Wall Tourney offers range of challenges

This tournament is shaping up to be an interesting one.  We have 4 other teams in our division.  Some unknown, some well known, and one we obviously know very well.  The opening salvo appears to be a good opportunity to get on the board.  In a tough PW division of the Hudson Valley league the Westchester Mariners are at the bottom of their division.  They play their home games at Rye Playland and EJ Murray’s Rink, and were also known as the Rye Mariners.  They don’t post much about their team on-line and from my current location I could not reach anyone at the club for some insight, but they did not have a very good year.  The Bears on the other hand were 11-3 in the league and will be a tough group to match up with.  They have to be considered a pre-tournament finalist contender.  Woodbridge should be a good game.  We have wanted this team since early in the year when they beat us.  Despite our better skating, we did not play up to our potential.  It will be a good test of how we have grown and possibly a chance to “play-in” to a spot in the finals.  A likely opponent in that final spot is our own practice partners, the ‘95 team.  What a dream ending to beat them in an upset special!  Of course you have to take one game at a time, and earn your way to a final spot.   Either way, it should make for a fun weekend.  Enjoy Peewees! 

Interesting side note.  I’m in Hong Kong, far from hockey, but on the local Chinese television station there is a repeat of last year’s european hockey league champoiships on each morning at 5AM.  Listening to the audio in Chinese is a hoot! Like in the US, they never stop talking.

 

2 road games to challenge Titans as road season comes to close

The Devils contest ought to be very interesting.  If you recall, when we played their A team way back in October.  It was a 5-3 loss, but tied until late in the 3rd.  We had fun because as we were just learning how to check, they had a few very big 12 year olds who were easy targets.  We have gotten so much better at defense, that we should pose a great challenge.  That said, I’m sure that they have improved as well.  They had both very fast but also very slow players.  Now with a club as large as the Jr. Devils, in a non-league contest, you never know who they may dress.  They have 2 A teams, 2 B teams (the core of one was in Washington), and are very good at modifying rosters to meet the competition.  Either way, they should pose a healthy challenge. 

Sunday night’s affair is far north in Monsey NY.  The Ramapo Saints left us unsatisfied the last time out.  http://titanpeeweea.wordpress.com/2007/12/16/adam-and-titans-toughen-up-tie-the-saints-on-georges-late-goal/

We tied them on our ice and felt we should have had the better of them.  It was only in December, but as with the Devils, we were far less consistent in that game than we have been the last few weeks.  The Saints are not bad, but we should beat them.  Given its our last travel game, and last regular season game, a stamp on this great season would be a sound beating of the Saints in their own house.   Go Titans!

 

President’s Weekend Tourney Talk

Another tournament, more challenges for the Pee Wee squad, but one which they can win.  The Bridgewater tourney over the weekend starts with a team that has traveled from Laurel Maryland.  Since our first game is Saturday early, you can expect that they will have been staying at a nearby hotel.  Hopefully up all night playing knee hockey….

The Metro Maple Leafs are near the bottom of their division in the CBHL, but not because they cannot score.  They average almost 4 goals per game, which is well above ours.  On the other hand they obviously have been lit-up in some league play averaging 6+ goals against.  So, our club will have to find a way to put pucks in the net, as this team will try to score their fair share, and we have not gotten the bounces of late. 

The second opponent Saturday is the NJ Kings, a team we met and beat at their home ice back in December 3-0.  There we dominated on defense and played the body effectively against this smaller club. 

Up third is the host team, the Bridgewater Bears.  They are a ’stingy’ squad giving up just 2 goals per game in acquiring an above .500 record in the NJYHL B division.  They handily beat coach Sal’s Pee Wee team 10-3 back in January at Wall.  This should be a good match.  Also remember the teams have the ability to shorten benches or play anyone from their Pee Wee rosters, so you never know which squad shows-up for these tournaments.  Take no one lightly, be intimidated by no one, and have a grand time.  Best of luck to the boys, lets bring home another medal!

 

Two good home opponents for the Pee Wees

First up, a make-up game. Not a game that was canceled, but one we would like to have back. Woodbridge was a game to forget, one where our guys were clearly more skilled, but simply did not perform. That 6-2 loss seems like ages ago. I know we will have something to prove. I hope Woodbridge is ready for the intensity.

