Jan 20, 2013 | Mike Steele | 984 views
Great Weekend of events !!
Our little cougars traveled to Motown this weekend not knowing how much fun they were going to have with their team. After some worries about border delays we all made great time to our first game on Friday. For many of us this was our first time away from home for a hockey tournament and the kids and the parents were getting very excited.
Game 1 at the Ice Box introduced our kids to what a smelly dressing room from men's hockey the night before is all about. The smell could not keep the cougars down and with some help from Coach Steve's boom box they came out firing against a small Flint Michigan team. They had a good little goalie but the cougars had too much firepower and we literally filled the gamesheet so they stopped keeping score. The final on the sheet was 17-1 but it was actutaly 23-1It may have been more but our cougars were trying some different plays and different positions and had some great passing. Hi-lites from the game were Cameron & Elijah's first goals of the year and nice ones at that, Tyler with his first career hat trick and Carter, Kevin & Luke getting hat tricks ++. We had solid play by the entire team with Jacko, Josh & Owen all putting up some goals in the game as well
You know it would not take long for the kids to hit the pool after getting to the hotel and then a great team dinner at Bob Evans and then back to the hotel for a mini stick battle and some more pool & hot tub time. The parents took some time to relax and have a few beverages. Thanks to the Greenlee's for setting up a great shooter room. It was fun for the parents to get to know each other outside of the rink and tell some great tales. Thanks to Alan & Josh for letting us have your room for a classic mini stick game. The kids finally started hitting the sack around 10:30 to get ready for game 2. I had to curfew the parents a wee bit later but we were all enjoying some great Coach Sean stories.
Game 2 10:40 am at the Ice Box again saw us play Easton Youth hockey from Ohio and they were a bigger team and also had a great little goalie. The first period saw us trade some goals and then Ava shut the door the rest of the game. All our forwards were flying in the 2nd & 3rd period . The cougar forwards and one from Kyle put 12 markers past their keeper and had the cougars come out with another big victory winning 12-2. The game featured some strong D play from our Pink Power team of Erika & Tat and we even saw the infamous tat-a-hawk chop a couple of times. I am looking forward to the pictures
The team went back to the hotel and chilled with some mini stick games in the common room and a whole bunch of subway and other miscellaneous meals. The kids had to prepare for our seeding game at 4:30 at Southgate arena. It was a nice newer arena complex with some large dressing rooms. The kids were still boogie-ing to the tunes from Steve's boombox getting ready for a potential tough match against the USA Eagles from Michigan.
Game 3 This game featured a whole lot of Kevin who was already having a great tournament. My hi-lite was watching Kevin skate all the way back and stopping a breakaway and then going all the way down ice for his breakaway goal. Great game by all the forwards and solid play from Elijah, Kyle, Tat & Erika on D in helping clear the traffic away from Ava and stopping that quick number 4. Unfortunately for this game we were missing Jack who was not feeling well from the previous day and that is a big hole to fill. The kids won one for Jack and came out up 12-2 again.
After getting 47 GF and 5 GA you would figure we would deserve a number 1 seeding and a bye to the semi finals but we finished 2nd based on the GA tie breaker and got a tough draw for the semi's.
The next game was at 7:30 am so we had a 8:30 pm curfew that night and the kids & parents enjoyed a nice pizza dinner from a Little Ceasers. Bill, Steve & I were only slightly concerned when we picked up our pizza behind 2 inch bullet proof glass, that was a first for me but we made it back safely , lol The parents had a mellow night with that early morning but were enjoying the rotating door in room 233 for that birthday party, there had to be 30 people in that little room !!
6:00am came very early and a cold windy morning greeted us on route to the Ice Box for our semi final game. I didn't want to freak the kids out by telling them too much about our competition. We were facing the Illinois Admirals Novice Rep team. They had only lost 1 game all year and it actually said on their website that when you make that team it is a win at all cost team and kids should expect to sit all or parts of a game to achieve that. How the heck this team get into a houseleague hockey tournament when they had a select and A Division is beyond me?? None the less the Admirals came out flying with a whole lot of #88 & 87 who had the majority of their goals. They were a very solid team from top to bottom and definitely got our kids off our game. They potted the first 6 goals and then we had to deal with the clock as it was run time after that. Our kids came out flying in the 3rd and got 3 quick goals to get us back in the game and their coaches started to worry and called a time-out. A questionable non call for a trip in the next 30 seconds on a Kevin break away could have changed the game but no help from the Refs for the rest of the game. I told our D to push up to get some more offence but its a risky move with a fast team who came down and got 2 more break away goals on Ava. It was 8-3 in the end for the Admirals but our Cougars held their heads high and knew that we were 6-3 against a Rep A team from a bigger city than our little hamlet of Mt Brydges.
The Coaches voted on the players of the tournament and although it was tough as they all played fanstastik the entire weekend, offensive honors went to Kevin and defensive to Erika. Great games by solid forward lines Josh, Jack, Luke, Cameron, Tyler, Kevin, Owen & Carter who all racked up the stats this weekend and solid D from our super goalie Ava, Elijah, Kyle, Tat & Erika. Thanks to Coach Pete, Sean, Alan & Steve for some great bench laughs and some fun times with the kids in the dressing room.
Even though we did not come home with any medals or trophies, we came home with some of the best memories that the kids will ever have from playing minor hockey. Their were many firsts on the weekend for everyone and I personally enjoyed getting to know the kids and the parents outside of the hockey rink. I can honestly say that the kids were the most well behaved group I have ever had at an out of town tournament and the siblings got along great and also had a fun time.
I hope everyone enjoyed the tournament and after watching us play I would love to do one more local tourney this year and I will talk to the parents about it. In the end it created a great lifetime bond for the Players, Coaches & Parents and thanks to Greenlee's & Persin's for negotiating a deal of the picture CD's which I will upload a bunch of pictures to our website when we get it.
As an FYI, the Admirals Novice Rep team ended up beating that Toronto team 9-1 in the final. Our Cougars Atom Gold ended up bringing home the gold for Brydges on a well played tournament by them.
Thanks for the memories and see you at the rink !!!
Coach Mike, Corri, Erika & Tyler