Sometimes things just don't go as planned right? The Ice Dawgs played 3 on 3 Hockey at Canlan Ice Sports, and competed hard all summer. Our season came down to a winner-take-all, do-or-die, one-game playoff against a team that handily beat us 16-8 and 15-9 in our worst losses of the season. Okay, maybe handily beat us is an understatement. They CRUSHED us. Things were looking bleak. The team was hoping for any other team other than Black Horse to play in the playoffs. To make things worse, our leading scorer and league scoring champion was lost for the game due to his Waxers' Team advancing to the finals of their tournament. Alfred had scored 11 of the 17 goals we scored against Dark Horse during the season. Then word came that two other players that scored some big goals for us (Steven and Nolan) would not be able to make the game. We were down to six skaters and a goalie against a team that could wheel and shoot the lights out.
Early in the morning an email came through that a fourth player (Sam) would miss the game due to illness. Wow! We wouldn't even have two lines for this game. 3 on 3 hockey, full ice, five skaters! UNREAL!!
Pulling up to the arena, I had been speaking with the other coach on how to manage the bench. We had ONE D and FOUR forwards. We would start the one D with a couple of forwards and just hope that when he wasn't on, we had a forward covering. The song Brave, by Sara Bareilles was playing. That was it, I would tell the team to be Brave during the pre-game talk. It was a pretty quiet room, well mostly because there were only six kids in it. :) There wasn't a lot of hope amongst the parents as they looked around and saw five skaters. The coaches stepped out and basically said to each other, let's do this. We have the six of the seven kids here that have stepped up all season when we needed a big game. We should have a shot if everyone keeps shifts short. Parents were told to make sure water bottles were filled and it was go time!
The pre-game talk was basically 1. if they get near our goalie, knock them down, 2. keep your feet moving at all times, 3. You can only change when the puck is going into the offensive end, 4. keep shifts short and don't let your team down by getting caught on the ice tired, and 5. BE BRAVE!
We made it through the first shift, although it was only about 45 seconds long. As the first period went on, we were down 3-0 and the game was only 10 minutes old. We got one back at the end of the first and the coaches looked at each other and said "we've got them, we can win this". The players came over and were told to keep doing what they are doing and crash the net on the other side. As the shifts got shorter and the players started realizing how tired they were, our bench resembled a turnstile more than a players' bench! There were times when all three kids would come off and one of the three had to walk right through and back on as we sprayed water at them. It was comical, but absolutely awesome to watch. These kids were playing for each other. At the end of two periods, we had a 5-4 lead!!
Players were told to keep it going. It was coming down to 15 minutes. I had to make sure they knew that 15 minutes is a long time to hold a lead on a team that had 10 players and lots of fresh legs. We had to keep it on. Black Horse was getting frustrated. They took a couple of cheap shots at Tyler and Jennah. We scored on both penalty shots. We were now up 7-5, when all of the sudden a goal was taken off. It was back to 6-5. Speaking to the ref, I was told it was Tyler's 3rd goal of the period. There is a max of 2 goals per player per period. That seemed to deflate our team a bit. Black Horse was energized and man did they bring it to us. Our goalie, Stefan, made 5 or 6 amazing saves, that may give Black Horse players nightmares for years to come. Then we popped goal #7 on another penalty shot. There were still 10 minutes left in the game. As players came off, they were told that they could do this. They needed to reach inside and bring out some strength. Everyone would only have about 10 or 11 shifts, so it was time to reach inside and just give it their all. DID THEY EVER!! After Black Horse scored, they went down and scored goal #8. With 4 minutes left, Dark Horse came down and scored their 7th goal. Our team was exhausted. Legs were burning, faces were red, and sweat was dripping down their faces. We made a mental error and there were four skaters on our bench. Little Jennah ended up being the only player on for a few seconds until we realized it. She killed about 20 seconds while playing keep-a-way with 3 Black Horse players behind their own net. THIS got the boys going. The only girl on the team could keep it away from three players, and it was ON! The goal was to dump the puck into the other team's end for the rest of the game and let them chase it. Wear them out and make quick changes to stay fresh. With 3 minutes to go, Adam was told to stay on and just play defence. That gave us two lines of forwards to kill the clock with while he just focussed on taking the puck away and sending it out. Black Horse finally broke in to our zone with 9 seconds left. On a 3 on 1, their forward passed to set up the other player for a one-timer. Puck hit Adam's skate and deflected back to our blue line and Tyler shot it out with 1.8 seconds left! The ICE DAWGS WON THE GAME!!!
After the game, there was ONE message to be conveyed. Yes, at the end of the day it is just a game. However, this game had more to it. This game is a life lesson for these 6 kids, and maybe even for the 10 kids on the other side. As well, it was a life lesson to everyone watching and the coaches on the bench! Quite often we have limiting beliefs that cause us to play small. We buy into our own excuses. We prepare ourselves for a loss by convincing ourselves why we shouldn't win. These Ice Dawgs would have no part in those excuses. I told them after the game that if they took one thing out of this summer season, it had to be that no matter what they are facing, battling, fighting, or up against, they now know that with hard work and belief in themselves they CAN win. With school, hockey, future employment, and, life in general, these six kids just proved to themselves and everyone watching that they can reach deep inside themselves and bring out that little extra that will keep them winners for life! If I had to pick an anthem for this team, it would be no other than Brave by Sara Bareilles! I am in awe of these little kids. No excuses, no quitting!
Well done Ice Dawgs! So proud to have been your coach this summer. I hope we get to do this again next summer, and I hope you NEVER forget how special you all are!
