Right into the final seconds of our final game our Bantam
LL3 Wolfpack were fighting with everything they had, chasing down a final goal
that would make the difference with living another day to play again and move
on in our final hometown Syl Apps tournament.
This ongoing thirst to win from our players was what earned them goals
and created fast paced, exciting games to watch and the difference in how we
finished games.
Before entering our final tournament of the year, we had a full month to prepare; however, with our final season game occurring on March 5, 2017 I had to devise a plan to keep our boys motivated, in shape while broadening their hockey skills. Using our two exhibition games, that PMHA allots to our team each year, I set out to match up with two other comparable clubs to engage in a two game series. It was not long before I had two house league teams one from Woodstock and a second from Cambridge accepting this offer and quick to set up home and away game dates with our team. Our team now had a full schedule of four games and practices to extend our season and get us game ready for our tournament.
Exhibition series with Woodstock RAV4
Our first two exhibition games were against the Woodstock RAV4 team, with the first match being held in Woodstock by our hospitable opponents who offered us a warm welcome even providing each of our players with a friendly token gift, to show their appreciation and thanks for sharing in a two game series with their house league team who rarely have the chance of playing other teams outside of their city.
Minutes before game time there was a lot of discussion amongst players and coaches as we chatted with the other coaches to determine the difference in their rules and procedures, as Woodstock is part of the Alliance hockey league. Some differences our team needed to take note of were the difference in filling out hockey score sheets, the no mouth guards rule, period times of 10, 10, 12 minutes and strong officiating in issuing penalties for any minor offense. It was Jack, who previously had played in Woodstock, who forewarned his now Paris teammates to tread carefully to avoid penalties as referees are quick with handing out penalties for the slightest body bump or stick tap. Apparently, our players did not take Jack’s words wisely as we endured 4 penalties in the game compared to Woodstock’s clean no penalties game. One of our penalties included an Unsportsmanlike conduct, surprisingly since our boys were still playing with their mouth guards which you would think would have diffused any unnecessary comment.
This game ended up being a perfect match up, as both teams were equally paired up and the play was back and forth, in fact, there was little whistle calls especially in the first period which forced our players to line change several times during the play. The goaltenders each performed extremely well, forcing all players to make more challenging scoring attempts. Finally, in the third period Ryan earned the first and what would become the only winning goal in the game with assists from Fletcher and Jaden, respectively. At the end of this game James would be awarded with his third shutout of the year.
Due to March break both teams would have to wait close to two weeks before our second game that our Paris team were happy to host at our centre and we reciprocated the warm welcome to our Woodstock friends with token player gifts and pre-game player introduction announcements. The Woodstock players and families were excited about this opportunity to play a game outside their regular centre and brought a large hometown crowd with them to enjoy this game. It was no surprise that this game would resemble our previous game with both teams playing in unison with one another, making this another spectator’s game.
Ian didn’t hesitate to make the first play of the game and with a minute and a half remaining in the first period accepted a pass from Hayden who received the puck from Jaden to open up the score to 1-0 for the home team. Our team managed to hold on to this lead until the mid-point of the third period when our Woodstock rivals put pass, for the first time in our game series, the puck behind our goaltender. Although, both teams strived to earn a second goal of the night the score board sounded the end of the third period concluding a tied 1-1 game.
Exhibition series with Cambridge Avalanche
Two days later our team started our second two game series this time against the Cambridge Avalanche Bantam House league team with our centre being the first to host the starting game. Being the good hosts that we are, we treated our Cambridge visitors to a grand welcome with token gifts and opening player and team announcements that set a great mood and competitive tone. We would soon learn that this new game series with Cambridge would be completely different from our previous game series with Woodstock as this would be a much higher scoring game series with Cambridge.
Although, Cambridge had a short bench of 8 players to start and a 9th player arriving later in the period, their winning chances were deceiving as they quickly demonstrated their equal playing abilities with our boys. In fact, Cambridge scored the first goal of the game in less than a minute and a half into the game sending a bold message to our team that we should not underestimate the outcome of this game. This rude awakening made our players take notice and not sit back on this team and our Wolfpack poured on the pressure to Avalanche that made them tremor with concern.
Evan was the first to respond back to Cambridge with an unassisted goal, to strip the Avalanche’s lead and then two minutes later a second goal from the Wolfpack by Jaden that was assisted by Ryan and Fletcher put us on top of Avalanche for a brief moment before Cambridge returned in force with two quick goals to end the period to regain the lead at leave our bench stunned and confused.
Our Paris players redeemed themselves in the second period by scoring a total of four goals in this period alone, Ian scored first from a shot from inside their zone that was tipped in by the opposing defence. The next goal was credited to Ryan after receiving a set up pass from Jack. Fletcher was responsible for the 5th goal in the game that was assisted by Jaden and the final goal of the second period was delivered by Spencer off a pass from Jaden. At the end of the second period our Wolfpack had a commanding lead of 6-4; however, Cambridge was not showing any signs of slowing down, in fact, both teams claimed two final goals in the third period. Jayden and Ryan each earned a goal for our team while Fletcher was credited for assisting Ryan’s goal.
At the conclusion, of this tiring timekeepers game our Wolfpack were relieved to have gained a win.
