Inline's deadly Cobras

JOHN ENRIETTO Eagle Sports Editor

July 16, 2004 Last Updated: January 06, 2005 12:14 PM Amateur

Area players power nation's top-ranked team

Practice makes perfect? The FSC Cobras don't buy it.

The 12-member team has competed in three age 8-and-under division AAU-sponsored inline hockey tournaments and have yet to lose a game.

And the Cobras have yet to practice together.

"The kids live far apart and there hasn't been any opportunity to get them all together for a practice," assistant coach Mike Denny said. "The fact they're doing this well has taken us all by surprise."

Denny is from Butler, as are co-head coaches Terry Davis and Mike Wehrli.

Davis and his wife, team manager Denise, joined Wehrli in assembling the team.

Five players are from Butler, one is from Zelienople, one is from Kittanning, two are from Pittsburgh and three are from Mount Pleasant. The kids are from three inline hockey facilities: Family Sports Center in Butler, Harmarville and Hot Shots in Monroeville.

They have played with and against each other in the Pennsylvania Power League, a summer inline hockey league that encompasses five facilities - the three mentioned above, as well as Neville Island and Born 2 Run.

"Just from watching our son (Dustin) play against different rivals, we could see the talent that was out there," Denise Davis said. "We had interest in seeing if that talent wanted to get together and try competing at a higher level.

"I made some calls to different families and we put the team together," she added.

Once the team was put together, the coaching staff entered it in an AAU-sponsored tournament in Maryland right away.

Also entered in that tournament were the Richmond (Va.) Rattlers, the defending Junior Olympic national champion, and the Virginia Mad Dogs, the Rattlers' biggest competition.

"Once we found that out, joining that tournament right off the bat didn't seem like such a good idea," Denny Davis admitted.

"At one point, I didn't want to go," he said. "I didn't want to embarrass our kids."

The Cobras were far from embarrassed, however, defeating Richmond twice - 8-0 and 7-2 - and Virginia, 7-2, while winning that tournament.

The Cobras have gone on to win another AAU-sponsored tournament in Cleveland and recently returned from Detroit, where they won a national tournament.

Next up is the Junior Olympics Nationals in St. Louis July 31 through Aug. 8. Because the Cobras won the national event in Detroit and are ranked No. 1 nationally by AAU Junior Olympics, their entry fee for the St. Louis competition has been waived.

Unbeaten in 18 games overall, the Cobras have scored 118 goals and allowed only 38.

"We had no expectations when this thing started," Denny Davis said. "None."

Ethan Kipin of Zelienople plays on the team, as do Butler residents Dustin Davis, Ryan Denny, Justin Wehrli, Tanner Gilliland and Troy Double.

The goaltender, Cameron Langham of Kittanning, never played inline hockey before joining the Cobras. He was an ice hockey goalie.

"All of these kids have their own way of playing the sport," Coach Davis said. "But they work great together. On the power play, they can read the play. … It's like they've been together for years."

"They rely on sheer talent and hockey knowledge," the elder Wehrli said. "Everybody on the team has good hockey sense. They look pretty natural doing this."

Five of the Cobras - Mathew Gerger, Logan Davis, Dustin Davis, Dathen Johnston and John Thomas Demarchi - have been invited to try out for Team USA.

"Gerger on defense, (Logan) Davis on offense - both are phenoms," Wehrli said. "They play at a level I have not seen at this age before. The other kids mix in well with them.

"These kids have as much fun playing in the swimming pool together the night before a game as they do playing the game. That's what I like about it," he added.

The Cobras were named champions of the Steel Belt Region and Mid-Atlantic Region. They will be presented those awards in St. Louis.

The coaching staff plans to assemble a 10-and-under team next year while maintaining an 8-and-under squad.

"Eighty percent of this team will move up next year," Coach Davis said. "We want to keep these kids together for a long time and they want to stay together.

"Every couple of years, they should be in position to compete for something pretty special."