Pretty Darn Close

Last year around this time I posted about the boys' hockey team winning the gold medal in a shootout ending to a nail-biter game.
I also mentioned that on same day the boys' hockey team had a great end of season party with cake and a fun road hockey game to wrap the evening up.
Plus, we lucked out in a huge way and met the University of New Brunswick men's hockey team who just happened to be partying across the road with the University Cup which they had just won again to be the top team in Canada.
The lads had one of the most fun days they had ever had since starting hockey.

Well, a year later the story isn't quite the same but the important things are unchanged.

Unfortunately, our beloved UNB team didn't win the University Cup this season. They had a great season and did win the Atlantic conference though. That's a huge accomplishment.
I can say quite confidently that everyone who supports them and probably even some who don't are very proud of them for their efforts.

As for our young lads, the season again came down to their team playing for the gold medal.
Once again the game was a nail biter right down to the last second of regulation time and the entire 5 minute overtime period.
And again, it came down to a shootout to decide who would win the gold medal.

I wish the powers that be in the hockey world would make a change somewhere and let them play at least one more overtime period.
Or perhaps change the overtime period from 5 minutes to 10 before forcing a shootout.

If you're thinking I'm saying this because the boys didn't win the game that's not why I'm saying this.
Even last year when we won the game many of us agreed that a shootout isn't a proper way to decide the victor of an amazing game.

With a few seconds left in the regulation time one of our boys took a shot that hit the top crossbar and bounced down. From where I was sitting it bounced down as a goal and out again but I was sitting higher up with an unobstructed view of the net.

The referee and linesmen didn't have the luxury of my view and decided that it wasn't a goal.
No-one can blame them for that. They see what they can and make the best decisions possible with the information available to them.
They have a tough job which I don't envy. Not many people tell them what a great job they have done but many will whine about how bad they think they are. (Hmm, those folks are well prepared to become Municipal Councillors aren't they? Lol.)

I wish I could tell you that the shootout ended with one of our kids blasting the puck into the top corner for the winning goal but that didn't happen this time.

But you know what? Both T and B were shooters for our team and did the best that they could.
Think about the pressure of being that shooter and the goalie facing him.
Every eye in the place is on you.
If that were me I think I'd pass out onto the ice!

T took the last shot. It didn't go into the net but dammit I was so proud of him!
When I went down to the ice and told him that it was a good try he said that he had let the team down.
I told him that there were other shooters too. Just because he was the last one didn't mean he was to blame for anything.
They all did their best under pressure and I was proud of them.
That feeling of his went away pretty quickly thanks in large part to his beautiful young lady friend telling him how proud she was of him. :)

When all was said and done at the end of the day all of the guys were really happy and understood that even if a silver medal isn't the top prize, it's pretty darn close and a heck of an accomplishment.



Out of all of the teams in their level they were close to being the best.

In my opinion with the way the game ended I feel that they are just as good as the other team even though the medal doesn't indicate it.
Someone reminded me that the other team was the team that we beat 5-0 in the Hampton tournament a little while ago.
Each time we played them this season the games were very close. They won some and we won some.

By the time the medal presentations came along I could tell that every one of the guys were feeling good about everything. There were no tears or angry faces anywhere.



Cheryl was the team manager this year and had arranged for the end of season party and events to follow the final game without us having to leave Willie O'Ree Place.
This was an amazing choice on Cheryl's part.
We were able to get one of the party rooms upstairs.
I went and picked up a stack of pizzas which the boys devoured like a pack of hungry wolves.

It was a fantastic sunny day outside so Cheryl had told everyone in advance to bring their street hockey sticks. Awesome thinking again.
I set up some orange pylons in the big empty section of the parking lot and let them have a blast.




But the fun wasn't over yet!
Everyone went back up to the party room for cake. That's it in the photo at the top.

THEN, the boys and a bunch of the parents, family and coaches trucked downstairs again and played the last game they would play this season.
Cheryl is a good sport and still pretty good at getting around on skates so she played for the Parent's team.
I haven't skated in years and am not as nimble so I declared myself the official photographer.
I don't know which kid started it but almost all of them wore one of their spare hockey socks on their helmets. It was quite funny to see.



It's a shame that the fun had to end.
Even though it was clear that all of these guys were totally exhausted I'm betting if someone had told them to do another activity they would have found some hidden energy and jumped in.
No-one cared about their medals being gold or silver. They all had a great time and that's all that mattered.

