Sunday, January 30, 2011

A Unique Experience

In our game on Friday a unique thing happened..One of my team captains was trying to score on a breakaway, it was broken up and the other team got a penalty. A little later in the period my same player received a pass and was in on another breakaway and was pulled down. The crowd was yelling for a penalty shot and the referees met. The referees then came to me and said "Coach its your choice, you can take the penalty and have the man advantage or take the penalty shot. My players looked at me and I thought for a second I have never seen a penalty shot at the high school level and my player is a senior. I told the referees we will take the penalty shot. My senior player took the penalty shot and scored. After the game his parents came up to me and said he had been practicing that shot for a long time. I learned later that the league has no way to record or account for a penalty shot so, this player's goal is recorded in the stats as an unassisted goal.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Two Wins in a Row

Last night my team won 9-4 making it two wins in a row. The first time this year my team had won two games in a row. After scoring three quick goals my team seemed to forget how to play hockey. When the first period was over I told the team if they wanted to win they had to get their act together because even though we were up by goals I was not sure we could still win the game. The second period we played better but we took several bad penalties because we got  retaliating for the physical play of our opponents. Between the second and third period I told my team they had to stop taking bad penalties and if they wanted to win they had top play better defense. My team scored four goals in the third period and we won the game.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

All - Star Game

The conference my team plays in is having its first ever All-Star game and I have to pick three skaters and a goalie to represent my team. As I thought about who to chose for the all-star team I decided that the players I chose had to contribute more then being a statistic leader. My goalie choice was easy I have only one goalie so I submitted his name. Next I selected the three skaters for the all-star team. I selected two forwards and one defenseman. All skaters contributed more to the team then you would see on the score sheet which I believe is important when choosing the players to represent my team at an all-star game.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Success

On Friday night my team got two points and a win. This was probably the best all around game my team played this season. Three of our goals were scored by freshmen and our goalie got a shut out. Our powerplay still is a weakness that we will work on at practice, The penalty kill unit is very effective. We are starting to come together as a team unfortunately we only have three games left in the season.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

This Week's practice

At this week's practice we worked on skating, shooting and the powerplay (which we still need to work on). During practice I gathered the team at center ice. Once I had everyone's attention I said to them lets review the month of January. Our first game we got a tie and one point. The second game was a moral victory. Now our third game Friday night it is time to get a win and two points. The players agreed and seemed excited so now we will just have to see what happens.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Progress

Since the holiday break my team has been making progress that does not necessary show on the score sheet or the standings. So far in January we have played the second place team in our conference and the first place team in our conference. We were not expected to do well against either team. When we played the second place team we were winning the game until  the second place team tied the game with 28 seconds left. Seeing there is no overtime in our league the ended in a tie. Friday night we played the first place team who had been blowing out the teams they played. At the end of the second period of our we were down 4-1. When the final buzzer sounded the score was 7-1 and we had lost. While we lost on the scoreboard we won as a team. First, we did not let the other team blow us out or score double digits. This showed my team they could skate with the best team in our conference. Next we need to learn how to score more. We have a very good penalty kill unit and we are getting better at the powerplay. The next two games will be a good opportunities for us to get a win or two. Unfortunately for my team they are finally coming together but there is only a month left in the season.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

The Holiday Break is Over.

Starting tomorrow I will start my prep for the second half of the season. I got started by watching the Winter Classic tonight. Having played an outdoor game myself when I was in high school I have enjoyed watching the Winter Classic since it started in 2008.
    We ended the first half of the season by losing a game we should have won. The other team gave us a number of chances to score and win the game we just could seem to score as a result our record now is 1-4. My better players do seem frustrated with the way the season is going but it is nothing a win would not help change.
    The adventure is about to continue.