March 13, 2022. 2010 Flames: Fed Tourney 2022 – The Season And Beyond.
I stood at the bottom of the stairs, on the first floor of what was obviously once a Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge. I had already packed our vehicle and I stood there motionless on a carpet that might be 50+ years old. My youngest son was next to me when I shook hands with one and hugged another to say good-bye, exiting from another hockey weekend. That is just when I think it hit all three of us, that this might be the last good-bye.
See, our season had just ended on the ice, the afternoon before, and this particular morning, well, we were all headed to our respective homes. Like we always do. But this time was different, like it is every season, because not only had the season ended, but tryouts for next season’s teams were the following evening. There are no guarantees with tryouts.
So, a lump formed in my throat as I shook my friend’s (friends from tryouts 3 seasons ago) hand, and hugged his wife, good-bye. A good-bye until when? Tryouts? Next fall? On the same team? A different team? Weight hung all of the sudden on my shoulders, like I was holding up the second floor, and the ‘rumored’ third floor. What was happening? It was a cold, sunny, Sunday morning and we were leaving another hockey weekend, like so many before. But this was the last weekend. The last game of the season. The last of the three year run together for seven of these kids? That part remains to be seen.
Thankfully, we all made it home safely, and a few distracted hours later, life had simmered down to a recognizable form of normalcy. Then the quiet stewing of an unknown outcome grasped our son as bed time came and went. Fortunately, my wife had a recent, pertinent, real-life story that she shared, as only she can, and it calmed his nerves long enough for sleep to take over.
Hockey season. Hockey families. Hockey bonds and connections. Hockey weekends. Hockey trips. Hockey smells. Hockey gatherings. The aggregate has it’s ups and downs. We are fortunate because the ups have dwarfed the downs by an incalculable amount these three seasons that our son has played hockey. We are richly blessed.
Back to the reality of the last two weekends. The EHF 12U Lower Gold Hockey Tournament came to an end on Sunday, and the 2010 Flames finished play Saturday, losing 4-2 to the eventual Champions, the Northern Cyclones in the second Semifinal. The Flames dug a 4-0 hole for themselves. Then they stopped digging the hole, and started working toward a comeback. They battled until the final whistle, as they always do.
The tournament started last weekend, with games played in Manchester. The Flames lost on Saturday morning, 3-2 to the Cyclones in an excellently played game. Then they came to life in the final period against the Crimson (West) squad and wrenched a 9-1 win from that contest. On Sunday afternoon, the 2010 Flames finally, grabbed a 1-0 lead only to give up a 2-on-1 goal in the last two minutes of the game. They tied the Jr. Terriers, 1-1. This weekend outcome sent the 2010 Flames to Final Weekend at The Bog in Kingston, Mass.
And that is from where I returned yesterday, arriving at home right around 12 noon. I wanted to jump into this recap immediately, but I think God wanted me to breathe for a count or several hundred before I wrote anything. Virtually everything got in my way, between me and the keyboard. That’s okay, I don’t know that much, but I do know when my time, is not the right time.
So, I waited. I slept, in a loose interpretation of the word sleep. I arose and went to work. I watched the sun rise and create colors and shades of sky that only could be described by sitting next to me while it happens. I drove for several hours. I thought. I re-thought. Then I brushed those thoughts aside and made new ones. Eventually, I returned to the keyboard, and you are in the midst of the mess I created somewhere between my mind’s eye and whatever my fingers typed in this space.
Game 1: vs. Cyclones
The Flames dropped this decision, 3-2. It was an excellent game, well played by both teams. The Flames trailed 2-0, in the first period when Soucy sent a pass back to the left point, the house where The Mighty Fin resides. Finley put a shot to the front of the net where Cam wrestled the puck into submission and squeezed a backhander into the net. The Flames trailed, 2-1 after one, and trailed, 3-1 after two despite an awesome attack in the second period. The Flames got to within, 3-2 with a power play goal late in the third. It was a beautiful play that looked so repeatable when executed with good pace and space. Cam wrapped the puck around the boards, through the corner, and toward the house of Dunn. Fin stepped up to the half wall and ripped a shot to the crease where Soucy perfectly deflected the shot in front of the goaltender, and into the net. Awesome goal! The Flames pulled their goaltender, and even though the Flames had the better of the play for the last two periods, they could not get another one to go, losing, 3-2.
Game 2: vs. Crimson
This game was ugly in too many ways to mention all of them. We also introduced Jimmy “The Coma” to the world in this one. Icing, offsides, and many basics of the hockey ruledom (I made that word up, inspired by “The Coma”) were reinvented in this game. Anyway, the Flames ended up running away with this one, but it wasn’t that way through the first two periods.