At the end of the day when everything was finished both boys told me that they had an amazing day and were sad that the season was over.

An amazing day wrapping up a good season where they had a lot of fun and made some pretty good friends.
That's the whole point isn't it?
This is what I want them to feel every year.
That they had fun and made friends.

Another victory.

Stay well,
Tim

Simply, The Best

What a surprise. Another blog about hockey. :)
This one is a little different though.
Our family is in total agreement that this past weekend was the best and most successful sports weekend that we have ever had.

I dare not diminish the baseball championship that they won last fall. That was certainly outstanding and was the first time that any team the boys have been on had gone all the way to get the big prize at the end of the season.

But with all things considered and how it all played out, this past weekend was one that will never be forgotten.

It didn't start out too well though.
Over the past couple of weeks we've been having fabulous warm weather which had done a nice job of melting the huge piles of snow that have been around us for months.
Then last Friday, April Fool's Day, Mother Nature decided to play a joke on us and pounded us with a snowstorm.
The boys' semi-final hockey game was scheduled to go in the late afternoon.
Initially we were convinced that the game was going to be cancelled due to the horrendous road conditions but as the afternoon went on it became clear that the show would go on.

The final Championship game was to be played the next day so if the semi-final was cancelled there was no place to squeeze it in before the final game.

Personally I wasn't too thrilled with this. I didn't see the sense of people risking their lives because the FYHA couldn't find a way to move things around.

I was at our Fredericton office not too far from the arena but Cheryl was going to have to drive all the way from New Maryland through the blizzard with the boys to get to the rink.
T had been sick and didn't go to school that day. It didn't look like he would be able to play anyway.
B was coming out of a cold and was still sniffly and achy.
We decided that this was not going to happen. Our sons were just going to have to miss the game.

T had a long nap that afternoon. When he woke up he announced that he was ready to play if the game was on.
B was ready to go no matter how he felt.

So Cheryl made a couple of calls to parents of some other players who live in our area and have better vehicles for handling the road conditions.
Cheryl and T were picked up by one family and B was picked up by another and I met them at the rink.

I was surprised but everyone on our team made it to the rink on time. The other team was missing a player or two but was ready to go.
The referee and two linesman were there on time and the game went on.

It started out a little slowly but our team eventually got their groove and the barrage of goals against the other team began.

As the game went on I was sending out updates on my Facebook and Twitter of the score.
A friend whose son is on the other team and is on Facebook had decided against trying to get to the arena. When she realized that it was her son's team we were playing she jokingly sent a message asking if our kids could maybe not beat them so badly.

Well, once that train started down that track nothing I could say would slow it down.

Our kids ended up winning 7-0.
B got himself another hat-trick for good measure.

When I think about it now it could have gone either way even though the score doesn't reflect that.
It seemed that the other team's goalie was just having a bad day and missed some things that he usually could have saved.
In our end our goalies were pulling off some awesome saves that they may not have done on another day.
I do admit that our team is quite strong with B and T and several other good players but I don't know if they were 7-0 strong.

Regardless, they did it and had to rest up and get sleep before the big game the next day.

The Championship game was against the Stars who had become our biggest rivals. We just didn't like them. There were a couple of kids on there who weren't always the cleanest players.
We played them in the Hampton tournament a little while back and they beat us in overtime with the help of some very puzzling officiating.

One of the players who is in B's class at school made sure that he bragged aloud to everyone how they beat B's team for the gold medal.

Plus, they beat us in a shootout for the bronze medal in the Christmas tournament.

We did beat them a couple of weeks ago but I was really hoping that we would not have to play them again.
No such luck.

My guys went to bed early Friday night, had a great breakfast on Saturday and ate some raisins for energy as I told them to do.
T still was not feeling 100% but would hold his own.

For some bizarre reason the top scorer on the other team was away and didn't play.
The game should be a breeze then right?
Not likely.

The Stars scored first and were ahead 1-0 for a very long time. They were playing a solid game. It was scary to think what would have happened if their star player was there.
For some reason our best players were having a hard time getting the job done. Plus, the other goalie was pulling out some magic from midair with some of his saves.

Finally we scored a goal and tied it up in the second period. It was 1-1.

Well into the third period I was really thinking that this thing would go into overtime and I wasn't thrilled with the thought.

With 8 minutes left in the third, B did one of his spectacular end-to-end, deke 'em all plays and popped the puck into the top corner past the goalies glove. That was good timing, I'll say.

