We Give Thanks – 2010 Flames

We Give Thanks – 2010 Flames

1. The Bog 2 – 2010 Flames at Bay State Breakers (EHF)

2. West Side Arena – 2010 Flames vs. Bridgewater Bandits (EHF).

 

For the team we have and the hockey family we are apart of, we give thanks.

Wins, losses, and games galore matter less than the people involved, if I may be frank. 

 

 

With coaches that care about the kids and carrying themselves in the right way.

A listen to games on LiveBarn demonstrates that other teams, a different picture they portray. 

 

While we gather together at rinks around New England, I look around and think, “So thankful”.

Then others carry on and lead by example in their ways like they just downed a flaskful. 

 

Parents and families become friends, usually a cue from our kids, the ones that bonded first. 

The kids work hard and love to get together where and whenever they can, always better not rehearsed. 

 

So week after week the days, entire weekends, and countless hours, time, goes by, til it’s gone forever. 

It’s these days we must be present in, and give thanks to be a part of the days that the kids will always treasure.

 

It’s all about the kids, teaching them right, and when it’s not it’s usually off the mark like a gun shooting blanks.

Lift them up, model behavior that’s right, win or lose, and humbly walk the rinks smiling as we give thanks. 

 

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The 2010 Flames played down in Kingston, MA on Saturday afternoon. We left our house before noon and got home just before 8pm (after a dinner stop in Nashua, NH on the way home). Eight hours away from home for one hockey game. But then, when our son is all grown up and these opportunities are a distant memory that cannot be done over again, I trust that we will laugh, smile, and share the tales from the roads of youth sports as we traveled them together.

The game was a good one. The 4-0 lead that the 2010 Flames enjoyed in the third period was not representative of the nearly countless bouncing, trickling, flying, sliding loose pucks that the Breakers had ‘just missed’ on throughout the game. It was uncanny how many of the bounces didn’t go their way, until they did in the final 3 minutes of play.

Of course, I need to say something about the goaltending in this game. Honestly, I said this to several folks before we even left the rink, I thought that all four goaltenders (a pair from each team) played really well. Our tandem of Ingalls and Rosenbeck were fantastic! They were put to the test from start to finish, often. As a matter of fact, the Breakers outshot the 2010 Flames, 39-29 over the course of the game.

 

1. Flames first goal – The play started with Lazzaro carrying the puck and moving it to Warren up the left wing. Warren centered a pass to Giampa but it missed and slid past him, right to Hawkes. Hawkes got a good shot on goal and the rebound dropped right in the crease where Giampa tapped it in. Nice goal. Length of the ice skating and passing. No stickhandling into oblivion. Giampa from Hawkes and Warren. 1-0.
2. Flames goal – Powers finally settled an elusive puck and tried to dump the puck deep. But the puck hit skates, the ref, and pinballed through the maze of players. This is where Giampa scooped it up and made a nice pass to Warren in the slot. Warren was denied on his shot, but again, the rebound was there, and Giampa deposited it into the net. Giampa form Warren and Powers. 2-0.
3. Flames goal – Lazzaro received a pass from Beal out high and he let a shot rip. The puck hit the defenders shin guard and bounced to the corner. Our Petrie was first to the puck, and he gathered the puck, spun and laced a pass right to the crease. There was Beal, stick on the ice, and the puck redirected off of his blade and right through the five-hole. Awesome hockey play. Beal from Petrie and Lazzaro. 3-0.
4. Fifteen seconds later – Our Petrie got buried on the sidewall and it took two Breakers to do it. This gave Giampa space to grab the puck and move into the offensive zone. Beal was with him and a shot attempt was saved and subsequently kicked around. As this was happening the goalie got turned sideways and Beal fired the puck from behind the net, off of the goalie’s pad, and into the net. It was a great goal, and would have impressed in billiards as well. Beal unassisted. 4-0. GWG.

 

At The Bog 2 –

(MRYHA) 2010 Flames: 01 – 01 – 02 = 04

Bay State Breakers Petrie: 00 – 00 – 03 = 03

2010 Flames Penalties:

1. Petrie (Tripping)
2. Lazzaro (Tripping)
3. Beal (Interference)

 

 

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Sunday afternoon’s game was a home game at West Side Arena. The opponent was a team that the 2010 Flames beat, 5-1 down in Bridgewater, MA. And then the Flames won again, this time, 7-0. But the game was about as aesthetically pleasing as watching a frustrated middle aged guy with the wrong footwear dig a hole with the wrong end of a shovel.

I mean, the 2010 Flames outshot their opponent, 39-9 (that’s 53-12 in Canadian shots), but the team seemed to click like Cousin Eddie’s trick knee more than a well oiled machine. This is in part, of course to their opponent. The Bandits tried to follow through on every single check and packed four or five defenders in the middle of the ice in their D zone.

