Fall 1999
CHAMPIONS
The Players
Mike Costa
Dustin Craven
PJ Cunningham
Bobby Dowe
Justin Dronne
Kyle Dronne
Billy Giersbach
Frankie Heslin
Tommy Heslin
Eddie Miccuilli
Matt Miller
RJ Reynolds
Robert Schlueter
Matt Staggard
Nick Staggard
The Coaches
Frank Heslin
Ed Miccuilli
Bill Giersbach
How much does it cost?......They are both free
When does it start?.........As soon as you sign up
How do I join Sandbox?....... Click here to join SANDBOX but read the following instructions first.
Once you are in Sandbox Sports you must register. Select a username and a password. Then follow what ever instructions they give you to start. Once you select your 6 player team select GROUPS in the left menu bar. Then select JOIN A PUBLIC GROUP. In the search box enter HOWELL BLACKHAWKS. Once that shows up select it and your team will be registered to play in the HOWELL BLACKHAWKS Ice Hockey Fantasy League.
How do I join Yahoo?....... Click here to join YAHOO but read the following instructions first.
You must register with Yahoo first. Then you can draft your team and JOIN A PRIVATE group. Our group number is 6737 and the group password is blackhawks.
After winning three straight 12-U championships, the 12-U team has decided to try Allaire. Lots of nagging from the players to play here and Ed's decision to enter his 10-U tournament team in the 12-U division forced us to finally join. Unfortunately, many of our Jackson players were already playing for the Sabres and some of them wound up staying with the Sabres(their dads coach them). Game 1 Blackhawks 6 - Blue Devils 0
Before the game started Bill heard the Blue Devils talking. We had to walk past them to get to our locker room so you could not help it. "Who are the Blackhawks?" "Never heard of them." "This is gonna be an easy game." "We’re gonna crush them." As I always say, "Never underestimate your opponent". This time we were underestimated and maybe it gave us the edge. The Blue Devils turned out to be a pretty good team. They knew how to play physical. They played positions well, passed well and they play as a team. They gave us a game, especially early on. Scoring was not easy at the start but we eventually broke through when we scored with one of our "set plays". At least I hope that was what happened. On his first shift, Dustin won a face-off in the Devils zone and dropped it back to Justin who shot and score what turned out to be the game winner. We were thrilled that two new Blackhawks scored like this because this is among the three plays we discussed prior to the game that we wanted to work on. Matt Staggard added two goals while Nick, Eddie and Dustin each scored as we held on to win 6 to 0. Assists were tallied by Dustin, Nick and Matt Miller. The offensive play of the day was obviously that face-off, but running a close second was the goal Eddie scored. We were nearing the end of the shift and we started pulling players one at a time. Eddie was the first on and with fresh legs found himself behind the defense. Nick saw Eddie and made a great pass for the score. The offense played great as we kept the puck in the Blue Devils zone most of the game. Billy, Eddie, Nick, Bobby, Tommy, Matt Miller, Robert, Dusty and Matt Staggard were all awesome on offense.
We played a typical Blackhawks "tight" defense as we gave up just 12 shots on goal while taking 31 shots. As usual a great defensive game played by Frankie, PJ, RJ (who was playing his first game in 6 months) Kyle and Justin. And great back checking by the offense made it easier for Mike Costa. But Mike did not get off that easy. He still had to make some great saves, including a late flurry in front of our net where he had to block a couple quick shots, before our defense cleared the puck.
Next week we play the Wall nights at 2:00. They are 2-0 after close victories over the Blue Devils and the Jaguars A team. We should have our hands full as we expect a tough game.
Game 2 - Blackhawks 7 - Knights 1 Game 3- Extreme 3 - Blackhawks 1 Game 4 - Blackhawks 12 - Mustangs 1
Playing against his "other team", Matt Staggard missed breaking Billy's record when he started our scoring 8 seconds into the game. Matt M got his second hat trick of the season. Other offensive game stats will follow. SOON.
Our defense was VERY stingy today, giving up 4 shots on goal. Mike made a couple other "saves" on pucks that were shot, high or wide. And he had to deflect quite a few centering passes also. RJ, PJ, Justin, Frankie and Bobby played great defense in both zones. Both sides had a lot of penalties, and we had to kill three today, which we did brilliantly. As is our custom, everyone had the chance to participate in the penalty kill, and everyone did well.
