One last season with the midgets, a real life coaching story

[FrogMan]

Game #5, home vs Husky-3

Felt confident going into this game. Yeah, that Husky team had beat Pointe-Lévy-2 5-3 the previous week, but looking at who they'd played against and with a record of 1-3-1, I felt they were a team with could fight with.

Sam was a no go because of his foot, as was Max because he was working. One I didn't foresee was Alex Fo calling the game off just a couple hours before gametime, also due to work reasons. A start time of 12:30 really isn't too good for kids who are 15 to 17 yo. Three out meant we'd be playing with exactly 6 forwards and 4 defensemen.

I have yet to mention affiliates atlhough I did sign three last week. Thing was, they are all from the same Bantam A team and they were playing only an hour after us, so not available to me. At the time, I still needed to scout the other two Bantam A team for a few more valuable affiliates to help us out in case of need.

Game started ok, guys skating hard at first. We got called for too many men on the ice, a stupid penalty that occured when David jumped a bit too early as his player was coming to the bench for a change during play. They scored within 25 seconds of the start of the penalty. Stupid costly penalty.

We had the upper hand for most of the rest of the first period but couldn't convert and was only at 2:14 in the second period that we finally tied the game. We kept buzzing around their net but just didn't direct enough shot toward their goal. That was a shame because their goalie really wasn't much.

They took a 2-1 lead at 8:15 in the second period and then pretty much killed us with a second goal only 20 seconds later. Down 3-1, we kept fighting hard and spent good chunks of time at their end but never were able to score. Instead, after 3-4 shots toward, but not always on their goal, they would come to our end and a couple more times they scored on either weird shots or on a defensive breakdown on our part.

Not that it mattered but that was one badly officiated game. It's the second time this referee has done one of our games and he's got some of the weirdest logic. Body checking isn't allowed but body contact is, hope it makes sense. But when I asked him why he didn't call a penalty when one of their players put his hand on the back of one of my player and led him into the board pushing him forward, he said their player didn't take advantage of the push. But GEEZ, he pushed the guy head on to the board!!!

And then, after Loïck got checked into the board, a play for which the ref raised his arm to call a penalty, he also called one on Loïck, saying he tripped the other player after the body check. Damnit ref, my kid was sprawled on the ice, it's certainly not his fault if the other player stepped on the blade of his stick!!!

A frustrating game to say the least...

Final Score:
Commandeurs-1: 1
Husky-3: 7


You look at the score and you think "dang, they got destroyed!!!" but it really wasn't so. I kept rehashing that game and seriously, had we been just a tad more opportunistic, had we scored when we put all the pressure in the second period the game would have been completely different. But we didn't. It was 5-1 before they added the last two goals with lest than a minute to play.

The one positive thing out of this game was that our kids weren't festive in the locker room after the loss. They knew they could have done better, or at least that, even though a loss isn't the end of the world, I felt they would rather have had a win.

That result kinda made me sad for a few reasons. My parents, Andrew's grandparents were at the game before they'd come to our house to have dinner for my birthday on Saturday evening. I would have liked at least for us to keep it close. Oh well...

To add to the frustation I was feeling, later on that evening Pointe-Lévy-2 went on to win 9-6 over Rapides-1, a team I thought was a sure shot to finish around the top of the standings. And we struggle to keep up with a 14th place kind of team... Had I overvalued our team? Would we ever be able to finally score goals??? Lots of questions were starting to creep up in my head...

Next up for us was a game against the girls team on Sunday. Even they had held their own, losing "only" 4-1 against Rapides-2, another team I thought was a pretty solid one, at least a one I thought could put more than fours on the girls..

FM

[FrogMan]

Game #6, away vs Pointe-Lévy Fém-1

While he had hope he'd be able to play on Sunday night, Sam still was a no go. Max and Alex Fo were back in the lineup and with the game being against the girls, I wanted to give a shot at one of my affiliates to ease him in. This went unreported until now but yes, last Sunday (10/26) I went to scout the Pointe-Lévy-2 Bantam A team in hope of finding an affiliate or two. The Bantam CC team has first shot at protecting players as affiliates and I had asked their coach for his list of untouchables and after that, I need to check with the player if the other Midget B team has approached him or not. I signed three players as affiliates on that night, Jacob, a goalie, Oliver, a defenseman and Jeffrey, a forward. I cannot have an affiliate play for us if have a full lineup. That meant with Sam out, I could call up one.