Now could they hold on for eight more minutes to win this thing?
I should mention that this game was three, fifteen minute stop-time periods which was different than usual. In regular games the play was straight-time non-stop up until the last five minutes of the game when it became stop-time.

A couple of minutes later our fears were realized when the Stars tied it up.
Regulation time ended with a 2-2 score and it was going into overtime. (I'm convinced that overtime was created to make anyone watching or involved with the game go insane with frazzled nerves.)

The overtime period was a wild one to say the least. There were so many opportunties and so many saves to beat them I couldn't count.
But no-one scored and they had to go into a shootout. Rats.

To me a shootout is a terrible way to end any game of any kind. Admittedly each team has several chances and uses different players for each shot but I really don't think it's a fair representation of the team's skills.

Each team had 4 shooters take their turns and each team had 1 goal to show for it.

The Stars player went down for the fifth shot and was blocked out by our goalie.

Then our fifth player got ready to go.
This boy is an awesome player and had done some excellent plays over the season but seemed to have a tendency of shooting the puck directly at the goalie rather than where the goalie wasn't.

If there was ever a time for him to do this differently this was it. I was right down by the other team's net and watched him coming down. I almost didn't want to look but did so anyway.

It's a darn good thing that I did too. The lad pulled some magic out of his hat and zipped a perfect wrist shot into the corner.

Gold Medal! Sweet. It wasn't the prettiest victory but it worked perfectly for me.
Those other losses to these guys didn't matter anymore. This was the game that counted and our kids did it.

What a moment. It's impossible to tell you just how proud we felt. Beyond words.

The team manager had made a very wise decision to have the end-of-season party that same evening at Killarney Lodge up at Killarney Lake just north of Fredericton.

That was such a blast. The coaches and manager had gone and had trophies made for every player AND gave them the gift of a new graphite stick each!
Cheryl did up one of her special Odes to the Peewee Sharks and read it to everyone. She did a spectacular job too.
The Ode is a poem.
My father started composing Odes many years ago when he lived in Toronto and would write one every time a friend was retiring or moving on or whenever a special occasion came along.
He wrote Odes for the weddings of my sister and myself too.
For the last couple of years Cheryl has started doing them and is a natural talent at them.

There was great food and assorted sweets for everyone to load up on.

I was very impressed with the cake. Here is a photo of it.




You would think that this day could not get any more awesome than that wouldn't you?
It's not over yet.

Tha assistant coach had everyone over to his house for the kids to play road hockey in the court.
It was raining a bit but the kids had a blast.
Inside the house the adults were treated to chicken wings, fruit trays, vegetable dips and whatever beverages we desired. (The assistant coach works for a huge international beverage manufacturer and gets a pretty good deal.)

It felt like the evening should be winding down before long when the assistant coach mentioned something about the Varsity Reds.

PARDON?? What did he say?? I must be hearing things!!

You see, the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds men's hockey team proved just last week that they are the best team in the entire country by winning the University Cup in the final CIS tournament in Fredericton.

This is the some of the best hockey I have ever seen. (With the exception of our kids' games of course. ) :)
Our family has attended as many of these games as we could over the last several years and we love it. The boys can name every player on the team. Fredericton's university hockey is without question the best show in town.
The Varsity Reds players define what being a top athlete really is. Their skills are outstanding. Their coach is regarded as one of the best in the sport.
Plus, they are all great guys.

We had met some of them on numerous occasions and they are always friendly and happy to talk to a fan.
Truly a great bunch of lads and absolutely deserving of the national crown.

B and I went to one of the CIS tournament games and T and I were at the final game.

Anyway, back to this.

The assistant coach informed us that most of the UNB team was across the road at that very moment having a party and the University Cup was with them!

It doesn't get much better than that.

Check this out.




Yep, that's my sons holding the University Cup with most of their favourite UNB players in the picture with them.
Unfortunately our top favourite player, Hunter Tremblay, was not there. He was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers a couple of days before and was on his way to Oklahoma to join the farm team. That's a shame for us but excellent for him.
We've loved watching him play and are really going to miss having him in town but we certainly hope he becomes a star in the NHL as he was here.
I know the boys were thrilled with the whole scene but I was on cloud 9 too.


So, that's the story of what was the Scammell's best sports weekend.

So far... :)


Stay well,
Tim

Pride in the name of love

Enjoy this long post. It makes up for my not posting in a while.