The second game is with another young team.  The Vineland Patriots have struggled this season in the NJYHL, with 1 less win than the Woodbridge team.  They will have driven a long way to get here, so don’t expect them to just lay down.  If you have never been to Vineland, its south, way south.  So far south, the gas is cheap.  So far south, its warmer.  So far south, you are surprised you are not in Maryland by the time you get there.

We need to maintain our intensity, but we can win 2.  A weekend sweep would be sweet.

 

Renegages/Pens Weekend

This late in the season we should rarely run into “new” teams.  But, some you may have forgotten about.  Ask Austin T. about the Renegades.  Despite their bigger size Austin scored the only hat trick of the season vs. this team, leading us to a 6-3 win back in late September.  Now we see them on thier ice (the newest Aspen Ice in Flemington).  The Renegades have played well and have improved since we met them last, but so have we.  The defense, which was very sharp that day will have to be on their best to pester the Renegades in their zone.  Hopefully the offense will make this a season sweep of this club.

The other game this weekend is the NJ Penguins.  They tried to bury us at Rock Ice the last time out.  Two of their kids had screaming slap shots which caught our goalie off guard.  The game was physical, and we have to return the favor if we are to play with this team of talented 95s.  Everyone needs to contribute in all zones for us to defeat this team.  Giant fans will be rooting for an upset, as will we.

 

MLK Tourney Talk

The competition for the Congressional Tournament this weekend should provide a good match for the boys.  The Teams in our Division are 3 NJ youth league teams:  Princeton Tigers, Montclair Blues,  NJ Devils.  The others 2 are the Raleigh Renegades and the Dallas Stars (who win the award for longest travel). 

The NJ Youth teams are lead by Montclair.  The Blues have a full contingent of PeeWee teams (perhaps because the young Brodeur boys played there at one point).  Both of their B teams have over 20 wins already and they both have the tournament on the schedule, which may mean they will send a combined group of those players (maybe their best players or those willing to spend the money).  Some combination of their B teams won the Hershey Tournament at the B level.  

The Devils B has a losing record in the league (5-8) as does Princeton’s B (4-11).  We know the Devils will mix up their roster for non-league constests (we have not seen the same team twice in a number of meetings over the years), while the Tigers seem to be bringing their regular squad. 

The T2 club of the AAA Jr. Hurricanes play in Raleigh.  They have 2 select PeeWee B squads, one being the Renegades and again we may see a combo team.  The Renegades play in a 5 team league and were 5-6 when the league site was last updated.  The Hurricanes have stirred up a lot of interest in local hockey, but rinks are far apart in the North Carolina mountains and there are too few teams to really draw any conclusions about talent. Expect them to be compeitive, but to let in a lot of pucks; their goals against average is over 5 in league play.

The Dallas Stars Youth is a top of the line program.  They send teams to Canada from Texas regularly, so D.C. is a short hop for these kids.  Their AAA squads play with the top Midwest Elite Squads, and they carry on the spirit of that organization to the Stars Selects, their T2 program.  Like our PeeWees they have a “major” ‘95 team and a “minor” or ‘96 team.  The ’96’s are headed to Washington.  They started slowly losing 6 of 7 in the North Texas League, but have been winning of late raising their league record to 6-7, and 1 OT loss.  They won their last game 2-1 and never get blown out.  Austin T’s dad knows a little about this squad, and reports they often get assistance from the NHL Stars who help out on the coaching staff.

The format is 3 preliminary round games, 12 minute periods, with the top 4 getting to the playoffs.  Teams 5-6 get a consolation game, guaranteeing all teams 4 games and the two finalists 5.  2 points for win, 1 for tie.

So, the competition is set, it should be a great weekend.  Most of the Moms are staying home, so the boys will have to keep the Dads in line.   Have fun fellas!

 

Blizzard Redux

If you have a short memory, you may have forgotten that tournament we went to so long ago… In Hershey.  The Blizzard was our opponent at the Giant Center. 

They wound up taking us 4-2 in a well played game that featured some good hitting, AJ making great saves and the Blizzard cheerleaders rooting them on.  We just could not connect on our passes, and they did a good job of getting back on defense to stop the rush. They wound up coming in second in the tournament.  They had some big guys who could skate, but they also were not running us off the ice. 

