Blessed Are The Playmakers

West Side Arena – September 10, 2023 – Blessed Are The Playmakers – 2010 Flames

In a nutshell, goals can be scored without assists, but assists cannot be recorded without goals. Assists are the passes that lead to goals. Passes don’t always lead to goals, but they do utilize teammates and usually make everyone on the ice a threat to score.

After a convincing win on Saturday to open the new season, the 2010 Flames played a pair of games against the Islanders Hockey Club (West) Proulx team, or IHCWP. Both games were played at West Side Arena. The Flames were able to win both games but that wasn’t the whole story.

In the morning game the Flames allowed the first goal of the game and then reeled off four first period goals, three more in the second period, and another five goals in the final period. They did all of this without allowing another goal against.

Game one Sunday morning. The 2010 Flames wait for the Zamboni to finish resurfacing the ice at West Side Arena.

Personally, I am not a big fan of blowout games in youth sports primarily because of the way adults react to such things. As if all is smooth and adversity-free throughout the entirety of life. As if nothing can be learned, or perspective and appreciation gained by getting beaten handily (on the scoreboard).

Anyway, what I did like about the first game of the day was how the 2010 Flames worked together. They moved the puck well. They made passes and looked for even more. Shift after shift after shift they cycled the puck and looked for shots and chances at the front of the net. The even got back on defense together and tried to dominate all 200 feet of the rinks’ length.

Yes, every player for the home team was a threat to score because the puck moved from one to another, with the hopes that the puck and the player would meet at the right time in the right place despite the Islanders efforts to defend against such occurrences. And for the 2010 Flames, this happened often.

The younger Islanders wait their turn to play. Or are they called ‘islets’? Either way, in team sports programs sportsmanship, they booed the Flames goal scoring spree.

Roughly 175 minutes after game one ended, the Islanders returned to West Side Arena for game two. But this IHCWP team was a different team. At least they played that way. The played with much more urgency. They dumped the puck and made timely line changes without getting caught up ice. And, they scored a pair of goals in the second period. They led the game 2-0 after two periods.

The Islanders did the opposite of relax. They blocked shots, had much better breakouts, and tried to be more physical, and it worked. The Flames committed some penalties that disrupted their own symmetry which contributed to the two-goal deficit after two periods.

Meanwhile, the Flames did not have the same jump in their step, which was probably equal parts themselves and their opponents performance. By the time the final period started, the Flames had started to take over the offensive end of the ice but had nothing to show for it. The home team had rung the post twice and the crossbar another time but those don’t count.

Almost half way through the third period the pressure from the Flames was building like the rising waters behind a dam. Then there sprung a leak. The Flames scored on a great passing play that led directly to the goal. But then the Islanders goaltender and defense held the Flames off of the scoresheet for another five minutes or so.

With less than three minutes to play in the game, the 2010 Flames scored a pair of goals on back to back shifts. The Flames led, 3-2 with just over two minutes left in the game. The Flames held on and earned a 3-2, come from behind win to sweep the weekend games.

The teamwork approach to the game paid off in all three games. Even if the Islanders had won the second game on Sunday, the teamwork would have been no less impressive and impactful. For those of us who get to watch the kids play, the playing as a team approach is refreshing, and a joy to watch. Blessed are the playmakers.

The 2010 Flames return to the ice for practices this week and then play at home on Saturday and south of Boston on Sunday.

Please enjoy some pictures from today’s first game at West Side Arena. I did not take pictures of the second game.

Click on these pictures. Zoom in. Enjoy. It’s all about the kids.

It’s not hard to get good help with this group. Open door policy.

You can find more 2010 Flames material in these pieces, here. 2010 Manchester Flames.

The current look at my ‘hockey office’. So many hours spent in this space, tracking numbers and capturing season after season. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2023.

The beginning of every article. (C) 1inawesomewonder 2017.

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.