Bench Brawl

Well the Nike Bauer tournament ended on a sour note. Our last game was against a Canadian team and we were ahead with 1:12 left in the third period. We get a penalty and are a man short. We get a break away and just before the player gets to the net he is pulled down by the other team and falls into the goalie. The goalie starts pounding on our player along with the kid who pulled him down. This sends our other players in to help. At that time the Canadian coach sends his whole bench onto the ice to fight. Needless to say our coach sends our kids out also and there is a brawl all over the ice, the refs lose control and its a mess. Devin did not join in, he skated over to the bench. Needless to say they ended the game, we got the win and the canadian team had to forfeit their next game. For our punishment we have to play our next three league games minus five players. Well you might as well forfeit each game because we are scheduled to play two of the toughest teams over the next two weeks. We will only have ten players on the bench and the poor goalies, (who werent even involved) will have to suffer for it. This team is made up of very undisciplined, hot headed boys, this is not the first time they have caused problems. Though I blame the coach for not having a tighter rein on these kids, he didnt have a lot of choice in this case as it was 20 against 4.

Bauer Invitational, Chicago

Well this past weekend was the Bauer Invitational in Chicago. Belle Tire did very well, winning three of their four games. We lost the first game; however, Devin was not in net, he won both of his and got a shutout to boot, his first in AAA. Peter Ward, the asst. director from the NTDP (who sent Devin the letter) was at the tournament, as was the goalie coach for the NTDP. He met and talked to Clarence, telling him that he would be watching Devin this year in several of his games. The NTDP goalie coach watched the game in which Devin received his shutout and was impressed. Devin played very well and moved the puck alot, helping get it out of the zone. BT also has a new assistant coach from Russia who talked to CLarence also. He told him that he had never seen a kid of Devins age that was so solid in net and was so athletic, he is amazed. He told Clarence that he would have definitely put him in net for the first game if it had been up to him. Unfortunately they are rotating goalies right now and it was the other goalies turn in net. In summary we did not move on because you had to win all your games. The team that beat us went on to take runner up in the tournament, they were very good. We still have alot to learn as a team, taking needless penalties is one of them. In this league you cant be a man short for most of the game and expect to win. For Devin this was a great weekend though and he is getting alot of exposure.