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Falling Just Short

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After narrowly escaping a series sweep at home in Game 3 of their first round playoff series, the Boys returned to enemy territory for Game 4 last night.  A tightly contested match ended in another one goal game with the good guys claiming a 1-0 victory on a goal scored with just over two minutes left in the third period.  My personal highlight in this fourth game came in the dying moments when the Boy exhorted the already raucous visiting crowd to cheer louder.  As he approached the dot for the final face-off of the game, I noted a grin which spread from ear to ear. The Boy and his teammates tied the series at two games apiece and had certainly turned the momentum of the series in their favour.  That being said, they had merely claimed two one goal victories.  Game 5, scheduled for this evening, would likely be another tight affair.

True to its billing both teams came our raring to play. They exchanged goal scoring chances at both ends of the rink.  Both goaltenders also came prepared to play with each making his share of spectacular saves.  But the visitors would open the scoring in the first period on a bang-bang play on a pass from behind the net. The score would remain 1-0 until the middle of the second period when the Boy would bang in a rebound to knot the score at one apiece.  It felt again like the momentum had swung somewhat in the home team’s favour, but there was still plenty of hockey to play.

In the game within the game, I watched the opposing goaltender approach the Boy, who he knows quite well, and exchange some “pleasantries” during a stoppage in play when the net came off its moorings.  The Boy would report after the game that the goalie joked about the quality of the equipment in this town. The Boy for his part says he reminded the netminder about the equalizer he had recently scored as well as a shot he had rung off his helmet earlier in the contest.  The keeper retorted with a few choice names for the Boy. Gamesmanship; all in good fun.

Following a flood of the ice after the second period, the back and forth action continued with each team coming close to taking the lead.  Bothy would take a couple of penalties, which led to some nervous moments as they fought off one-man advantages.  Around the midway mark of the third period, the home side did appear to be a little fresher from my, perhaps biased perspective, but the visiting goalie continued to turn away their oncoming shots.

The tie was finally broken with just under four and a half minutes left in regulation time, when one of the bad guys battled for a puck on the sideboards.  He was eventually able to throw a pass towards the front of our net.  One of his teammates parked in the slot, about six feet in front of the goalie, was able to get his stick on the incoming pass, redirecting it quickly towards the goal.  Another bang-bang play resulted in the goal, which would ultimately end the hard-fought first round series.  Our boys would valiantly battle through the final four minutes of the game, including the final ninety seconds with no goalie and an extra attacker. They registered a couple more shots on goal, but were unable to get solid scoring chances or find the back of the net to re-tie the contest.

The game came to a inglorious conclusion for one team and a triumphant end for another. Sticks were raised at one end of the ice, while others were slammed down in frustration. But in a typical show of post-series good sportsmanship, the teams would line up at centre ice to shake hands; presumably wishing each other, sincerely or otherwise, good luck in their future paths.  The way the playoff system is structured, these two teams could conceivably face each other again down the road, should our boys win a round or two and the recent victors lose in one of their next couple of rounds.

The team is understandably disappointed going out in the first round, but they play in a very competitive division.  The Boy knows this all too well as he’s played in this same division against many of the same players and teams for five years; with each year being a struggle to reach the big finish line.  Hell, three of the four opening round series went to five or six games with several matches only being decided by one goal.

The Boys fought hard in this series. They are to be commended for having come back from two games down and trailing in game three; having lost a goal scorer in the process.  Nearly every league contest this year provided a challenge; save for a few games against a couple of lesser light teams.  All of the players on this team knew, or certainly should have known, the playoffs would bring more of the same. Playoff success would require their best efforts, combined with bounces and blessings from the ever-present hockey gods, in order for them to have a chance to advance through any round on their journey.  Perhaps a better start to this series would have made a difference, but that’s all woulda, coulda, shoulda at this point.

It’s now time to reset their focus on winning a new round against a new opponent on their way towards a regional league, rather than provincial, championship.  We get a few days off now as we wait and see who that next opponent will be.

As I say all too often, there is still plenty of hockey to play.

