Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. Time is really flying and it doesn't look like it's going to slow down until late March!
Anyway, Nathan and I spent the weekend in Ludington for the
MAHA District 6 Tournament. Heidi and Allison joined us after Ally's dance rehersal Saturday morning (BTW...her competitions are coming up and her routines are looking pretty cool!... more to come on that topic). This tournament was the beginning of the playoffs for the west side of the state. Out of 28 organizations in the district, only 8 teams made it this far so it was an honor for the boys to earn a trip to the tournament (first by beating the other two HAWK teams and then by beating Chelsea in a play-in game). In the win column, the weekend didn't go great but the boys really played some great hockey against some very good teams. Here's the rundown:
Friday vs. West Shore Wolves (Ludington) - Ludington jumped out to a 4-0 lead by the end of the first period and things weren't looking good. But none of the goals were from breakaways (which has been our achilies heal). One was a power play goal and the others just sort of happened off rebounds. Coach Jim made some moves to try and generate some offense... and it worked. The boys played as a team, were making some very nice passes, dumping and chasing the puck into the other end, and wearing out the other team. After a scoreless second period, we owned the third. We scored three goals and the Wolves were tired. We had a couple chances as time ran out but were unable to tie it up and ended up losing 4-3. But it should be noted that Ludington took first place in our league and never lost a game. Our team was very happy to have played probably our best game of the season even though we lost. Nathan moved back to play defense after the first period and did an excellent job. Looks like he might continue spending time there...
Saturday vs. Lansing Capital Pride - This game was a nail-biter from beginning to end. Every team around knows Lansing plays dirty and this game was no exception. And it's too bad too... because they do have a good team. If only they'd learn some sportsmanship and mutual respect...oh well. Anyway, Lansing scored in the first period on a broken play where we turned the puck over in our own end. After that, both teams played some solid hockey and both goalies made some nice stops. The score remained 1-0 the rest of the way until we pulled our goalie with a minute or so left and they were able to send one in the empty net. We just weren't able to get the puck to go in for us and lost 2-0. After the horn sounded to end the game one of their players took a run at one of our guys and boarded him (hit from behind into the boards). It's basically the lowest cheap shot in hockey. The kid got a penalty but should have been out of the next game in my opinion. And as a true example of the Lansing mentality his coach gave him a pat on the butt and a "good job". Mom always said if you don't have something nice to say about someone then don't say anything so I'm done with comments for that game :-)
Saturday vs. Jackson - After losing the first two games we knew we couldn't move on to the semi's or finals on Sunday so coach moved things around to let guys play positions they don't usually play. It was a fairly uneventful game but we ended up getting our usual goalie (he wasn't playing goalie in this game) 2 goals for his birthday and we ended up winning 6-2.
Other than playing some really good hockey, the highlight of the weekend was the whole team staying at the hotel in Ludington. Everyone got to go swimming, down the waterslide, hang out and talk, play video games, etc. It was good fun. Coach Lou even invited everyone to his cottage on Bass Lake on Saturday afternoon for mini sticks, good food, and what turned out to be a snowball fight. We all had a blast. Here are some pics of the weekend.
Mini-sticks (knee hockey) at the Scarpino Cottage...
The boys after the snowball fight. Front row: Cameron, Trevor Z. Back row: Dyllan N., Nathan, Collin, Brandon, Dylan M., and Dakota
Mr. Nawrot running the "gauntlet" and getting pelted with snowballs...
Post-game swimming: Collin, Nate, Trevor, Brandon, and some kid I don't know
Allison and Maddeline playing checkers before we left to go home.