Given our improvement, particularly in the passing game (we used the defense particularly well last weekend), the Blizzard may be surprised by our advancement.  We are overdue to get some bounces (they even out in the end). 

We travel far into the mountains of Warren County for this evening game, so pick a nice place to stop for dinner on the way back, expect it to be a little colder than at home and don’t expect the locker rooms to be quite the same as the last time we played them. 

 

You Go Girls!

We play Cranford again Sunday, and a likely question is “Which Cranford team are we playing?”.  We have beaten both in good contests that could have gone either way, so it does not matter much.  They will come to play as will we.Based on their club’s web site, it looks like its their team that plays both A and B teams. They have done fairly well of late. Logically they seem to beat most Bs, and hold a winning record in league play.  They have not fared as well against non-league As.

Our boys don’t focus on level. The most recognizable thing about this team is that its the Cranford team with a number of GIRLS on it. For some its more fun to defeat them, others are worried about checking them (until they get hit), while others still just view it as another team with a few more long pony tails.

Cranford player with trailing locks

Since we meet relatively few girls and have none of our own on the team, I figured I would focus on girls in Hockey today’s post. The fairer gender continues to improve its participation in Youth Hockey, growing its population ten-fold in the from 1991 levels.

USA Hockey has made Girls/Women participation a high priority. They surveyed their female players in 2005, and found that most girls that play the game love it, and it is their favorite sport. Their population is split fairly evenly between girls only teams and mixed gender squads.

Until PeeWees (where checking is introduced), the girls game is played with the same rules. At PeeWee and up, contact (riding a player) is permitted, but hard hits, like hip checks are a penalty in the girls only game.

Parents and girls are then faced with a tough decision, beside what position to play, or what club to try out for. They also need to decide either to play with the boys, where there are more teams and on average, more competitive hockey, or play on a girls-only team with less choices in the area.

About 1/2 the girls in the survey liked playing with the boys because of the faster pace, physicality, and proving they could compete. The other half thought it was their only viable option.

Girls on mixed teams have the awkward issues of locker room dressing, finding other teammates or linemates to bond with, and the fact that they mature faster than boys their age.  One girl’s quote from the survey summed up the benefits of playing on a girl squad:

“You don’t have to worry about how nasty the boys are and girls relate to each other better and we have sooo much fun. But when we are on the ice we are not girls we’re “Hockey Players”.

The girls still report very high satisfaction on mixed teams, but drop out less when they play on a girls team. Alternative sports in high school take a majority of all female players that make it to bantams, yet 93% of girls indicated they would like to play on a girls HS team if it were available to them.

The competitive level of female players continues to rise, and worldwide participation is at an all time high. The women’s game was rare from WW2 to the late 60’s, but Canada had many women’s leagues in the 1920s & 30s and women have played as long as the guys. Read about the history of the women’s game:

http://proicehockey.about.com/od/womenshockey/a/women_history.htm

So Charlotte, Noelle, Mikhaela. & Anna, the guys will not let up on you Sunday. I’m sure you and your male team mates would not have it any other way.

 

Haverford Hawks swoop into Wall

The Hawks are a DVHL team that has played very well against league opponents.  They are 10-4-2 in league play and stand bunched in 5th place, with 3 other teams within 2 points (including previous opponents Grundy 9-1-3 and the Ice Dogs 10-5-2).  They play tight hockey, scoring an average of 4 goals per game, but surrendering an average of 3.  8 games were very close, and they have been involved in only a few blowouts. 

On common opponents, they beat Old York Road 4-3, they tied one Ice Dogs team and beat the other 2-1.  They also defeated the Bristol Blazers 7-4. 

The Hawks practice once per week as a team and appear to play fewer non-league constests than some of our other DVHA opponents.   They should provide a good challenge for the PeeWees this Saturday.

 

Saints come Marching in

The Saints of Ramapo come to town this weekend.  They should make a good challenge. They struggled at the beginning of the year in NJ Youth league play, and lost to the tougher teams in their division like the Freeze and Bayonne.  They have won 4 league games, lost 9 and tied 1, beating some of our opponents like the Blizzard (8-6) and Clarkstown (3-2), but they lost to the Devils and to our own PeeWee A95 team.  They also won a Halloween tournament in Marlborough Mass, winning all of their games, outscoring opponents 24-4.  Given our improvements of late, I would expect a hotly contested skate.