We started bright & early with the Atoms at home at 815 v Blacktown Flyers.
With over half the team being new players, either new to the sport, or just new to the club, it was always going to be an interesting game. Blacktown as always came to win, however there were a dozen little obstacles in their way, 4 of them, with old SAINTS club pride, 2 of them wanting to show that the SAINTS are now their club too, & the other 6 just keen to play & strut their stuff.
AND STRUT THEIR STUFF, THEY ALL DID. Players old & new , big & small, delighted & entertained the crowd,
ALL starting to please their coach & enjoy their game. From the amazing skills of Zac, combining with Matthew , to run riot over their opposition for the majority of the game with both of them scoring a multitude of goals , to our defence from Dylan & Calvin helping stop opposition raids time & time again & the tireless effort of our goalie Ryan with his never say die attitude. We all know that while the forwards are the glamours & attention seekers of the game the Defence are the heroes.
In the Atoms we have both, from Chloe throwing herself in one end & chasing all the way to the other,aided by Maddison & Tom continually helped by Ray Sam & Tianna. While these last few are new to the game & still finding their way they have learnt fast with Chloe & Tianna also getting their first penalties for the season.
While there is room for improvement the standard they have achieved already is a credit to their coaches & parents.
A nice way to start the season at home with a win, CONGRATULATIONS ATOMS on a job well done, & someone told me you all enjoyed yourselves as well, that is a BONUS.
Next up The PEEWEES take on The Gladiators with our boys & girls 10 in total challenging for another win under their belt.
Leila had a great start with 21 shots on her, conceding only one goal, 2 period shut out. Most of the big guys dream of those figures. Our goalie was just one of our heroes with the D of Bayley & Jordan , Ethan & Daniel never giving an inch & obviously, without their supreme efforts we would have lost.
With Zac, Ellesse & Jack, leading the charge for goals & all bagging a few, they wouldnt have gotten anywhere, without the efforts from Corey, who made a goal possible for Jack, & Shakeel & Tim who, while new to the game, showed that they are keen to get involved & show their skills adding value to the team.
Keep on keeping on, Peewees, show them the new team, to be reckoned with in 2010.
Bantams, step up next, with their first taste of full contact & against the GIANTS of the comp NEWCASTLE. They dont come any bigger than this lot as I looked eye to eye to quite a few of them, recognising 13 state players in their side .
Our Bantams bravely skated on, a little in awe, but all keen to get on with it. With only our Captain Martin, with a season of Bantam's experience under his belt, & Casey & Courtney having played just a handfull of Bantams games, we are up against 10, full seasoned Bantam players & none who haven’t played before.
Big hits are the order of the day with Newcastle dishing them out left right & centre, still not one of our Bantams backed away.
With Cody, Dieter & Damien being continually charged & bowled over, to the frustration of Newcastle they kept on getting back up. Jack & Ellesse realised they were in a Bantam game & there is a huge difference between that & Peewees, but neither took a backward step.
The new SAINTS BANTAMS big boys on the block Josh , Greg, Christian & Dominic wanted a piece of them & got it with Melissa dishing out one of the biggest hits of the game on one of the biggest Bantams in the comp. She didnt fall over, he is still thinking about it.
They changed their tactics after the first period, when they were only in front by 2, & started to pick on our smaller players, Courtney, Madey & Ellesse, after that didnt work, they started to run out of tricks. While all of these players got absolutely hammered they jumped to their skates to not only carry on but Ellesse scored a goal to get his revenge, on the scoreboard, as it should be.Josh decide he had enough of being pushed around & knocked over & stood his ground when one of the Newcastle Giants had another go this time they fell but Josh was still on his feet.
Casey was their next target, but he not only eluded them for most of the game, he put a couple into the boards himself, as well as scoring two goals just to rub it in.He eventually got nailed a couple of times but having no fear or brains, that didnt phase him.
Edgo copt a hammering of 37 shots on, only conceding 7, 2 in an unlucky lapse of concentration by him & his defencemen in the closing minutes of the last period.
Our Bantams never gave in with Casey scoring a classic team goal with the assist from Martin & Ellesse making it possible in the last minute of the game.
Words from the Coach, in short Newcastle dont have much room for improvement, whereas we get better, every time we step on the ice. See you next time Newcastle, we will be looking forward to it, where it wont be so easy.Strangely enough I spoke to the Newcastle coach, who said that was a difficult game, from start to finish, they thought they would get to double figures but just couldnt break us, we kept on coming back at them.
Midgets at 615 that night at SIA against the Emperors. A tough game, we knew in advance. Having played them in the Heaton Cup with a narrow victory & them now being boosted with a player returning from Canada, out to impress & show what he has learnt, we knew it would be close.
Things didnt go our way, from the start, with 3 players including the Captain, arriving late ( 10 minutes before the start ) because of the President, & then the game starting 5 minutes early, things were not running smooth to start with.
It didnt get any better despite our best efforts & with 2 goals going in, but not being awarded we knew it was an uphill battle. Penalties began stacking against us with some strange calls being made., it doesn’t do any good arguing with the ref, so just play the whistle.
A game I am sure they would like to forget, but it should be remembered, so we can learn from our mistakes, & there were plenty of them.
WIN LOSE OR DRAW BOYS your supporters should be thanked. This should be a team effort not just 2 of you.
Dissapointing to say the least, lets not see this repeated. Most of the fans are your parents , a thankyou is the least you can do.
Rushing back from SIA to our home ice for the womens game v The Bears. Bears seemed to have all the good luck ( whereas we had all the bad luck ) as their breaks got results, & we couldnt quite get the puck in the net, our girls struggled to get out of first gear, & while there was some strong efforts put in by some, not quite enough from all players at the same time, therefore rewards were few & far between.
Grab some extra training ladies, Friday nights before you go out is a start, with an intensive off ice session, available at the club for only a few dollars. FRIDAY NIGHT I KNOW
Again with new players & some missing players they will take some time to find form , but I have seen you turn things around many times before & know that next week will be a different story.
Good to see the Women know how to treat their opponents & their supporters, no matter what the result,the traditional thankyou was given.
Seniors turn now with The Arch Angels v The Falcons, jumping on the ice & their opponents from the face off . Non stop action with Dean & Matt playing like they were back in Midgets & skating at 100kph, chasing the puck & hassling the opposition. Goals were a plenty with Jimmy never saying die & I think he nearly did ” the splits,” stopping a certain goal, although he did get back to his feet so it couldnt have been the splits could it Jim
Jared, Justin & Peter certainly had the game covered with smiles on their faces as some rehearsed moves went their way. It appeared to be a case of the Black helmet line & the White helmet line, ( making things easy ) although Chris, with his stand out green helmet, had to mix it with both lines of colours.
Arch Angels were triumphant making the game look easy at times, great to get a win at home
Titans next v Penrith Phantoms, a much anticipated game from the start especially considering who is who, in each team, with Bob now a SAINT & Ben Bennett wanting to settle some old summer comp issues.
Another goalie having to earn his keep & make up for some out of position defence men ,Matt got a workout all game as Penrith continued to attack the goals, a few lapses in defence, coupled with some penalties, not going our way & at crucial stages made it a difficult battle all game.
While Titans played some great hockey, Penrith were just out of reach, every time we scored, they would do the same. Unfortunately they beat us to the finish line, but since a majority of the Titans are still getting used to each other & our “imports”, are still trying to get used to the rules, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
We have a long season ahead of us, I will try & get to as many games as I can. Good luck to all
GO THE SAINTS.