This was a good game to teach some Blackhawk "plays" to the new players, and work on some new ones for all. We were working on a box offensive attack today and Bobby, Frankie, Billy, Matt M and Tommy executed it perfectly while scoring a goal in the first period. Matt S. Won a third period face off to set up another play as he passed back to defense, who then set up a breakaway. And finaly, Justin Has been great learning our defensive strategy. Justin set up a couple of breakaways and generated a few scoring opportunities from the point. These are my little joys in coaching. Watching these great young hockey players learn our style.
Game 5 - Blackhawks 8 - Jaguars 0
I again do not have the stats with me, but I will update the scorers eventually. Our first goal was a surprise. The only ones that knew it went in were the referees. No parents cheered and both teams lined up for the faceoff in the Jags’ zone. When the referees called us to the middle for the faceoff we were all surprised. A little later we scored our second goal and the Jaguars made what we thought was a huge mistake. In the first period they called time out. That was when we knew that we had them on the ropes. All it would take would be a couple quick goals and we would break their spirit. We were wrong. Maybe we got cocky, or more likely the Jag coaches did rally their players because for the next 5 or 6 minutes they attacked us. We could not get control of the puck and get it out of the zone. Mike had to make a few great saves to keep the shutout going. It was a rough Blackhawks few minutes and a great few minutes for the Jaguars.
The second period was interesting. While we did not score we got back to our game. We controlled the puck with great passing, skating and stick checking for about 7 minutes. No whistle, no stop in play and a lot of hustle. We managed to get two line changes on the fly during this 7 minutes. The Jags were not as successful in the line change on the fly, but their "tired" players lasted the 7 minutes well. But that was the end. By now we had the game following our game plan. They were tired and we were controlling the puck. With 7 minutes left in the second we started to pour it on. We scored a couple goals, including a power play goal.
In the third period we scored 4 more goals. If we play our game, we usually score a lot in the third, and this game went exactly as planned. A couple of our players did some things today, that I am not sure how to take it. A few of them have been practicing the "Michigan Play" at home and decided to try it this week. Billy, Matt Miller and Kyle all tried it in the third period. It looked great but nobody scored using it.
This week we paired up Frankie and PJ on defense for the first time in three months. Nicky and Justin made up the other pair. Turned out that this was the best looking defense we have had all season. And when you consider how good they looked all season you realize "This is a good thing." Robert, RJ and Matt S were a great offensive line as they kept the pressure on the Riptide. Billy, Matt M and Tommy continued to play great on offense. Eddie, Kyle and Dustin were a powerful offensive force in this game. And finally Mike made a late game glove save that left me speechless. It was a beauty and it preserved the shutout. Great game guys.
Ryan Trygar, who is a Blackhawks Summer Clinic "alumni" played great for the Jaguars.
Game 6 - Roadrunners 1 - Blackhawks 0
Unfortunately when the game started it looked like it was not going to be a kids game. Some of you that are new to the Blackhawks might not realize the animosity between some of the parents here. At the start of the game, someone pulled a fast one. Just as the game was about to start the refs decided to tell us that they were checking shoulder pads today. If a player isn’t wearing them, they aren’t playing. As soon as they said that, our entire team left the bench to get their pads on. I didn't even know they had to wear them, since it has never been a requirement anywhere else we played. And nobody has been wearing them all season and all of a sudden this rule is enforced. Why now? Guess. The Roadrunners were looking for an edge. TOO BAD. While we were scrambling to get on our pads, we managed to have 7 skaters ready as the Roadrunner parents screamed to drop the puck. Hey, if you can’t beat us when we have 5 skaters try to beat us when we have zero skaters on the rink. WRONG. We managed to start with our first 5 dressed and eventually got the lines in order. And guess what, they still did not score on us.
