Vegas

Ah Vegas... The city that never sleeps. We had a great time despite the fact that the kids did not win a single game. Heck, they didn't even score a single goal. What was billed as a AA tournament, we soon learned, was more of a AAA Major tournament. While talking with parents from some of the other teams, it seems they do not have large associations and thus the teams they brought to the tournament were the top kids in their PeeWee divisions. Our association has two PeeWee AAA teams, major and minor, as well as our PeeWee AA and then several house teams. I think the kids had a good time in spite of their losses. It was certainly a good experience and gave them a taste of what the competition is like at a high level of play.

Our SJHA Midget AA team also attended this tournament and they ended up winning their division with a 5-0-0 record. They fought hard and were rewarded for it. So at least SJHA came away with some respect.

Now the kids are working hard to finish the year strong with a forward gaze to the playoffs and hopefully advancing to regionals.

It's Not Much, but it is Snow

 
We awoke this morning to a light dusting of snow. Forecast says we should get more in the afternoon and overnight. Hopefully they are right.

Wenatchee Final

A fresh sheet of ice ready for the ensuing battle to begin.



Jock picking up the puck in the corner.

Unfortunately our team ended up losing the final game to Wenatchee. In the prior game the head coach was ejected for, of all things, calmly asking the head ref. to clarify his last call. Now I know the coach can be loud and sometimes sarcastic, but this was nothing of the sort. He simply wanted a clarification of a call. The ref. was doing a terrible job of clearly signalling calls and even the people in the stands had no idea what the calls were, and the scorekeeper was right in front of us.

Then, since the team had more than 15 penalties total the coach was suspended for the following final game. As discipline for some of the kids who accumulated several penalties the coaches had them sit out of the game. While in the stands for the final game, the head coach was calling to the kids no different than any other parent, and the ref. ejected him from the arena. It was unbelievable and the ref. was clearly biased against us.

So enough rambling about losses. We're looking forward to the upcoming weekend in Vegas and hope the kids will be competitive.

Split

Yesterday the kids split games with the team from Wenatchee. They won the morning game 7-2. I heard a couple of kids talking a little trash as they went into the locker rooms after the game. One comment was something like "See you ladies this afternoon.". One thing is for sure, ladies, did not show up for the afternoon game. Nor did referees with any amount of fairness in their calls. Our kids were up 6-2 when the parade to the penalty box started for every tiny thing you could imagine. They ended up becoming very frustrated and instead of playing the puck, they pretty much fell apart and just tried to take the body every chance they got. So we're off now to the final game of the weekend. I'm sure it's going to be a good one. Hopefully the ref's will call a fair game and actually let the kids play some hockey.

Hockey Tournament

We're in Wenatchee, WA this weekend for a hockey tournament for Jock. We got here friday evening after having to wait in a 3 mile backup because of a head on fatality collision on Hwy 2 just outside of Sultan, WA. It's snowing just a little as I write this post and we're getting ready to head over to the rink for the kids to warm up before their first game at 10:00am. I'll post some results later today and possibly some pictures if I can round up a card reader.