Since a forward would be missing, I wanted to play Jeffrey on Sunday but got some bad news when I talked to his dad. Jeffrey had fallen on the ice during practice on Friday and he had a hairline fracture to his tailbone. He had even missed the game with his own Bantam A team on Saturday. Oh well, his presence wasn't absolutely necessary, with only one player out, but it reminded me that I had to sign a couple more just in case.

As a matter of fact, the Pointe-Lévy-1 Bantam A team was playing their game right before us on Sunday evening and Andrew and I got to the rink maybe a full hour before our game in order to scout some players. In the few minutes I had between their game and ours I was able to talk to the coach and kinda unofficially sign one of their forward.

Now on to the game against the girls. That game made me nervous. I had seen them hold their own against Pointe-Lévy-2 a few weeks back. It was only 3-2 for Pointe-Lévy-2 at the start of the 3rd period. I was nervous we would fail to score and see them get a lucky goal and us crumble down...

We started again kinda slow but scored after 2:30. After that goal, we kept very much in control of the tempo of the game. I wanted to find a parent to help me out with stats during the game and with all three of my assistant present at the game but only two on the bench, that was the game to implement it. Namely, I wanted to get shots on goal, and as a side, I could use the +/- stats, or at least an idea of who was on the ice when we scored or when we got scored on.

To tell you how much we were in control, we outshot them 14-7 in the first period. That's usually not the kind of thing that happens to us...

We had our usual lull to start the second period. Not too bad but we allowed them to shoot on goal a bit more. We doubled our lead in the fourth minute then faced a penalty kill situation in which they shot something like 7 or 8 times in a 30 seconds stretch but the thing is, all these shots were from the outside, or from the blue line and Andrew was stopping and then freezing the puck for a new face off every time. I don't mind these kinds of shots.

And then the wheels completely fell off the wagon for the girls in the third period. We put 27 shots on goal in that period alone to their only 4 shots. Four more goals went in for us, none for them. Shutout for Andrew!!!

Final Score:
Commandeurs-1: 6
Pointe-Lévy Fém-1: 0

A good win that showed how solidly we could play defensively. Could we have scored more than "only" 6 on 60 shots? Yeah, maybe, and it still was "only" against the girls, but I was pretty happy with the win.

Andrew wasn't really challenged but he still had to make a couple of nice saves to earn his shutout. One of them had him in a split after the puck was deflected something like 3 times in front of him.

Guys who had a good game for us, stats wise:
Chris, 1 goal, 2 assists
Max, 2 goals
Alex Fo, 1 goal, 1 assist
David, 1 goal, 1 assist

FM

[FrogMan]

Attached are the all the scores for the games played in week 5.

Other than the big win by Pointe-Lévy-2 over Rapides-1, there was another big win by Seigneurs-2 to open the weekend but they dropped their game against Alliés-1 on Sunday. I'm still surprised to see the Sénateurs teams struggle as much as they are right now. That's a franchise that we're used to see way up on top of the standings

FM

[FrogMan]

League standings after week 5. We move up one spot, from 7th to 6th and remin within striking distance of 1st place, three points out with a game on hand. I find it interesting that only four teams remain with only one loss. If we can keep from losing our fairplay point every game, this might give us an edge later on in the season.

Andrew's GAA average of 3.17 goals/game still ranks 3rd in the league, despite allowing 7 on Saturday.

FM

[FrogMan]

And here's the grid of scores so far this season. Not lookign ahead to anything anymore

Our next game is away against Husky-1 who just tied 3-3 with Sénateurs-2. They have a record of 2-3-1 which is pretty similar to our 3-2-1 record. They have lost games against Éclaireurs-3 (4-3, Husky-2 (3-2) and Seigneurs-1 (8-3), three teams we have yet to play against. The only team we both played is Éclaireurs-1 which we both beat, us 1-0, them 5-2. Not too sure we can make much out of any of this.