It has nothing to do with the U2 song of the same name but when I was trying to think of a title it felt perfect.

I know what you're thinking. The picture above shows a celebration of victory. Everyone is proud of those who win.
But it's more than that. Read on.

Those who know me and my family already know of the series of events in our family's sporting activities of late. You people can skip down the page a bit.

For the rest of you here's a brief (I'll try) summary of our hockey stuff.

T and B started playing hockey four seasons ago in the first year of the Atom level. They did quite well and had a ton of fun. Each boy scored a goal that season.
The following season made a huge difference when they were in the older age group of the Atom level.
T didn't score a lot of goals but played his position as a defenseman like a star. I always like to say that he's like a policeman guarding the blue line. He kept the puck in the other team's end and shut down most breakaways before they became dangerous.

That was also the year that B became a scoring machine.
If you never saw this post of mine you should have a look. It describes that second season quite well.

http://tim4nm.blogspot.com/2009/04/what-would-bobby-orr-do.html

Last year was the boys' first season in the Pee Wee level.
Again, they did quite well but it was clear to me that being in the younger age group in a level makes a difference.

Again, T scored one goal as in prior seasons. His defensive skills were right on the mark. Nobody can do a poke check like our T can.

B scored a few goals but not as many as the previous season.
He had fun though. Not being the top scorer on the team was okay with him. I could see that he had all of his good sportsmanship in place and he was enjoying the game.
Maybe the decreased pressure of not being the top scorer on the team makes it easier on him?

Anyway, last summer (2010) before this hockey season began the boys played in a little summer league at Base Gagetown in Oromocto.
I wish every league was designed like this one. The kids are from everywhere and every skill level. Triple A, Double A, Rec players and several first timers are all thrown in together on the teams.

The two important rules are 1) have fun and 2) no player is to get more than 3 goals in a game. If they score 4, they get a penalty.
Whoever thought this up is brilliant. This ensures that the puck gets passed around and everyone has an equal chance to participate in the play.

I coach that team for the simple reason that I really don't need to coach at all. The kids play the positions they want and I'm just a door opener.

At the end of the summer the lads took part in the St. Thomas University hockey school. It's a few hours a day for a week. Coach Mike Eagles and the team do a great job giving the kids tips and exercises to help them play their best.
The summer before the boys did the University of New Brunswick camp as well but we were too busy this summer for both.

I think you'd agree that our guys were prepared for the upcoming hockey season when it rolled around.
The league had team selections and T and B were picked. (They are always on the same team. We insist.)
The league ran a couple of ice times called "skills and drills" to get the kids on the ice again and to shake the cobwebs out.
The boys went to these and things were going very well.
It was clear to me that both boys were ready to rock and roll and have a great season.
I could tell that B was ready to score some goals.

Then disaster struck.

I was at a Recreation Committee meeting at the time.
The boys were taking part in the last skills and drills session.
They were goofing around as they waited in line for their turn in a drill.
B slipped and took a fall landing the wrong way breaking his ankle.

It wasn't a bad break but enough to have him in a cast for a while and off skates until at least sometime in December.
The doctor told us that he would likely miss the season up to January.

The hockey season began without B on the ice. You could tell how awful it was for him. We felt so bad and tried our best to cheer him up.
He was a great little trooper through it all as he hobbled around everywhere on his crutches. Several times he took falls when the stupid rubber end of the crutch slipped on a wet spot on a floor but he took it in stride.

I have to say that he took it all better than I could have.
He sat with us and cheered for his brother and the team when they played and went into the changeroom as a genuine member of the team before and after the games.

Finally the cast came off. The doctor said that B would need to continue with the crutches for a couple of weeks until he could go to 1 crutch for a week or so and then no crutch if he was ready.

Sure. He was less than a week with 2 crutches and a few days with 1 before losing the crutches altogether.

The doctor commented that B's drumming has been a great help with the flexibility and muscle tone. Score another point for drumming. :)

A couple of weeks ago B suited up to skate around with the team during warm-up. That went well.
The next game it was decided that he could try playing for a shift or two and see how that went.

I was working on an inspection team for the New Brunswick floods that day and didn't think I would make it back from St. Stephen in time to see the game.
I admit that I drove at speeds a little higher than my usual to get back. A stupid snow storm slowed me down.

I made it back to see the third period.
I was very happy to find out that T had scored his first goal of the season that night but sad that I had missed it.