#imahockeydad

Falling Just Short

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After narrowly escaping a series sweep at home in Game 3 of their first round playoff series, the Boys returned to enemy territory for Game 4 last night.  A tightly contested match ended in another one goal game with the good guys claiming a 1-0 victory on a goal scored with just over two minutes left in the third period.  My personal highlight in this fourth game came in the dying moments when the Boy exhorted the already raucous visiting crowd to cheer louder.  As he approached the dot for the final face-off of the game, I noted a grin which spread from ear to ear. The Boy and his teammates tied the series at two games apiece and had certainly turned the momentum of the series in their favour.  That being said, they had merely claimed two one goal victories.  Game 5, scheduled for this evening, would likely be another tight affair.

True to its billing both teams came our raring to play. They exchanged goal scoring chances at both ends of the rink.  Both goaltenders also came prepared to play with each making his share of spectacular saves.  But the visitors would open the scoring in the first period on a bang-bang play on a pass from behind the net. The score would remain 1-0 until the middle of the second period when the Boy would bang in a rebound to knot the score at one apiece.  It felt again like the momentum had swung somewhat in the home team’s favour, but there was still plenty of hockey to play.

In the game within the game, I watched the opposing goaltender approach the Boy, who he knows quite well, and exchange some “pleasantries” during a stoppage in play when the net came off its moorings.  The Boy would report after the game that the goalie joked about the quality of the equipment in this town. The Boy for his part says he reminded the netminder about the equalizer he had recently scored as well as a shot he had rung off his helmet earlier in the contest.  The keeper retorted with a few choice names for the Boy. Gamesmanship; all in good fun.

Following a flood of the ice after the second period, the back and forth action continued with each team coming close to taking the lead.  Bothy would take a couple of penalties, which led to some nervous moments as they fought off one-man advantages.  Around the midway mark of the third period, the home side did appear to be a little fresher from my, perhaps biased perspective, but the visiting goalie continued to turn away their oncoming shots.

The tie was finally broken with just under four and a half minutes left in regulation time, when one of the bad guys battled for a puck on the sideboards.  He was eventually able to throw a pass towards the front of our net.  One of his teammates parked in the slot, about six feet in front of the goalie, was able to get his stick on the incoming pass, redirecting it quickly towards the goal.  Another bang-bang play resulted in the goal, which would ultimately end the hard-fought first round series.  Our boys would valiantly battle through the final four minutes of the game, including the final ninety seconds with no goalie and an extra attacker. They registered a couple more shots on goal, but were unable to get solid scoring chances or find the back of the net to re-tie the contest.

The game came to a inglorious conclusion for one team and a triumphant end for another. Sticks were raised at one end of the ice, while others were slammed down in frustration. But in a typical show of post-series good sportsmanship, the teams would line up at centre ice to shake hands; presumably wishing each other, sincerely or otherwise, good luck in their future paths.  The way the playoff system is structured, these two teams could conceivably face each other again down the road, should our boys win a round or two and the recent victors lose in one of their next couple of rounds.

The team is understandably disappointed going out in the first round, but they play in a very competitive division.  The Boy knows this all too well as he’s played in this same division against many of the same players and teams for five years; with each year being a struggle to reach the big finish line.  Hell, three of the four opening round series went to five or six games with several matches only being decided by one goal.

The Boys fought hard in this series. They are to be commended for having come back from two games down and trailing in game three; having lost a goal scorer in the process.  Nearly every league contest this year provided a challenge; save for a few games against a couple of lesser light teams.  All of the players on this team knew, or certainly should have known, the playoffs would bring more of the same. Playoff success would require their best efforts, combined with bounces and blessings from the ever-present hockey gods, in order for them to have a chance to advance through any round on their journey.  Perhaps a better start to this series would have made a difference, but that’s all woulda, coulda, shoulda at this point.

It’s now time to reset their focus on winning a new round against a new opponent on their way towards a regional league, rather than provincial, championship.  We get a few days off now as we wait and see who that next opponent will be.

As I say all too often, there is still plenty of hockey to play.

#imahockeydad

Alive to Play Another Day

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The boys came roaring back from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to grasp a victory from the jaws of defeat with a 5-4 overtime win in game three.  The winning goal was a floater that caught the opposing goal keeper off guard; sneaking under his arm to the waiting cage behind him.  You could sense the “Hockey Gods” had a role to play in this one. The bench erupted, engulfing the goal scorer in traditional post-game jubilation.

The only downside to this nail-biter was the loss of a comrade to a suspected broken collarbone suffered on a freak play in the third period.  He was ushered from the arena by paramedics to a waiting ambulance after the game ended. We’ve yet to hear the actual extent of the injury, but he was in quite a bit of pain. He’s most likely out of commission for a little while. 

