Category: boy-child

The game was a disappointment for T and his team as they lost 3-1.  Would have been 3-0 if not for a last-second goal that was flipped to the top shelf on a backhand as the buzzer sounded.

T himself played a solid game, but nothing like the awesome shift he had last weekend. 

He had a lot of activity along the boards and in the corners today, at one point trapping the puck along the boards while surrounded by four opposing players.

His reaction time is still very slow and that hurt him today.  He doesn’t react quickly enough when the puck is near him and that gives the other team the opportunity to take it. 

After starting the season with some losses and poor play, T’s team has gone 4-0-1 in their last five games to finish the season (including today’s “playoff” game) with 11 points and leading the four team league.  So they go into next weekend’s championship game with home-ice advantage – of course, all four teams play on the same ice all the time, so the other guys have that too, but it’s all good.

He’ll actually have no break between seasons this time as the Spring season starts April 5th – so he’ll play his championship game, then go the next weekend for his draft skate into the next season.  This has two downsides: A) I won’t be able to get him extra ice time between seasons like I did in December/January, and 2) I had to come up with $370 rather unexpectedly today. 

Both of these things suck.

But on to more fun and interesting things:

Period 1 – Shift 1

T was bragging before the game about how he was going to put forth more effort than he ever had before out there today … and he actually did.  He had a good first shift, worked hard, positioned himself well … at one point, he was really well-positioned in the neutral zone and one of his teammates actually passed the puck to him.  He missed it, but it was still a deliberate pass to T and not just a dump out of the defensive zone. 

Period 1 – Shift 2

Again in the defensive zone, the left-wing passed to him.  He was able to stop this one, but wasn’t quick enough about doing something with it and the other team took the puck.

Puck handling is something he needs to work on, as he skated hard to get to the puck later in this shift, but couldn’t keep it or pass it quickly enough.  Another turnover.

Since most of these kids can’t jump over the boards yet, T needs to learn to give way to the players coming onto the ice during a line-change – bit of a muddle as he was coming off and blocked his replacement at the door.

Period 2 – Shift 1

Offensive zone along the boards, he’s able to get his body in front of a defender and keep him away from the puck. 

Later in the defensive zone, there’re three of the other team in the high slot with the puck … T skates right through the center without doing a thing.  The words: “What the fuck are you doing?!” were almost yelled.

Period 2 – Shift 2

I have no words for this shift.  He was simply awesome. 

Face-off in the defensive zone, puck goes behind the net to the other side and the opposing team comes out with it … T’s there and puts a body on the kid to take him off the puck and into the boards.  Puck’s loose because of him.

Other team gets the puck back and to the high slot … T’s coming across the center as fast as he can, stick on the ice and outstretched to block anything that comes.

Player’s hanging around the net looking to cherry-pick … T’s there and all over him like a latex bodysuit … okay, unfortunate metaphor, but you get the idea.  A little shoving and this kid can’t concentrate on where the puck is to do any good.

Other team gets the puck to the point and try to skate it into the slot … T comes out of nowhere and leans into the puck carrier.  They both go down and the puck’s loose.

And something else he did that I actually can’t remember because there was so much. 

And, to top it off, after all that mucking about on defense, his team got the puck on a breakaway and scored.

I think I can honestly say that without T’s work in the defensive zone that wouldn’t have happened and, in fact, the other team might have scored.  That he contributed so much on a shift with a goal is awesome … that it happened to be the game-winning goal is icing (not the bad kind of icing).

Period 2 – Shift 3

Puck carrier crosses the blue-line and T’s on him, turning tight with him and really stretching to reach the puck … who the hell is this kid and what did he do with my son?

Period 3 – Shift 1

Still working hard, still aggressive. Came up on the puck-carrier and took the ice away from him.  Puck’s loose.

And then, he’s behind and to one side of his own goal … teammate behind the goal, teammate toward the boards.  He gets the puck and makes the best pass I’ve ever seen from him … right on the tape … of the opposing player in front of his net …

Oh, well.  Not the end of the world, but I keep telling him: “It takes a lot of atta-boys to make up for one oh-shit.”