Game is set for Sunday at 5:15p and interestingly enough, it'll be played on one of the few Olympic size rink in the area. This means a very wide surface and lots of room behind the nets. Not sure what impact it will have on our game though.

We have a practice session on full ice this coming Thursday. It's a rare full ice practice and I have invited the two affiliates that are healthy from Bantam A2, the goalie and the defender. Can't really invite the others I might want to sign as affiliates from A1 and A3 since both teams practice right before us on Thursday.

FM

[timmae]

Another taped puck for the mantle!! Congrats!

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by timmae

Another taped puck for the mantle!! Congrats!

Yeah! thanks

I'll have to try and take a picture of his stack of white pucks

FM

[FrogMan]

Added two more affiliates to my list of reserves yesterday. They both play for the Bantam A1 team. Gabriel B. is a second year Bantam forward while Dylan L. is a first year Bantam who also plays forward.

I saw Gabriel play last Sunday when his team played before us and I liked his size and skating skills. Dylan was an unknown since he didn't take part in last Sunday's game. He was recommended to me by his Bantam coach and when I called him yesterday, he wasn't home. His dad told me he was at the rink, serving as a shooter for the goalies clinics. I have seen the kind of kids who serve as shooters on these clinics since Andrew took part in the clinics in his first season. These are usually good players, or at least good shooters. While talking to his dad, he told me he also was a good skater. Yeah, I know, dads are usually a wee little biased but still, that's encouraging.

I have a couple more players to call from that team and I have also sent an email to the coach of the Bantam A3 team in order to get a couple phone numbers in order to maybe secure a some players from that team also.

Looking at our upcoming schedule, I saw that one or even two of the Bantam A teams often play at the same time we do so I need to have affiliates in all three teams, just in case.

I have invited our two healthy affiliates from Bantam A2, defenseman Oliver and goalie Jacob, for our full ice practice session this evening. Both A1 and A3 have a one hour shared ice practice session right before us. I though at first it didn't make sense inviting any of the players from these teams but seeing how we'll probably have four players missing, and also since our session is only 50 minutes when you take out ice resurfacing, maybe some of the kids would like the extra ice time so I will call them around dinner time today.

Back to our upcoming schedule, they have made the second portion of the schedule available. We only knew the first third of our schedul up until last weekend but we now know who will play up to the Christmas holiday break and this will be a rough stretch.

11/9 away at Husky-1
11/15 home vs Éclaireurs-3
11/16 away at Rapides-2
11/22 away at Éclaireurs-2
11/30 home vs Rapides-1
12/7 away at Seigneurs-1
12/14 home vs Sénateurs-1
12/20 away at Seigneurs-2

The first two are winnable games but after that it'll get very tough. I'd like for us to go at least 3-3 in those last six but we could very well go 1-5.

FM

[FrogMan]

Game #7, away vs Husky-1


Kinda late to reporting about this game and it's not because it wasn't eventful, because it was, believe me. Just been very busy at work, even my lunch time, when I do my writing, has been taken by one thing or another.

Anyway, that team was a team very much within our reach but we started the game very poorly, as we've had a tendency to do quite a bit lately. I've come to realize that since Andrew isn't skating daily as he used to do last year, he can start his gamesa bit cold and he warms up as he get more and more into it. Sadly, right off the bat Alex Fa attempted one of his cross ice passes that I will need him to stop doing and it got cut in the middle. The other team's forward skated only a couple feet inside our defensive zone and fired a decent chest level shot that Andrew wasn't ready for. Can't explain it any other way. Even though he argued to his mother over dinner after the game that it was a top corner shot, it was not. It was the kind of shot he usually stops 95-98% of the time, but that one went it. After only 16 seconds of play, we were down 0-1.

It didn't really get any better in the first period and after one, we had dug ourselves a hole, down 1-4. Despite getting back on track in the second period, we would never recover. It was 2-4 after two, the the crap from the crappy referee happened.

