Check out the team's Facebook page and vote for the Play and Player of the Kimberly Storm pre-season game.  Here are the choices for Player of the Game:

Damien Smith - 17 carries, 130 yards; 3 tackles, 2 passes defensed

Kerk Summers - 6 tackles, 2 sacks, forced fumble, pass defensed

Brian Bruno - 1 tackle, 2 INT's

The team fought hard for 60 minutes but were not able to overcome mistakes made early on.  We came out of the gate with a few penalties and put ourselves in the hole right away.  From that point on our offense remained in a little funk.  We had a few big plays offensively but just as soon as we would make a big play we would commit a penalty.

On to the good news, we gave up scores on two punt returns, one on an INT returned for a TD, which means our defense allowed only one score!  If we can fix the errors made on offense and special teams we have an excellent defense that will keep us in games!  Everyone gave a good effort, but we need to push a little bit harder.  We will work out our kinks and come back to the field in two weeks ready for the season opener against the BlackJacks!

PASSING
Steve Cole – 4 for 11, 27 yards, 2 INTs
Matt Abajian – 1 for 3, 13 yards

Rushing
Damien Smith – 17 carries, 130 yards
Mitch Schultz – 3 carries, 1 yard

Receiving
Alec Flaminio – 2 catches, 30 yards
Chase Lafaive – 1 catch, 6 yards
Lee Rose – 1 catch, 3 yards
Brian Bruno – 1 catch, 1 yard

Defense
Kerk Summers – 6 tackles, 2 sacks, forced fumble, pass defensed

Damien Smith; Jim Pryal – 3 tackles, 2 passes defensed
Danny Barker – 3 tackles

Mitch Schultz; Ryan Chenier – 2 tackles

Jon Gorzinski; Lee Rose – 1 tackle, 1 sack
Chase Lafaive; Jake Bianga; Alec Flaminio – 1 tackle

Brian Bruno – 2 INTs

The Arctic Blast have been practicing hard and are ready for kickoff tomorrow night!  Although this may only be a pre-season game, the players are pumped like it is the seasoner opener, ready to show their hard work over the last couple of months.  This game also brings back an old foe that the Arctic Blast knows.  While in the NEFL, the Arctic Blast and Storm were rivals that played some very close contests.  In the last 4 games however the Blast have posted a 1-3 record against the Storm, 0-2 at home during that period.  We are looking forward to changing that trend and will be ready to bring some new life into this rivalry.  We hope to see you there rooting for the blue and white.  GO BLAST!!!

This Saturday will be our last Saturday practice before we move practices to Wednesday evenings.  Practices on Wednesday evenings will start at 6:00PM to start with, and moving to 6:30 as we get closer to summer and the daylight allows us to start later.  Our Facebook contests will kick off next week so pay attention to our Facebook page and you will have the chance to win a prize from the area or from the team. 

We'd also like to announce that the Big Ten Sports Bar in Quinnesec has sponsored the team as our 5th Quarter location after our May 5th game in Norway.  We'd like to thank the Big Ten Sports Bar for their support and the team will be headed there after the game for drinks and food as well as to interact with fans.  We look forward to seeing you at the Big Ten after the game!

We have updated our roster with the people who paid their fees this past weekend.  You cannot be on the team's roster without paying the player fee.  We also had to cancel the June 23rd game against the M&M Timberjacks.  We will instead have a bye week which will allow our players to a week to rest and break up what would have been 8 games in a row with no break, and possibly heading into the playoffs with no rest. 

We will also be launching our Facebook contests very soon.  There will be two contests per week.  One contest will be for a prize from a local business or the Arctic Blast.  You will have to be the first to answer a football or U.P. related question on the team's Facebook page.  The other contest will be a comment that fans will just need to 'like'.  Their name will be thrown into a hat and one name will be drawn from the hat during the team's game.  That prize will be handed out at halftime of the game, you need to be present at the game to win.  We will also be adding more merchandise to our store very soon so stay tuned.

The season is approaching fast and the guys are ready to bring another championship home to the U.P.!  GO BLAST!!

Gents, the player fees are due by the end of practice this Saturday, April 7th!  For those of you who may have forgotten, the new player fee is $190, and the returning player fee is $170.  You can still turn in your fee after the 7th, you just will not be able to play in our May 5th game if you do so.  The rosters do not close for the league until July, so there is still plenty of time to join the team!  Keep up the good work and let's make sure we work extra hard this weekend.....it's time to strap on the pads and start smashing into people!  GO BLAST!

We have had two more players get adopted by local businesses!  Back In Motion has adopted Steve Cole while Music in Motion has adopted Dillon Wynn.  We would like to thank both businesses for giving these two players the opportunity to play a game they love in 2012!  We will recognize these two businesses throughout the season for their generosity and contribution to our team and season.  GO BLAST!!!