Bantam

Finally, after a two week break for the school holidays…it’s GAME DAY!! The schedule has been kind to us as we only have to travel to Erina to take on the Rhinos – a situation that Ian and Jana Frazer would be wrapped in!

The pre-game warm-up was not ideal as the NSW DeFris training was on directly before our game – as we have 7 players on that team; it was natural that the flow of pre-game rituals would not be the same. Never the less, the boys lead by Michael Scott and Jed Adam-Jones did a great job even though Dechlan Ireland Grace and Alex Lynch turned up late – the Dad’s (Rodney and Shaun) had to do 50 pushups each for being late!! Mathew Shorter missed the warm-up totally due to a wrong turn…I’ll have to think of a suitable punishment for Kat!!

To the game – I spoke to the boys about practicing our power play moves in this game as special teams play will decide who wins or losses this competition. We also spoke about our offensive zone entries (going wide with the puck, 2^nd man hard to the net, and the 3^rd man going high in the “war zone” – standard stuff but we need to nail this to help destroy better teams than the Rhinos.)

After leaving the dressing room I noticed that the National Youth Team Coach (Pier Martin) was on their bench – they were pulling out all the stops to try and get an upset!! Luckily I have coached with Pier for 3 years so I knew his tricks…and we had some up our sleeves. Once again the pregame skate did not go as well as it has and I put that down to the fact we haven’t practiced as a team for 2 weeks and everyone was a little rusty. The NSW boys were a little tired after their 1 hour practice so the important thing was going to be if they played well in the game.

The Blue line started (Michael Scott, Jackson Knight, Alex Lynch, Mathew Sanderson, and Kieran Turnbull) and it was a bit “sloppy”. The White line (Jordan Lane, Jed Adam-Jones, Dechlan Ireland-Grace, Jake Teski, and Josh Hansen) followed them and, to be honest, there was not a lot of intensity in their shift either. I tried to pump up the Red line (Hayden Sheard, Patrick Nadin, Mathew Shorter, Luke Shafren, and Charlie Frazer) but that was to no avail either. As neither of the Assistant Coaches (Mat Lindsay and Adrian Parrot) were at the game I was finding it difficult to be able to speak to everyone when they were on the bench. I tried one more time with the Red line to explain what I wanted and finally, after 10 minutes of the game, Patrick nailed one with the assist coming from Hayden – this proved to be the winning goal in the end but it was really hard work. The Blue line then went on the ice and Jackson obviously wanted to prove a point as he scored a magnificent goal with one of the sweetest shots going “top shelf” that I have ever seen scored by a defenseman…all I can say is “well done Jackson”! This effort was assisted by Jake and Jed. Just 1 minute later, the White line got into the act with a great rush from Josh that resulted in a goal with help from Jed and Jordan. Not to be outdone, with just 41 seconds to go in the period, Dechlan blasted one into the back of the net to make it 4-0 for us and a good end to the period after a very slow and poor start.

I spoke to the team about staying in the game and focused on our objectives, overloading for our power play and zone entries…and to their credit they were doing this swell. It still took awhile in the 2^nd before we scored again, in fact almost 9 minutes before Hayden bothered the scorers with assists from Patrick and Luke. The line scored again just 1 minute later with Hayden again shooting a beauty and been ably helped by Patrick and Jordan. Hayden was starting to find his timing and his connection with Patrick was troubling the Rhinos. This made it 6-0 and it took another good 5 minutes before Jake blasted one that the Rhinos keeper had no answer for and it was 7-0. The goal had assists to it from Dechlan and Josh…Josh was playing a great defenseman’s game; good hitting, strong rushing with the puck and some good shooting that wasn’t being rewarded as it should have been. Again, the chemistry that is being formed between him and Jake is awesome! What could I say, at the end of the 2^nd I wanted the team to try hard for the shutout as that would allow Harley to equal Josh Broekman’s record as a Bantam (6 shutouts in a season)…you could see that they wanted it as well!