Yup, me, the former referee, had to deal with a bad one. I'd say the first period was ok. Got a questionable call on a goal that I thought Andrew had been pushed back with his skate pushing back the net out of place before the puck got in but the ref explained that he and his two linesmen thought the goal moved after the puck had gone in. Couldn't really argue. Then there was a penalty shot called against us, but again, I thought it was a fair call since our defenseman was way behind a guy on a breakaway and he tripped him. But more and more bizarre calls started happening in the second period.

Then early in the 3rd period, the ref got arrogant with one of our players. Chris had pushed an opponent onto the back of our net and when the referee whistled and Chris started skating toward the penalty box then, ref felt the need to not only call his number and make the roughing signal, he added something toward our player. Couldn't hear what the ref said but it seemed enough that Chris, who's usually quiet, made a quick turn toward the ref and had to be guided toward the penalty box by the linesman. I told the ref he didn't need to do that and he yelled he was only talking to the player.

Just a few seconds later, a VERY questionable slashing penalty was called against us that was going to put us with a two man disadvantage. I got closer to the board as the referee went to give the call to the scorekeeper. I put my elbows on the board as one of my players said something toward the ref like "stop putting on a show". A couple seconds passed and it then happened pretty quickly. The ref pointed at me, then to the corner of the rink and said something as simple as "I heard you, you're out, get out!". I immediately screamed back that I had not said anything, not one single word! He wouldn't hear a thing and I went off to the stands on the other side of the ice. On my mind the whole time was the certainty that I'd be suspended for a game. Suspended for a game because of a freaking idiot.

The guys ended up killing that 3 on 5 but they scored a couple more before that game was over.

Final Score:
Commandeurs-1: 2
Husky-1: 6


I wouldn't want to see myself as THAT important to a bunch of 15-17 year olds but me being tossed out certainly didn't help keep us on track in the 3rd period. I was pretty pissed off in the stands but I refrained from yelling anything toward the ref since I knew it couldn't really help my case in any way and probably could mean more trouble.

I walked toward our locker room once the game was over and seeing the door to the officials locker room half open, I took a chance to walk to them and see if they could tell me what I had said that was the reason behind my ejection. I was very calm approaching them and as soon as I asked the question, the first words of the ref in charge were "don't worry, I didn't call anything on you, no penalty, you won't be suspended". He then added he had "bought peace", whatever that means, by ejecting me.

He actually never answered my question about what I said because he had not heard anything questionable but he had put on a show of tossing me out. I didn't say anything at the time but on Monday morning wrote a long email to our representative at the league as a formal complaint against that referee. Who knows what it'll serve but I felt I had to say something. If a coach had acted badly against a referee, for sure he'd get called a possibly would be suspended but a referee can't act that way and not be reprimanded.

Back to the game result, it frustrated me because it was once again one of those team we could beat, or should I say, we had to beat. There will be some much tougher games in the next 6 weeks...

We got outshot 41-35 in the game but the third period was especially for us. We only put 4 shots on goal in that 3rd period.

Pratice session this evening and we'll try to work some offensive zone drils to try and get the kids to shoot on goal...

Couple games coming up for us this weekend. First tomorrow against 13th place Éclaireurs-3, then a our tough stretch of games will start on Sunday with an away game at 4th place Rapides-2.

The interesting thing is that it's a pretty tight league this season. Some teams seem stronger and able to win big but nobody has really gotten away from the pack. Even in 8th place right now, with two games on hand, we are still within striking distance of 1st place. That is, if we win both games we have on hand, not a sure thing by any stretch of the imagination.

One thing that is sure helping us is that we've yet to lose a fairplay point this season. We would have lost our points in our last game had I been actually ejected from the game but as it was, we had 8 minor penalties called against us and a penalty shot. Don't know if they add minutes for a penalty shot but assuming it counts as 2 minutes, that's 18 minutes of penalties in the game and as long as we don't have more than 20, we keep our fairply point.

Attached are the standings after 6 weeks of activity.