Both defenses really kept the offenses in check. Neither offense could set up a play and really make it work. As the game wore on, both offenses began to get reckless as we both tried to get an edge. The referees were thrilled with this game. "Best game they have seen in a long time" they said. The "Two well coached teams" comment really swelled my head. We told the players the game would be lost on a mistake. And it was. First was the penalty. Nick was called for tripping. It was not intentional. A Roadrunner skated past Nick and tripped over his stick. (Mistake one) On the penalty kill we had a stop in play. Normally I change lines to kill the clock and get fresh legs on the rink. I didn’t do it this time. (Mistake two). With Frankie, and PJ on ‘D’ and Matt and Billy on ‘O’ I was confident that my best defense was on the rink. Mistake three was made when a Roadrunner set up in front of the net ALONE and all Blackhawks were tied up. Then they scored to take the lead. The remainder of the game was a defensive struggle. Back and forth. We think that we outplayed them and we definately took more shots on goal, but we could not score. Bobby, Dustin, Eddie, Matt, Kyle, Billy, Tommy, Robert and Matt peppered him with shots. But could not generate a goal. Billys’ late breakaway almost tied the game, but the puck was bouncing too much. With three seconds left, Eddie nearly tied the game when he dumped a puck towards the Roadrunner net as their goalie was already celebrating the victory. The puck just missed the net. Too bad.
Game 7 - Blackhawks 5 - Sabres 3 Game 8 - Playoffs Blackhawks 8 - Jaguars 1 Game 9 - Playoffs - Blackhawks 3 - Extreme 1 Game 10 - Championship game 2:00 Dec. 18th vs the Roadrunners
8 wins 2 losses
54 Goals for 11 Goals against
October 2 at 4:00 vs. the Blue Devils
October 9 at 2:00 vs. the Wall Knights
October 16 at 2:00 vs. Extreme
October 23 at 12:00 vs. The Mustangs
October 30 NO GAMES DUE TO HALLOWEEN COLLEGE TOURNAMENT
November 6 at 5:00 vs Jaguars A
November 13 at 1:00 vs the Toadrunners
November 20 at 2:00 vs the Sabres
November 27 NO GAMES SCHEDULED
December 4 Playoffs time 12:00 vs ???
December 11 Playoffs time TBD
December 18 Playoffs time TBD
Even though I was reluctant to commit to Saturday hockey, we finally came to Allaire to find better competition. We have done great in Jackson the past few seasons, but everyone tells us that it doesn’t count because their is no competition there. I don’t agree with that and if I was one of those Jackson teams, I would be offended. Needless to say we came to Allaire to find this better competition. Well in our first game we faced the Blue Devils who told us that they came from Aberdeen Good Sports to find better competition.
Wow. What a game. At least from where I sat, it was an interesting game. We kind of figured that we would be missing players on occasion so we carried extra skaters on the roster, just in case. We were going to be short players this week. Nick and Matt Staggard and Bobby were going to miss the game. That never concerns me because we have such great depth and our players are strong enough skaters where we know that they can skate "a lot". I am never concerned about our roster, but I never imagined a game would start the way this one did. Ten minutes before game time, I had 5 skaters. At game time I had 7 skaters. The Wall Knights were not much better off though. Five minutes before game time they only had eight skaters and they suggested we play 4 on 4. Hmmmmmmm. Not a problem for us. I liked that idea. Then he had two more players show up and he no longer wanted to play 4 on 4. Oh well. As we took the bench, we found a huge puddle covering the floor and bench in the bench area. We didn’t notice it until some of the kids already skated through it and then fell from wet wheels. And finally, Tommy outgrew his indoor roller blades and was forced to skate on his outdoor roller blades, and I never changed the wheels. He couldn’t stop or turn. This left me with 6 effective skaters. Matt already played two games and Billy already played one game today. IT WAS NOT LOOKING GOOD.
We started out with a quick goal from Billy that gave us an early 1-0 lead. Billy followed that up with his second goal and it looked like we were going to pull away. But that was the end of the scoring for a while. The Wall Knights broke the scoring drought when they broke through our defense and scored a goal to break the shutout. We held the 2-1 lead for a while until Matt added 2 goals to end the first period.
