Dec 30, 2012 | Joe Heinisch | 327 views
Penalty Trouble Costs Allstate the Championship
Sunday December 30, 2012
Game Reporter: Jay Nijhuis
The challenge for any coaching staff at this point of a tournament, is to convince the players that getting to the final is NOT enough. They have one more hill to climb and it's always the biggest hill when a Championship is on the line. Coach Joe and Coach Ray spent a lot of time pre-game going over the important things like clearing the puck out of our house, making smart plays that require some thought, forecheck and back check relentlessly and above all else, try to win the game.
I think Coach Joe said it best when he looked around the room and said " you guys all look like balls of energy that are going to explode, rubber bands that are strung tight and ready to spring apart "...in other words the Boys in Black were ready to rock n roll.
Schlueter Chevrolet was the only team to have beaten Team Allstate in this Christmas Tournament and the boys believe that they can skate with and compete against them and deserved a better fate then that 2-0 loss earlier this week. The game started out very even with chances for both teams. Team Schlueter Chevrolet opened the scoring in the first period on a breakaway that snuck under the stick and pads of Goaltender Nolan S. Early in the second Wesley S. broke in on the Schlueter Chevrolet goalie and made a great move to tie the game at 1-1. That unfortunately was as close as this game would get.
Later in the period, the referees decided to make their mark on this Championship Game and that was bad news for Team Allstate. Our players began a constant parade of penalties leading to a Power Play goal for Schlueter making it 2-1 and then back to back penalties put Team Allstate down 5 on 3 for almost a full 2 minutes and Schlueter Chevrolet scored twice on the 5 on 3 to officially put the game out of reach. The final score of the Championship game was 5-1.
I think a parent said it best in the stands," it would have been nice to see the players decide this game", but that was not meant to be. It is always difficult to watch a game being decided by officials, but I think our coaches and players handled the adversity in a very classy and mature way. Perhaps next time the calls will go our way.
Our guys can hold their heads high. 6 other teams in our league would give anything to compete in the finals and each of our players got to take home a pretty sweet piece of hardware. Over the last 4 days our team has bonded, learned a lot about the game of hockey and become better. Just in time, because the regular season resumes this coming Friday and Saturday (January 4&5/13) with back to back games. Let's hope this Tournament experience helps propel Team Allstate up the standings in 2013.
Happy New Year to all the coaches, players and parents. Be safe and we'll see each other early in the New Year.