The Flames did get the first two goals early on. First, Cam scored on an awesome 2-on-1 created by the Flames at center ice. Soucy tipped a 50/50 puck to Casimiro at center ice. Jacob skated the puck ahead into the O-zone, creating the 2-on-1 with Desruisseaux on his left. Cas held the puck just long enough to draw the D before sliding the pass to a wide open Cam, for the goal. A few minutes later the Flames were on the board again when Casimiro took a loose puck from The Freight Train. Jacob ripped a shot to the stick side for another beautiful Flames goal! Go to LiveBarn and watch March 5th at 11:09am (West Side) to see Logan burst through 3 defenders like they were a wall of mist. Flames led, 2-0 after one. The Flames led, 2-1 after two. They had something like 67 shots in the period, hit a crossbar, hit a post, parked a puck on the goal line, and had a goal in the back of the net, under the apron, and was out of sight so “The Coma” called it nothing really, he just didn’t identify it as a goal. I may have been quoted as saying, “If that second period doesn’t open the floodgates in the third period, then I am quitting Hockey Dadding (verb)”.
Well, thankfully, my friends down on the ice baled me out on the opening shift of the 3rd. Even though the Flames were shorthanded, Caleb Powers threw a puck from the D-Zone to center ice for “The Contortionist”, and Cam skated in on the left side and pumped a shot off of the goalie’s glove. The puck fell into the slot and “Cool as Cas” calmly turned his back and lifted a backhand shot over the goaltender’s shoulder to give the Flames a 3-1 lead. A few minutes later, Casimiro pushed the puck to the doorstep of #77 Dunn St. and Fin delivered another shot on net. The shot hit the goalie’s glove with Cam causing a minor visual disturbance, or what they call a screen. The puck ricocheted right to Sean McGee who was skating through on a tour of the offensive zone and he casually chopped the puck into the open side of the net. The route was on.
Logan from the slot on passes from Soucy and Cam, 5-1. Brayden backhand flip to the front, Petrie stuff shot, Hawkes pounces on the rebound, 6-1. McGee with a cool backhand goal off a sweet one-touch pass from Teddy, that came from a shot by “Panitz at the Disco”, 7-1. I think I gave my Mom an assist on this play in the group chat, because I feel that we all had a hand in that goal. Powers rips a wrister in from the face-off circle from Cam and Soucy, 8-1. Then the capper after a cross-check to Teddy’s neck. McCain got a shot through from the left point, and Cam kept the puck alive behind the net when Soucy skated through and scored a semi-wrap around goal, 9-1. Check please. We had to get back up to Wolfeboro.
Game 2: vs. Crimson – Editor’s Cut
Game 3: vs. Terriers
After playing four games in less than 24 hours, a pizza party in a 200 year old barn, and a good night’s sleep. The 2010 Flames were back at West Side Arena for a game with the Terriers. This one was tight. The game was scoreless after two periods. Goaltending was awesome. Soucy scored from Cam and Jacob just after a Terriers penalty had expired. It was another nice passing play with this trio. Flames led, 1-0 with 7:50 to play. The Terriers took advantage of a swing and miss at a nice deke, and turned a 2-on-1 into the tying goal with 1:34 left. The game would end in a 1-1 tie.
SF: vs. Cyclones
The 2010 Flames could have mailed it in and just given up. They dug themselves a huge hole against a balanced team. The Cyclones led, 1-0 after one period, on a beautiful rush and pass to the crease. In the second period, the Flames had a handful of chances at one end, only to give up a breakaway goal at the other end, 2-0. The Flames changed goalies midway through as they always do, but they didn’t move their feet any better. The Flames watched as the Cyclones scored after skating through traffic cones for their third goal and then cashed in when the Flames couldn’t clear the zone to go up, 4-0 after two periods.
The third period was a different story. The 2010 Flames started skating. They drew penalties by being in constant motion. Rolling three lines no matter the scenario (a trademark of Coach Nick’s team) was paying off. The Flames looked better and better while the Cyclones (who have the better skaters top to bottom) started to tire. Nine minutes into the final period and it was still, 4-0, but the tide had turned dramatically, just a little too late. Brayden threw a puck wide of the net, Jordan found Teddy with a pass.
Teddy’s shot was tied up for an offensive zone face-off. Line change. Cam won the face-off and the Alex helped keep the puck in the zone to Jacob. Casimiro threw a shot at the net which hit traffic and bounced to Logan who pinched in from the blue line. McCain snapped a perfect wrist shot into the top corner where Nana hides her Holiday flask. 4-1, with 5:41 left. A few minutes later, Petrie made a nice outlet pass that stretched the D and the Flames just kept attacking. Caleb Powers corralled a puck in the defensive end and hit Beal with a pass. Teddy skated from his own blue line with the puck and sent a nice pass to Petrie at the offensive zone blue line but the pass got through Gavin. With good spacing the play was onside and Sean used his wheels to run down the pass in the corner before he turned to the net and snuck a shot inside the near post. 4-2, with 2:41 left.