I try to get the boys' goals on video and that was the second time that I missed T's goal. Dang.
However, I was right on time to see B's first goal of the season! He ended up playing the entire game that night.
He was slower than before and not really agile. It was evident that he was being very cautious and favouring his ankle for fear of re-injuring it.
His goal wasn't a wild one with fancy skating and deking anyone out but it was a goal regardless. And on his first game back too. :)

I should mention that the top scorer in the level is also on the boys' team. This boy and B were the top scorers two years ago. I think that having him with us instead of against us will take the pressure off of B allowing him to enjoy himself more.

I have been wondering if B would get back up to the level he seemed to be before he hurt himself.
He's been playing very well and has scored a few goals but it just didn't look like he was feeling really comfortable on the ice.
Until this past weekend.

The team was in a tournament in St. Stephen, New Brunswick and played one game on Friday evening and two games on Saturday. The winner of the division would play for the gold medal against the top team of the other division.

As soon as we entered the arena it appeared to me that the rink was the large international size rather than the more common smaller NHL sized surface.
In my opinion it makes for a much better game. I love watching games on the larger rink.

This could have gone two ways for our team.
The larger faster surface could be a bit overwhelming and shake the kids up or they would be able to open up and go crazy with so much more space.

Happily, my second thought was right. They opened right up.
You should have seen it. In the first game B scored three goals! His first hat-trick of the season! They won the game 10-0.
I have learned since then that the ice is in fact NHL size so I suppose that theory is out the window.
The next day T broke his record and scored his second goal in a single season. What a guy.
He beat my record. In ten years that I played I think that I only ever scored two goals in total. :)
B scored another goal. His 4th in 3 games.
They won the second game 3-0 and the third 8-1.

The gold medal game yesterday was against the same team that they beat 8-1 on Saturday but nothing was to be taken for granted.
Boy, did they ever see the truth in that.

They led 3-0 going into the third period. B had scored one of the goals.
Then it went wacky.
They gave up three quick goals and the score was tied with only a few minutes left in the game.
The top scoring boy put us ahead again and made it 4-3.
B then sealed the deal and popped in another to make it 5-3 which was the final score. What an amazing roller coaster ride.

A couple of weeks ago the team was in a Christmas tournament in Fredericton and was fourth place. They weren't to happy about that.
This victory has put the kids back up in the clouds.

The most amazing thing was that B scored 6 goals over the weekend.
I don't want to jinx anything but it looks like B has found his groove again. It was amazing to watch him skate from one end to the other just like the old days.
More importantly we were thrilled to see that the boys played stellar games and showed the highest level of sportmanship at all times.

I know I wasn't the only parent that noticed this but the team really came together and played as a team.
The passing went well to kids in the open. When a player from defense skated up with the puck one of the forwards dropped back to cover their spot.

Every kid played their heart out and did their best.

Which leads me to the real topic of this post.

We are very fortunate and proud that our sons do quite well at sports that they take on. That's fortunate but not critical.

Whenever I'm watching a game I always try to watch every kid on the team for at least a little while.
In baseball there are the kids that may not catch, throw or hit a ball as well as some of the others.
In hockey there are kids who are not as fast as some of the others or can't blast a shot off their stick like some of the others do.

I guess there may be some who feel that these kids get in the way of the better players and slow down the game.
I disagree.
A team is made up of all types of boys and girls of all skill levels and when that team celebrates or feels sad every kid feels it as much as the next.

You bet your buns that when every one of them hits the ice or goes onto a field they get their wheels spinning as fast as they can and charge up just as much as every other kid out there.
Some wheels may go farther and faster than others but they're all spinning regardless.

How could someone not be proud of these kids? Who cares if that child goes and scores 3, 4 or 5 goals in a game?
The important thing is that they are there and part of the team machine. That's what makes me proud.

Pride in the name of love.

A little while ago I read something that supported encouraging kids to become more involved in individual activities to develop more independence.
To me that's a load of crap.

I encourage the exact opposite. Kids should be more involved in team sports.
Not only does it aid in developing social skills (which is sadly lacking these days) but it helps develop a sense of looking out for others.

As I've said repeatedly, Bobby Orr was and always will be the best hockey player of all time. Not only because he controlled the game with ease but because he kept his eye out for his teammates.
If something went down he was right there to defend them.

Is there an "I" in team? No there isn't.
But every member of a team should always have an "eye" on their teammates.

Stay well,
Tim