Yes, the Flames got it done, and that is recognized and applauded. But they took 7 penalties in the final 36 minutes of play and well, it just wasn’t pretty. I will likely get over this picture of the game in my mind, but teams may get under the Flames’ skin just to put them in the box going forward. The team is susceptible.

 

1. Flames get on the board early – The 2010 Flames won an offensive zone face-off in the opening minute of the game. Soucy won it back to Booth who got a good shot away. The rebound came out to the side of the crease where Soucy backhanded a shot as he was falling. The shot got behind the goalie but bounced in the air. Beal was at the far post and batted the puck out of the air, and into the net for the goal. Beal from Soucy and Booth. 1-0. GWG.
2. So this one time, at West Side – Lazzaro stood at the point while the Bandits tried to clear the zone. Their attempt put the puck right on his stick. Lazzaro took the puck and cut to the middle before rifling a shot into the soft strings known as the net. Lazzaro unassisted. 2-0.
3. Flames score again – Well, St. Pierre got wrecked against the boards on this play and he didn’t have the puck, so I have a problem with that. On another note, Giampa and Petrie were on the forecheck, or being lovable pests (to some). The puck came up the wall where Petrie sent a gorgeous backhand pass to the slot after St. Pierre kept it in, like it all had been planned. Hawkes was in the slot and he one-timed the puck into the back of the net. Great goal out of pressure and execution. Hawkes celebrated his goal as if he was saying, “Honey! Daddy’s home! Where are my angelic kids?!?!” Perhaps that is slightly off. He might have just been happy and relieved, like a weight was off his shoulders because unlike, the previous day’s ref, his arms worked just fine as they extended high above his head. Hawkes from Petrie and St. Pierre. 3-0.
4. Information that is, well, information – The name ‘Petrie’ is Scottish, a pet name for Peter or Patrick. The name ‘St. Pierre’ is French and a combination of being named for a church that was dedicated to Saint Peter, and ‘Pierre’ is likely named after someone who was a quarryman or stone mason. Then there’s “Hawkes’, comes from Olde English, a nickname to people who had ‘wild personalities’, which explains the celebration.
5. Flames shorthanded goal – After an impromptu game of ‘hot potato’, Booth grabbed the puck at center ice and slid a pass over to Powers. Powers fired a pass over to Warren at the blue line, and as he entered the zone, he returned the puck to Powers. Powers used the equivalent of a head fake and crossover dribble to get around the defender in the circle. As he approached the net from an angle he sniped a shot in the far side top corner like such things grew on trees and easy to come by. SHG – Powers from Warren and Booth. 4-0.
6. Forty two minutes and four penalties taken between Flames goals – This is when the middle aged guy was really working the wrong end of the shovel.
7. Flames score again – Santitto wrapped the puck around the boards where Warren and Mooney had stopped to refuel. Once they were filled up, Warren broke out of the zone with the puck. He carried all the way to the offensive blue line and flipped a sweet backhand pass over to Petrie who got a good shot on net from the slot. The shot was saved and Mooney tapped in the rebound. Great 200 foot play. Mooney from Petrie and Warren. 5-0.
8. Booth-ness – The Bandits made a clearing attempt up the wall, but Booth was sitting on the route like an All-Pro safety. He stole the clearing attempt and skated toward the slot. As he approached, he fired a shot in the “We don’t wear stripes cuz we like to snipe” category and hit the strings on the far side top corner. The Bandits goalie made a glove save attempt at it, but it had the urgency of swiping at a pesky house fly at the end of October. Booth unassisted. 6-0.
9. By the Powers vested in me – There were less than two minutes to play in a 6-0 game. The middle aged guy was replaced by an auger and the hole was done. So were the Bandits. Anyways, Powers stood at the point like the ruler of all the land on a notable promontory looking over all of his kingdom. Then he rather reluctantly took the clearing attempt and skated to the slot. Ouellette was out front as a blocker, and Powers ripped a shot into the net, like he was born to do nothing else. Powers, unassisted. 7-0.

 

West Side Arena –

Bridgewater Bandits: 00 – 00 – 00 = 00

(MRYHA) 2010 Flames: 04 – 00 – 03 = 07

2010 Flames Penalties:

1. Soucy (Roughing).
2. Soucy (Interference).
3. Soucy (Hooking).
4. Booth (Tripping).
5. Powers (Tripping).
6. Giampa (Slashing).
7. Beal (Unsportsmanlike).

 

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Countless hours of my life have been spent in the tracking of numbers while loving the sports and players that produce them.

 

 

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

 

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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.