“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times”
Now I’m not much of a
book reader, but when I went to high school back when dinosaurs ruled the earth
there was a book on the forced reading list that came to mind
As the Waste Management Minor Peewees travelled to Brampton for a double header with the Battalion and the Halton Hurricanes.
I’m not certain of the author’s name but I think it was Charlie Dickens or something like that. He scribed, “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times”. I don’t know whatever became of Charlie or if he ever amounted to anything but he sure hit the nail on the head in describing the games on this Saturday afternoon. The “worst of times” started sometime on Saturday morning when a winter storm blew up as the Highlander nomads hitched their wagons and headed south to meet the Brampton Battalion for game number one. They all arrived from their many points north with salt encrusted vehicles at different times but as always, on time.
Dressing Room Number 4 seemed a peaceful place. The gladiators arrived one by one to gird their loins for a tough game against the Brampton boys who seemed to be improving as the season moves forward. And all was well. Both teams shook hands and the game was still tied. Then some idiot dropped the puck and ruined our whole morning. Nothing seemed to go right for our guys in this game, save for some fine scattered individual efforts by Troy Weber on the back check, Quinton Maddock with a few good hits and Evan Spencer who was probably the most consistent player and was awarded the www.hockeyshot.ca player of the game award. Just telling it like it was folks. Brampton scored 3 in the First and 4 in the Second and were full value for the effort as the Highlanders could not seem to get it together for any sustained effort. We did improve however in the Third Period and held them scoreless although we failed to put any on the board. The final score was 7-0 and they left the ice.
Dressing Room number 4 seemed a peaceful place. That is where the post game support group met and all was quiet as Coach Tom barely lifted his head, spat in the spittoon and scored dead center. “Ain’t missed in ten year”’ he said. Now we are not sure what happened after that but it’s safe to say that each of the warriors probably received a performance review and most were requested to show some improvement moving forward. This was not our finest hour but these guys are a tough lot. They are still battling injuries to key players and sticking together as a team. They gathered their gear, their pride and held their heads high. The wagon train headed west to meet the Halton Hurricanes.
It was Saturday evening at the Powerade Centre and the Highlanders were assigned the now infamous Dressing Room number 4.........perfect. It seemed to be a peaceful place. And it was. The Waste Management Minor Peewees were a more focused group this night and they knew that it would take a great team effort to dethrone the Halton squad who have humbled a lot of teams this season. And our guys were up to the task.
This was a great hockey game and the Highlanders carried the play from the start. Ryan Winter held the fort, the defence was strong and the forwards were creating a lot of great scoring chances. There was no quarter given in this match and both teams were equal to the task. Just a great period of hockey folks by both teams that ended scoreless.
The Second period saw more of the same and became more physical. Then with about 11 minutes to play Troy Weber with a strong forecheck created a forced error as a Hurricane made a great pass to the wrong sweater colour. That sweater belonged to Noah Johnson and his shot had the eyes of a searching hawk as he smashed one where Grandma keeps the cookies. The Highlanders held that lead until Halton scored a great one of their own to even it up and scored from a scramble late in the Second. After two Periods of play the score was 2-1 for Halton and both teams were playing tough, determined hockey.
The game continued to be a solid effort by both teams and I’m sure that there will be some bruises to tend to when this is all said and done. The Highlanders had a lot of good scoring chances in the Third but the Hurricane goalie was up to the task and shut us out for the rest of the game. Our goaltender was also outstanding this afternoon and was reluctant in giving up two more goals in the last Period. We lose this one 4-1 and both teams came to play.
This was fine Canadian hockey game that had everything: great passes, shots, saves and some solid and fair contact. It was a “spirited” affair and a lot of guys were sent to feel shame from time to time. I’m thinkin there was probably some pretty good old fashioned chirping going on too. But we’ll never know for sure. The parents and fans of both teams should be very proud of their boys on this afternoon. The www.hockeyshot.ca player of the game was well earned by Ryan Winter.
But the weekend wasn’t over for the Highlanders and they licked their wounds and rested up to meet the Brampton Battalion for the second time this weekend at the Chesley Arena on Sunday afternoon. They were determined to put in a better effort than their first meeting on Saturday.........and they did just that.
Jack Armstrong was the goaltender of note for this one and he had a great game. The Highlanders started off well from the first puck drop and almost scored on the first shift as the line of Michael Fiegehen, Evan Spencer and Noah Solinger gave notice that they came to play. We had a lot of great scoring chances but the strong Battalion squad finally scored two power play goals at the end of the period to take a 2-0 lead going to the Second.
There continued to be great plays made by both teams in that stanza and both teams had difficulties breaking the others’ defence. Brampton finally scored with less than a minute to go to make the score 3-0 going to the Third. It has been a tough weekend for the Highlanders who were going into the third Period a tired and bruised gaggle but it was tough sledding against a polished Battalion team who scored two more until Evan Spencer banged one in late in the period assisted by Jakob Lee and Ethan Bullivant. Brampton had the final word in the last seconds and the won the game 6-1. The www.hockeyshot.ca player of the game was Noah Johnson who is just returning from injury status and was a solid performer.
The post game discussion was significantly more tame this time as the Highlanders put in a much better performance and probably deserved better. But they were a little slow on leaving dressing room number 3 on this day. I had to see what was wrong so I went down there. Their chins were on the floor. “Whatup you guys?” Good ole Quinton Maddock offered “We just lost three in a row and sometimes we just stunk out there”. It was time for a pep talk only a Grandpa can get away with. “Yeah, yer right......... at times you were all just rotten. .... “Does anybody want to play “pull my finger?””. Well, long story short, there were lots of volunteers. The chins came up off the floor.......dressing room #3 cleared in quick odour and all was right in the world once again.
Let’s be proud of these Highlanders. They have had a tough year but these are tough kids and they have never, not once, not ever given up. They are my heroes.
We go at it again next Saturday in Welland and Sunday High Noon at the Markdale Coral when we meet the Burlington Eagles.
See ya there.
Grandpa