Onlookers hope his loss along with the sudden victory last night will serve as rallying calls to propel this team through the rest of this series.  Another must-win game four will be back in enemy territory in a couple of nights.

In the meantime, we’ll work on finishing the Devil’s season on a strong note with three games over the next two days with the first two being out-of-towners.  They’ve been playing very well of late and will, of course, be looking to continue their winning ways in anticipation of exciting playoffs of their own.

I know at least one invested fan who would settle for a little less drama from time to time – or would?  Cuz where would be the fun in that?

#imahockeydad

Alive to Play Another Day

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The boys came roaring back from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to grasp a victory from the jaws of defeat with a 5-4 overtime win in game three.  The winning goal was a floater that caught the opposing goal keeper off guard; sneaking under his arm to the waiting cage behind him.  You could sense the “Hockey Gods” had a role to play in this one. The bench erupted, engulfing the goal scorer in traditional post-game jubilation.

The only downside to this nail-biter was the loss of a comrade to a suspected broken collarbone suffered on a freak play in the third period.  He was ushered from the arena by paramedics to a waiting ambulance after the game ended. We’ve yet to hear the actual extent of the injury, but he was in quite a bit of pain. He’s most likely out of commission for a little while. 

Onlookers hope his loss along with the sudden victory last night will serve as rallying calls to propel this team through the rest of this series.  Another must-win game four will be back in enemy territory in a couple of nights.

In the meantime, we’ll work on finishing the Devil’s season on a strong note with three games over the next two days with the first two being out-of-towners.  They’ve been playing very well of late and will, of course, be looking to continue their winning ways in anticipation of exciting playoffs of their own.

I know at least one invested fan who would settle for a little less drama from time to time – or would?  Cuz where would be the fun in that?

#imahockeydad

A Fine Line at Playoff Time

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The regular season gave way to the playoffs this week for the Boy’s team. They finished the season in third place in the league which netted them a series against the sixth place team.  In their league all the teams, save for the bottom two are pretty evenly matched.  From second place to sixth place there is only a seven point differential. The first place team has a sizeable lead on the pack, but even they are beatable as the Boy’s team proved earlier this year.  After a thirty game schedule good rivalries are established with pretty much every team.  A playoff series winner is the first team to record six points with a win counting for two points and one point awarded for a tie. 

From the Boy’s perspective, a series with this sixth place team is particularly intriguing because they represent a town where the Boy first started to play hockey. He’s even played with some of the boys on this team.  Off the ice, he considers many of them his friends.  Hell, they even play Call of Duty on XBox Live together.  But on the ice, this is the one team the Boy really wants to beat.

The team goal, in general, is to obviously proceed to the next round and one step closer to the finals. There are actually two levels of playoffs, with the primary goal being the provincial championship.  If a team is eliminated from the provincial playoffs they drop down into their regional playoffs, which some perjoratively refer to as “The Toilet Bowl.”  No one is particularly interested in dropping down before their time and without a good fight.

And so, I hesitated to begin this post as the Boy’s team has not fared well in their first two meetings with their sixth place rivals.

They lost game one at home 4-1 after coming out flat and falling behind 4-0 after two periods. The team looked much better in the third period, but were not able to muster enough scoring opportunities to get back in the game.  Before the series started, we all had some fear of how the boys would play after finishing their season with wins of 6-1, 18-0 and 9-2 against the lowly, winless last place team. Game one definitely felt and looked like a hangover.  We hoped a remedy would be in the offing for game two.

In the second match at the rival’s rink, our boys came out strong off of the initial puck drop. However, as fortune would have it, a wild shot thrown from behind the net in the first minute of play by an opponent would ricochet off the back of our unsuspecting goalie’s leg and into the net.  This one flukey goal lead would be upheld by a strong goaltending performance at the other end of the ice. The bad guys eventually scored a second goal with only a couple of minutes left in the third period. The Boy and his mates were arguably the better team in game two, though neither team was particularly sharp and the scoreboard told a different story. 

Game three is tomorrow night; one of those must-win affairs you always hear the pros talking about in pre-game interviews.  Down four points to none, the boys all know the task before them.  Win to stay alive.  Passes will need to be a little crisper.  Shots will need to find their mark.  Hustle will be tantamount. There’s no reason to think this series is over by any stretch of the imagination, as a win puts them right back in it, with momentum swinging back on their side. I am fairly confident the lads will give it their all, while we in the stands will also implore ye old Hockey Gods to come through with a couple preferable bounces.

