Waking Up for a New Season

This blog has been in its reverse hibernation for long enough.

The cold spell in October shocked us all back into thoughts of hockey, even if November feels like baseball weather. The high temps notwithstanding, it's hockey time. The teams are chosen and the new blog for some of the former 2008-09 Richfield Squirt As is over here at Wordpress. This blog will track the Minneapolis-Park Pee Wee B2 Black team.

But there's more. The former Spartans don't all play on the same team this year. Differential development of hockey skills, increased competition from players who weren't on last year's team and the shifting affiliations of youth hockey association politics have swizzled them up quite a bit. You can keep track of the players on the Minneapolis-Park Pee Wee B1 team here, at Mike Lieb's new blog.

See you at the rink!

In the Spring...

...a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of...baseball. The Twins just lost their home opener, but that doesn't stop me from re-evaluating my earlier decision not to keep a web log of the baseball season. You can find it here.

Game v Hudson, Part 5

Well, here it is. The last post before this blog goes into its reverse hibernation, waiting for the first pee wee try-outs in October. Maybe it'll be back next year, and maybe it won't. We're in increasingly strange times. Anything could happen.

Nope, not going to take up baseball blogging in the spring. I did photograph a few baseball games last year.







It's a lot easier than hockey. The game moved s-l-o-w-l-y under the bright, bright sun. Of course, the level of play was such that the only thing worth photographing was pitching and hitting. Fielding and throwing were not consistent enough to photograph, at least by me with my limited attention span. I may take my camera out to a few games, but little league baseball doesn't have the stories or the drama of youth hockey, in my view. Besides, there's too much to do on summer evenings to sit up late editing photos and writing blog entries.

But we're not quite done, yet. Here are the last few photos.

Max K and Willy decided to let this shot through to see if Jackson was paying attention. He was, and you can see the puck on the blade of his stick.

Later, Jackson fell over (it was the end of the season) and players from both teams joined in, using their sticks as pry bars to try to tip him upright.

The game was pretty much over by then. Only thing left was the celebration.

Wings of Spring tournament director Paul Larson hands out medals to the Hudson Raiders, the Squirt A consolation champs, while the first place Richfield Spartans look on.

And here's the team, enjoying a happy end to the 2008-2009 hockey season.

This is the scene in the locker room as the boys continued to celebrate under Coach McCoy's watchful eye. You saw the giant trophy the team won in the last photo. Someone had the great idea that the players should pass it around and each give it a kiss. And that's what they did, every last one of them. I have the photos, but decided not to post them. Coach McCoy shook his head and said, "Huh. I've never seen that before. Maybe it's a new tradition."

So here's to new traditions, winning hockey teams and all good things coming to an end. See you at the rink!

Game v Hudson, Part 4

As a blog author, I'm beginning to get a little sleepy here.

Gavin is still awake, ready to chase the puck into the zone.

Andrew is still doing his victory dance.

Coach Jake is still explaining the ways of the rink to the boys. If someone comes up with a better caption, feel free to leave a comment. This one's ripe.

And now for some coming attractions...

See more thrills and spills...and deadlocks over the puck along the boards...starting next season.

When you're finished on the ice, Rocko and the boys want a word with the winners...

Game v Hudson, Part 3

These do get more than a little repetitive after a while, and yet I never tire of them.

Max B. in front of the net, ready to take a pass.

It's showdown time, and Hunter rarely gives the opponents a chance.

This is nothing Jackson can't handle.

Andy's ready for anything coming his way, too.

Wyatt at the red line, ready to pass the puck.

Game v Hudson, Part 2

There's lots more photos to come over the next few days before the blog goes to sleep.

This is Willy, planning for my grandchildren.

Eric, mixing it up at the boards, getting ready to beat his opponent to the puck.

Here's Max D. waiting for a face off with Wyatt and Eric.

There's Dylan, getting ready to capture a loose puck and take off like a rocket.

Andrew S. with another terrific shot on goal.

Game v Hudson, Part 1

The Spartans made it to the championship game of the squirt A Wings of Spring tournament played on Sunday, March 15, 2009, against the team from Hudson. This was the season finale, the final game before the team members went their separate ways, some to baseball, some to spring hockey (some to both.)

The festivities around Wings of Spring celebrate many aspects of youth hockey. First, they celebrate teams that have worked hard all season long to learn the game and learn to play it together at a higher level than they've played before. Some teams travel a long way to the Wings of Spring. Others just go across town. But the players have all come through a season together, having learned new respect for their coaches and for each other.