Period 3 – Shift 2

Still aggressive and skating hard all the time.  I’m really proud of him.

Then #7 on the other team gets the puck at the blue-line and he’s nearby.  He seems to hesitate … he doesn’t go after her.

Yes, her.  #7 is a girl (hockey-chicks are so cool) and I think it’s the girl who played on his team last season.  I think he gave her a pass because he likes her.  Got to talk to him about that … I don’t care if it’s his girlfriend out there, he needs to stand her up.

So, again, I haven’t even been on the ice due to money and time. 🙁 Hopefully that’ll change starting next week and I can get back to at least skating and maybe some skate & shoots, if not the weekly clinic.

T had a good warm up, for him, at least.  He caught both passes to him during the warm up and kept control of the second one the whole time instead of over skating and having to go back.  His passes to others were right on target, if a bit underpowered, but that’s conditioning, not skill.

His shots were on target, but were slow, week and telegraphed.  He doesn’t have a lot of power on his shot, so he needs to learn to be sneaky instead.

This was a 4-1 win and the coach was happy with the team.  He has a parent counting passes each period and counted 20-9-10 passes today.  Curiously, the scoring really came together in the third, as it was 1-1 at the end of two.

I question the count a bit, or at least its effect on team-play, as I was really disappointed in the first two periods.  It seemed like they were drifting back to the I’ve-got-the-puck-and-have-to-keep-it attitude with a lot of guys skating it in and taking shots regardless of what the ice looked like.

Weak shots from the top of the circle through three defenders aren’t going to go well.  And taking weak shots from the goal-line instead of waiting a bit for the rest of the team to catch up isn’t going to work either.

As for T, well, I wouldn’t say it was his best game, but he had some moments.

Period 1 – shift 1

On this shift he flubbed a bit.  Got the puck in the offensive zone near the top of the right circle and started skating to the blue line.  Had a teammate right at the blue-line and another at the right point, with three defenders between him and the goal.  Instead of passing, he hesitated and that led to a turnover and a breakaway.

Period 1 – shift 2

Not much from T on this shirt, but the ref did something I found odd.  Offsetting penalties and he sent them to the box, but kept five skaters from each team on the ice.  I’d have preferred 4-on-4 and some more open ice for the kids to move in.

Period 2 – shift 1

He’s becoming really good at keeping his head when knocked down.  In this shift he went down on his knees, but kept trying for the puck and batted it away.  Maybe it’s all the practice he gets falling down …

Period 2 – shift 2

Here he misread  a play badly and entirely missed a pass – sad, because he doesn’t get passed to often enough to give any up. 🙁

He needs to get better at predicting where the play’s going to go, so he doesn’t waste energy and can be in the right place.  An example of this is on the power play when the other team dumps the puck.  If two of his teammates are in his zone getting it, he should stay at center ice to take the pass (or at least because he’s so damn slow and can get a head start going the other way).

Period 3 – shirt 1

He stepped up here and challenged another player, making him shoot the puck to the boards and go around – that slowed the guy up enough for teammates to get on him.

He also ran into a teammate and went down and then skated into an opposing stick and went flying … I thought that one would draw a penalty, but maybe the refs are just used to seeing him face down on the ice …

Period 3 – shift 2

Again he managed to tie up an opposing player until a teammate could get there.

Period 3 – shift 3

With the play in the neutral zone, T was in his own zone near the blue-line.  He stopped the puck cleared it from the zone quickly.  It didn’t make a difference in the game with a three goal lead and less than a minute remaining, but it was a big play for him.  He reacted well, controlled the puck and did the right thing quickly.

No updates for a couple weeks – here’s what happened:

T was sick twice over the last two weeks, so he missed two practices and last weekend’s game.  I was moving last weekend, so skipped last Monday’s clinic.  Likely going to skip the clinic tomorrow, too – it cuts into my time with my daughter, so I’ll likely only be going every other week.

Last week’s game, without T, was a 5-2 loss, making his team 1-1 to start the season.

Warm-up

T needs to learn that when he misses the puck during warm-ups he should not chase it all the way down to the other team’s goal-line.  Bad form.

