Championship Game, News, 4-Dombek, NW, 2013-2014 (Oakville Rangers Hockey Club)

This Team is part of the 2013-2014 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Mar 29, 2014 | Mike Dombek | 397 views
Championship Game
Wow!


The Ice Dogs knew a month long break between their last game and the final Championship game was not a schedule that would favour either team but the Ice Dogs less so in the long run.  The Ice Dogs playoff run was a result of hard work and peaking at the right time in the schedule.  The lack of meaningful play for an entire month threatened to derail that momentum. 

The Ice Dogs found their intensity during a full ice practice on the Thursday prior to the final game.  The practice was high speed and full of energy.  The boys carried this energy to the final game.  They came out on fire and applied relentless pressure to the opponents.  The Ice Dogs carried the play in the offensive end for the majority of the game.  The stellar defence and goal tending by the Kondrat team kept the score tied at 0-0 until late into the second period despite many glorious chances by the Ice Dogs.  A scramble in front of the downed Kondrat goalie resulted in the first Ice Dogs goal scored by Alex G assisted by Liam T. 

The battle continued through the third in which the Ice Dog goalie, Alex B, made a few spectacular saves to preserve the tenuous lead.  Alex also made a new best friend in the form of a crossbar.  With less than a minute left the Kondrat team pulled their goalie and it was all the Ice Dogs could do to clear their zone.  With 20 seconds left in the game and possibly the season, the Ice Dogs left winger, Robbie, was able to get away down the boards for a shot on the open net.  With 17 seconds left the puck crossed the goal line and entered the net.  That was the final straw in the Kondrat attempt to tie.  The final 17 seconds were uneventful and the boys counted down the final 10 seconds on the bench.  The buzzer sounded and the Ice Dogs celebration began. 

A very long season came to an end.  The boys, and parents, bought into the hard work ethic required to get this team to the championship final.  It was a team effort in the truest sense of the term.  There were no individual superstars on the team but all were superstars in their positions.  They learned to trust each other and maintain their positions even when a team mate faltered.  They realized if one player failed to work hard, the team would not be successful.  The players accepted their roles and realized everyone's role was not necessarily to score.  The defence took pride in preventing players and pucks from entering the slot.  They took pride in clearing their zone quickly and keeping the puck in the other teams end as long as possible.  The parents found the time to bring the players to extra practices, and they found the trust in the coaches to allow them to follow the season long plan.  The hard and thankless work of the team manager, John, allowed for the most effective use of time and money not to mention the generous prize donations for the team fund raisers. 

It was a sad moment on Thursday when I put my coaches equipment away for the last time this season, but win or lose in the Championship Final, the hard work was worth it.  Let's do it all again next season!!!!


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