Matt was not done yet as he started the third period with his third goal of the game off a pass from Billy. This gave Matt his first career Blackhawk hat trick. Not to be outdone by Matt, Billy scored his third goal of the game, giving him his second Blackhawk hat trick of the week. I guess that Matt and Billy were not tired from all those games. Next week we are going to have them each play one game before ours. The best looking goal of the day came from Robert who took a great pass from RJ and buried it to give us a 7 to 1 lead. Everyone raved about this play. We were minutes away from trying a "box" defensive strategy to give the skaters a break when the "cavalry" arrived. With 9 minutes left in the game I saw Blackhawk jersey skating through the door. One, Two, Three more Blackhawks showed up to save the day. Now we could rest our tired players and finish out the game. Thanks to Eddie, Kyle and Justin for the much needed help late in the game.
As usual our defense dominated the game in our zone. Frankie and PJ anchored the defense as all the other players were cycled through the third defensive position to "give them a break". With so few players to work with I had the chance to see what these kids were made of. And I liked what I saw. I am impressed with their heart, their attitude and their ability to play as a team. We did give up more shots than usual which gave Mike more work that we normally give our goalie. It didn’t matter because Mike did great in goal keeping us in the game when we needed it the most. According to the Knights coach we outshot them 35 to 15. I’m not sure if we gave up so many shots because we were tired or the Knights played a great game. I have to admit, they were a good looking team. Next week we play Extreme at 3:00........really it is three o’clock this time.
All I can say is Matt Deering was hot today. Nobody beats Matt when he is hot. We put 40 shots on goal today and Matt blocked 39 of them. Our normal game plan is to put as many shots on goal as possible, eventually some will find their way into the net. Matts game plan is simple. His dad tells me Matt knows he can only give up 1 goal if his team has a chance to beat the Blackhawks since we don't give up many goals. Matt's gameplan worked like a charm this week.
As any team does, we made some mistakes this week. We do every week, but we usually can overcome them. Were they big mistakes? NO. Did they hurt us? NO. Many people pointed out our mistakes to me, but I think we still played a great game. Extreme turned out to be a good team, but we have played good teams many times. Someone had to win and someone had to lose. And this game was not about anyone failing. Both teams were pretty evely matched. It was more about one player rising above everyone else and making the difference. The players on both teams played great. Obviously Extreme and the Blackhawks are very talented. This week just happened to be the game Matt played better than usual to beat us.
Enough Matt. Now for the Blackhawks. Bobby played his 2nd game on defense for us and played great while matched up with Frankie. Billy made a great pass to Matt Miller as Matt scored our only goal early in the game. Tommy made a great drop back pass to Billy that surprised all of us. Kyle and Justin Drone played great defense keeping Extreme away from our goal. Eddie, Nick and Dustin worked great together as they kept the pressure on Extreme. RJ and Matt Staggard played great while being matched up with 5 different players. Their penalty kill late in the second was great and truly inspired the team. It came at a good time since we found ourselves in a 5 on 3 situation late in their shift. We also killed a 5 on 3 brilliantly. But we could not have done as well as we did without Mike in goal. We promised him he would see less shots this week than the prior week. I guess we lied. He faced about 30 shots on goal and did a great job stopping them. Brilliant game Mike.
Next week we play the Mustangs. I don't know anything about them except what people tell me. A few people have told me that they are not very good and we should have a great game. I DON'T BUY THAT. Never underestimate your opponent. I have since found out that they are many former Wave players, which is usually a good team. That is they are good when they focus on playing hockey. So expect a good tough game next week.
This team was made up primarily of Wave players. Most of them were 10 and 11. I am sure they were not thrilled to lose a game like this, but the score does not indicate their skill. They played well. They knew their positions. They played smart defense and they skated well. We were just bigger, stronger, faster and older. And the core of this team has been together for more than two years. With some new players to add speed and scoring ability, we were more than ready for the Mustangs, who by the way are our lone "B" division opponent.
This was one of our typical games. It was close early in the game, we played great defensively, controlled the puck and made a lot of great passes. By the end of the game we tired them out, frustrated them and then we overwhelmed them with a lot of late goals. Even though we won the game 8-0, the score does not indicate how well the Jaguars played us. Especially in the first period where we could not get the puck out of our zone for the last half of the period.
