PaintballX3 Magazine June 2014 | Page 59

5 Avalanche: No team has ever assembled the level of individual talent that the original Avalanche team had when it formed in 1999. This team featured players like Ed Poorman, Chris LaSoya, Rocky Cagnoni, Todd Martinez, Steve Rabackoff, Jon Richardson (“Jonny Paintball”), Glenn Forester, Travis Lemanski, Todd Hugo and Jeremy Salm. All in the prime of their playing careers and all of these players had either won major events with other teams in the past (with teams like Image, Lockout and GBD) or players that would validate their “star” status later by winning with teams like Infamous and Dynasty. Right from the jump Avalanche was dominant, winning NPPL Las Vegas and Dallas and three Millennium Series events in their first year--as well as the NPPL series title. For an encore they won Nashville and Gettysburg NPPL in their 59 second year, finishing in second place in the NPPL series Pro rankings. In all Avalanche won 15 major professional events in the U.S. and abroad in the Millennium Series. Avalanche was a powerhouse for two plus years til they burned out quickly, falling out of the top ten in the NPPL pro rankings by 2002. They had a bit of a bounce-back year in 2004, finishing in 4th place in the NPPL series rankings, but that was the end of their run. Other Avalanche notes of interest: No team in the history of the game has produced more “future” star players than Avalanche. Virtually their entire roster (the ones that didn’t retire when the team disbanded) went on to win Pro events with other teams (Dynasty, Infamous, Philly Americans, Aftershock and others). WWW.PAINTBALLX3.COM