Road Win

Canton Ice House – September 17, 2023 – Road Win – 2010 Flames

After a 4-2 win at home on Saturday, the 2010 Flames traveled to Canton, Mass. for their first EHF road game of the season. The Flames were skating on all cylinders from the beginning, and skated to a 10-2 victory against the Boston Jr. Huskies.

It’s all about the kids. Maybe I have used this statement so many times because I have so many kids. But I have always tried to keep the focus of youth sports on the youth. Whether cheering, coaching, writing, recording, or photographing, it’s all about the kids. That is why we attend these games, to watch and to encourage the kids.

Then again, I missed Saturday’s home game as I was in Deerfield, Mass. encouraging one of my older kids who was competing in his first race since he was 12. He ran, and completed, a half-marathon on Sunday morning. I was able to spend Saturday afternoon with him and we relaxed in the warm, breezy air, talking about life and baseball. It was a great visit. Even a grown up kid is still a kid, especially to a Dad.

While I was visiting what was the western frontier back in 1704, the 2010 Flames were battling another Islanders Hockey Club at West Side Arena in Manchester, NH. The Flames won the game, 4-2. The home team allowed a power play goal and another goal on a penalty shot. The 2010 Flames took a 3-0 lead, then scored late in the game to win, 4-2. They scored one of their goals on the power play as well. It went something like this. No parents were instrumental in these plays, it’s all about the kids and making good hockey plays.

Flames goal – Mooney scored on a nice shot off of the rush. The goal was set up by Soucy and Ouellette who had spread out and executed a beautiful 3-on-2 rush through center ice and into the zone. Mooney from Soucy and Ouellette.
Flames goal – Soucy took a pass/clearing attempt from Beal that got through a defensemen and then went on a little skate. He went one way, and then the other, turning the defender, while carrying the puck with speed before ripping a shot into the back of the net. Soucy from Beal.
Moments later the Flames scored on the power play (5on3) – After a scoring chance was broken up, Soucy battled for the puck in the faceoff circle and the puck slipped out to Lazzaro at the right point. Lazzaro fired a shot with Ouellette and Mooney both looking for tips in front of the net. I called it Ouellette’s goal in my notes, from Lazzaro and Soucy. PPG – Ouellette from Lazzaro and Soucy.
Flames goal – After the puck was cleared to center ice, St. Pierre circled back to get the puck. As he did, he fired a pass to the offensive blue line where Ouellette had just tagged up and received the pass as he entered the O-zone. Ouellette got into a shooting position and wired a shot into the net to give the Flames a 4-2 lead. The assist to St. Pierre with 8:31 left to play. Ouellette from St. Pierre.

Islanders (Blue): 00 – 01 – 01 = 2

Flames: 03 – 00 – 01 = 4

As always, the 2010 Flames couldn’t win games if they didn’t have netminders to keep the other team from outscoring the Flames. Rosenbeck and Ingalls combined in the crease to get the win.

On Sunday morning, the Flames made their way down to Canton, MA on a gorgeous late summer day. The weather was beautiful and the ride was actually peaceful. It’s 74 miles from West Side Arena to the Canton Ice House. The Flames made the trip and showed up ready to play. By the way, it was 79 minutes between my first and last messages in the team chat from warm-ups to games end. It’s stats like these that explain why I usually stand in a corner by myself.

Okay, in 79 minutes or less here is how Sunday’s scoring went for the Flames:

