Congratulations! The Titans had a great tournament, finishing 2nd, dropping the finals to a very good Bethlehem Blast team. Finishing off the home team AC Sharks in the semis, and knocking off 2 Long Island opponents were highlights of a job well done by players and coaches. More pictures to come later….
As we have become more accustomed to winning, the weekend sweep was not unusual (although if you had told us that in October, we would have not believed it). Sunday we outplayed a Nutley team with a goal parade 7-1, with the highlight of the session a Jared “roofer” that broke the backs of the Nutley squad.
Saturday’s win at home vs. Princeton was the sweetest of the season. A team that had pummeled us at the Baker Arena 9-1 a few short months ago was shocked by the turn of events. After they dominated the first two shifts, we settled down, and had breakaway after breakaway, and truly played as a team. The wingers covered their points as they pinched, and eventually we broke through, Richie with his non shot goal, and Dave with a break from the wall. It was 2-1 after 1. Princeton fought back with another 2 goals, one on the powerplay, but Chris F. scored consecutive goals from right in front of the net, helped by JP, Donny and Zack. With the clock winding down, the Tigers pulled their goalie, and once more Dave broke out with the puck and slid it in at the buzzer for a 5-3 lead, and the most satisfying win of the year.
A 7-5 Saints win was not taken that badly by the boys. This same team manhandled us at their place earlier in the year. Sunday we took it to them, and enjoyed a see-saw festival. Their #17 scored 5 times and assisted on the other two. We spread it around nicely Dave and Richie scored, but of particular note, Don, Chris F. assisted Zack A. on a pretty goal. Zack played a monster forecheck, and Dylan B had a pretty break away goal off a smart change.
At the beginning of the season we never had nail biters. We are finding new ways to win them with a 3-2 victory at Abe Stark in Brooklyn over the GNY Stars. Richie and Dave had earlier tallies and Chris M. scored what would be the game winner late in the second, and we held on as the Stars nearly prevailed. Mark made some great stops at the end, and with less than a minute left, we got the benefit of a kicked out post, just before they slid one under the goalie pads. The ref made a brave call, and we escaped Brooklyn with the win.
Two wins over the weekend helped the Bantams to maintain their post Thanksgiving winning ways. First we got a gritty 4-3 win in Hackettstown over the Blizzard who we lost to in Hershey, and allowed them to tie us up at home. This third meeting was the charm. Chris F. buried the game winner following an untimely Blizzard change. Earlier, Richie had two goals and Connor deflected a JP shot for a tally. Mark was outstanding.
Sunday we hung on after opening a big lead against a bigger but slower Quaker team. Rich and Dave were hot early. We let up somewhat so they made it close in the end, 5-4 was the final. Coach Tom was not satisfied with the win and thought we could play better. This shows how far we have come. We expect the boys to play well because they have gotten so much better.
The Bantams ended December with an exciting 5-4 victory at Mercer. The boys were down 2-0, and rallied back. The comeback started with Donny scoring from a nice move and feed from Connor. Dave was spectacular on his next goal, flipping the puck behind himself off the glass, then off his own rebound and then backhander by the keeper. Johnny was a strong attacker and got his own goal followed by a hug and lift from Richie.
Another Dave goal but us up 4-3, but a lapse in defense let the equalizer though and then Richie took a penalty on a hard check.
With the score tied, and the penalty running out, the Chiefs took their timeout with just over a minute to play. Dave won the draw back to Jared who fed Richie right out of the box. Zack picked up the puck, got it back to Richie who hit Dave, while Zach crashed, making the goalie hug the left post. Dave found the top right empty and buried it for the game winner!
The team has come a long way, not losing a game in December and looking forward to a good start to 2010.
With the 5-2 win on Sunday, the Bantam Team extended their streak to 3 games, and perfect for December.
The Kings, Riverbank Rangers, and NY Stars all were victims of good positioning, defense, and offense…and Dave is on a tear, scoring 6 last weekend. But it’s all the result of good team work. Chris F is back from his slashed thigh, Donny, John and Rich have been playing good center, and Mark has been better than good between the pipes. The defense has shut them down, keeping goals per game down to under 2 during this period. The nicest game was last Saturday when we got to play outside in Manhattan. Some of the boys got to check out the rest of the city while there….although we did almost lose the goalie!
Dave goes all the way at Riverbank (sorry, Zach blocks the airborne Dave in the center shot, but he did score)
Winter Classic
Here is Mark before we lost him…
MARK??
