Hockey Embarrassment???

Well, the boys won the tournament they competed in this weekend. But it was an incredibly uncomfortable experience for everyone concerned.

This was a small "B" level 4-team round-robin tournament. That means there were 4 teams and each team played the other teams. Since this was a points tournament, there were no brackets or "championship game" involved. Once all four teams had completed their games, points were tallied and the team with the most points won.

In our first game, we were outrageously dominant. The final score was 18-0, with over 70 shots on goal when it ended. After the first period, the boys laid back and the coaches required at least 5 passes before shooting on net and the other team still couldn't seem to muster any defense. It was hard as a parent to watch one team so easily out-play another team. I stopped cheering after the first 5 minutes of the game because we were already up by 4 and it was clear that it was going to be a massive blow-out.

We had hopes that the second game would be more challenging, since that team had dominated their first opponent, with a 7-1 win and more than 50 shots on goal. Unfortunately, it was not hard to out-play this team either. We won, 7-1. This team had a better and faster defensive line and the goalie was not easily shaken but we still out-shot the other team 5 to 1. We took a double minor penalty and the other team was able to score in the 5 on 3 but that was the only offense they could muster. A later 5 on 3 penalty kill was successful and the coaches instituted yet another 5-pass requirement and the boys laid back to keep this game a bit easier on the opponent.

I didn't attend the final game, since a little cold I was fighting managed to make its usual migration to my chest. However, it was another tough game to win, with a 15-0 final score and a 6-1 shots-on-goal ratio. Another two periods of the 5-pass rule and half-speed skating couldn't keep this game's score any lower.

I snapped a few photos of the first game and managed to capture this one of Hockeyman sliding into the net. From his posture, it looks like he's just hanging out with the goalie. In a true sportsmanlike fashion, one of the opposing players checked to see if HM was okay and gave him a friendly pat on the back after this collision.

IMHO, that was the highlight of the weekend! You gotta love a player who is big enough to care about another player, even when their team is being beat up on the scoreboard. Kudos to him! And a big cheer for all three teams we played. There was little rancor or ugliness to speak of and they managed to hold their heads high to the end.

Well done, men, well done!