To take this back to where we started and put it in some perspective, the second place team is also down and within a point of dropping their round-one series against the seventh place team. They lost both of their first two games and tied the third.  In short series like these, anything can, and usually does, happen. That’s at least part of what makes this game so much fun.

#imahockeydad

A Fine Line at Playoff Time

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The regular season gave way to the playoffs this week for the Boy’s team. They finished the season in third place in the league which netted them a series against the sixth place team.  In their league all the teams, save for the bottom two are pretty evenly matched.  From second place to sixth place there is only a seven point differential. The first place team has a sizeable lead on the pack, but even they are beatable as the Boy’s team proved earlier this year.  After a thirty game schedule good rivalries are established with pretty much every team.  A playoff series winner is the first team to record six points with a win counting for two points and one point awarded for a tie. 

From the Boy’s perspective, a series with this sixth place team is particularly intriguing because they represent a town where the Boy first started to play hockey. He’s even played with some of the boys on this team.  Off the ice, he considers many of them his friends.  Hell, they even play Call of Duty on XBox Live together.  But on the ice, this is the one team the Boy really wants to beat.

The team goal, in general, is to obviously proceed to the next round and one step closer to the finals. There are actually two levels of playoffs, with the primary goal being the provincial championship.  If a team is eliminated from the provincial playoffs they drop down into their regional playoffs, which some perjoratively refer to as “The Toilet Bowl.”  No one is particularly interested in dropping down before their time and without a good fight.

And so, I hesitated to begin this post as the Boy’s team has not fared well in their first two meetings with their sixth place rivals.

They lost game one at home 4-1 after coming out flat and falling behind 4-0 after two periods. The team looked much better in the third period, but were not able to muster enough scoring opportunities to get back in the game.  Before the series started, we all had some fear of how the boys would play after finishing their season with wins of 6-1, 18-0 and 9-2 against the lowly, winless last place team. Game one definitely felt and looked like a hangover.  We hoped a remedy would be in the offing for game two.

In the second match at the rival’s rink, our boys came out strong off of the initial puck drop. However, as fortune would have it, a wild shot thrown from behind the net in the first minute of play by an opponent would ricochet off the back of our unsuspecting goalie’s leg and into the net.  This one flukey goal lead would be upheld by a strong goaltending performance at the other end of the ice. The bad guys eventually scored a second goal with only a couple of minutes left in the third period. The Boy and his mates were arguably the better team in game two, though neither team was particularly sharp and the scoreboard told a different story. 

Game three is tomorrow night; one of those must-win affairs you always hear the pros talking about in pre-game interviews.  Down four points to none, the boys all know the task before them.  Win to stay alive.  Passes will need to be a little crisper.  Shots will need to find their mark.  Hustle will be tantamount. There’s no reason to think this series is over by any stretch of the imagination, as a win puts them right back in it, with momentum swinging back on their side. I am fairly confident the lads will give it their all, while we in the stands will also implore ye old Hockey Gods to come through with a couple preferable bounces.

To take this back to where we started and put it in some perspective, the second place team is also down and within a point of dropping their round-one series against the seventh place team. They lost both of their first two games and tied the third.  In short series like these, anything can, and usually does, happen. That’s at least part of what makes this game so much fun.

#imahockeydad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnsngTNeGTg Hockey Defined Methinks it’s time to inject a littl

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Hockey Defined

Methinks it’s time to inject a little levity into the proceedings before we get all playoff serious.  So here’s a little list of new age hockey lingo; complete with illuminating examples. These are a few of the more colourful and current words and phrases of today’s game that have been uttered in and around the Boy’s and the Devil’s games.

Spin-o-Rama – A 360 degree spin with the puck used to avoid an oncoming checker, fool an unsuspecting/over-committed goaltender or simply add flair to an otherwise non-descript penalty shot (see video above).

BD (Bar Down) – A quick shot that strikes the top crossbar of the net and deflects directly down into the net.  A player who performs this feat is said to “go bar down”.

Sui (soo-eee) – A blind pass to a teammate which puts said player in a highly vulnerable (suicide-like) position and makes opposing body checkers salivate at the prospect of an unexpected hit.

One-Timer – A shot taken immediately off of an incoming pass.  One-timers are highly effective as they generally catch goalies off-guard, but also require good hand-eye coordination to ensure accuracy and speed. 

