– Final Weeks In Numbers – February and March – 2010 Flames –
Of all the months in a long hockey season, the 2010 Flames played more games in February (12) than in any other month. Must have been a leap year. They played a few more games in March (3). Here are some thoughts from the Final Weeks In Numbers.
It is a great feeling to know that these two give the team a legit chance to win every game. I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Well, maybe for a nice tractor with a Zamboni attachment, but I would have to think about it. (Photo by Mooney’s Moonshots)
The 2010 Flames played their final 10 games on the road. This of course, included GSL Playoffs and Fed Playoffs. In those 10 games, the team was 7-2-1. That is an impressive way to finish the season.
As you might expect, at the end of the season and in the playoffs teams are generally playing their best hockey of the season. Spaces are tighter. Decision making has to happen at a much faster rate. Good structure or positioning is worth half a mile of skating. And the numbers reflect that as well. The Flames were held scoreless during the 3rd period in 5 of their last 7 Fed games. Lower scoring totals, for and against. Wins are much more difficult to come by.
The 2010 Flames played 7 postseason games. 4 games in the GSL Playoffs, and 3 games in the Fed Playoffs.
Over the 7 games, they had a record of 5-1-1. Pretty awesome!
They outscored their opponents, 19-13 in the playoffs.
They were outscored in 3rd period action, 7-5, but they won the 1st and 2nd periods, 7-3 in each.
Jordan looks over his shoulder and thinks, “Wait! Are they doing short-track speed skating? I always wanted to try that”. #10 is unsure if this scene is like old school roller derby, or if Jordan is on to something. (Photo by Mooney’s Moonshots)
On February 11th, the 2010 Flames dressed all 17 rostered players, and they all played together for the first time since October 22, 2023. Every player played 9 or more games in February.
Player stats over February and March, 2024. (There was one empty net goal against in Feb.)
Last night, I had a lengthy talk with a lifetime hockey player, who has also coached youth hockey and high school hockey for well over a decade and we were talking about team and player expectations. He said, “Everyone wants to be the goal scorer, and get on the scoresheet. But that’s not realistic. The sooner the players understand that there is a role for every one of them, the better for them and for the team. For some players, their role isn’t to be the goal scorer. It’s to be a good teammate, move the puck, support the others, and not allow goals. They all have roles, important roles”.
I remember a defenseman that I watched play for several years. He rarely scored a goal or even had an assist. But the team didn’t allow goals when he was on the ice. He played in the defensive end, unloaded a massive slap shot every once in awhile, and he was a huge part of the team every season.
Every single player has a role, an important one. There are no numbers to measure some of these things. But I will still give you a number for it. The number is one. One player. One team. One collective goal. All play for the one. And you can divide that however you want, but it’s always for the one. Or at least it should be. And that is the way that these 2010 Flames are a one team.
The Flames went 1-1-1 in the Fed Playoffs. They missed Finals weekend by one goal. But I don’t know if they could have picked a better effort from the weekend to hang their hats on. (Photo by Mooney’s Moonshots)
I have watched the 2010 Flames for five seasons now, and among my favorite things of all is their celebration of goals. I don’t need scripted garbage. Anyone can do that. Plus it’s all copycat anyways. But exuding pure joy, as if the completely miraculous and unexpected has happened, now that’s fun and refreshing. Even five years later. (Photo by Mooney’s Moonshots)
February, 2024
Total games played in February: 12.
Overall record: 8-4-0.
Home games in February: 4 (all 4 games at West Side Arena).
Record at home: 1-3-0.
FEb. record on the road: 7-1-0.
Feb. Goals for: 33.
Feb. Goals against: 23.
Goals by period GF/GA: 1st – 10/6. 2nd – 12/8. 3rd – 11/9.
Losses and Margin: 4 Losses, outscored by a 15-3 clip.
Wins and Margin: 8 Wins. Outscored opponents, 30-8.
PIM: 108 Minutes in Penalties, or 9.00 minutes per game.
Goals scored per game: 2.75. Lowest full month average of the season.
Goals allowed per game: 1.92. 2nd best month of the season.
Assists per game: 3.92.
Championships: 1 for 1. GSL Playoffs Champions!
You may think that the grass is greener somewhere else. But grass is green in season, and I don’t know that there are any better seasons than our seasons.
Over a span of 30 days starting on Feb. 3rd through Mar. 3rd, 1inawesomewonder wrote up 26 hockey games. No one is quite sure why.
In a season there are countless split seconds and little spaces. These make up moments that can be larger than life in the moment of a kid. So, they battle the only way they know how, hoping always to live up to expectation first, and improve second. They’re growing. They’ll get it. Draw it up. Drill it. Reinforce it. Then expect it. They are the asset. It’s about them. (Photo by Mooney’s Moonshots)
Coach Tim draws up some could be’s and should be’s for the boys on the bench. Gavin is in a day dream, pondering where to rate his lunch on a scale of Top 50 lunches during the season. Side note: There was a citation written up for this photo as the Governor’s deemed that the drone had flown “a tad too close” to the players. Great shot though. (Photo by Mooney’s Moonshots)
Teddy mutters to himself, “Dang! Chang, we got a problem. I could have sworn that ref dropped the puck but I have no idea where it went”. Chase (a big Phil Hartman fan) thinks, “I have no idea what Teddy is saying, it’s all pops and buzzes over here”. (Photo by Mooney’s Moonshots)
Crouching Travis may have looked earlier like he was snoring, then, suddenly! Hidden You have no chance of scoring. (Photo by Mooney’s Moonshots)
An hour later, Teddy returns to the scene of the missing puck. And wins the draw. The ref is like, “Ha! Ya, okay. That kid still doesn’t know where the puck is. And who is Chang”? (Photo by Mooney’s Moonshots)
Yards of open ice are carved down to square inches of where the battles are won and lost. Consider structures as obstacles to overcome and nobody ‘out-hearts’ this team. And that is another of my all-time things about this team over the last five seasons. (Photo by Mooney’s Moonshots)
Countless hours of my life have been spent in the tracking of numbers while loving the sports and players that produce them.
Strat-O-Matic baseball board with my own notes written on the board. The two Sporting News magazines that I kept from 1977, with my favorite two players, Dr. J and Pistol Pete. Red Sox Yearbook from a trip to Fenway, Fred Lynn’s last season in Boston.
My brief note sheet tracking the 2010 Flames six goals on Saturday at JFK. My notes were significantly shorter than the game itself.
The other side of Saturday’s notes. Multiple games, and a practice autograph to make sure a new pen writes the way I like. Plus you never know when one might run into autograph seekers.
I would ask for the Sporting News Register for hockey, baseball, basketball, and football every year for Christmas. Every box score, every stat, pictures, and countless stories. Those were my favorites.
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.