Wow. What a defensive war. Both teams took the floor with the lowest goals against average in the league. Face it, both defenses are stingy and do not let goals get scored on them. And while neither team gives up many goals, we both teams score a lot of goals. This game proved that a great defense can shut down a powerful offense. The Blackhawks were started 4-1/2 years ago and immediately we focused on defense first. This game was a tribute to our strategy. Frankie, PJ, Justin, Nick and Mike were the reason we played so well. Mike is the best goalie, we faced the Roadrunners with since Steven Iwanyk in March of 1998. PJ and Frankie have led our defense for the past 15 months where they have been on the rink for a total of 5 goals in 42 games. And they took each one personally. Five years ago Frankie was a top ten goal scorer, but realizing that defense is so important to me, he made the switch and is now a stay at home defenseman. PJ would rather die, than let someone score and he plays with that type of intensity. New to the team are Justin and Nick, who both play defense with that same intensity. Both have excellent slap shots and have scored from the point while using them. It is a rarity that we let new players play defense for us, but these two are a perfect fit and we are only just beginning to learn how good they are. And with these 5 back on defense and our offense back checking, we were awesome today. Enough raving about the ‘D’.
when his son is not losing to us. Oh yeah I was real proud of the kids today. It is an honor to coach them.
I missed this game, but I heard it was a great one. We beat the Sabres 5 to 3 as they scored 3 late goals to close the gap. Since I did not see this game I will refrain from reviewing it. The Sabres played the Extreme after our game and beat them. This combination gave us a 2nd place finish. On December 4th we start the playoffs as the second place team.
Another great defensive game for us. The Jags' have some great skaters so, it was a real accomplishment for us to have had such a great game. Congratulations to the Jaguars on a great season. Best of luck in the future.
This game gave the Blackhawks the chance to avenge their first loss in Allaire. And it was not going to be an easy task. Matt Deering in goal. Nick D. and Joe B. on defense. Steven G and Andrew S. on offense. This was going to be a tough game.
And it lived up to that billing. After the first period ended scoreless, each team was looking for an advantage. We got the first goal as Nick scored from the point on a great slapshot thru a defense and offense that screened Deering. Five minutes later Extreme battled back to tie the score as Mike made a great save, only to see the puck trickle out of his glove and sneak over the line. The score remained knotted at one until we made a great strategic move. We switched Matt Miller and Justin. On his first offensive shift Justin made the move pay off as he scored the game winner. With a defense of Frankie, PJ, Matt and Nick and some great backchecking by the offense we were very confident that we could hold the lead. Having Mike in goal only made us feel more confident. The kids played brilliantly as we killed the clock and controlled the puck. Mike came up big a couple times to keep us in the lead. Nick scored an open netter to secure the victory with 2 seconds left. This was Extremes first season, but Dave Goldblatt and Todd(?) Sabia really know how to put together a great team. Congratulations on a great season Extreme and good luck in the future.
Some of us stayed around to watch some of our friends play in their semi final game. And boy did we see a heck of a game. It was one of the best games I have had the pleasure to watch. Derrick and Nicky Fontana and Nick Gugliocello play on the Sabres in Allaire. They played the Roadrunners and the winner would have played us for the championship. The Sabres are the reigning 12-U Champions and they held a 4-2 lead with 4 minutes to go. But the Roadrunners never give up. And that is what has made them such a good team. They managed to tie the score at 4 and go into a shootout. The Roadrunners won that shootout 1-0 and advanced to the championship game. Congratulations on a great season Sabres, you really looked good out there.
Wow. Who would have though we would see the Blackhawks and the Roadrunners match up in another Championship game? This will be the third time we face the Roadrunners in such a game. They hold a 2-0 Championship game advantage on us, so we expect a heck of a game. If it is as good a game as the 1-0 battle we had last month, win or lose both teams will have a lot to be proud of.
Some of the names in the next review have been changed to protect.........my sanity......Mr. and Mrs. X and Mr. Beep Beep are ficticious names.
