Tag Archives: tournament

So Far, So Good

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The Devil and her mates have held true to the hopes of moms, dads and coaches in delivering three strong performances in their first three round robin Sharkfest contests.

The first two teams they faced, as suspected, were arguably stronger sides, but the girls were able to more than hold their own to earn 1-1 and 2-2 ties respectively. Both of the first two opponents exhibited a slight edge in puck control, overall size and aggression.  The girls, to their credit, did not back down at either end of the ice.  Perhaps there is something to be said about defending one’s home turf.

The Sharks were to be particularly commended for their showing in game two as they had to fight through illness and injury. One forward fought a nasty head cold while another suffered from an injured shoulder caused by an errant opponent’s stick in game one.  I was told, by a reliable source on the bench, that both girls desperately wanted to play and support their team in what they knew was a tough battle.  These two ties were also predicated on strong goaltending, which the team has been blessed with all year, and a couple of good bounces, which are always welcomed when the hockey gods bestow them.

Game three was slated to be another good test as the two teams would enter the match with identical 0-0-2 records.  Indeed the game opened with a scoreless, but chance-filled, first period.  A few minutes into the second period the opposing team would score its first goal on a deflected shot. The Sharks would waste no time in scoring to tie the game only eight seconds later.  Several chances would be exchanged through the second and into the third period; until the player afflicted, yet fighting, through the head cold pounced on a rebound.  She quickly deposited the frozen puck into a yawning cage behind the opposing keeper. The Devil and her cohorts held on for the rest of the period to secure the 2-1 win; thus earning a berth in tomorrow morning’s semi-final.

I’ve just checked the tourney Web site (ah the wonders of modern technology that allow us to track stats from home).  The semi-final will be against the Sharks’ fiercest rival this season who they will be facing for no less than the fourth time this year.  This is sure to make for an exciting, closely fought match.  I will likely don my lucky red Chuck Taylors for the occasion; though the girls have been doing a great job making their own luck of late.  I’ll wear the lucky hat too — just in case.

#imahockeydad

Sharkfest cometh

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The Devil’s home tournament, appropriately dubbed Sharkfest, starts tomorrow. We are all, of course, all hoping for a good showing.  You have to figure the home team has a bit of an advantage as there is no travel, no hotels, no pools, no rushed meals in restaurants and no other out of the norm distractions that virtually every visiting team has to deal with.  Our girls will be playing in the friendly confines of their home rinks, they will eat healthy, home-cooked meals and they will get to go home to their own beds at presumably decent times.  For many teams, tournaments mean suggested, but not necessarily strict curfews.  We’ve been to enough tournaments to know the general “lights out time” is 10pm, while the general “we’re sleeping soundly time” is more like 12am.  8 and 9am morning games show up plenty early.

You would also like to think that the home team would play a little harder to defend their home turf.  That message will no doubt be relayed in the pre-game dressing room coach talk.  We’ll just have to see if that attitude is carried out onto the ice at game time.

All three of the teams the Devil will be playing are coming from 2+ hours away.  But then again, two of the three teams come from traditionally strong regions where players are drawn from large, primarily rural areas. The result is a usually a collection of quite talented players from a relatively small population. We’ve played teams from one of these regions in the past where the players, from a size and skill perspective, appeared to be a year or two older. I may have once quipped from the stands that someone should “Check that girl’s driver’s license” as she didn’t seem to fit in with the other 10 year olds.  10 years olds typically don’t stand over six feet tall even if they are wearing skates.  I also recall watching an opposing 11 or 12 year old player launch a slap shot that I would be proud to see fly from my stick. One or two significantly stronger players on any given team can make the difference between winning and losing in women’s hockey. Then again, often times a cohesive team can counter a strong player.

As with any tournament, the real purpose is for the girls to have fun playing a variety of teams they don’t usually get to face.  Doing well and perhaps even winning a tournament would be an added bonus.  The coaches will simply want to see the players and team compete to their full potential. We believe we have started to see glimpses of that potential over the last several weeks and hope it continues this weekend; as the team prepares to enter a heavy part of their regular season schedule in December.

The Boy, for his part, has no hockey until late day Sunday, so he will be running score clocks during the tournament in return for high-school mandated community service hours.  He’d much rather be playing Call of Duty on his XBox in his down timie. However this is a good opportunity to amass a substantial percentage of the 40 hours he is required to put in during his four-year high school career. So he will be joining us, somewhat willingly, in the rinks.

As other local teams in other divisions will also be playing in this tourney, I’m sure we will spend a substantial amount of time in one rink or another over the next few days.  I will hopefully be reporting back triumphantly, if not with simple pride following a strong effort by the Devil and her mates, as the weekend draws to a close. 

