Huskies Take Three to Earn Top Seed: Labor Day Tournament

What do the following two statements have in common?

How many licks did it take the owl to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop? How many minutes did it take to realize the Peewees looked like a team.  The answer:  Three. Three minutes in and it dawned on everyone watching that the Huskies looked like they had been playing as a team for months.  That's three minutes into their first game!

It's not easy for a new team to play their first game locally and compete much less travel north to a tournament that predominately attracts teams that stomp the Huskies.  A tournament that was supposed to be a team building exercise at heart, took an unexpected turn and showed the hearts and grit of 18 players.  A better script could not have been written to help a team come together. And did they!  A big red check can go in the box next to: Team Building Weekend. 

The Huskies swept their first three games to take the first seed in the playoff round. Here is the breakdown. (Evidently, the score keepers were a bit sloppy on their notes. If you notice anything that's not right, drop me an email.)

The Huskies won their first game by beating the Mercer Chiefs 3-2. The Chiefs are a fast team with skilled passers. #44 James unveiled an upgraded shot scoring two strong goals. Assists came from #64 Matt, #6 Alec and #12 Jimmy. #62 AJ added an unassisted game winning goal and began his 5 game relentless pursuit of the puck. The Huskies showed they could play as a team. They were poised and did a great job in all aspects of the game, keeping in mind this was their first game.

They won their second game by beating the New Jersey Freeze 2-1. The Freeze are a quick team of skilled players. #91 Noah started  the scoring with a goal, assisted by #62 AJ and #30 Harsh. #91 Noah, playing strong in his position saw the puck slide his way, he didn't hesitate and became the third goal scorer on the Huskies. The game winning point came from #6 Alec and #8 Drew who sprang off the bench as the puck entered the offensive zone. #8 Drew chased the puck down, into the corner, and fired a pass to the front of the crease. #6 Alec crashed the net with his stick down and tip the pass through a closing five hole.  #55 Andrew also assisted on the play. He dug the puck out of his zone and sent it up the ice to start the play. Without Huskies that start plays there can not be Huskies that finish plays. The Huskies defense cranked up the heat to melt the offensive surge of the Freeze. Eighteen individuals won this game by playing as a team and beat a very talented opponent.

They won their third game by beating Skyland 6-5. Skyland was dominate for 1 1/2 periods. The Huskies were down 5-1 before they rallied under their coaches to make a magnificent come back. Oh what to say, no more biscuits and pizza before a late game. The Huskies were down 5-1 halfway through the second. A time out with some encouragement from the coaches helped the team focus and score 5 more goals. #12 Jimmy scored the first goal, assisted by #30 Harsh. This goal replaced the zero and let the Huskies know they could beat the opposing goalie. #62 scored  goal number two, the first goal of his hat trick.  His goal was assisted by #11 Matt and #10 Ali. The third goal came quickly off the stick of #30 Harsh. He crashed the net and tipped a hard pass, from #8 Drew, just past the left post. #62 scored the next 2 goals to tie the game up, earning himself a hat trick. He was assisted by #14 Nick and #44 James. It was now 5-5. Our goalie #39 Elizabeth and the whole defensive team had shut Skyland down during the Huskies 4 goal surge.  In the closing minutes of the game #8 Drew assisted by #66 Matt scored team goal number 6 that capped the Huskies comeback. Six goals with seven assists and the Huskies finished their sweep of the first three games. This was a game that could only have been won with team play.

The Huskies were competitive through the first three games. Being competitive isn't always rewarded with a win. The team showed they came to compete and they won three games because of the all out effort from 18 players. They scored 11 goals with 12 assists. There were 8 different goal scores with goals coming from all the offensive lines. The defense stood strong, consistently pushing the other team to the outside and our goalie remained poised the entire three game run. A team was born this weekend.

Side Notes: Winning is great but practice is better. Even with winning, mistakes are made. Mistakes that will help the coaches teach you how to become better hockey players. Enjoy the exciting weekend and come to practice with thoughts on how to improve your game-play and help the team grow. You can't always win, but you can always be competitive.

com·pet·i·tive–adjective


1. of, pertaining to, involving, or decided by competition: competitive sports; a competitive examination.
2. well suited for competition; having a feature that makes for successful competition: a competitive price.
3. having a strong desire to compete or to succeed.