Blackhawks 3 - Roadrunners 1
Sorry Mrs. X. You were right, you might have to read about this on our web site.....Of course nobody is forcing you to read this. After all you are not a member of the Blackhawks, and it is written for the enjoyment of our club members anyway. Members that understand my warped sense of humor and enjoy hearing about their children. Much like you enjoyed reading about your son’s exploits when I wrote the newsletter for Howell Hockey and for the little league teams your son played. But I have to admit, I am glad you are reading our web site. And hang on because I have written some long reviews before, but this one is going to be a classic. Here goes.
The Blackhawks beat the Roadrunners. It has been a long, long, long time since we said that. After beating them the first time we played them we have lost something like 10 straight games to the Roadrunners since 1997. Among those losses were 2 of the 3 championship games that we lost in Jackson. The worst of which was the game they scored 10 goals on 12 shots (see we can even mention the bad losses here as well). After that game we made some changes. In the spring of 1998 we got Matt Deering in goal and we put together a complete team we felt confident that could beat them. Unfortunately, after a close game the first week of the season, the Roadrunners pulled out of Jackson and moved to Allaire which prevented us from getting that shot at them. We were upset that they left and we never planned to chase them to Allaire. Since then we have won 4 straight championships in Jackson while posting a record of 37-3. We scored 298 goals over that time and gave up just 45. We had great seasons in Jackson but many of our detractors would say "Big deal, there is no competition in Jackson". We disagree. There are some great players and a couple of solid teams each season. And we did play some close games. After we beat the team his son was playing on, Mr. X whined that we were too rough and threatened me. He said we should play against some real teams like the ones in Allaire. With prompting from coach Ed, we accepted that challenge and entered the team in Allaire. I have to admit, I hated giving up my Saturday as much as I thought I would. And now that ski season is on my kids will have to miss the games for two teams I have in Allaire. And the cost....OUCH. All the reasons, I avoided Allaire. But with Mr. X’s prompting the Howell Blackhawks decided to give it a shot. Well, Mr. X was right. We did find more competition in Allaire. We lost two games as we posted an 8-2 record while scoring 55 goals and giving up 11. But we did hold on to win another championship. The 23rd championship in Howell Blackhawks Hockey Club history. So, thanks for the suggestion Mr. X. Now that I have bored you with why we came to Allaire and thanked Mr. X for making it possible it is time for the game review.
As game day rolled around, I could tell that we were all getting anxious to play. Out of respect for the Roadrunners and Thunder, we held our first practice in 15 months. Then we managed to get past the Thunder to win Thursday’s Jackson championship. But we were all still looking at Saturdays game. Tommy ironed his hockey pants. Billy was sick but forced his mom to bring him to the game (sorry Tracy). The Micciulli’s (Ed and Eddie) were pacing, Bobby was joking about keeping the temporary C’s on Tommy and Eddie for good luck. The Stagards and Drones were getting their game faces on. RJ and Robert were pacing the floor. PJ, Frankie and Matt were joking amongst themselves in the locker room. I was so anxious that I put up Christmas lights that morning, which is my least favorite thing about Christmas. A couple players were concerned that the Roadrunners brought in players that did not play enough regular season games to qualify for the playoffs. And our goalie was relaxed since he played a game (as a skater) right before ours. We hoped he wasn’t tired. One of the Roadrunners parents checked with us to see what color jerseys we were wearing. I thought we said black, but they must have misunderstood us, because while we were warming up the ref told us we had to wear pennies. The Roadrunners were in black too. At least we had on our shoulder pads, shin guards, elbow pads and mouthpieces this time. Anyway when they brought out the pennies, one of the players remembered that we wore the same exact fluorescent orange pennies twice before. And we won both games. He called these our lucky pennies and since I am superstitious, I went with the idea. Maybe that was the luck we needed to win the game. It must have worked, so thanks to a misunderstanding with the Roadrunners, we got to wear our lucky pennies.
