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| January 10, 2002
By Phat Plastered
Day Six At Nats
The Day We All Went Away
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We don't know where finals are going to be, stay tuned.
It was the last day at Winternasty and I will tell you that it was the best day, because my kid's team won. Don't worry, I have made many drives back home without any medal...
ATOMS:
Great teams. In the end the day was owned by the OC Blades who beat the Bulldogs in the finals. Congrats to the Blades Grommets.
By the way, since I commented that I had observed a quality Blades player, a #8, not playing in two games I saw, out of fairness I will say that in the last two games he did get more shifts. Personally, I think that in these very young years that coaches should evenly rotate players and parents should support the idea since Atoms is by very definition, a developmental group. If you think you can tell who will be a good player in hit hockey at age 12 by the way they are doing in Atoms, then you are brain dead. Its better to develop all your players and not showcase a few to an empty audience. That was my point.
BTW, I also wanted to comment on the excellent all around play by the Atom Blades #10. I thought he contributed a great deal. Good hockey sense and good skating.
There is a lot of talent there, which also causes a lot of concern.
My advice about young players: Keep them OFF the rink three, even four, days a week and don’t give me any crap about “But he wants to play all the time.” Yeah, and he wants to eat candy all the time too. You are the adult. Don’t burn these young ones out. After watching and listening to some parents I guarantee that 99% of all the Atom Superstars will be burnt out by 12 years of age. Spend time teaching them baseball or water polo. Take them to museums. Read them a book. The talent won’t go away but the desire will. When it stops being a game and you ain’t being paid, its called slavery.
Mongolian Beef. I love Mongolian Beef. Greatest food of all time. I eat it every day for four years in a row and I will start puking it up.
Something to think about anyway.
SQUIRT:
BC got knocked out by the Blades in semi final action. BC really made a good name for themselves and after talking to a few of their in the know folks I would anticipate a stronger showing later…
We should start thinking about going to a Vancouver regional. I wouldn’t want to be surprised at NARCh.
The Cave men did well against the Bulldogs, but lost in the finals against the OC Blades. They made it interesting but early on you could sense the team to beat this time around would be the Blades, My Dawgs seemed a little rough all tournament long, starting with a tie with the BC team. The Blades seemed to cruise. It was good to see Scooter Vaughan up and around.
PEE WEES:
The top four moved on, and then the top two. The only “upset” was a technical one only, and that was number 2 seeded Hyper Empire 87 beat number 1 seeded OC Blades 87 in the finals 4-2. If you factored in difficulty of competition, Hyper actually had the better tournament coming out of round robin play.
How did it all come about?
OCBlades 88 played the Raiders, and won. OCBlades 87 played LaVerne Empire, and won. Detroit took a OT thriller over the Anaheim Bulldogs. Hyper dispatched the Patriots.
The semis were both great games.
An interesting match up was the Blades 87 v. Blades 88. Blades 87 had lost to the Blades 88 previously, and so it was important for the 87s to break out from under the NARCh Champ 88’s shadow. The game was tight, but then the Blades 87 picked up two late penalties. Anyway, they held off the 88s and 87s advanced, winning 3-2.
Hyper and Detroit traded goals in the first period. It ended 3-3. Then, Hyper turned it up and the game ended 8-3 with 5 unanswered goals by a faster, bigger and stronger Hyper crew. Then, the worst call of the tournament came. With two seconds left, Steven Rockwell of Hyper was called for a 5 minute penalty for pushing a player out of a face off circle in a manner that all observers agreed should not have even been a penalty. Not only was it a bad call, but it was called against a class player. It also deprived that player of a chance to play in a NARCh finals event. In a tournament of even handed reffing, this was the low point. Then, after discussion the Ref gained ESP powers and became “sure” of the player’s evil intent. Pure bull. Fact was that Detroit was much more chippy the last few minutes and wasn’t called. Hyper did nothing and was called.
In any event, the additional affect the bad call had was to give a big advantage to the ten man roster Blades 87, as Hyper was now down to 7 as Rockwell had to sit the Championship game. The stage set, the final game between Hyper and OCB 87 began.
