This is a very happy blog entry I’m writing. This weekend I had the privilege of watching four great hockey teams battle it out for Nova Scotia Division II supremacy. The team I am a coach of, the Central Kings Gators, was one of two teams from the Western Region who earned the right to compete for the title. The other teams were the NKEC Titans (the other Western Region team), the Dalbrae Dragons from Cape Breton Region, and from the Metro Region, the Eastern Shore Schooners. Thanks to team building, some hard work and a little luck, Mike Landry, Danny Grant, Frank Woodworth, Jay Abrecht, and myself watched our Gators end the tournament as Division II champions!
As I was watching these young athletes battle it out, it struck me and the other coaches as the purest form of competition we have been witness to in a long while. These young athletes aren’t playing for million dollar paydays. There’s no endorsements to be had. There was nothing making them play in this three day tournament but the desire to be the best team in the province. While that seems on the surface to be the logical reason to play sports, in this day and age, the promise of quick cash and pro contracts seem to hinder that fun and love of the game.
We started slowly, losing Game 1 6-3 to the Titans. This was a game that left us wondering how badly our boys wanted to win. We had a 3-1 lead and in the last five minutes, allowed five straight goals. It was a complete meltdown.
The next day we were faced with a very bad schedule. We had to play and win three straight games to be in the championship the next day. To make matters worse, we had to play the team that defeated the Titans (the early favorites) 3-2, the Eastern Shore Schooners. The Schooners were the talk of the tournament after they had won their first two games buy cialis overnight. Given the meltdown against the Titans the evening before, we weren’t given much of a chance. Our goaltender had had a very shaky start, which led us to wonder how much his head was in the game.
We won the next game by a 2-1 score against a weak Dalbrae team. Nothing to be excited about there…and now the Schooners stood before us.
Our goalie had surprised us against Dalbrae, as the boys didn’t play to their potential and Mitchell Woodworth still won us the game. We could sense something special happening with him. I had had a one to one chat with him earlier in the day that lasted fifteen minutes, and he seemed to respond. He became a brick wall, slamming the door shut on the Schooners and allowing us to build a 4-1 lead. Penalty trouble and some bad breaks allowed Eastern Shore to make it 4-3 before the win was sealed with an empty net goal.
We were now slated to play the semi-final game for the right to play in the championship. As luck would have it, we had to face the Eastern Shore squad again. We coaches were a little nervous, as our goaltending had a habit of turning in a horrid performance after a great one. Eastern Shore obviously wanted to win as well, but Mitchell continued to improve, turning in a 2-0 shutout! The win put us into the finals against the Titans. We had suffered seven losses this season, and all seven were against NKEC. It was the only team we had never had a win against all season. Now we just needed to win once.
Mitch stood on his head, Jeremy Foote added a late third period goal, Chris Alguire, Ricky Sawler, and Mitch Getson added insurance. The CK boys had won the Nova Scotia Division II title for the first time in 15 years!!! The boys earned every win, they deserved it, and it is they, not the coaches, that deserve all the credit and praise for a weekend of hockey never to be forgotten.
The players on NKEC were crushed…some in tears. For some, it is the last chance they would have of winning a Division II provincial title and the heartbreak seen on those kids’ faces will be something I will not forget for a long time. It was a classic game, scoreless until halfway through the third. It is a shame someone had to lose.
But today belongs to CK. The banner belongs to the Gators. I want to make special mention to Mitch Woodworth, the goalie who had suffered a lot of bad press throughout the year, but rose to the occasion when it counted most. He is an amazing goaltender and we are so lucky to have him for next year.
So congratulations go out to the CK Gators, the 2009 Division II champions! Well done, boys! This is your moment!