Period 1 – Shift 1

His whole team was playing poorly today – very sluggish and lackadaisical.  T did have one nice play where he caught an opposing player coming into his zone – he put his body on him and forced him to turn, then managed to get a stick on the puck and knock it away.

Period 1 – shift 2

In his own zone he skated hard at an opposing player along the boards and took a good whack at the puck – he missed it entirely, but if he’d connected it would have scooted quite nicely out of the zone.  He did still manage to keep the other player from doing anything with it.

On offense, he’s got a bad habit of lagging behind the play.  In once instance today, he was keeping an eye on his left-wing who had the puck and he kept pace, but he was twenty feet behind the puck and not skating to catch up.  I need to get it through his head that he should try to be even with the player who has the puck so they can cross the blue-line together – that way he’ll be at the net for a rebound or a pass. 

In this shift and a later one, he got possession of the puck in his own zone and made a good decision.  He’s not fast and doesn’t handle the puck well, so skating it out would be hard for him, so I’ve told him to pass when this happens.  In both instances, he saw that passing out of the zone would be blocked by too many bodies, so he turned back, kept the puck and got it to a teammate to take out. 

Period 2 – shift 1

He’s doing better on face-offs – paying attention to the puck and moving toward it if necessary.  Unfortunately, the other team scored on this shift, so he’s back to –1.

Period 2 – shift 2

This is the other shift where he got control of the puck in his zone and made a smart decision about where to pass it.

The rest of the game was mostly uneventful for T, though not for the opposing team who won 2-0, making T’s team 1-2 for the season so far.  Coach had some comments in the locker room – mostly centering around the number of penalties and lack of passing.  Although he didn’t make the comparison, I did note that the number of good passes (5) was the same as the number of penalties (5) – I’m pretty sure this should be a different ratio …

T, though, is still doing well, I think.  Last season I kept telling him that his goal should be to just try and touch the puck every shift – this season he’s been doing that.  If not actually touching the puck, then touching the other player or challenging him enough to alter the play. 

This morning’s game for T was a league game, the first league game of the new season.

Period 1 – Shift 1

It looks like he took what his coach and I told him about skating harder to heart, because he really did pick up the pace today.  He skated hard on all his shifts and in this shift he not only skated hard in general, but chased the puck hard to the boards and helped get the puck away from the other team.

Period 1 – Shift 2

Much more aggressive today, he went after the puck more often.  He mostly missed it, but was able to block the opposing player from getting it, so that’s still a win.

On one play, he and another member of his team got the puck at the right point of the defensive zone and it got sent down the ice.  Everyone took off after it, of course, but I was amazed that T was the first one from his team to cross the opposing blue line.  He’s usually last and this is a huge accomplishment for him.

Period 2 – shift 2

This shift started with a goal for T’s team.  HIs league doesn’t track +/- for the players, but I’m going to start tracking it for him, so he develops an idea of how that works.  He was –1 yesterday, so he’s back to 0 now.

Later, in the offensive zone, the puck wrapped around the boards and T was able to stop it.  No one was near him, so he had a bit of time and he controlled the puck, checked where everyone was and made a decent pass to center ice.  I was really proud to see him react intelligently and do just what he should have.

Near the end of this shift he missed an opportunity just because he’s still pretty slow.  His center took the puck and got pushed to the left of the net.  He sent the puck right across the top of the crease while the goalie was locked against the pipe.  If T had been faster and been able to just get to the side of the net, the puck would have bounced right off him into the goal. 

Period 3 – Shift 1

The little runt really does have some strength on him.  The other team had the puck, so T got next to the opposing player and bodied him off the puck. 

After his team took a penalty, T was out there for the penalty kill.  Here’s where we see that he needs to understand the game better, on top of just playing it … see, he played his position at right wing. 

So in his own zone on the penalty kill he’s over at the right-wing boards instead of in front of the net.

Then, after his team ices the puck, one of the other team’s players set up behind his own net to start the play and damned if T wasn’t all the way in there putting pressure on him.  I did mention to him that if you’re going to forecheck on the penalty kill you need to have enough speed to get back to your own zone.