FM

[FrogMan]

Attached are the results of last week's games. Alliés-2 tieing 5-5 against the team we will be playing this week shows how we just can't take anybody for granted... Seigneurs-2 got two big wins last week... As I was ready to write off Sénateurs-1 as having a rough season, they go on and win two against tough teams, Seigneurs-1 and Rapides-1... The other Pointe-Lévy team lost big to a team you'd expect them to at least stay close. That one looked like their goalie let in quite a few bad one...

FM

[FrogMan]

Attached is the score grid after last week's games...

FM

[FrogMan]

After a kind of rough practice session on Friday evening, we had a couple games on our plate over the weekend. By rough, I mean passes all over the place, guys beginning to grumble when you have them run drills after drills practicing basic skills. One of my assistant, Gabriel's dad, had pressed them to put the puck on the net and not everywhere around. As I reported last week, we only put 4 shots on goal in the third period of our previous loss. Sometimes the kids just wait too long and end up losing the puck but sometimes they just don't aim. It then becomes a matter of practicing the basic skill of shooting to the net. Gabriel's dad had any player shooting wide of the net do 5 pushups. Some kids didn't like that...

The fact the practice was at 9pm on Friday evening probably didn't help the mood of anybody. That's pretty darn late in the week to try and keep the kids' attention...


Game #8, home vs Éclaireurs-3

Loïck called me around dinner time on Saturday to tell me he wouldn't be at the game. Said he wasn't feeling well. I wasn't expecting to have any other missing player but Alex Fo never showed up. When I reached him thourgh Facebook on Sunday, he said he was in the woods and his cell had to network to call. Grrr...

Pre-game speech was about us trying to come out and be awake from the start, given that we'd dug ourselves a hole in our two previous games, not counting the one against the girls. We'd even given up a goal only 16 seconds into the game last week.

Well, don't know if it was the very late start of the game, 9:30 pm, or what else but we beat our record, this time allowing a goal in 7 seconds. Yup, you read that right, SEVEN SECONDS!!! DAMMIT, had there been absolutely no players on the ice, and no goalie either, I'm not so sure they could have scored much faster. While that goal at 16 seconds in the previous week was a high shot arount Andrew's shoulder pad, this one was a weak one between his leg. He, much like everybody else, WAS NOT READY! And I was pissed. It all went down from there. We were down 5-1 after one period against a 13th place team I seriously thought we had more than a fighting chance against.

Guys continued their grumbling from the previous day's practice and one or two of them started bitching about not receiving enough passes their while actually eating up the puck themselves.

We're not allowed time outs so I couldn't call one and try to rally the troups midway through the first period. There's only a one minute break between periods but I can assure you I gave the kids an earful between the first and the second periods.

We never really got back in the game but we stopped it from really getting much worse. That or the other team didn't try as hard in the last two periods, heh...


Final Score:
Commandeurs-1: 1
Éclaireurs-3: 7

Don't know why but I took that loss pretty hard, almost on a personal level. I felt ovewhelmed during that game, kinda feeling as if my message of hard work wasn't getting through.

I've said it before, I might have played some hockey and while I do know most of the basics of actually playing the game as an individual, I'm not the best tactician and after that game, I certainly felt I would never be able to get them to play together if they just stopped buying into my message.

A 9:30 start time meant the game ended at 11, or maybe a bit earlier since half of the third period was played in "running time" mode because there was a 6 goal differential. "Running time" means the clock doesn't stop during stoppages of play. Still, we made it back home around 11:15 and I was still so pissed, I didn't go to bed until maybe 12:30 and didn't fall asleep until well past 1:15. Not only was I pissed about the missed opportunities of the past few games, I kept thinking about our upcoming schedule that would include games against the higher ranked teams and I was kind of getting depressed and desperate...

FM

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Still, we made it back home around 11:15 and I was still so pissed, I didn't go to bed until maybe 12:30 and didn't fall asleep until well past 1:15.

Dude, it used to take me until around 3am to wind down from 11p endings of games that I announced, never mind coaching.

If you were about before dawn after one like that, you did fine.