Tournament predictions

A practice tomorrow night and then Thursday we are into our first tournament of the season and a chance to see the team in action for real.

There is a lot of excitement and anticipation on the part of the parents and coaches about how the boys are going to do, not just in the tournament but also in the season in general. The tournament will take care of itself and is really only a stepping-stone into the season and league play. Whether or not they know how to run an effective penalty kill, for instance, is less important then seeing how, or if, they compete and the process of them playing together and becoming a team.

There is excitement from the kids because they should get their game jerseys at the practice tomorrow night and then they can start to look, I.E. feel, like a real team.

A buddy of mine, who has a son on, and he is the manager of, another team in the same division as Hockey Player’s team, which also happens to be in the same tournament, said to me that expects to have most of the parents on his team in a state of shock by the end of the tournament. He said that 75% of the kids from his team came from select/ house league programs last year and might be in for a rude awakening playing at a level higher then they played last year.

We have maybe half of our team from select/hl programs, and the difference in skill level shows, but the kids work hard and they are willing to compete.

My prediction for the tournament is that the team goes 1-2, with no loss by more then 4 goals.