Hawkes grabbed a loose puck at center ice and banged it off of the boards. The puck caromed to Giampa who skated in all alone and fired a shot into the net. Giampa from Hawkes. 1-0.
Hawkes broke up a clearing attempt and fed a hard pass to the slot that hit the defenseman but the puck landed right on Warren’s stick. Warren fired the puck into the back of the net for a power play goal. PPG Warren from Hawkes. 2-0.
St. Pierre banked a clearing pass off of the boards in the defensive zone. Hawkes grabbed the puck and shifted through his gears while maintaining possession of the puck. In the offensive zone he fed a pass across to Warren who was wide open in the slot. Warren briefly mishandled the puck in order to make it a tougher play and then ripped a shot under the crossbar for the goal. Warren from Hawkes and St. Pierre. 3-0. GWG.
Giampa took a loose puck that was misplayed by the Huskies at the side of the net and cranked a shot into the net. Giampa, unassisted. 4-1.
After 25 minutes without a goal, and killing a penalty in a 4-2 game, Beal stole the puck in the defensive zone on a draw won by the Huskies. Beal skated the length of the ice, cut inside the other defenseman who had hustled back, and tickled the twine with a wrister for the shortie. SHG Beal, unassisted. 5-2.
Kaveney skated up left wing and wired a pass to Mooney who was out in front. Mooney met some resistance but skated through the contact and let a wicked wrista go, for the goal. Mooney from Kaveney. 6-2.
Booth gathered the puck at center ice amid some traffic. He broke in and shot but the puck was turned away. Hawkes got the rebound and promptly missed the net with his shot. The puck hit the end boards and Booth grabbed it after his initial rush and wrapped around the back of the net before banking his shot off of the goalie and into the net. Booth from Hawkes. 7-2.
Warren dug the puck and Giampa out of the corner. Giampa went to the net while puck went to Powers at the left point. Powers fired the puck but it was saved and landed beside the crease. Giampa was there to pound the puck into the net. Giampa from Powers and Warren. 8-2.
If there were ever a play that could have three assists, it was this one. Booth reacted quickly to a loose puck in the offensive end and wound up to crank a shot on net. The shot was clocked at 4.7 mph. Which is why Beal took the shot from a couple feet away and backhanded a shot on net. The shot was saved and fell to Petrie who shot into the pads, but that rebound came into the laser precise sights of Kaveney who accurately hit the net with his shot from 25 inches away. Kaveney from Petrie and Beal (and Booth). 9-2.
Powers broke up a scoring chance back on his own goal line. He captured the puck and skated up the left wing all the way to the faceoff circle before flipping a pass to a wide open Ouellette at the net. Ouellette’s shot slid between the goalie and the post and crossed the goal line. Ouellette from Powers. 10-2.

Flames: 04 – 03 – 03 = 10

Huskies: 01 – 01 – 00 = 2

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 Sunday’s game at the Canton Ice House.

Click on these pictures. Zoom in. Enjoy. It’s all about the kids as they work week to week on making good hockey plays.

: Will gets low to kick out this shot in the first period down in Canton against the Huskies.

: Will watches as Jaden battles. The Flames were short handed and one of the Huskies appeared to be wide open. The Huskies did score on the power play.

: Chase steps into a shot from the slot area. He scored. The Flames led, 4-1 after one period.

: The Flames look for some advice and inspiration during the first intermission.

: Andrew gathers the puck while in motion to rip a shot at the net.

: Teddy looks to pass to either Gavin or Ian who appear to have room in front of the net.

: Drumm and Beal look to create a quick 2-on-1 scoring opportunity.

: Teddy makes room for himself in between a pair of defenders even though they clearly did not want anyone getting between them.

: Caleb rips a low shot toward the net with Lucas in the area. The Flames have created quite a net front presence thus far this season.

: Travis is in net and he reacted to the play, sliding over to get ready for the shot.

: The shot wasn’t exactly ‘fired’ but Travis cut the angle and the puck slid just wide of the post.

: As the puck was worked around the back of the net to the front for a shot, Travis flashed the glove for a save.

: Ahhh, the kids. They gather at the bench to catch a quick rest and a handful of reminders before the final fifteen minutes.

: Jacob works free for a moment to let one of his slapshots fly. No one looks to excited to stand in the path.

: The ref glides in on the wings of his ‘no goal’ signal. Gavin looks down and thinks, “Looks like a goal to me”. Meanwhile Teddy hangs out at his favorite watering hole, “The Crease” where you can see him making all kinds of new friends.

: I captured this photo while Jaden was in the midst of recording one of his instructional videos on shooting the puck. He accentuates the sequence of movements in this shot for the betterment of young players everywhere. This did lead to a goal.

: Here is that goal. If you look closely, Ian spots the loose puck by the defenders skate. He fired the puck into the net, with or without the skate.

: Teddy kept driving to the net and got this little nifty backhand off that almost cleared the goalie’s shoulder.

: Jordan was all smiles after the game when he addressed me in Portuguese. I smiled and later had his quote translated to these words, “I have a disease called I can’t hit the net with a wide open shot.” Or something like that, but he was in fact smiling.

: We were gone from our house for five hours in order to play this game in Canton. The Flames not only won, but they were making good hockey plays all game, and it was worth it.

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.