Well, so much for Cinderella endings. This final tournament for my son's team will be remembered not for a career-capping trophy, but with a teammate's surgery, crazy penalty calls that thinned out our already sparse bench, and a dicey, winter drive home from Toronto - on April 3!
The boys won all four round-robin games at the Toronto Avalanche tournament, but the third and fourth games proved costly. Game 3 saw a referee influenced into giving one of our most gentlemanly defencemen a two-game suspension for kneeing. Game 4 saw one of our assistant captains hit awkwardly into the boards and breaking and dislocating his wrist. He left the game for a nearby hospital where he was soon in surgery. The same game saw another of our forwards tossed and suspended for a game for reasons not apparent to spectators.
All that left us with 11 skaters for a semifinal game against Espanola, The game was scoreless going into the third when Espanola scored a pretty one. A few minutes later, they added a second that I'm sure our goalie would've loved to have back.
We had a goal in the second called off because the referee thought it was deflected by a high stick.
If the game could've been scored like a boxing match, we might've won as we held the edge in play through most of the game.
And speaking of boxing, that's how the game ended. Espanola's goaltender and one of their skaters taking punches at one of our forwards while the linesmen inexplicably declined to intervene. One said something like, "If they want to fight, it's their choice."
Ah, the drama of minor hockey.
The boys won all four round-robin games at the Toronto Avalanche tournament, but the third and fourth games proved costly. Game 3 saw a referee influenced into giving one of our most gentlemanly defencemen a two-game suspension for kneeing. Game 4 saw one of our assistant captains hit awkwardly into the boards and breaking and dislocating his wrist. He left the game for a nearby hospital where he was soon in surgery. The same game saw another of our forwards tossed and suspended for a game for reasons not apparent to spectators.
All that left us with 11 skaters for a semifinal game against Espanola, The game was scoreless going into the third when Espanola scored a pretty one. A few minutes later, they added a second that I'm sure our goalie would've loved to have back.
We had a goal in the second called off because the referee thought it was deflected by a high stick.
If the game could've been scored like a boxing match, we might've won as we held the edge in play through most of the game.
And speaking of boxing, that's how the game ended. Espanola's goaltender and one of their skaters taking punches at one of our forwards while the linesmen inexplicably declined to intervene. One said something like, "If they want to fight, it's their choice."
Ah, the drama of minor hockey.
Are you suggesting that the referees somehow lost the tournament for you or was it really that too many of your players quit on their teammates?
ReplyDeleteLucky you didn't qualify for the provincial championship if so many players were so tired of hockey that they were no shows. Good on those who played so hard and made a game of it. Hope the broken bone heals fast.
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