Opening Weekend - 2010 Flames - 2024-2025

September 07-08, 2024 – Opening Weekend – 2010 Flames – 2024-2025

Maturing and growing are aspects that both play instrumental parts in youth hockey. One (or more) player might finish a season in March as a teenage kid but take the ice in September as an adult sized player. So, when the 2010 Flames showed up for opening weekend on Saturday at West Side Arena it only took a second to see that this roster is closer to adult than they are to Mites that make everything look adorable.

In a nutshell, I thought the opening game was a well contested game. The Minuteman Flames (MM Flames) were in town for the first game of the season. The visiting Flames play out of the New England Sports Center down in Marlborough, MA. The visitors scored once in the second period and again in the final period to win the game, 2-0. Shots were recorded as 23-19 in favor of the Minuteman Flames. If the shots were that close in number, the quality of shot or scoring chance definitely favored the MM Flames.

There was only one penalty called in the game. That is not to say there were not other penalties committed, but the kids were allowed to play their style, their way. And they policed themselves pretty well. Not perfectly, but well enough.

The 2010 Flames received excellent goaltending from Travis Ingalls and Will Rosenbeck, per usual. I didn’t get to talk to any of the players but I am guessing that Will would have wanted a replay one rebound that led to a goal. Even so, he made a nice first save just seconds after taking over in net. The second goal was another nice save but a defensive coverage breakdown left a gaping hole down the center of the ice and the MM Flames made them pay for it.

So, the 2010 Flames lost game one of the season, 2-0. Last season they won their first game 14-1. Personally, I would take this year’s game over last season’s. Wins and losses have values but playing a good opponent has a bigger value in my book. When a team is forced to make quick decisions with and without the puck their refining of skills is only accelerated. These are good things.

Then, if solid consistent effort is poured into the refinement it is likely that the team will improve more in the 2-0 loss, than in the 14-1 win. I believe that the sharpening of skills, like an ax, will make the instrument more effective, than one that is dulled by misuse.

Over the weekend the question was asked, “Where is number 9?” Others noticed that Lazzaro’s #37 was not in the lineup either. #9, Jordan Hawkes, was offered promotion to the 2010 Flames #1 team, and he chose that route. Cooper Lazzaro is playing with his own age group (2011) this season. They were key contributors to the team last season, and we miss them, as well as their families among our group.

In the second game of the weekend, the Flames hosted the Boston Jr. Terriers (White) over at JFK Coliseum. The Flames would end up dropping that decision, 4-2 after an empty net goal with 2.4 seconds left in the game. The first half of the game was dominated by the Terriers. Their forecheck posed all kinds of problems for the Flames. Then, the Flames didn’t help themselves by taking three first period penalties.

The Flames trailed, 1-0 after one period, and 2-0 after two periods. Even so, the tide had started turning slightly toward the Flames. The Terriers ended up taking 16 penalties in the game, which included misconducts for a player having four penalties in the game, as well as the team accumulating twelve or more penalties in the game. The Flames were whistled for 11 penalties. There were a lot of 5-on-3 and 4-on-3 situations in the game.

With the Flames trailing 2-0 in the final period, they finally scored their first goal of the season. The 2010 Flames were on a 5-on-3 power play. Newcomers Luke Pinkos and Deen Destani started the rush up the ice. Pinkos with a backhand pass to Destani through center ice. Destani gained the line and hit Lucas Ouellette with a short pass. He chose not to fire his heavy wrister, and skated from the slot toward the defender, skating east and west. Ouellette feathered a pass to Caleb Powers who wasted no time in firing a shot from the outer edge of the right wing circle.

The Terrier goaltender made a nice save through traffic (Destani and Jacob St. Pierre were in front of the goalie). The puck kicked off of the goaltender into the crease where St. Pierre had the wherewithal to backhand the puck into the net. Flames trailed, 2-1 with 11:27 left to play. PPG (5on3) – St. Pierre from Powers and Ouellette.

After the Flames had cut the deficit in half they took the next four penalties and allowed a power play goal against with 2:33 left to play and that was a back breaker. Even with a broken back, the Flames just kept playing hard, working on their game, like the score was tied. I have loved this about Coach Warren teams for the last five seasons.

The Terriers iced the puck with 1:23 left. Their coaches had been pleading with their players to quit taking so many stupid penalties, and they finally stopped after 15 had been whistled. They did not take any penalties over the final 12:14 of the game. But after the icing with 1:23 left the Flames pulled Ingalls from the net for an extra attacker.

