|
Welcome to the web page for the current season. Since many players and coaches were looking forward to taking the summer off, it made it easier to combine the teams for the summer. This summers team is made up from members of the Whalers, the Blackhawks, the Coyotes and the Hawks. Since we are playing on Tuesdays (which was the Whalers night) we choose to be called the Whalers.
We were going to keep stats and display them on line but we kind of messed up in the first two games, so we won't be displaying stats this season. Sorry.
Game Reviews
Game 1 - June 16.....Whalers 8 - Jaguars 4
The game started a little rough for us. Due to a mistake on the roster, Matt Deering was never called. Five minutes before game time and we had to scramble to borrow goalie equipment for Alex Cerbone. Alex jumped in goal with partial equipment until we were able to retrieve his equipment from home (Thanks Donna). Anyway the Jaguars got off to a quick 1-0 lead but the Whalers led by the offensive explosion by Billy Giersbach, fought back to win the game 8 to 4. Billy scored 6 goals, the most by a Whaler in a single game in their teams history. Tommy Heslin and RJ Reynolds scored the other two goals. Assists were added by RJ Farkas and Tommy Heslin. Tommy, Billy and RJ Farkas were the co-captains in this game. Alex was the Star of the Game. After the game the players were promised a trip to Rita's in any game they could keep the shots on our goal down to 5 or less. Lets see if this happens.
Game 2 - June 23.....Storm 3 - Whalers 2
This was a hard fought war of a game. Coaches of both teams tried to outmaneuver each other with the Storm prevailing in the end. Having missed this game I don't have much to say and I don't know who scored for the Whalers. Coach Bill raved about the great game played by all with RJ Reynolds, RJ Farkas and Billy standing out. Bobby Dowe and Dan Cirminello led the team and were selected Stars of the Game. Our record is 1-1.
Game 3 - June 30.....Whalers 4 - Jaguars 0
The Whalers outshot the Jaguars 17 to 4. The kids remembered the deal and we went to Ritas. Halfway through the game Steven and Brian asked how many shots Matt had to block (it was 3 at the time) and they reminded me about Rita's. Eventually word spread through the bench and every player worked "EXTRA HARD" to keep the shots down . This was one of the best defensive games that any team I have coached has played. Every player was throwing his body in front of the puck, using their sticks, skates and hands to keep the puck away from our goal. Awesome job. Steven and Brian, the leaders in the Rita's quest played a fantastic game, never giving up which earned them the opportunity to finish the game. Dan Cirminello blocked three shots with his body in his last shift. Nicky, Alex, RJ, Michael and James played great defensively late in the game to secure the shot total. Bobby Dowe and Tommy Heslin played great together as they team up for a Bobby to Tommy goal. Dan Cirminello scored the third goal on a beautiful wrap-around. RJ Farkas had our second goal and RJ Reynolds took a pass from Brian for our fourth goal. Stars of the Game were Tommy and Steven. We owe Steven and RJ Farkas a trip to Ritas. We didn't forget guys. The Whalers coaches would like to take the opportunity to comment on the outstanding game played by the Jaguars Kyle Shaugnhessy. Great game "Captain" Kyle. Our record is 2-1.
Game 4 - July 7.....Whalers 2 - Outlaws 2
The Whalers took an early 2-0 lead and looked to repeat the brilliant defensive performance from the week before as we kept the shots low through the first and second period. We were unable to score again but if we played great defense, it would not matter. Unfortunately the Outlaws capitalized on a couple of our mistakes to score two goals late in the game to tie us. Nicky Fontana was the star of the game and is our leading candidate for the teams "Most Improved Player". Nicky played great, smart defense to earn this weeks star. Tommy was also a Star of the game. Tommy and Bobby teamed up for both goals this week. Our record stands at 2-1-1.
Game 5 - July 14....Whalers 3 - Storm 1
This was a brilliantly coached game. I can say this becuase I can not take credit for it. Coach Bill, one of our Stars of The Game, made the lines and laid out the game plan. It worked brilliantly. While I might not have agreed with it at the beginning, he opened my eyes and taught me something new. All three of our goals were scored by Billy as he registerd his second hat trick of the season. His third goal, the backbreaker came shorthanded. Billy scored all three from defense. Our overall denfense was fantastic as RJ, RJ, Dan, Nicky and Jimmy shut down the Storm's leading scorer, who eventually took out his frustration when he slashed Dan on a breakaway. Our Offense backchecked fantastic. Great Job Bobby, Tommy, Alex and Kevin as they covered our defensive rushes. Michael, James, Sean, Steven and Bryan backchecked brilliantly to help shut down the Storm. The key to the game however was Matt in goal. Matt made some incredible plays that saved us many times. It is a real pleasure to watch Matt in goal. I have seen Matt make more incredible plays than I can recall. Our record is 3-1-1 and we look like we are hitting our stride.