Just as the puck was about to drop I looked at their bench for the first time. What a great bunch of hockey players I thought. How were we going to beat these guys. I know so many of them. So many great little hockey players on that team. Kirk Brancato is great at every position he plays (including goalie). In fact he scored the tying goal against the Sabres the week before. Andrew Brodsky was the leading scorer on my first championship team 5 years ago. And he has been a huge goal scorer since. Peter Borodich, Keith Kaminsky and Nick Geraci were awesome on offense when Tommy played with them 3 years ago. And they play great defensive hockey also. I haven’t seen Brian Chaisson since little league four years ago, but I noticed that he can really play great hockey, too. The goalie. How can you say anything negative about a goalie with the second lowest goals against average in the league. Hey, he shut us out the last time we played. And they had John and Kevin Wong this week who are Pee Wee ‘A’ Eagles. With players like these we knew we were going to be in for a tough game.....We need to find some sort of an edge. A real advantage.
Maybe we had that advantage and didn’t realize it. We were wearing the lucky pennies, and Tommy and Eddie were wearing the lucky "C"’s. And Billy was sick again. And we did have our first practice in 15 months 5 days before this game. We had Nicky and Derrick Fontana by the bench and we had help from Sabres coach, John Fontana. John helped us formulate our game plan. He reminded us that the Roadrunners could be scored on, after all they got 4 goals against them the previous game. And we had Mike in goal so who knows what might happen. Oh yeah and we are the Blackhawks after all. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz------are you bored yet........ We played this game with the same advice as the last time we played them. No mistakes. No stupid penalties. Teamwork, passing, DEFENSE and 100% hustle. With our lucky items and our game plan in place we hoped for the best.
I decided to ignore the B.S. and animosity amongst the parents and focus on the kids. Some of you new Blackhawk parents that sat in the stands know what I mean, don’t you? Focusing on the kids was a great idea, because it enabled me to see the second outstanding Roadrunner-Blackhawk hockey game of the season. We started a line with a specific play in mind. We tried to pull it off, but the Roadrunners covered Nick like they knew our play. Matt, Billy and Robert fought hard in their zone for two minutes and put a few shots on net. Nick and Justin did everything to keep us on the offensive but their goalie stopped everything. Just as we were looking for a line change Billy got us a stop in play.......by scoring a goal to give us a 1-0 lead. This was a great shift by these guys and it set the pace for the remainder of the game. Not to be outdone, each line that followed played just as hard. The Blackhawks were determined and the kids seemed to really want this game more than any game we ever played.
The score remained the same as both teams settled into their typical stingy defensive styles. PJ, Frankie, Nick, RJ and Justin continued to play great defense for us while the offense backchecked like crazy. The offense lead by the back checking of Dustin, Bobby and Kyle really hustled back to help out the "D". The puck went back and forth, up and down, for seven minutes without a stop in play. Each team had to make many line changes on the fly as players were playing so hard they were wearing themselves out. We had some great opportunities by Eddie and Kyle by were not able to generate a goal. Being a defensive coach, I love watching these kind of games. Then out of nowhere we saw Tommy standing in front of the net waiting for the puck. Just like we practiced on Monday. (Okay Ed, I admit we should have some practices.) A great pass from Dusty and all of a sudden Tommy had the puck. And he had enough time to set up his wrist shot. BAMM....back of the net for what turned out to be the game winning goal. In fact it wasa his second championship game winning goal of the week. Enjoy the moment Tommy, I won’t mention it again. The score remained 2-0 as the first period wound down.
The second period was a tremendously played defensive battle. The game seemed to last forever and as we held the lead we wanted the clock to run faster. It seemed like it was going in reverse. Advice was coming in from a couple of our parents, and we were using it. Every time John Fontana noticed something we were doing wrong, we adjusted it. Then came our biggest break. The Roadrunners were getting a penalty. Mike was so tuned in to the game he saw it first and left the rink, enabling us to get a 6th skater out. It felt great to do that and you need to try to capitalize on every chance you get against a team this good. On the ensuing power play we sent out a rare "power play" line. Matt M, Billy and Matt S on offense. PJ and Nick S on defense to capitalize on their slapshots and speed. It worked like a charm as Nick scored a power play goal to give us a 3-0 lead. I had to stop our players from yelling "Beep Beep" since I don’t condone verbally taunting the other team. (Just on our web site). It looked like the Roadrunners were ready to give up and we settled into a defensive game, while they had to start to take chances. But maybe they wanted us to think they were giving up, and crush us when we relaxed. The second period ended with us holding a 3-0 lead and some of us were beginning to think "shutout". Although I was still thinking "shootout".