We found him by Sunday…And Mike almost climbs over this guy for the puck
Hershey was a blast. The hockey was good, and we fought to the end. The last game was a thriller. For those that missed it, Jared put us up 1-0, and Hershey tied it. We played penalty free hockey. Connor & Donny both beat the goalie high with impressive shots and we were winning 3-2 in the third after a bouncer beat Mark. Nick’s broken arm was hurting and Connor took a tough check to the boards, and we were shorter than short on the bench. Mark kept us in it, but we were getting shots too. Coach Tom took a time out after Mark stopped 5 straight. Hershey outlasted us, and took the lead with under 3 minutes to go on a play where we lost Johnny who stopped a slapper with his fingers (ouch!), and hobbled to the bench after skating like a demon all weekend. Despite the close loss there were only smiles as we left the rink. Families also had a great time. Thanks to Rose for all her work.
Coach Walsh summed up the weekend with the following note:
Parents,
Just wanted to drop you all a note to say that the boys played hard this weekend, right to the end on Sunday night. Looking back on the tournament, by my rough count, of the 12 periods we played, we tied 3 periods, won 1, and lost 5 others by 1 goal. So for 75% of the tournament we played like an A caliber team…unfortunately as we all know, that percentage has to be much closer to 100% to win games at that level. Still, I think this tournament was a good progress report for the players and the coaches as we competed well through the entire weekend. Coach Steve and I are especially happy with the solid effort we gave right through the final buzzer of each game, particularly against Pearl River, which yielded their only 1/2 point to us heading into the finals.
That said, “good progress” doesn’t mean we are complacent…we have a lot of work ahead of us and Coach Steve and I are committed to making sure we continue to improve physically and mentally all the way through season’s end in mid-March.
The boys continue to bring a great attitude to the rink every game and practice.
I want to continue to stress attendance at practice as a critical part of the final three months of this season.
The entire team deserves a pat on the back…and some rest tonight. See all of you on Wednesday…
With 2 good outings, the Titans enjoyed a good weekend before Thanksgiving to get us ready for Hershey. However the injury toll was not good for our team. Hollydell, a team that beat us previously 6-3 at home was a good opponent to showcase our improvement. We started the game with a 1-0 first period lead. In the second, Andrew skated the puck and got off a shot. Connor’s diving stab at the rebound gave the Titans the lead. Shortly after, Chris M. went out with his injury. Zach, playing D for the injured Nick worked with Jared, JP and Andrew to keep the puck out of the house, and Dillon had some good clearing plays to hold the lead.
In the second it was Andrew again with a slapper which bounced around in front before Mike got it to Dave who whacked it in. 2-0 Titans. The ‘Canes came back to narrow the lead to 2-1, where it stayed until the 3rd. Richie on the penalty kill caught a Cane’s pass in the legs and drove in alone for a shorthanded goal to make it 3-1. The Canes came right back down the ice and shot a rocket by Mark (who was 25 of 27) for a 3-2 game. Not long after Chris F. went down with his gash, Richie and Mike combined for the empty netter to seal the deal.
Without 4 skaters, Fonte (laceration) Jared (ribs) and Zach (sick grandma) did not make it to Hollydell. Nick (broken wrist) played his position on the bench well, but it left us with 2 regular D and Chris M., returning from his injury with a shiny new helmet, played great with JP and Andrew on D against a much bigger Saints squad Sunday. The game was close, 1-1 after 1 and 3-2 late in the second, when we had a momentary collapse. With under 2 minutes, 3 quick Saint goals put the game out of reach. We closed out the 3rd, sucking wind, but giving up none. Good job boys, get healthy for next week!
In case you were wondering if the Titans second goal was in, here is a clip from the video. Click to see the puck behind the goalie. and a link to the video:
And Connor actually ‘flew’ in the goal he scored. Click to enlarge or watch the Video
A bad day to be named Chris. Both were injured in a hard fought win at Hollydell, with Chris M. taking a ride into the wall and banging up his ribs/shoulder, leaving the game in the first period, and Chris F. taking a gash to the leg after a clean check late in the 3rd. He. seemed the more serious of the injuries as he was rushed to the hospital and took 16 stitches to close a deep skate wound, and appears out for Hershey. Mom and Dad were resting comfortably at Kat’s play afterward, and they hope not to have such trauma again. Chris was in good spirits and had minimal pain considering his doctor was a Phillies fan and Chris was wearing his Yankee Champions shirt. A brave Chris M was planning on coming to Sunday’s contest at Ramapo. Recap on the game and some video later…Its early in the morning. Update…Jared also out with rib pain, rumor spread from the boys txt msg “Jred hrt ribs hded 2 hsptl”…details as they come.
