Senators roll into Northern 4A tournament

Winning is the objective of the Carson Senators coming into the Northern Nevada Roller Hockey Tournament which begins Saturday morning in Sparks. But it's not the first objective.

The Senators simply feel that if they play well, then the winning will take care of itself, according to coach Billy McHenry.

"In the past, we've done real well during the regular season and then once the playoffs begin, we've gotten into a mindset of, 'We have to win now,' and I think that's hurt us," McHenry said. "The attitude of this team is to play a loose, wide-open style, and to have fun. I think that's been one of the keys to our success and that's what we're going to try and do this weekend, to play loose and have fun."

Carson comes in as the No. 1 seed of the double elimination 11-team tournament, which begins Saturday morning at the Sierra Ice & Sportsplex and continues through Sunday afternoon. The Senators, who finished their regular season with a 10-1 record, open with a noon game against the winner of the 9 a.m. first-round contest between eighth-seeded Reed and No. 9 Wooster.

A Reed-Carson contest would be a rematch of last year's championship, which Reed won.

In fact, Carson has been the league's regular season champion the last two years, only to lose in the tournament finals both times. The Senators lost to Reed in 2004 and to Bishop Union (Calif.) in 2003.

"This won't be an easy way for us to start," McHenry said. "It would be nice to play Reed, especially since they were the ones who put us out last year."

This is a wide-open tournament, the coach pointed out.

"All the way down to ninth-place, I think any of those teams could win if they get hot this weekend," McHenry said.

For example, he pointed to last year's tournament when the No. 1 seeded Senators were forced to a shoot-out before they won their opener against the No. 11 seed.

If the Senators open with a win, they will play again Sunday morning, against the winner between No. 4 Elko and No. 5 Fallon. However, a loss would send the Senators into the losers bracket later on Saturday.

"You almost can't lose that first one because it's so difficult when you have to play so many games to come back through the losers bracket," McHenry said.

Douglas and Bishop are the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds on the other side of the bracket. The tournament championship game is tentatively scheduled to be played at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

The Senators are led by a nucleus of seniors that includes Defenseman Dustin Zastre (18 goals and 19 assists), Colin Cormier (17 goals and 11 assists), Charlie Macquarie (11 goals and 11 assists), Matt Miller and Todd Crowell.

n Contact Dave Price at dprice@nevadaappeal.com.