PK (Penalty Kill) – A situation whereby a team is shorthanded by one or two players because of penalties. Box and triangle systems are the norm to defend a zone in five-on-four or five-on-three situations, but in general, the key to any good PK is pure hustle.

PP (Power Play) – The more favourable alternative to the PK is the PP (Power Play). Having a one or two-man advantage is obviously a preferred status.  Good, disciplined teams are able to capitalize with PP goals.   The following, by an unnamed but not surprising NHL team, demonstrates how NOT to run a power play.

Top Shelf (Where Gramma Keeps the Peanut Butter) – A shot scored in either top corner of the net.  Knocking the goalie’s water bottle high into the air adds a dramatic exclamation point to top shelf goals.

Toe Drag or Dangle – A nifty evasive move whereby the puck is pulled back slightly with the toe (front end) of the blade of the hockey stick causing a defender to lunge forward awkwardly while the toe dragger or dangler skates by him. Mad danglers appear to have the puck glued to their sticks. Stick work like this takes a fair bit of practice.

The Can Opener – A devious defensive maneuver, which involves placing the stick between an opposing players legs and then twisting (not unlike a can opener) typically causing the player to fall to the ice.  You need to be sneaky quick to pull off this move, while avoiding detection by the ref.

Wrap Around – A goal scored quickly from behind the net before the goalie is able to get from one side to the other. The older and the bigger the players get, the tougher it is to pull off the wrap around.

Split the D – A burst of speed that enables an oncoming puck carrier to scoot between two defencemen and in on their goalie, which usually makes them look foolish. Finishing with by going bar down or top shelf is a preferred outcome.

The Flow or Hockey Hair – A wet and/or greasy slicked back long hairdo accentuated by the combination of post-game sweat and years of hockey helmet moulding.  If you look up The Flow in a dictionary you’ll find a picture of Jeremy “JR” Roenick.  Several on the Boy’s team have fashioned respectable flows. 

This list would not be complete without the following penalty explanations from a fan fave, Denis Lemieux, keeper of da goal for da Charlestown Chiefs of Slap Shot fame.  ”You do dat, you go to da box, you know.  Two minutes, by yourself, you know and…you feel shame, you know.  And then you go free.”

Feel free to comment with any of your favourites from the past or present.

#imahockeydad

Finishing on a high? note

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The Boy’s team ended their regular season this past week with three games in a row against a team with a perfect record; an underwhelming 0-27-0.  That’s right; zero wins, 27 losses and zero ties.

This team was unfortunately the victim of a flawed player selection process which allowed several players who should have been on the team at this level to forego trying out to play on a team at a lower level.  These players effectively wanted to play at the lower level so they could win more games and maybe a championship at the end of the year against presumably weaker competition. The lower team these players were able to make is in second place in their division; while the other team, as mentioned, has a perfect winless record.  In fact, coming into the final three games of the thirty game schedule, this team had only scored 14 goals (less than 1/2 a goal per game) and had given up nearly 200 goals.  How much fun could these kids, some of whom had never played rep hockey before, be having.  And we do try to keep coming back to this being the whole point of minor hockey — having fun.

At the other side of the rink was the Boy’s team, having to finish their regular season and enter the playoffs against a team who would provide little competition. The first meeting of the year saw our boys record a 7-0 win.

In game one of the final three, the first good scoring chance came seven seconds in as a quick shot beat the goalie, ringing off the cross bar behind him.  A few minutes later the boys let their guard down and Team 0-27-0 counted the first marker on a weak shot.  The tying goal would not come until there were only three minutes left in the first period. A second would be added before the first frame ended. But the opposing goaltender proved to be sharp (you have to figure he’d had plenty of practice in the previous 27 contests).  He made some spectacular saves.  At one point our goalie slapped his stick on the ice in approval.  Yet, the game ended with our boys on the the right side of a 6-1 score.

What was not positive in the first game was the loss of a player to a two-game suspension on a questionable major boarding penalty.  In games like these you hope to escape with no suspensions and no injuries.  The player in question was one of the lastever intentionally commit an illegal play.  Rumor has it this particular player’s dressing room nickname is “knuckles” in parody of his non-aggressive demeanour.  