The third period has always been Blackhawk hockey time. When we are holding a lead, our defense clamps down even tighter and the offense capitalizes on a demoralized opponent. But the Roadrunners are also a great third period team. And they don’t get demoralized nor do they give up. In the third period the Roadrunners buckle down and play harder. We warned the Blackhawks not to slack off. They needed to play harder than ever if they wanted to hold the lead. A week ago, we saw the Roadrunners win a game when they came back from a 2 goal deficit with 4 minutes to go so we knew they could still win the game. Two minutes into the period the nightmare looked like it was about to start. The Roadrunners got a goal to close the gap to 3-1. Then they got their only breakaway of the game, but Mike came up big again and stuffed it. And finally one of the Wong boys hit a crossbar on the open net. By now I was thinking that we had a chance, but we had to beef up the defense. Go for size. It was time to put our big guys in charge of the defense. Matt, Frankie, PJ and Nick. Our oldest and biggest players were given the job of shutting down the Roadrunners offense. Mike was coming up big in goal as he made many great saves. With four minutes left we decided to play total defensive hockey as we used three BIG defensemen and two fast offensive players to end the game. And with 30 seconds left Billy kept up a new Blackhawks tradition as he came off the rink and for the second time this week, Billy "hurled" as the Blackhawks won a championship game. And as the game wound down and we won our club’s 23rd championship, the celebration was...........well.......somewhat laid back. For some reason, the Blackhawks did not celebrate....I wonder why? But it was a special moment.
When Good Sports gave out the Second place trophies our players wanted to yell "Beep Beep" but we wouldn’t let them. There are a lot of great kids on the Roadrunners and we didn’t want to rub it in, so we told the Blackhawks to be quiet and clap. As they were handing us our championship trophies PJ noticed that the Roadrunners had left the rink and went into locker room. They didn’t even stick around to clap for us. As much as we hate losing, I always make the Blackhawks clap for a team that beat us. But I guess Mr. X had different ideas. Since they were not around anymore our players asked if they could yell "beep beep" when they got the team trophy. A special one for Mr. Beep Beep. With no players around, I let them do it.
After the game, I asked one of the newer players on the team if he enjoyed the winning the game. He was thrilled to win the championship game he said, but he really wanted to play the Sabres, since they were the reighning 12-U Allaire Champions. He reminded me that the Roadrunners went undefeated last season and the Sabres (with 5 Blackhawks on the team) beat them in the championship game. Oh well, can’t keep everyone happy. Everyone played great. We played team hockey this week and there were so many little extras kids did for the team. We had players coming off tired, rather than finishing their shift. One player volunteered to sit late in the game because he knew he could not give 100% anymore. Most of the time we covered the points. We backchecked. We passed. We kept our mouths shut and skated away from a few potential scraps. The coaches and parents were proud of the players.....again. We would also like to thank the parents for their continued good manners and respect for our opponents. And we would also like to thank those few Roadrunner parents that stood near our parents for continuing to treat us with respect. You guys are 100% class in our book.
Congratulations to the Roadrunners for yet another a fantastic season. You guys really played great. Good luck in the future.
A funny side note that occurred in the women’s restroom. According to Mrs. X. "The Blackhawks played terrible, and the Blackhawks were lucky, and the Blackhawks goalie saved us". Well that’s okay with us. Terrible and lucky seemed good enough to win this time. And the last time I checked, the goalie is part of the team. Be careful what you say in the restroom Mrs. X. You never know who might be in one of the stalls that might overhear you. And I just love putting your thoughts on our web site for you to read, so when I heard it, I knew I had to mention it hear.
The Team Trophy we were awarded will be passed from player to player in the following order:
It will pass thru Brick
Billy Giersbach
Matt Miller
Then visit Freehold
Nick Staggard
Matt Staggard
Kyle Drone
Justin Drone
Dustin Craven
and pass thru Jackson
Bobby Dowe
before we bring it home to Howell.
Robert Schlueter
PJ Cunningham
RJ Reynolds
Eddie Miccuilli
Tommy Heslin
Frankie Heslin
Merry Christmas and Happy Y2K everyone.
Check out the information on them.
