York Central Ball Hockey League

Y.C.B.H.L. is an acronym for the York Central Ball Hockey League. It administers a ball hockey league and tournament with tiers for all levels of play from beginner to advanced. One of the longest serving teams is the Herring Hockey Team, who have been active for over 15 years in various tiers of the YCBHL.

One of the newer teams on the scene; Shoeless Joes, has found success in recent seasons after back to back final appearances in winter 2006 and spring 2007; having won the first of two. Paolo Pannozzo led the team in scoring during their championship season and Steven Celebre picked him up in the playoffs recording 9 points in 6 games including 4 goals. Rob Berenguer clinched the victory by scoring the ovetime winner & thus, went on to win the Conn Smythe award for MVP of the playoffs with a whopping 12 Points. Anthony Notarfonzo also played a key role in goal making big saves in the final versus the Flames.

The following season Shoeless Joes reached the finals; however, the Herring took the series in 2. Shoeless Joes made a heroic comeback in game 2 by scoring 3 goals in the final three minutes to tie the game at fives. However, it was to little to late and the Herring were able to secure the Ycbhl championship with a 5-5 tie.

Shoeless Joes has won several individual awards during these two magical seasons. Paolo Pannozzo won the scoring title in winter 2006 by notching 27 points in 14 games. He also tied Mike Hunchuk of the Flames with the most Molson Cup points. Robbie Berenguer won the Conn Smythe and Anthony Notarfonzo took home manager of the year. The following season Steven Celebre won the Lady Byng award for Most Gentlemanly Player. He recorded 10 points and registered 0 peanalty minutes in 10 games.

Shoeless Joe's continues to impress scouts, critics & media on a worldwide basis. There team was recently voted as #1 by fans across the world. They also top the Forbes 100 "Most valuable Ycbhl Franchises" for a second straight year edging out Herring & North York Four Stars with annual Revenue of $175 Million. Gross Profits are a whopping $100 Million as Shoeless has always been well managed under the cap! Keeping costs low & results high has always been Anthony Notarfonzo's madate from day. He started the franchise from scratch pinching pennies and begging players to play for nothing. As the months passed the empire began to grow!!

Shoeless Merchandise was flying off the shelves & with great reason. "Paolo Pannozzo", "Rob Berenguer", "Anthony Notarfonzo" & "Steve Celebre" jerseys became every kid's stocking stuffer. In fact Rob Berenguer's jersey was # 2 worldwide in Sales next to Sydney Crosby's of the NHL. Most of this came during the 2007 Winter Season when Robbie scored the winning goal to win the YCBHL Championship for Shoeless in a Game 3 OT Thriller. Hype was so big for this mostly because nobody gave Shoeless Joe's a chance. Before that they had gone 3 straight seasons of being ousted in the 1st round & always finishing at .500 or lower in the regular season. Frustrated by what was happening Anthony grabbed the bull by the horns & made many off season moves & key signings. One of the diamonds in the rough was the signing of All Star Defenseman Cam Mcculough. Cam would not only go on to win the Norris Trophy as Best Defenseman for Back to Back seasons but his quality play in the 2007 Winter & Spring seasons were the key reasons why Shoeless made the transition from "Pretenders" to "Contenders" in such a short period of time. Anthony knew championships were built on defence and by signing Cam, Lexus Makos, Steve Pannozzo, Jason "the bulldog" Fernandez & Dean Grubb Shoeless suddenly became the Team others were weak in the knees to face. That potent Blueline became even more powerful with the signing of legendary 50 Year old Hall of famer John Berenguer. Although he missed the 2007 finals due to prior commitments, his key passes & bullet of a slapshot would go on to become a goalie's worst nightmare. Along with his son Robbie they would tag up to have the fastest Father-Son shot clocked at a staggering 201 MPH combined!!

Although the key signings and off season changes attributed to much more success for Shoeless, the biggest might have happened right in there own backyard. Captain "Paolo Pannozzo" coming off the worst offensive performance of his career (3 pts. in 11 games-Summer '06 & 6 Pts. in 10 games- Fall '06) due to personal problems, Tore up the league! Paolo experienced an awakening scoring 26 Pts. in 14 games for the Winter '07 season, 11pts. in 6 games for the Spring '07 year & then 14 pts. in 13 games in the Summer Season. His leadership & determination was a key ingredient of why Shoeless Joe's defeated the # 1 seed Guerillas in the Spring '07 season. Shoeless breezed past the Decepticons in the 1st round of the playoffs sweeping the series in 2 games against Vezina winner Mark Holloway. But in a true David and Goliath story Shoeless upset the # 1 seed big bad Guerilla's in a sweeping fashion. Guerilla's had 5 of the Top 10 Scorers in the league that season & led the league with a 42 goals for in 14 games & only 21 Goals against. But that didn't bother Paolo who amassed for 4 Goals in 2 games of the series to help lift Shoeless to the Promised land in back to back seasons. While many were predicting a sweep the other way it was Paolo's leadership & "Vince Lombardi" speeches that helped Shoeless sink there opponents worse than the Titanic.

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