Well the 3^rd started like a wet week as well; when were we going to wake up? The boys tried hard but were denied by goal posts or just poor shooting. The 8^th goal was finally added after 10 minutes had been played when Alex popped one in from Hayden and Kieran. Then the moment we had been waiting for…the kid that has hit more posts this season than Steven Lindsay has in his whole career, finally put one between the posts. Yes, Michael Scott blasted one from the point that rolled, bounced, deflected, and went in!! It doesn’t matter how your first goal goes in, as long as it goes in! Congrats to you Michael and I hope many more are coming your way. Mathew Sanderson was the player who had passed the puck to Michael for his milestone goal. The 10^th and final goal was scored at the 2:19 minute mark by Dechlan with the assist going to Jed.  All in all, I was happy with the win even though we were a little rusty and sloppy but it was a good team effort with all the lines scoring and a lot of good team work all round the ice. We now have a 3 week break before we play again, at home, against the Blacktown Flyers…Bring it ON!!

It was a great drive down to one of our traditional graveyards…the Canterbury Eagles home rink. The sun was shining, it was a cold day, but something made me believe that today could be our day.

The pre-game warm up started a little late as 7 of the boys had NSW State team practice before the game but to their credit (and to Mum’s and Dad’s!) they were there well before the game started.

The on-ice warm up looked really shabby and I let the boys know that they had to lift their performance as we didn’t want a repeat of the Liverpool game whereby we won in the last few minutes of the game…the plan was to dominate the Eagles and I needed the guys focused on that mission.

We started the Red line to try and get some good “go forward” and they started like they had fueled up on our sponsors (SRH Milk Haulage) product as Canterbury were not ready for the pace of the game. The Eagles quickly got themselves in penalty trouble and it allowed us to try our power play skills. We still need to work on them as we didn’t even get a shot on their net!

It took a full 10 minutes of the 1st period before we could get on the board but a terrific goal by the old partnership – Hayden Sheard from Patrick Nadin and Matthew Shorter – put us in front. The 2^nd was added just 4 minutes later when the Red line hit the ice again and this time it was scored by Hayden with assists from Patrick and Matthew Sanderson who found himself on the ice during a change. Matt had carried the puck from our blueline through the neutral zone and then had the presence of mind to pass it forward to Pat and Hayden who finished off a very good team play. It was 2-0 at the end of the period and the Eagles had not taken a shot on Harley Quinton-Jones…a great compliment to our defensive game and the way our defense had been standing them up at our blueline. Coach Mat Lindsay has been working on this all season with the defensive core and it is just so pleasing to see it start to come to fruition.

The White line started the 2^nd period (Dechlan Ireland-Grace, Jed Adams-Jones, Connor Manwarring, Jake Teskie, and Josh Hansen) and it didn’t take long before Jed found the net on a delightful unassisted goal. He really worked hard for this and their goaltender had no answer to the pin point accuracy that saw the puck bulge the back of the net. We were really turning the heat up now and soon Matthew Shorter popped one, a rebound from a shot by Patrick after a great pass from Charlie Frazer. The other defenseman on the line, Luke Shafren, had been working hard to keep the puck in their end and if there was ever a reason to award a 3^rd assist; it would have been on this goal!

5 minutes later, Hayden scored his 3^rd – his hatrick – and we threw Coach Adrian’s beanie on the ice…yes we finally brought a hat!! This goal had been assisted by Jackson Knight on a nice defensive “rush” and then he “head manned” the puck to Hayden, another really good team goal. The 6^th goal finished the period for us; it was scored by Matthew Shorter from Charlie. We had only 1 shot on our net in this period but Harley was looking sharp and focused…he wanted that zero against his name!