The Flames had another chance in tight, immediately after the face-off, but the puck was denied entrance to the net. The Cyclones transitioned quickly and #11 went to coast-to-coast only to be denied by Will’s right pad. 2:20 left. The Flames pulled Will and had a good chance in the crease with about 30 seconds left, but couldn’t cash in. Beal stole a puck on the end boards and centered it but it was not to be. The Cyclones held on to the lead they had built, and won it, 4-2. The Cyclones advanced to the Championship Game on Sunday afternoon, a game they would win against the Crimson.
Seasons ending are not my strength. Over the years, I have struggled to transition from the rush and controlled mayhem of multiple hockey seasons and into a new routine when they are done. I wrestle with the ebb that is a reduced load in my calendar, for the time being. I battle for words and thoughts to contrast the finality of seasons, school years, graduations, childhood, and lost loved ones. I have contended with these since I was a little boy. On days like these, at season’s end, I find that I am still very much that little boy. In some ways, I hold on to all that has happened before our eyes by trying to be the keeper of the words, thinker of the thoughts, and collector of the memories in pictures and descriptions. No matter what though, I cannot halt time nor bring it back around. I am forced like all others, to move along. To move forward. So, I downshift, to neutral. To zero. To right now. To the truth. I determine that I will take the next right step. But until I do, I will wallow in the sentimentality. I often will squint my eyes as tears form, creating a blurry frame of what I still see in my mind’s eye. I fight the pull that is my heart racing like it has suddenly found a better place to be. And I let my mind trail behind, grazing on the lush pastures of smiles, joyous occasions, outrageous hilarity, and achievement earned by those who had yet to believe they were able, until they did it. All of it done, often created from not much at all, in the presence of me, of us, along life’s high speed highway. I feel I could write about this sentiment, maybe forever, because forever is the only limit on how long the memory of these things should last. The pain is only powerful because of its’ proportion to how strongly I feel about these people, these moments, and better yet, that they were shared outside of my self. In the end, the pleasure is mine. Truly, mine. I fall every time, for the hope, for the mystery of the yet unknown and unseen. I will always fall for it, because there are not many things in a lifetime that are better than buying into something that is greater than yourself with every fiber of your being. Thank you letting me ride along with all of you.
A few notes.
- Feel free to subscribe to this page right through the blog site, so that you don’t have to count on social media, or the chance of me forgetting to post stuff somewhere else. It’s simple, just throw your email address in there and that is it.
- Please, click on the pictures, enlarge them and look around.
- Remember, it is ALWAYS about the kids, and if you read lessons being taught or relayed through these posts, then good, we can learn a lot from kids.
- It wasn’t too long ago, we were all once kids and if you didn’t like your childhood, I’m sorry. I loved mine and wouldn’t trade it for the world. Plus, there’s still a chance of you experiencing childhood joys so don’t mess it up for anyone else.
Our kids win and lose just like we did growing up. They laugh and play, and can’t wait for time off of the ice to be somewhere together, doing whatever they do. Every game, or every day isn’t our best day, but that’s exactly the perspective we need to know to recognize when days are truly awesome! Then you might look back and realize that your bad day wasn’t so bad after all. Society all around us wants to tear us down, or to poke holes in our sincere pleasures, or even lift themselves up at the expense of us or our kids. That’s where we have the edge, in my opinion. Because we have each other, for shallow or for deep, but either way, we have each other’s backs. Good people making good contributions to the betterment of our hockey family experience. How else should it be done?
Thank you all. For, just as I told the team that it takes each of us to make the difference for all of us; it’s no different for us. Thank you.
I have said my piece. I have used some of my words. But I honestly was not prepared for the words that were shared by you, our hockey family in our group chat yesterday. I have paraphrased to keep identities private. I cannot express in my voice the volumes that you all shared these last few days of our season. Seriously, this sentiment DOES NOT happen everywhere. It happens RARELY, anywhere.
2010 Flames 2021-2022 Roster
00 – Will Rosenbeck
06 – Teddy Beal
07 – Gavin Petrie
09 – Jordan Hawkes
10 – Cam Desruisseaux
12 – Sean McGee
21 – Jacob Casimiro
31 – Travis Ingalls
34 – Alex Panitz
37 – Brayden Gillies
63 – Andy Soucy
77 – Finley Dunn
86 – Garrett Warren
87 – Caleb Powers
91 – Logan McCain
***About the featured image for this article: It was Friday afternoon, October 22, 2021, at Niagara Falls, on the deck of Maid of the Mist. It was not the nicest day from which one of the greatest hockey family moments of my time happened, but it was magnificent. I will never forget the Pink 47.***
The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributors, mostly mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the schools, coaches, players, or characters listed in any of these blog posts. Or, maybe they do, but you would have to ask them directly.
Either way, “It’s a great day for hockey” ~ the late “Badger” Bob Johnson.