Game two would be quite a different affair. If the boys held back in game one, they certainly didn’t in this second match, as the scoreboard revealed 6-0 after one period. They continued to skate, pass and shoot to win.  We found out later they were shooting on a temporary back-up goalie who was two years their junior – not the keeper they encountered in the previous game.  The final score was 18-0. The game proved to be nothing more than a stat-padding exercise; akin to a scrimmage in practice.  There was certainly little to no cheering from the home side. Not a fun game to watch.

The regular goalie would return for game three, backstopping his squad to a 9-2 loss, which saw his team score the first goal again.  Their netminder had another strong game that could have just as easily had a score of 20-2 if not for his heroics. One player from the Boy’s team even went up and gave him kudos after he stoned him with a great glove save. This game also found the now 0-29-0 team floating two players up near their opponent’s blue line for at least half the game in an attempt to generate a breakaway or two, which indeed it did on a couple of occasions.

And so the regular season ended for our boys in third place with a record of 16-5-9. A far cry from 0-30-0.  The Boy, for his part, commented after the second game that he didn’t think he could handle losing every game as they did; though we heard they did win a game in a tournament against a U.S. team, who were obviously themselves misplaced.  He wondered how some of them could be laughing during these beatings, but what else could you expect them to do at this point.

The playoffs start in just a few days with the boys taking on the sixth place team; a good regular season rival who they will need to be on their toes against.  Let’s hope the final three games didn’t serve to develop bad habits and lacklustre play. The boys and coaching staff are looking forward to a strong run. The playoffs are a whole new season, where anything can happen for the teams who are best-focused and disciplined.

Let’s also hope the players from the team with the perfect record haven’t lost their love of the game altogether.  Maybe between all the goals against they were able to have some fun.

#imahockeydad

Finishing on a high? note

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The Boy’s team ended their regular season this past week with three games in a row against a team with a perfect record; an underwhelming 0-27-0.  That’s right; zero wins, 27 losses and zero ties.

This team was unfortunately the victim of a flawed player selection process which allowed several players who should have been on the team at this level to forego trying out to play on a team at a lower level.  These players effectively wanted to play at the lower level so they could win more games and maybe a championship at the end of the year against presumably weaker competition. The lower team these players were able to make is in second place in their division; while the other team, as mentioned, has a perfect winless record.  In fact, coming into the final three games of the thirty game schedule, this team had only scored 14 goals (less than 1/2 a goal per game) and had given up nearly 200 goals.  How much fun could these kids, some of whom had never played rep hockey before, be having.  And we do try to keep coming back to this being the whole point of minor hockey — having fun.

At the other side of the rink was the Boy’s team, having to finish their regular season and enter the playoffs against a team who would provide little competition. The first meeting of the year saw our boys record a 7-0 win.

In game one of the final three, the first good scoring chance came seven seconds in as a quick shot beat the goalie, ringing off the cross bar behind him.  A few minutes later the boys let their guard down and Team 0-27-0 counted the first marker on a weak shot.  The tying goal would not come until there were only three minutes left in the first period. A second would be added before the first frame ended. But the opposing goaltender proved to be sharp (you have to figure he’d had plenty of practice in the previous 27 contests).  He made some spectacular saves.  At one point our goalie slapped his stick on the ice in approval.  Yet, the game ended with our boys on the the right side of a 6-1 score.

What was not positive in the first game was the loss of a player to a two-game suspension on a questionable major boarding penalty.  In games like these you hope to escape with no suspensions and no injuries.  The player in question was one of the lastever intentionally commit an illegal play.  Rumor has it this particular player’s dressing room nickname is “knuckles” in parody of his non-aggressive demeanour.  

Game two would be quite a different affair. If the boys held back in game one, they certainly didn’t in this second match, as the scoreboard revealed 6-0 after one period. They continued to skate, pass and shoot to win.  We found out later they were shooting on a temporary back-up goalie who was two years their junior – not the keeper they encountered in the previous game.  The final score was 18-0. The game proved to be nothing more than a stat-padding exercise; akin to a scrimmage in practice.  There was certainly little to no cheering from the home side. Not a fun game to watch.

The regular goalie would return for game three, backstopping his squad to a 9-2 loss, which saw his team score the first goal again.  Their netminder had another strong game that could have just as easily had a score of 20-2 if not for his heroics. One player from the Boy’s team even went up and gave him kudos after he stoned him with a great glove save. This game also found the now 0-29-0 team floating two players up near their opponent’s blue line for at least half the game in an attempt to generate a breakaway or two, which indeed it did on a couple of occasions.

