ”                2                     “”           ”             2

6        ”                 2                     ”          ”                1

Around the World it was Ellerstina winning the rematch in Deauville, France. Clemente Zavaleta with Uncle Henry were the winners in the Eddie Moore Memorial in NY and Calgary was in action big time over the weekend.  We will soon have those results as well as the Bronze Cup finals in Sotogrande, Spain.

See ya.

Steve Crowder.