Second, the events celebrate the organization and hard work of the volunteers for the Washburn Amateur Hockey Association. The Wings of Spring had fewer squirt A teams this year than in the past. That may be because some districts hold their playoffs the same weekend. Or it may be that some players have already taken off their skates and pads for the year. That's too bad. Because despite all the hard work done by the volunteers at other tourneys, Wings of Spring is still the best. Organization is terrific. There were fancy printed programs, with enough of them to go around. The coaches got gift bags. Awesome food choices were available and there was even a professional photographer covering the game. (I didn't actually look at the pro's photos, having just a few of my own.) The venue is terrific. Both rinks at Parade Ice Garden are warm, well-lit and comfortable.

Finally, the festivities mark the end of the regular hockey season. Some of us breathe a sigh of relief, some of regret as we think hard about what we'll do to fill the void on Saturdays and Sundays this spring, not to mention Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The weather cooperated this year, keeping the tournament true to its name and making it bitter-sweet to stay inside to watch hockey. Nicer weather is on the door step, and winter is finally petering out. But that means it's the end of hockey season, and this group of skaters, with these coaches, will never play together again.

Before we get all maudlin about that, there's still a game to win. The Spartans came through, beating the Hudson team 3-0. Both teams wore colors, instead of one wearing white, so the following photos will be more colorful than most.

Here's Matthew, bring the puck up the ice.

Here's Marco and his brother, Jacob. Marco is about to pass the puck to Jacob between the referee's feet.

Here's Jacob and his brother, Marco. When they get close in to the net, Jacob may confound the defense with a drop pass to his brother, giving them deja vu all over again.

Here's Garrett, just before he engages one of the opponents' forwards.

Max K. loiters in the corners, ready to take unsuspecting offensive players to the cleaners.

Third Game V Irondale, Part 5

The Irondale team played a very good game, especially in the third period.

Matthew didn't fuss, but he did react a little to one of the referee's calls.

Andy P. had a very busy time of it. Here he goes eyeball-to-eyeball with the puck and stared it down. In other words, he made the save on this one.

Here's Coach McCoy with some late game instruction for the defense.

It didn't help in Willy's case. (Just kidding, Will.)

This is the controversial goal that would have handed the game and in all likelihood the tournament championship to Irondale. Many of us thought it was the end, including many of the players on the Spartan team. But the referee wasn't pointing the goal, and in fact signaled that it was no good. She ruled that an Irondale player had been in the crease before the puck. The only candidate was the player you see on the left in this photo, which was taken just before the puck hit the back of the net.

This photo was taken a split second before, and I include it only so that you can see where the player was standing then. I originally thought the ref had made the wrong call based on seeing these photos on the back of my camera. But after looking at them on the big screen, I believe she was right.

We all know what it's like to have a call against us, especially in the closing minutes of a game. In Delano, the ref ruled the Crow River goal good at the buzzer, wrenching a win from our grasp at the last split second. What goes around comes around, and this one went in our favor. Tough beans for the Irondale team who, but for that one player in the crease, could very well have gone home with the trophy we carried out. I'm not sure they didn't deserve it, especially given their play in the third period.

Third Game v Irondale, Part 4

This post finishes up the player portraits, then moves on to some of the action.

Gavin.

Matthew.

Andrew S. took some real shots this game. Here's one that he probably didn't even feel, despite the dislodged helmet.

Andy P. made a nice save here. You can just see his profile, and the puck in the spray of snow...

...Unfortunately, another Irondale player came in from the left for the rebound and the goal.

Third Game v Irondale, Part 3

More portraits of players from the game against Irondale.

Henri.

Hunter.

Jackson.

Andy P.

Wyatt.

Third Game v Irondale, Part 2

More photos from the game versus Irondale. There's a close-up of each player.

Eric.

Max D. looking over Gavin's shoulder.

Dylan.

Andrew.

Max B.

Third Game v Irondale, Part 1

The Spartans played the second game of the Wings of Spring tourney on Saturday, March 14, against Irondale, our old rival from District 1. At first, it looked like we were going to win easily. But they came roaring back with goals late in the game. Then in the closing seconds, they scored again, or seemed to. You'll have to wait until the last post in this series to see what happened. The game ended in a tie, with three goals a piece.

The combination of a brightly lit arena and a rental lens made for some sharp photos. In the next few posts there will be a photo of each player on the team, plus some of the action during the game.

Max K.

Marco.

Jacob.

Willy.

Garrett.