So T had his first game of the new season this afternoon and we got to see whether the extra skating he’s done over the last month and a half has really improved his skills or not.  It wasn’t a league game at the rink his team’s at – one thing I like about his coach is that he arranges a couple extra games each season.  This one was at the Iceplex in Rockledge and, I think, they were playing that rink’s squirt/mite travel team – at least that’s what I heard.

It looked a little one-sided at the first face-off, since T’s team is pee-wee.  His team’s starting lineup seemed to be twice as big as the other team and I think the weight-ratio on the centers was 3-to-1.  Then the puck dropped.

Those little buggers can skate.

So T’s team lost, shut-out in fact, but T himself had an awesome game.  I think he touched the puck more in this game than he did all last season and he was definitely more aggressive and his skills had improved.

Pregame

He stretched.  Not everyone on his team does and this is the first time he’s done it.  I think it’s an indication he’s taking this thing a bit more seriously.

He didn’t wear his cup.  His excuse was that he doesn’t have the underwear to hold it over at his mom’s, but he also doesn’t really like to wear it.  I swear, I’m going to spend a few hours at skate and shoots just to learn how to lift the puck, then I’m going to nail the boy-child in the ‘nads just to teach him an important lesson.

Period 1 – Shift 1

In his own zone with the puck in the center about at the top of the circles, he challenged another player pretty good.  He missed the puck, but he took his man off it and kept him out of the play.  A teammate got the puck and cleared the zone. 

Period 1 – shift 2

He wasn’t ready on the faceoff – he was just sort of standing there and not prepared to react.  So when the puck came his way, he didn’t move and the other team got it.

Even in the stands I could hear his coach yelling at him to skate harder.  This is a serious problem – he just doesn’t put his all into it on his shifts.  I’ve noticed it, his coach has noticed it … and I’m not sure how to address it.  I’m going to have a talk with his coach tomorrow and let him know that I have no issue with him sitting the boy if he doesn’t put in enough effort.

In the offensive zone the puck went around the boards.  He got there on the right-wing and kept it in, which is pretty good for him.  He went down on this play, but he kept his eye on the puck and waved his stick at it enough to keep the other team off and move it back to the boards.  The puck finally went to the point, where his team kept it in the zone.

Period 2 – Shift 1

Again he went down (he’s falling a lot, but is skating harder, so that may be why) and again he used his stick and his body to keep the puck away from the other team.  This is a big change from last season – when he fell then, he’d usually just lie there for a while.

One of his teammates took the puck up the right boards with T following behind.  As they crossed the blue-line, T slowed up and let his teammate take it in for a shot.  He should have kept going so he’d be available to pick up a rebound or a drop-pass – or even pushed harder and gone to the slot even with the other guy so there’d be a passing opportunity.

Period 2 – Shift 2

I noticed still that he’s not skating as hard as he can, but he is more aggressive and he’s touching the puck more.

His team took a penalty on his shift so he wound up out there for the first part of the penalty kill.  He not only touched the puck in his zone, but he cleared it.  This is the first time that’s he’s gotten enough on the puck to clear it – I think that’s an awesome accomplishment.

He did one thing on this shift that I see a lot of the kids in his league doing: They’ll touch the puck, do something with it and then turn away from where the puck is rather casually without really keeping track of it. 

Period 3 – Shift 1

I noticed him reaching for the puck a couple times.  He didn’t get it, but he stretched a lot to try.  Last season, if the puck wasn’t right near him, maybe a couple feet from his feet, he wouldn’t try for it.  Today he started reaching out with his stick and this is going to really increase the radius where he can have some impact on the game.

Period 3 – Shift 2

He did skate hard in this shift – at least once he really dug in to get to the puck and keep it in the zone.

Period 3 – Shift 3

In his zone, he got into it along the boards and really dug in there to get the puck.  He got it out and passed it … there was no one where he passed to, but still …

So that was the game.  And as I look at what I wrote about it, I can honestly say that he was involved in this one game more than he was in all the games last season – even the things he did wrong are kind of good, because at least he’s getting in there.