NH Whalers 2010 - Win The Day - 1 In Awesome Wonder

June 9, 2023 – NH Whalers 2010 – Win The Day. The 2010 NH Whalers took on the Southampton Penguins in their second game of a busy Friday. The Whalers played even better than they did in the opener and won handily.

After a hard fought win in the first game of the Ocean State Lobsterfest Hockey Tournament, the NH Whalers moved to a different rink, in North Smithfield, RI for their second game. They were playing the Southampton Penguins. The Penguins had already played the Whalers first opponent, the NYC Falcons, and they had lost, 3-1 to the Falcons.

This probably doesn’t show up in the records but in 1871, North Smithfield broke away from Smithfield to become its own municipality, on one condition. That condition was that Smithfield let the North part of town go, as long as Smithfield got to keep all the lights for their own ice rink.

But before the Whalers played their second game of the day, there needed to be some down time. And well, some nourishment. Much of the team ended up down the street from the first rink, in Smithfield. Still others were down in Warwick at a favorite establishment known for their wings.

This place is great. Great atmosphere, good food, and always friendly, helpful staff. A favorite of hockey players and their families.

The Southampton Penguins are also a spring hockey team that offers opportunities for players to play outside the regular season. Their website says this: The Southampton Penguins are a spring tournament team. Our teams practice once per week throughout the spring (day/time/location TBD) and play in 2-3 tournaments.

Then again, this isn’t really about us though. It’s about the players that were selected to be on this team. Okay, it’s about the coaches too, a little bit. The coaches did have a lot to do with the make up of this team, and the early returns showed that they selected well.

So, finally, it was time for game two. Before the puck dropped though, there was some caution that needed to be taken to avoid the weather outside. I took a walk outside, around the parking lot, to get some exercise after a long drive from NH, a game standing along the boards, and then a nice stop at the Thirsty Beaver with the team. I hustled back to my vehicle as the sound of thunder was getting closer and being accompanied by lightning. Talk about Wonder Twins.

Then this happened for quite awhile.

Eventually the rainfall was downgraded (by me) to a mild, but still very wet, downpour. So I made a run for it to the front door. As it turns out, my ‘run for it’ carried exactly the same speed and sense of urgency as my leisurely walk had earlier. Oh well, I made it to the door.

I kept no stats for any of the games although in this game I think I made up some stats that were based on actual things that I saw, but those scenes in my minds eye probably had a multiplier of 1.333 or something like that. You know, for effect, and what the numbers ‘felt’ like in the context of a competitive hockey game. You understand.

After the results of game two I will share an ordinary extra moment or two that stumbled across my timeline. The NH Whalers did win the day, after going 2-0 in their games. They finished off the Penguins, 7-0.

Please enjoy. I honestly stand along the boards game after game and just give thanks for being able to be there and enjoy watching kids play, as they learn along the way. I even enjoy watching my kid. It really is all about the kids. At this rink, the kids were harder to see. It was a very dark rink. Maybe because the clouds outside were so dark, but I don’t think that should affect the inside light.

Here we go…

Click on the pictures to zoom in and have a look around.

I have no idea what kids I got, or didn’t get in the pictures. I took a lot of pictures, but not as many as in game one (too dark, and I might have napped). Either way, as Detective Allen Gamble said, “Look, they’re not all first-round picks, okay?” Alright, fine, there are only 16 game pictures in this one.

Before the second game of the day, Coach Tim looks for a long time over his kingdom. The 2010 NH Whalers.

: Caleb Powers has plenty of room to work against the Penguins.

: Beal works in traffic to get the puck to the slot area or a teammate.

: Jax unloads on a shot against Southampton. You can see that the gentleman (Earl) in the background is having a difficult time finding a seat.

: Jax and Jordan take in their surroundings while in the offensive zone against the Penguins. There was so much room for activities.

: I dubbed this line, The Black Flies. It’s spring. It has been wet here in NH and the black flies have been swarming everywhere. Well, that is what this line has done, swarm everywhere. In a good way.

: I don’t remember who scored this goal but it was a Whaler. The NH Whalers piled up 7 goals in the win.

Earl (in the background) says, “Oh, Edna, I think 34 got under that one there. That shot might hit a pigeon or the organist.” Edna scoffed, “Earl, knock it off! They don’t have an organist here.” Panitz did get under this one, but the puck only grazed the pigeon. The bird was fine and laughing about it with Earl and Edna later.

: I had blacked out for a moment and when I came to I saw this. Actually I thought it was a dream but then my camera saw it too so it must be real. I’d skate away too.

: Sean McGee gets free for a point blank shot on goal. But this came in a rapid fire string of saves by the Penguins goaltender. This kid really was amazing in net.

: Jax persuasively suggests, “Seriously! Jacob give me a high-five.” Jacob responds with, “Did you see me in that earlier picture? I can’t even see you right now.”

: The NH Whalers led, 4-0 at the half. The North Smithfield marching band performed at the half for exactly 3 seconds. Thus the discrepancy as they set the clock for the 2nd half. Also, there’s Liam in the background.

: Hawkes follows through on a shot against the Southampton Penguins.

: Warble walks in all alone. Well alone except for Eble, the goalie. Eble made the save on this shot and then the save on the rebound. I found out later that his defense had left at halftime to pick up their order at the Thirsty Beaver.

: At one point I had counted (unofficially) that Eble had made 53 saves overall (71 Canadian). He once made 11 saves in four seconds.

: Here Logan tries his hand at playing the setup man. He took over Gretzky’s office and the rest of his team skated away.

After the game, and a ride back to Seekonk, MA (hotel), Teddy and I were meeting the McGee’s for dinner at the pub attached to our hotel. While we waited for them to make the long 1/4 mile drive over, we went outside to see the sky after the storm. We walked around the parking lot (not minding the sprinkles of rain still falling) and check out the sky from various angles. This is some of what we saw. Ordinary extra.

You can follow other NH Whalers 2010 Hockey stories, here.

You can also follow this blog here. I write a lot about hockey. It’s a long season. It’s not all just about the hockey, but rather about lessons and takeaways that come up throughout these seasons. Yes, I am biased. I am biased toward the truth and the right way to do things, whether anyone is watching or not.

The players play the games. The kids score the goals and make the saves. Most of the time, the kids band together for something that is bigger than themselves; the team. The kids do so many things right on any given play, on any given day. I have found that more often than not, the kids pleasantly surprise us all. It’s awesome. It’s all about the kids.

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.

“We should be dreaming. We grew up as kids having dreams, but now we’re too sophisticated as adults, as a nation. We stopped dreaming. We should always have dreams.” ~ the late Herb Brooks.

“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it: If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.” ~ Jim Valvano on how to live life, during his ESPY speech.

“I started writing sports stories 20 years ago. I still do. I write because somewhere, in some game, a kid might be having the time of his or her life. That’s awesome to think about. It’s all about the kids.” ~ Steve Beal Sr.