Commentary | Admirals dish out revenge in Lightning Cup rout
The East Manatee Admirals erased any lingering doubt of whether or not they could win a championship just a year after coming up short in the final.
Facing the same opponent that upended the top-seeded Admirals in 2014, the East Manatee outfit left nothing to chance in the Florida High School Hockey Association's Lightning Cup on Sunday at Amalie Arena in Tampa.
The Admirals routed New Port Richey Mitchell, 10-3, to claim the title. The victory capped a wire-to-wire run for East Manatee, who now represents the Lightning Conference in the best-of-the-three state championship series next weekend against East Side, who won the Panther Conference championship.
The best-of-three series starts at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and continues with games scheduled for 10:15 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. The state title series is slated
for the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex.
The Admirals will enter the game without a defeat this season. They went 18-0-0 in the regular season, outscoring opponents 178-21 in that stretch. Securing the top seed, the Admirals dusted off eighth-seeded Tampa Jesuit in the quarterfinals and Seminole in the semifinals before defeating defending champion Mitchell in the finals.
Old Main Street race
The third annual Shamrock 5K Run/Walk and Pub Crawl, to benefit The Foundation for Dreams, is scheduled for March 14. Registration starts at 2 p.m. on race day, with kids leprechaun races starting at 3:30 p.m. and the chip-timed 5K beginning at 4:30 p.m.
The leprechaun kids races are broken down by age group: 3-4 year olds (100 meters), 5-6 year olds (200 meters), 7-9 year olds (400 meters) and 10-12 year olds (800 meters).
Awards and a post-race party are planned downtown.
The cost is $25 (or $35 with the pub crawl) for participants signing up before March 1. The kid's races are $10 before March 1. The fees for both increase by $5 when registering after March 1 and before March 12. On race day, those fees increase an additional $5. A T-shirt is guaranteed for the first 1,000 registered participants.
For more information, contact the Foundation for Dreams at 746-5659.
Lakewood Ranch race looms
The sixth annual Take Stock 10K/5K/Fun Run is scheduled for Sunday, March 1 in Lakewood Ranch. Taking place on Main Street, runners will begin at 7:30 a.m. (8:30 a.m. for the fun run). The race benefits Take Stock in Children of Manatee County, and there's a post-race party with food, entertainment, raffles, age group awards and kids activities planned.
Race day registration is slated for 6:30 a.m. The cost is $30 for general public participants ($20 for school district members and $15 for students) prior to Feb. 26. The price increases to $35 for all participants after that date.
For more information, contact Take Stock in Children race coordinator Bethany Lynch at 713-8935.
Jason Dill, sports reporter, can be reached at 745-7017 or via email at jdill@bradenton.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jason__Dill or on his Facebook page at Jason Dill Bradenton Herald.
This story was originally published February 17, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Commentary | Admirals dish out revenge in Lightning Cup rout ."