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Comments 02/13/10 Comments 02/10/10 Comments 02/06/10 Comments 02/03/10
Comments - 01/21/10 The boys lost their first three games, which was very disappointing. In the first game against the Palm Beach Blackhawks the boys played hard but the game was full of penalties on both sides. The penalty count led to a running clock in the third period which started with the Blackhawks up 3 to 0. The Hitmen came back scoring 2 goals in the third period, but they ran out of time to tie the game up. Blackhawks won 3 to 2. As I said, this game was full of penalties, but the most outrageous event was probably the beat down by the Blackhawk goalie given to Kevin Rullman. Unbelievably, the goalie was given only a 2 minute minor for roughing after holding Kevin down and pounding him with the help of a Blackhawk defenseman. Take a look at the video on YouTube: Goalie Gone Wild Our next game on Saturday afternoon was against the hosting team: Orlando Knights. By comparison, this was a clean and uneventful game. Unfortunately, the Hitmen lost 6 to 3. The Sunday night game was against the Tampa Bay Stingrays. This one was another penalty filled game that resulted in a third period running clock. The Hitmen lost 2 to 1, but I think the terrible refereeing had more to do with the loss than anything else. The boys played an excellent power game that was one of their best performances of the year in spite of losing. Monday afternoon's game was the consolation game with the Blackhawks once again. This meeting of the two teams would turn out different. There were still plenty of penalties to go around, but, after the great game play from the night before, the Hitmen were ready to win this game. Hitmen win 3 to 1. Now a few observations and personal comments ... While the Hitmen only placed 3rd in the official standings; unofficially, the Hitmen won the tournament. Based on discussions with tournament officials and other team players and parents in attendance, we found out the following issues: It turns out that the Blackhawks played their first game against us with a suspended, and therefore ineligible, player in the game. When this came to light the next day, the Blackhawks should have been required by the tournament to forfeit the game giving the win to the Hitmen. We later learned that the Knights who also defeated us on Saturday had played an unrostered Junior B goalie disguised as their regular rostered goalie. The Knights should have been required by the tournament officials to forfeit the game giving the win to the Hitmen. After Sunday's game, we were informed that the Tampa Bay Stingrays had brought in 4 unrostered Junior level players to supplement their team. The Stingrays should have been required by the tournament officials to forfeit the game giving the win to the Hitmen. Basically, the Hitmen were the only team in our division with a valid roster of players. In my opinion, the funny business with the team rosters; the bizarre refereeing on the ice; and the poor and disinterested response by the tournament officials, leads me to conclude that the Orlando Tournament is not a very good one to go to. Particularly for any team not from Florida.
News - 12/21/09 On December 12 our first game was against the McKinney Lions (Coach Dolan) at the new Dr. Pepper Star Center in McKinney. I'm not sure where the molasses slow, sleeping zombies wearing the Hitmen uniforms came from, but they played terribly. No excuses for this game; the McKinney team out-skated, out-shot, and out-scored the Hitmen 8 to 0. Wow, what a disappointment. Our second game that Saturday was against the Odessa Jackalopes and what a good game that was. The Odessa team had a 10-2 record and was in second place in our division. The boys had been nervous about playing this team, but after Saturday morning's total drubbing at the hands of McKinney, they came out ready to play. No sleeping zombies on the ice this time. This was a great game with the Hitmen winning 7 to 4. Sunday's game we once again faced Coach Dolan's McKinney Lions team and this time things would be different. No zombies this day. After the win against Odessa on Saturday, the team was fired up and ready to play Hockey! The Hitmen scored first and soon were on top of the Lions 2-0. The Hitmen slowed down some in the second period and the Lions evened up the game to 2-2. The third period was a hard fought defensive game with both teams giving it everything they had. With only 1.8 seconds left on the clock, the Lions managed to squeak in a game winning goal. Congratulations go to the McKinney Lions for the 3-2 win, but the Hitmen showed everyone that Saturday's miserable loss was a fluke and that they can give as good as they get. The Team Christmas party last Saturday night was fun. Most of the
boys made it to Joe's Crab Shack for the party. Joe's is a fun place for
things like this. Surprise Santa white elephant gifts were exchanged
between the boys and coach. I've posted some of the photos I took even
though the lighting was terrible. I also have an IPOD compatible video
available for download.
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