2010 Flames and the 2020 Turkey Shootout

2020 Turkey Shootout – 2nd Place. I really do enjoy this group.

With interstate hockey shut down due to health concerns, the New Hampshire teams have been solely playing each other for the last several weeks. Then, to help fill a potential gap in schedules for virtually every youth hockey team in NH, the 2020 Turkey Shootout tournament came along.

Games began on Friday and wrapped up by Sunday afternoon. Several age groups participated in age appropriate tournaments over the holiday weekend.

The 2010 Flames won their opening game of the tournament with a 3-0 victory over the Seacoast Spartans on Friday afternoon. Three goals, three different goal scorers. Good game.

Saturday morning they answered the bell for a 7:20am game time and carried the play with a 7-0 win over the NE Wildcats. The Wildcats did get some stellar goaltending despite the score. Six different Flames players scored goals in the win.

Saturday afternoon the Flames played the NH Avalanche, a team they are quite familiar with, and fell by a 3-0 score. It was not one of the Flames more energetic games. Even in the loss the Flames goaltending in the tournament was very solid.

After the round-robin games were over, the Flames found themselves in a 3-way tie for third place, with 10 points. Thanks to goals allowed, only 3 in three games, the Flames earned a fourth place finish, with a berth in the semi-finals. That also meant another game with the Avalanche, who secured the #1 seed.

So, Sunday morning, at 7:20am, the Flames battled the Avs. This time the Flames came with much higher energy and a resolve to beat their familiar foe. The 2010 Flames earned a spot in the title game with a solid 6-3 win. Manchester took a 4-3 lead and immediately took back-to-back penalties on what I call “high risk, no reward” decisions and were forced to kill a 5-on-3 penalty. They did kill the penalty before scoring two more goals themselves to ice the game and get the win.

Sunday at 12:30pm, the 2010 Flames met the #2 seed, the Northern Cyclones for the title. The Cyclones scored a single goal in each of the first two periods before adding 3 goals in the final period for the 5-0 win. Their goaltending was pretty clutch when the game was still 1-0 as the Flames dominated much of the second period but could not get a puck over the line.

Up until the Sunday game at 12:30pm I had not taken any game pictures, but I did capture these two pictures outside the arena.

Looking up.

Looking across the Merrimack River.

Then I did get some pictures from the Championship game which I will share momentarily.

Before I get to the pictures I wanted to make a few comments about some of my observations over the weekend. First, the team that won the Squirt age Championship picked up a couple of players for this tournament, players that are not on their regular league roster. That’s okay, the rules allowed for it. One of those players was named tournament MVP, scoring the most points in the tourney. That’s also okay, by rule. The fact that these players scored most of the goals in the championship game stings a little bit to the team that they beat. Also okay, by rule. Now, if the runner-up had no knowledge of legally added players, then wouldn’t you just tip your cap to the victors and move on?

Yes, there was a rather obnoxious fan of the winning team who was loud, looking for interaction beyond himself, and not adhering to CDC guidelines that are in effect within the arena. I guess the last point would be against the rules. But honestly, that guy has to live in his own skin 24 hours a day, and the rest of us only had to deal with him for maybe 90 minutes. I feel that’s a huge win for the rest of us. God has a way of balancing these things out in His own way, and I am fine with that.

As for the rest of us, we all possess an incredible power that allows us to choose our reactions and our course of action. So does the loud guy. That is a lesson all in itself, because the choices made, when vocalized and publicized, are either damning or commendable.

Personally, I have thoroughly appreciated our teams’ coaching staff and their commitment to playing everyone, no matter the situation, no matter the stage. That is commendable. Perhaps it costs the team a win or two here and there, but it’s so much better for the development of confidence, the team, the players, the people. The people, who are just kids, little human sponges learning the ropes of a sport, a discipline, a pattern of behavior, and about goals greater than themselves. Anyone want to take a guess who they learn these things from? That’s right, us. So, ya, I’ll take this approach along with a runner-up trophy all for sending the right message by playing our regular league roster every minute of every game regardless of where the team is playing.

Congratulations to all of the teams, because quite frankly this all could have been shut down and nobody would have had a chance to play. Congratulations to the 2010 Flames for a great run in the tournament. It’s fun to advance far enough in a tournament to be playing on the final day. For one thing, the parking is much easier because most everybody else has gone home. Play with the end in mind and the commitment it takes to get there and the results will take care of themselves.

Enjoy these few pictures of hockey action.