On the offensive zone face-off the Flames had Gavin Petrie, Tyler Mooney, Teddy Beal, Caleb Powers and Joey Santtito lined up, with Jaden Booth as the extra skater. Petrie got low and battled to win the draw. He tipped the puck back to Santtito who ripped a shot from the side boards toward the net. The puck hit Beal’s stick blade and changed the trajectory from near side post to far side post, and past the goalie. The puck was in and Booth had crashed the net skating a beeline to the post just in case. There was 1:18 left to play and the score was, 3-2. Even – Beal from Santtito and Petrie.

The Terriers iced the puck again with just 12.0 seconds left to play in the game. Ouellette pulled the face-off back toward the middle and a pair of Terriers were all over the puck. In the right place at the right time, St. Pierre snagged the puck, spun, and threaded a pass down low to Destani outside the crease. Deen fired the puck low. The Terrier goaltender was long and agile. The goalie was down in the butterfly spread and saved the point blank shot. Somehow there was no rebound.

The ensuing face-off was on the left wing side but the Flames didn’t line up a left wing, instead the overloaded toward the slot. The backhand draw was won to the left wing open space and the Terrier player had an open look at clearing the puck, icing the puck, of burying a 160-foot empty net shot. He bagged the empty netter.

I listed the goals and the assists for the 2010 Flames. Here are the penalties for the Flames.

1st Period –

Mooney – Hooking.
Powers – Interference.
Soucy – Slashing.

2nd Period –

Soucy – Cross-Checking.
Pinkos – High-Sticking.
St. Pierre – Tripping.
Petrie – High-Sticking.

3rd Period –

Drumm – Roughing.
Warren – Interference.
Soucy – Tripping.
Powers – Roughing.

The Flames lost, 4-2. The league website had the shots at 24-23 in favor of the Terriers. The 2010 Flames dropped to 0-2-0, while the Terriers improved to 2-0-0.

This coming weekend the Flames will be in Concord, NH playing some Granite State League (GSL) games in a parity jamboree of sorts.

Please enjoy some pictures from the opening weekend games at West Side Arena and JFK Coliseum. Click on them. Zoom in. Enjoy.

Opening Weekend – 2024-2025

First there are the awesome pictures that I refer to as, Mooney’s Moonshots from Game 1, here.

Then there are these photos from what the band Genesis would start a song with, “See the lonely man there on the corner…”

: © 1inawesomewonder 2024.

: © 1inawesomewonder 2024.

: © 1inawesomewonder 2024.

Then game two from the press box where I got to hang out with some real pros. But these few pictures below are from my camera.

: Clean sheet of ice at JFK. Ready for the players to tear it up, gliding all the way. © 1inawesomewonder 2024.

: The Flames gather at the bench before the opening face-off. They wouldn’t really heat up until the second half of the game. But they did heat up. © 1inawesomewonder 2024.

: This is a one touch pass from Drumm, moving the puck up the ice. © 1inawesomewonder 2024.

: Mooney gets some open ice to work with but the puck’s handle was elusive on this play. © 1inawesomewonder 2024.

: Rosenbeck moves to cut the angle and make a save against the Terriers. © 1inawesomewonder 2024.

: Warren gained the blue line with some speed. I sensed his thoughts went something like this, “Okay boys, here we go! Ya! lets turn this into a goal! Boys? Uh, guys? Bueller?” © 1inawesomewonder 2024.

: All five Flames are back on D. Will looks for the puck while the guys try to prevent the puck from getting to their goaltender. © 1inawesomewonder 2024.

: Ingalls slides over and gets squared to the shot. He drops low to make the save and secure the rebound. © 1inawesomewonder 2024.

: The Flames celebrate their first goal of the season. St. Pierre from Powers and Ouellette. Destani and Pinkos made the passes that set the play in motion. © 1inawesomewonder 2024.

For some real good pictures go to this link for more of Mooney’s Moonshots.

I cannot miss the opportunity to include this picture from the last night of ‘Skills Week’. You may see some of the 2010 Flames sporting these awesome jackets around the rink this season. What a run! What a group! Thanks for sharing, Mom of this season’s first goal scorer, Laura St. Pierre.

GSL 14U Tier 4 Champs 2023-2024. (St. Portraits by St. Pierre)

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.