#imahockeydad 

Sharkfest cometh

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The Devil’s home tournament, appropriately dubbed Sharkfest, starts tomorrow. We are all, of course, all hoping for a good showing.  You have to figure the home team has a bit of an advantage as there is no travel, no hotels, no pools, no rushed meals in restaurants and no other out of the norm distractions that virtually every visiting team has to deal with.  Our girls will be playing in the friendly confines of their home rinks, they will eat healthy, home-cooked meals and they will get to go home to their own beds at presumably decent times.  For many teams, tournaments mean suggested, but not necessarily strict curfews.  We’ve been to enough tournaments to know the general “lights out time” is 10pm, while the general “we’re sleeping soundly time” is more like 12am.  8 and 9am morning games show up plenty early.

You would also like to think that the home team would play a little harder to defend their home turf.  That message will no doubt be relayed in the pre-game dressing room coach talk.  We’ll just have to see if that attitude is carried out onto the ice at game time.

All three of the teams the Devil will be playing are coming from 2+ hours away.  But then again, two of the three teams come from traditionally strong regions where players are drawn from large, primarily rural areas. The result is a usually a collection of quite talented players from a relatively small population. We’ve played teams from one of these regions in the past where the players, from a size and skill perspective, appeared to be a year or two older. I may have once quipped from the stands that someone should “Check that girl’s driver’s license” as she didn’t seem to fit in with the other 10 year olds.  10 years olds typically don’t stand over six feet tall even if they are wearing skates.  I also recall watching an opposing 11 or 12 year old player launch a slap shot that I would be proud to see fly from my stick. One or two significantly stronger players on any given team can make the difference between winning and losing in women’s hockey. Then again, often times a cohesive team can counter a strong player.

As with any tournament, the real purpose is for the girls to have fun playing a variety of teams they don’t usually get to face.  Doing well and perhaps even winning a tournament would be an added bonus.  The coaches will simply want to see the players and team compete to their full potential. We believe we have started to see glimpses of that potential over the last several weeks and hope it continues this weekend; as the team prepares to enter a heavy part of their regular season schedule in December.

The Boy, for his part, has no hockey until late day Sunday, so he will be running score clocks during the tournament in return for high-school mandated community service hours.  He’d much rather be playing Call of Duty on his XBox in his down timie. However this is a good opportunity to amass a substantial percentage of the 40 hours he is required to put in during his four-year high school career. So he will be joining us, somewhat willingly, in the rinks.

As other local teams in other divisions will also be playing in this tourney, I’m sure we will spend a substantial amount of time in one rink or another over the next few days.  I will hopefully be reporting back triumphantly, if not with simple pride following a strong effort by the Devil and her mates, as the weekend draws to a close. 

#imahockeydad 

Fourth and final game update

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The text telling the tale of the 4:45 quarter final game was a little late as me and the Boy were making our way to the arena for his game at 6:05. Another game, another one goal decision in the wrong direction as the Devil’s team fell 2-1. The upside, as hockey mom sees it, is that they get to stay up a little later in the hotel tonight and they can sleep in tomorrow morning.  With no hockey tomorrow there is a pretty good chance a few parents will let their hair down and the girls will no doubt spend an inordinate amount of time in the pool.  Just like the boys, this weekend is as much about them having fun and bonding together as teammates as it is about the competition. Of course, it’s fun to win too.

As for the Boy, he and his squad eeked out a tie against a perennial thorn in their side. They gave up a go ahead goal with just under four minutes left in the game, but wree then able to score a tying goal with less than two minutes left. At this level and in this league over the past four years lopsided scores for either side have been few and far between. There are a couple of weaker sisters in the division, but for the most part there is relative parity among the top six or seven teams. It makes for pretty exciting hockey, though it can grind on the nerves after a while.

Now the Boy’s gone to a buddy’s after his game because there is no game tomorrow. The girls are away at the tourney. So it’s me and the poochie left to our own devices.  Guess we’ll watch the hockey game and/or baseball game together before we hit the hay.

#imahockeydad

Fourth and final game update

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The text telling the tale of the 4:45 quarter final game was a little late as me and the Boy were making our way to the arena for his game at 6:05. Another game, another one goal decision in the wrong direction as the Devil’s team fell 2-1. The upside, as hockey mom sees it, is that they get to stay up a little later in the hotel tonight and they can sleep in tomorrow morning.  With no hockey tomorrow there is a pretty good chance a few parents will let their hair down and the girls will no doubt spend an inordinate amount of time in the pool.  Just like the boys, this weekend is as much about them having fun and bonding together as teammates as it is about the competition. Of course, it’s fun to win too.