A week to the day, our game series would resume, now in Cambridge, as we would face the Avalanche to test our chances of a possible repeat win. Cambridge were better prepared for our visit by adding some additional select players to their roster now at 15 players to match our 3 line set up.
Before our team stepped onto the ice, our coaching staff reminded our players that we needed to treat this game as good practice for our start to our tournament tomorrow, which meant practicing playing a clean game, trying out new moves and avoiding any injuries so we can be ready in full force for our hometown tournament.
Our coaching staff were praising the intensity, passing and strategic plays of our team and although Cambridge earned a 7-4 win, we were grateful that the Avalanche prepared us well in this exhibition game before our tournament which even provided much confidence for our players on how well they can play. Congrats to Ryan, Jaden, Jackson and Spencer for goals in this game and assists by Fletcher(x2), Oscar, Ryan, Liam and Owen.
Syl Apps Tournament
Our LL3 team were treated like VIP’s on Friday night as we were offered the Mounties change room with individual player stalls that had shelves and hooks for players to organize their equipment. Players enjoyed reviewing the player pennants, Mounties memorabilia and a larger sized dressing room.
Friday night’s kick off tournament game was against our LL2 Paris team, the last time we faced this team was an early season game on November 17, not only did we lose that game 5-3 but more importantly our captain was seriously injured in this game, sidelining him until his return in January. Although, there was an elephant in the room our coaching staff needed to get our players to look past this and venture on; unfortunately, our players when they hit the ice seemed sluggish and not on their game. LL2 seemed to capitalize on our misfortune by scoring single goals in periods 1 and 2 to hold a two goal lead entering the third period.
Our players, in the third period, managed to find their game and dominated much of the last period with Ian scoring an unassisted goal to cut LL2’s game lead in half, meaning a single goal was all that would be needed to tie up the game or even a manageable two goal opportunity to gain the lead. Our boys played hard and made up some great chances; unfortunately, they were unable to get past LL2’s goalkeeper, allowing LL2 to finish the game with a win.
Returning to the arena the next day happened to be Saturday, April 1, so our coaching staff decided to have some April fools fun with the players. Realizing our players need to curb their penalties, we felt we should kill two birds with one stone with this practical joke.
I informed our players that PMHA was looking to cut down on players taking penalties, so the association has decided to instill a video camera into the penalty box and incorporate player video apologies as part of their penalty. My April fool joke was more believable as I had the coaches and Spencer in on the joke to reinforce and back me up on this fun story.
Jack was the first to respond by saying that he will most likely be the first to try out this new video apology policy and sure enough Jack is a man of his word earned the first penalty of the game on his team. Returning to the bench, Fletcher nervously and impatiently asked him if he needed to do a video apology, Jack responded with a resounding no, citing the coaches made that up. Bursting our coaches little April fools joke, early in the first period, meant we needed to now reason with our players about penalty costs.
What was not a laughing matter was our players outlook on the game at hand vs. North Middlesex, their focus was very serious play and the outcome of the game of 2-2 was their deserving result, nice goals by Ian and Spencer.
Our 2nd game on Saturday paired our team up against Belle River, once again our team played some of the best hockey all season to the amazement and appreciation of coaches and families. Spencer and Ryan earned us a fast lead in the first period at the 7 minute mark with assists by fellow teammates Evan, Jaden and Spencer. Belle River joined the scoreboard with a goal at the mid-point of the first period, cutting our lead by one goal.
The second period did not have any changes to the score, allowing our team to win two periods for points. Entering the final third period Belle River struck first with a goal to turn the game into a 2-2 tie. Wolfpack were not deferred by this change of events and we returned a few minutes later with a 3rd goal to reclaim the lead that was short lived for a measly 10 seconds when Belle River returned with what would end up being the final goal of the game.
Overall our tournament experience was very exciting with numerous call back goals for our team and our opposing teams either due to off sides or referees disputing the goal.
A special mention to Ian, James and Owen, respectively for each winning players of the game in the tournament.
Congratulations to Craig Gaukel and his Bantam LL1 team for ending up as Finalists of our Syl Apps tournament that involved 3 overtimes against the winning Mariposa Lightning.
Thank you
I would like to thank all of our players on a fun filled, memorable season, it was a pleasure to coach a great bunch of players and I wish you all the best in your next season either in Bantam or Midget.
Our team would not be what it was without the great support from my coaching and team staff: Terry Shipp, Asst. Coach, Jeff Hannah, Asst. Coach, Greg Thibodeau, Trainer, Ronna Hoogstraten, Trainer & Sponsor, Kevin Bristow, On-ice coach, Glen Drinkle, On-ice Goalie Coach, Devin Nguyen, On-ice Coach, Kathy Kraemer, Parent/Player rep, Sponsor and Emergency Control Person, Tony Kraemer, Parent/Player rep., Sponsor, Ted Hoogstraten, Sponsor, Rebecca Noseworthy, Emergency Call Person and Colleen Shipp, Emergency Control Person.
A final thank you to our Hockey Moms, Dads, Stepparents, siblings, extended family and friends for all your support to our players and to our coaching staff, your encouragement completes our players experience.