Game 6 - July 21....Whalers 8 - Jaguars 0
This is the third time I am writing this review. Someone in my house is picking up the phone and breaking the connection before I save it, so this will be short. Great game. Our defense scored 6 goals. RJ farkas with 3, Billy with 2 and Dan with 1. Tommy caught the goalie not paying attention and scored and Alex sent a nice pass to James Donofrio as James scored his first goal of the season. This was Matt's second shutout of the season, dropping his Goals Against to 1.2 per game. Like the NJ Devils great defense added to great a great goalie can be an dominating team. The Whallers have given up 1.6 goals per game and scored nearly 4 per game. This week everyone played great defense. The Jags only had two shots in the first period and two shots in the third period which earned the Whalers another trip to Ritas. Many of the Jag's players attend the Blackhawks free clinic and I know these kids a great hockey players. Someday they will definately be at the top of the league. The Jag's were missing their sparkplug Kyle Shaungnhessy. Stars of the game were James and RJ Farkas. Our record stands at 4-1-1.
Game 7 - July 28....Whalers 9 - Storm 2
Wow. What a game. The Storm was missing a key player and I have to admit, I respect the fact that Kevin Craig can make that much of a difference on this team.
We played awesome. I lost the list of the scorers in this game, but we actually had 7 players get goals. It was all all out offensive and defensive effort
that everyone can be proud of. Our record stands at 5-1-1. Stars of the game were RJ Reynolds and Jimmy.
VIVA LAS VEGAS
We wish Billy and his bottle of peroxide the best of luck as he joins the 99'ers in LAS VEGAS, Nevada. I know Billy will make us all proud.
BATTER UP
Congrtulations to Bobby who just finished a month of Little League tournament play. We sure are glad you can come back to hockey full time.
Game 8 - August 4..Playoffs Storm 5 - Jaguars 5. The Storm won by virtue of a shootout.
What a game. Excitement from the start. The Storm scored the first goal early, but Tommy took the next face off and fought his way
through everyone and put a wicked wrist shot in the net to even the score. We eventually took a 5 to 3 lead into the last 5 minutes
of the game but our short bench proved to tire out as the Storm tied the game with less than 2 minutes left. Dan Cirminello continued
offensive brilliance while scoring 2 goals. Jimmy and Michael scored our other two goals. Everyone played great, but Dan and RJ really
carried the team tonight with 40 minutes of tireless defense each. Jimmy and Tommy each got some good aggressive type, penalties. This
time we were missing Alex, Vegas Billy,
Bobby, RJ Farkas and Nicky. OUCH! The rest of the team played FANTASTIC. Anyway my worst nightmare. A shootout. We felt confident becuase
we had the better goalie. Who can be better than Matt Deering? In the first round of three, Tommy scored for us and one Storm scored to end
the round in a tie. In the next round nobody scored for either team. From here on in it was sudden death. The next Storm to shot scored on
dead puck, that stopped and past the net. Bad call, but that's life. Our next shooter (had to be begged to go) missed and the Storm won finishing
in first place. We still had the most goals scored, and the least goals against, which are statistics that we are proud of. We ended the regular
season 5-2-1 in second place. Next week the playoffs. Stars of the game were Michael
Game 9 - August 4 - Whalers 5 - Outlaws 2
Another great game as we avenged the earlier tie we had with the Outlaws. We really dominated this game as we held them to 4 shots until late
in the third period when they had 4 in a matter of 3 minutes, including thier second goal on a power play. My only negative comment of our
play all season was this penalty kill. Nobody played their positions as we wanted on this line and it cost us a goal. It was a great learning
experience which will come in handy next week. Other than that, it was a great game led by another oustanding offensive performance by Dan who
got his first hat trick of the season. Too bad we only give one star of the game per season, because Dan deserved another one this game. Rj Reynolds
and Billy scored our other goals. Stars of the game were Kevin and Alex who was playing with some cut up legs. We are 6-2-1 and next week will be the
6th straight Championship game, I have coached and Tommy and Alex have played. And we are due to win another one.
Game 10 Championship Game
August 11 Storm 5 - Whalers 2
Congratulations Howell Storm. Neither team wanted to give an inch and it looked like it was going to be a low scoring defensive struggle. The game was scoreless until late in the first period when the Storm broke the ice to take a 1-0 lead. By the end of the second period the Storm was up three to nothing and there were a lot of long faces on the Whalers bench. I've seen it before, the look of quiting, but we pulled Bill Smith's "Ball's Speach" out from the archives and motived the team with it. Hey, Bill pulled it out of the archives in Phildalphia and it worked, so why not here. Anyway, no more long face that looked like they wanted to quit. Billy immediately put one in net, to close the gap to 3-1. But, the Storm powered back to take a 4-1 lead before Bobby put his baseball skills to work and batted home our second goal. It was beginning to look good for us. The Storms best player was really shutting us down tonight. He had to be getting tired, he sat for maybe five minutes all night. He didn't get tired and continued to wreak havoc on our offense. My hat goes off to Kevin Craig, again. He won that game for a team that really did not have anyone else that could play against our best. Anyway we lost 5 to 2. It was a dissapointing end to a great fun season. The kids played great all year, and we (the coaches) were extremely proud of them. It was an honor to coach these kids. The Blackhawks wish the Whalers the best of luck as we separate the teams and go back to our own nights.
Stars of the game were the Bash Brothers, Jimmy and Sean.
Hat Trick Awards went to
Billy Giersbach with 2
RJ Farkas
Dan Cerminello
Great job Guys!!!!!
|
|