As for the Boy, he and his squad eeked out a tie against a perennial thorn in their side. They gave up a go ahead goal with just under four minutes left in the game, but wree then able to score a tying goal with less than two minutes left. At this level and in this league over the past four years lopsided scores for either side have been few and far between. There are a couple of weaker sisters in the division, but for the most part there is relative parity among the top six or seven teams. It makes for pretty exciting hockey, though it can grind on the nerves after a while.

Now the Boy’s gone to a buddy’s after his game because there is no game tomorrow. The girls are away at the tourney. So it’s me and the poochie left to our own devices.  Guess we’ll watch the hockey game and/or baseball game together before we hit the hay.

#imahockeydad

Game three update from Windsor

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I know y’all are waiting with bated breath like I have been for the past hour and twenty minutes.  The latest text reads 2-1 Bad guys but they played very well and the goal was hers (the Devil’s that is).  On to the quarter finals at 4:45 with a record of 1-2; with both losses by 1 goal.  Anything can happen in girls hockey. I will have the fingers, toes and several other body parts crossed for a win. I’ll send along all the words of encouragement I can then wait semi-patiently to hear the outcome. Bahhhhhhhhh!

#imahockeydad

I hate missing games

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Hockey mom and the Devil left on a four+ hour trip to Windsor for a tournament this weekend.  I helped load the van with all of the suitcases, bags, coolers, equipment and various other paraphernalia female hockey players (and their mom’s) need to travel.  Unsurprisingly, it was a fair bit more than the Boy and I needed last weekend.  The ladies had companions for the ride, another player and her mother, so the van was loaded to the hilt with female accessories times two.  Hockey mom, seemingly travelling to a foreign land, was equipped with a stack of Google maps to get her from our driveway to the hotel, from the hotel to the rinks, from the rinks to the hotel and from the hotel to dinner and back again (I will no doubt pay for this wee sentence). And off they went on their weekend of fun and competition. 

The Boy and I were left behind because he had a practice two nights ago and has a game tonight here in town.  So far that’s meant Mucho Burrito and Big Chris BBQfor dinner the past two nights.  We are roving bachelors with unlimited options.  Last night I sat on the couch to watch the Rangers knock the Yankees out of the major league baseball playoffs (Yippee!), while the Boy played Call of Duty on Xbox Live with his hockey buddies.  Yup, we really shook it up.  We painted the town red.

Part of the problem with having two rep hockey players is they are most often going in two different directions. As such, we miss a bunch of games, which can be frustrating.  Last year, the hockey mom had an idea that someone should record and broadcast all games online (like on YouTube or something) so parents and friends who weren’t able to attend for whatever reason, could still see their kids play.  Not sure that anyone would actually pay for that service, but it’s one that I wish was available this weekend.  If I had a little capital and thought the idea might work this would be perfect job for me.  I’ve always said I just need to find a way to get someone to pay me to watch my kids play hockey.  Hell, I’d even watch other kids play hockey.

The Devil’s first game was yesterday at 10:30am so we texted briefly pre-game.  I sent along typical words of encouragement — “Skate hard!” “Have fun!” “Score me a goal!” “Give 110% out there!” “Listen to your coach!” ”Keep your head up!” “Win the battles!” If it were the Boy, I’d add in “Crush somebody!” in a purely positive sense.  So I may overdo it a little.  But I really would rather be there watching and shouting all the same things from the stands or from behind the bench.  Instead, I had to try to focus on my regular job while waiting anxiously for a score to arrive on my cellphone.  Not the optimal way to experience a hockey game. The score did arrive in a text from hockey mom, about 20 mins after when I thought the game should have ended.  This was most likely because most rinks, with their metal and concrete construction, kill mobile reception.  I know this because I’m often challenged with trying to get NHL hockey scores, NFL football scores or work-related emails when the Boy or Devil are playing. What can I say? I multitask even at the arena.

The text I received said “1-0 for the bad guys”.  My heart sunk a little as you want them to win every game. The next text said “They had a good first period, a crappy second period and an ok third period.”  Followed by “She’s a little upset because the goal was scored against her line.”  And my heart sunk a little farther. I fired back with “Ah well..get them in the next one.”

I would have to go through the whole thing again a few hours later around game two, only this time the text read “2-0 for the good guys”. Ahhhh, that’s better. Now the girls have some confidence and momentum to take into the next contest.  The good thing about this tournament is they will go into a quarter-final round regardless of their round robin record. But you do want to go into those quarters with a winning record so you get a lighter opponent in your quest to move on to the next round.

