Falcons Flounder as they find - It Takes A TEAM to Win
Submitted By Dan Bailey on Fri 01 21, 11
Since before the Christmas break, the Hanover Canadian Tire PeeWees have struggled, seeing just one win in the past six outings.
In mid-December, Dylan Freiburger suffered a broken arm in a team practice, leaving the team not only without some much needed offensive force, but also leaving the team deflated, knowing that their FRIEND would be sidelined for quite some time.
Prior to Freiburger's injury, the team was firing on all cylinders, and the lines were beginning to work together like a finely tuned machine. The loss of one, has shaken the team, and dumped their uniformity on their head.
Over the Christmas break (from school) the team found themselves short two other players, Skyler Bailey, and Austin Frook.
They first met up with the Mount Forest Rams, and managed to squeek by to a 6-3 win. In their past matchup, Hanover sailed to an 8-0 victory over the Rams.
The Falcons then travelled to Listowel, and were destroyed 7-1, in a game where the players refused to focus, and continued to allow Listowel to have full control. Listowel also had faced a loss to Hanover in their previous meeting.
When the PeeWees played host to the Mildmay Monarchs, Hanover played a strong game, that resulted in a solid 4-3 loss. Mildmay continues to climb in the standings, and were able to recently defeat the Falcons again, by a score of 4-0.
Hanover also travelled to Monkton, to play the 13-0 Elma Logan squad, and with a solid effort, and quality team play, managed to walk off the ice with their heads held high. 4-0 was the tally in that one, but was nothing to be ashamed of.
In their most recent match, Hanover hosted the Walkerton Capitals. Hanover again, had beaten the Caps in their first matchup, and thought the same would simply fall in their laps at the end of this game.
Much to the players' surprise, Walkerton went up 1-0 at 7:56 of the first period.
The Falcons were able to control and dominate the play whenever effort was put forth, and it was proven at 1:19 of the first, when Matt Schierz and Shay Chittick rushed the points off the defensive zone face off, resulting in the puck being fired into the Walkerton zone by centreman, Dustin Leask.
Schierz put forth 100% effort, beat the Walkerton D to the corner, gave Chittick a centering pass, and it was 1-1. A quality play.
Period two saw the Falcons out shoot the Caps, but they never finished the play, nor back checked, or created battles. At 6:37 of the frame, Hanover coughed up a lazy man's breakaway that resulted in the go ahead goal for Walkerton.
Period three was to be all Hanover, and with a short spurt of effort, the Falcons went from a 2-1 deficit, to a 4-2 lead, all in the matter of 2 mins and 35 seconds. Points went to Kyler Knoll, Dustin Leask, Schierz, and Andrew Price.
I guess that's when the players started reading the billboards on the ice, and waving to their friends in the stands.... A game that could have easily ended up 7-2 for Hanover, was given to the Capitals, as Hanover allowed them to tally twice more in just over three minutes, resulting in a very dissappointing tie. The last shift saw Walkerton on a clear cut breakaway...
Kyle Roulston stood strong in net, in what was his first game with the PeeWees.
Following the game, the players and coaching staff had a long chat that saw the players promise each other, as friends and as teammates, to try their hardest every shift of every game. We use the F word in our room - FOCUS, and put simply to the kids, it just takes 45 seconds of focus and hard work to achieve greatness. Nobody expects more than what is possible, but we can all try our hardest.
The team travels to Minto in the morning for their first tournament of the year. Our first game is against Milverton, a team that we have beaten, and tied. Hopefully the kids bring all they've got!