Short handed Hyper jumped up two and OCB 87 came back right before the half. Hyper looked tired, and OCB was gaining strength. The game turned around early in the second when the Hyper Goalie glove saved and stacked his pad in a Jensen cloning routine that deprived the OC shooters of the net. It was enough time for Hyper to get their second wind, and for Burnett and Lasch to get together and toss in the GWG. With a minute or two to go, Hyper’s # 4 lefty picked up a pass at the red line and took a slap shot low left for the insurance goal. The game ended 4-2.
In the ceremony, the Hyper Team Captain was called forward. Hyper looked around and started laughing. They didn’t have a Captain. They told me they never saw the need. They later were proud they didn’t win an individual award. They didn’t have one superstar that carried them. They were simply a team, solid up and down.
So, they appointed Steven Rockwell, the kid who was deprived of his chance to play, to go pick up the trophy. Never was a better selection made…
JUNIORS
Empire Snipers over Pama Cyclones, 9-2. Ouch.
RUMORS AND PROPAGANDA…
SCOUTS?
Someone asked me if there were Scouts ate Winternational for ice hockey programs. The answer is yes, there were. There was a pro ice scout, a college ice assistant coach and scout and a scout for College Roller Hockey at a major university. What were they doing there? Watching their kids play, der.
It does bring up something important. Last year at Florida there was a pre school ice hockey coach and thus, a scout. He was there watching his kid play. He was told a certain player’s name he was watching, and then looked at me and rolled his eyes. Not a good sign.
Many coaches are ex-pros and have also maintained contacts with their former professional affiliations and colleges.
My point is that this should not surprise you. Hockey people are, da, around hockey rinks.
You should also understand the process. You can begin by understanding the worst thing you can do to a scout or coach or who ever that refers you to some group for a try out: Embarrass them by being an idiot, loud mouth, arrogant punk or a jerk. Talent is one thing. Sometimes you cannot tell if a player can make it till they start playing at the level. Character, however, is something you can check on and even test.
Why is this important?
Good conduct on and off the rink shows a scout or coach that you have good character. Good Character leads to commitment. Commitment leads to work ethic. Work ethic leads to mental toughness. Mental toughness leads to success. If you have that, and you have talent, you got what it takes. But you can have all the talent in the world and if you are an undisciplined arrogant pot addict, go drive a cab.
Every person who is out there looking, wants players that have the whole package. To be blunt there are precious few. Try to be one.
ROCKETS
Rockets…It didn’t go well for Daryn’s PeeWees at a time when the Nike Cameras were rolling. Coach Goodwin showed great class throughout. What some may not know is that after promising Daryn they would stick with him all year long, two strong 87 birth year players bailed for another team. Their names will never end up in anything I write.
I did want to comment about the remaining players. They are a great group. They are a group that needs more work. I will also admit that they do not all play at the AAA level. But if any coach can bring them along, it is Daryn Goodwin. Also, two top quality players have stuck with Daryn. These players could go just about anywhere. Dre Vlassasopolous and Clark Oliver are top 1987 birth players and I have a great deal of respect for them both.
I said it before and I will say it again. One of the best coaches around is Daryn Goodwin. Since he works for NARCh he doesn’t even get all the credit he deserves. Well, I don’t work for NARCh and I’ll say whatever I damn well pleased. He got a tough bracket. His team played hard. They never gave up.
Nike: your pee wees didn’t do that well in competition, not on the score sheet. But I will tell you that from personal experience that those kids will be taught to be champions by Daryn Goodwin. You want a theme for your documentary, how about something along the lines of how a coach and a group of kids maintain integrity and character in the face of adversity, tough odds and come through it not winners, but champions…
Come on Nike, I dare you to stand for the idea that winning isn’t everything…
MAVERICKS
NorCal Mavericks? Et tu Bruti?
OK, lets not get stupid. I hear some rumors and I certainly hope they are more a product of frustration than actual intent. The best first year Bantams of the tournament were E,pire 86 and / or the Outcasts. Maverick 86s, however, have the talent to get there next year too. The program the Mavericks have is the most
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