Game three is starting in 10 mins against a very close rival from our league.  Funny how sometimes we will travel great distances to play in tournaments against teams that are based right around the corner from us.  But I digress.  I’ve already texted the Devil a few times this morning with the obligatory words of encouragement.  Her last to me was “Thanks. I’ll text you after the game. Love you. Bye.”  That will have to do, though I’d rather a string of shift-by-shift texts or maybe a live online video stream of the game, complete with play-by-play and colour commentary. I’d even take just an audio feed.  Maybe hockey mom was on to something.

#imahockeydad

Game three update from Windsor

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I know y’all are waiting with bated breath like I have been for the past hour and twenty minutes.  The latest text reads 2-1 Bad guys but they played very well and the goal was hers (the Devil’s that is).  On to the quarter finals at 4:45 with a record of 1-2; with both losses by 1 goal.  Anything can happen in girls hockey. I will have the fingers, toes and several other body parts crossed for a win. I’ll send along all the words of encouragement I can then wait semi-patiently to hear the outcome. Bahhhhhhhhh!

#imahockeydad

I hate missing games

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Hockey mom and the Devil left on a four+ hour trip to Windsor for a tournament this weekend.  I helped load the van with all of the suitcases, bags, coolers, equipment and various other paraphernalia female hockey players (and their mom’s) need to travel.  Unsurprisingly, it was a fair bit more than the Boy and I needed last weekend.  The ladies had companions for the ride, another player and her mother, so the van was loaded to the hilt with female accessories times two.  Hockey mom, seemingly travelling to a foreign land, was equipped with a stack of Google maps to get her from our driveway to the hotel, from the hotel to the rinks, from the rinks to the hotel and from the hotel to dinner and back again (I will no doubt pay for this wee sentence). And off they went on their weekend of fun and competition. 

The Boy and I were left behind because he had a practice two nights ago and has a game tonight here in town.  So far that’s meant Mucho Burrito and Big Chris BBQfor dinner the past two nights.  We are roving bachelors with unlimited options.  Last night I sat on the couch to watch the Rangers knock the Yankees out of the major league baseball playoffs (Yippee!), while the Boy played Call of Duty on Xbox Live with his hockey buddies.  Yup, we really shook it up.  We painted the town red.

Part of the problem with having two rep hockey players is they are most often going in two different directions. As such, we miss a bunch of games, which can be frustrating.  Last year, the hockey mom had an idea that someone should record and broadcast all games online (like on YouTube or something) so parents and friends who weren’t able to attend for whatever reason, could still see their kids play.  Not sure that anyone would actually pay for that service, but it’s one that I wish was available this weekend.  If I had a little capital and thought the idea might work this would be perfect job for me.  I’ve always said I just need to find a way to get someone to pay me to watch my kids play hockey.  Hell, I’d even watch other kids play hockey.

The Devil’s first game was yesterday at 10:30am so we texted briefly pre-game.  I sent along typical words of encouragement — “Skate hard!” “Have fun!” “Score me a goal!” “Give 110% out there!” “Listen to your coach!” ”Keep your head up!” “Win the battles!” If it were the Boy, I’d add in “Crush somebody!” in a purely positive sense.  So I may overdo it a little.  But I really would rather be there watching and shouting all the same things from the stands or from behind the bench.  Instead, I had to try to focus on my regular job while waiting anxiously for a score to arrive on my cellphone.  Not the optimal way to experience a hockey game. The score did arrive in a text from hockey mom, about 20 mins after when I thought the game should have ended.  This was most likely because most rinks, with their metal and concrete construction, kill mobile reception.  I know this because I’m often challenged with trying to get NHL hockey scores, NFL football scores or work-related emails when the Boy or Devil are playing. What can I say? I multitask even at the arena.

The text I received said “1-0 for the bad guys”.  My heart sunk a little as you want them to win every game. The next text said “They had a good first period, a crappy second period and an ok third period.”  Followed by “She’s a little upset because the goal was scored against her line.”  And my heart sunk a little farther. I fired back with “Ah well..get them in the next one.”

I would have to go through the whole thing again a few hours later around game two, only this time the text read “2-0 for the good guys”. Ahhhh, that’s better. Now the girls have some confidence and momentum to take into the next contest.  The good thing about this tournament is they will go into a quarter-final round regardless of their round robin record. But you do want to go into those quarters with a winning record so you get a lighter opponent in your quest to move on to the next round.