And so the regular season ended for our boys in third place with a record of 16-5-9. A far cry from 0-30-0.  The Boy, for his part, commented after the second game that he didn’t think he could handle losing every game as they did; though we heard they did win a game in a tournament against a U.S. team, who were obviously themselves misplaced.  He wondered how some of them could be laughing during these beatings, but what else could you expect them to do at this point.

The playoffs start in just a few days with the boys taking on the sixth place team; a good regular season rival who they will need to be on their toes against.  Let’s hope the final three games didn’t serve to develop bad habits and lacklustre play. The boys and coaching staff are looking forward to a strong run. The playoffs are a whole new season, where anything can happen for the teams who are best-focused and disciplined.

Let’s also hope the players from the team with the perfect record haven’t lost their love of the game altogether.  Maybe between all the goals against they were able to have some fun.

#imahockeydad

Missed it by that much!

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Another weekend, another tourney for the Devil and her team. Tournaments are good tools for team building, working on line combinations and in-game tactics and gauging team strength against competition they don’t normally get to see.

In this tournament, the girls started with a game against a very familiar rival. Coincidentally, or not, their closest local competitor has turned up in three of the same tournaments; this in addition to an exhibition game and four scheduled regular season games.  This will be the same team the girls will have to go head-to-head against in their quest to play in the provincial championships.  In five previous games so far this year, these two teams have skated to a virtual draw with either one-goal wins for either team or ties.  Game one of this tournament was no different.  Our girls unfortunately came out of the gate a little slow and fell behind by one and then two goals.  They would turn the play around in the third period, but were unable to tally more than one goal against.  They dropped this latest challenge 2-1.

In round robin tournament play, losing game one generally forces a need to win the next two, depending, of course, on the strength of the other teams in your division. With a win at stake, the coach set a strict curfew for his players, who were scattered in hotels around the small host city.  Not a problem for the Devil, who was wiped out from the school day, a 90 minute drive, followed by an 8pm hockey game. This was likely the case for her teammates as well.

The next morning, the Sharks came out with a vengeance against what seemed to be a stronger competitor.  After giving up the first goal despite dominating the play, the girls came storming back.  They scored three unanswered markers of their own; renewing their chances of advancing to the playoff round.

However, in order to reach the playoffs, they would have to contend with a decidedly larger and reportedly even stronger team.  Indeed, as the puck dropped for game three, the Sharks were at a noticeable size disadvantage.  That being said, the girls certainly didn’t back down.  They were all well aware of what they needed to do in order to move on. For two periods of scoreless hockey, the Devil and her mates skated as hard as they’ve skated all year. They battled in the corners, stood their ground in front of the net at both ends of the rink and had a few good scoring chances.  Unfortunately, in the third period, their strong opponent was able to break through with a first goal. Undaunted, but slightly overmatched, the Sharks never gave up.  Their counterparts, who would eventually go on to become tournament champions, scored two more times.

As the game neared its conclusion, the manager informed the team that they needed one goal to have a chance to move on.  That goal never came.

And indeed, as it turned out, the girls would end up in a three-way tie for second place in their division. A tie-breaker would ultimately determine that they would miss making the semi-finals by a single goal.  Ironically, they would give way to the team they beat in their second game, who happened to have a better goals for/goals against differential.  Such is the tournament format, where a slow start can come back to bite you in the proverbial ass.  A tie or win in game one against the weakest of the three teams they faced would have done the trick.

It would have been nice to make the semis where there is always a chance to proceed further in a single game knock-out situation.  In fact, the team our girls beat in their second game went on to play and lose to the team from the third game in the Championship final. The Sharks were obviously in the tougher of the two tournament divisions.  There was definitely no disappointment for the coaching staff or the players based on how the team performed against increasingly stiff competition. Its heartening to see how they can play at their full potential.  The challenge with this team, as with all teams in all sports, is realizing that potential on a consistent basis. 

I believe this ends the tournament schedule for both the Boy and the Devil.  At least tournaments I know about at this point. Sometimes end of season tournaments are added depending on how long a team’s playoff run is.  And so, we’ll hope there are no more tournaments this year, signalling a long and prosperous post-season run for each squad.  There are still a handful of regular season games for both teams, which will ultimately determine their rank and playoff match-ups.  Plenty of fun and games yet to come.

#imahockeydad