Game three is starting in 10 mins against a very close rival from our league.  Funny how sometimes we will travel great distances to play in tournaments against teams that are based right around the corner from us.  But I digress.  I’ve already texted the Devil a few times this morning with the obligatory words of encouragement.  Her last to me was “Thanks. I’ll text you after the game. Love you. Bye.”  That will have to do, though I’d rather a string of shift-by-shift texts or maybe a live online video stream of the game, complete with play-by-play and colour commentary. I’d even take just an audio feed.  Maybe hockey mom was on to something.

#imahockeydad

Tournament Play

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The first test of the new season for the Boy’s team is an early bird tournament that started this evening about an hour from home. Tournaments are generally good because teams have an opportunity to play against teams they wouldn’t play during the regular season.  Pre-season tournaments are good because there are fewer expectations and less pressure to win. Of course, the GOAL is still to WIN.

Every tournament is a little bit different in the way its structured.  Some differ in the way they assign points for games won, periods won, goals for or goals against. Sometimes the criteria for advancing beyond a preliminary round can be a little confusing.  The myriad of tie breaking scenarios is quite often enough to make one’s head spin. 

I immediately recall two tournaments in particular where the scoring formats produced some curious results.  

In one instance, the Boy’s team was able to advance to a playoff round despite having recorded no wins (one tie and two one-goal losses) in a three game round robin preliminary format.  It seems they were able to amass enough points by having won or tied individual periods to beat out two other teams; one of which actually had a round robin victory.  To make matters worse, this was the Boy’s teams home tournament and onlookers undoubtedly raised a Spockian eyebrow at the home teams good fortune.  How could a team with no wins advance? A final rusty nail in the proverbial coffin would find the Boy’s team going on to win the entire tournament as they managed to play progressively better from match to match all the way to a victory in the championship final.

The other odd situation I recall found the Boy’s team on the opposite end of a wonky points per game won/points per period won situation.  In this tournament, the Boys came out strong in each of their three round robin games and built up commanding leads in the first period of each. However, in two of those three games, although the Boy’s team won, the opposition came back hard and won or tied the second and third periods.  As fate would have it, one of these two opponents would win their other two games and a majority of the periods in each; thereby vaulting them over the Boy’s team on the basis of aggregate game plus period points.  What seemed to be a very successful tournament ended with a bewildering THUD.

If this all sounds confusing that’s only because it is.  There will always be groups of fathers, coaches and tournament officials huddled around the posted game results, which are usually prominently displayed on a main arena wall, trying to figure out all of the permutations and who the potential playoff opponents will be.  If Team A beats Team B by 3 goals but then loses to Team C by 2, ties Team D and mercies Team E; what’s the square root of Pi and Who’s on First?

Last season the Devil’s team was playing in a tournament, which was run at multiple arenas (as most are). Early on we were told game results were being dutifully updated on a tournament Web site. Going into their final game, the Devil’s coach knew there were a couple of events that needed to occur in order for the team to advance to the playoff round.  First off, the Devil’s team needed to produce a convincing (at least four goal) win against a tough opponent. Secondly, a game starting 30 minutes earlier at one of the other rinks had to have a specific winner.  With this in mind, I was asked by the coach to check score of the other game on a laptop out in the arena lobby, so he would be able to determine whether or not they had a legitimate shot to progress.  Halfway through the second period of the Devil’s game, I was given the secret signal from her coach to go out to the lobby and check the score of the other game. Of course, we were not dealing with real-time results and I spent the better part of 15 minutes hitting <REFRESH> and ultimately coming up with nothing in the way of a score.  When I returned to the action a fellow spectator promptly reported that the Devil had scored a superlative goal and had a fine assist to go with it – both of which I missed during my fruitless sojourn to the arena lobby. Post-game I had to tell a white lie and say that, “Of course I saw the beautiful top-shelf goal.” The Devil’s team did surprisingly win their game quite handily and the right team did also claim victory at the other rink; thereby allowing the Devil’s team to move on. However, moving on meant a third game in a 12-hour span for a bunch of dead-tired 12 year olds. So that’s where that tournament ended.

The Boy’s first game this evening was a white-knuckled, edge-of-your-seat, 2-1 victory.  The team looked pretty good in their first official game as a team. We’ll hope they fare as well or better in their next two outings.  I’m not sure whether or not periods won has any bearing on the tournament standings, but I’m sure coaches and parents will eventually be huddled around the bristol board covered wall, pulling out scientific calculators or multi-colored abacuses to see which teams will face off in the quarter finals.

Did I mention that I love spending my weekend on my way to or in a rink? Which is fortunate because the Devil has three exhibition games of her own in the next three days. We should be drawing straws at some point tomorrow to figure out exactly who is going where and when.

#imahockeydad