We started our Blue line for the 3^rd (Jordan Lane, Mathew Sanderson, Alex Lynch, Jackson and Michael Scott)and they were skating with intensity and purpose. On of Michael’s rushes up the ice lead to a booming wrist shot that smashed into the post. In fact, it made such a loud “ringing” noise that the churches around the rink started to get parishers returning for service!! The Red line started the scoring in this period after only 2-1/2 minutes when Patrick found the back of the net from Mat Shorter and Hayden. The Eagles managed a shot on our net and decided to get excited about that and crashed into Harley. This caused a minor scuffle and ended up with another of their players in the penalty box. This time the power play worked with Hayden scoring his 4^th on an assist from Charlie. Jed was the next to score on another really powerful shot with our Captain Jake picking up the assist. This obviously got Canterbury excited again and one of their team was in the box for roughing. The power play unit went into overdrive and Mathew Shorter finished the scoring for the night ably assisted by Patrick.

It was truly a great demolition job…we scored 10, didn’t get a penalty and held them to 4 shots for the whole game, a truly great team effort.

Sadly it was Connor’s last game with us and we all wish him the best of luck with his other commitments and look forward to him joining the team next year.

Technically, we are in 1^st place for the 1^st time this season and sets up a huge weekend…at home on Saturday against the Emperors and then the big one…the Bears at Penrith on Sunday morning. BRING IT ON!!!!

The hugely anticipated game against the Blacktown Flyers has finally arrived…yes, it’s GAME DAY!! The Flyers have been a nemesis of many Northstar teams over the years and it does appear that the tide may be turning. We had a 2-2 tie in our first meeting earlier this season, but that was because we fell asleep in the last 40 seconds of the game and let them score the equalizer. We were determined to not let that happen this game and we spoke about it at length during the warm up and in the dressing room. The boys were ready, you could feel the electricity in the dressing room and they were pumped!

We finally had our full coaching staff intact for the game and it definitely makes a difference when we have Mat Lindsay helping the D’s and Adrian Parrott encouraging the forwards.

The puck was dropped for the 1^st period and we started with our Red line (Hayden Sheard, Patrick Nadin, Matthew Shorter, Charlie Frazer, and Luke Shafren with Harley Quinton-Jones in net). The pace was furious…end to end…and it was kept at that speed by the White line (Dechlan Ireland-Grace, Jed Adams-Jones, Connor Manwarring, Josh Hansen, and our Captain Jake Teskie) and by the Blue line (Matthew Sanderson, Jordan Lane, Alex Lynch, Jackson Knight, and Michael Scott). The Flyers only had 1 spare player and I knew that the pace would tell on them eventually, and it did! After just over 5 minutes of the game (at the 9:46 mark), Hayden pumped the puck into the net off his linemate Patrick – again showing just how good that combination is.

The White were not going to be denied and almost exactly 5 minutes later, Dechlan was standing tall in front of the net and deflected a perfect pass from Josh straight into the net. A great goal and just one more reason to believe Coach Lindsay when he screams at the players (in a positive manner of course!!) in practice, to keep their sticks on the ice cause that is where the puck is!

The period ended at that score and Harley had been tested on the 6 shots he had faced. We talked about keeping the pace up to the Flyers as they would be tiring…to their credit they didn’t and they came out just as hard as we had at the beginning of the game. However the White line was starting this period and after only 47 seconds Jed pumped another into the net from a well timed pass from Jake. We then picked up a penalty to Charlie for Interference and had to play Penalty Kill for this 2 minute infraction.

The boys did really well with Hayden moving back to D and the guys just missing on a short handed opportunity – again the reliable Pat and Hayden show. After we killed that, Michael managed to pick up a Cross Checking penalty when he, unfortunately, managed to hit a Flyer with his stick.

The Blue line did a great job of Penalty Kill and I hoped that was the end of these as hockey is a 5 on 5 game and should be played that way. At the end of the Penalty Kill, with the Red line on the ice, Hayden combined with Charlie and Patrick to score another beauty – a short handed goal and his 2^nd of the game.

The period ended that way and we were looking solid…doing all the small things pretty well and not bunching up like we had been in previous games. The D were looking to pass so the flow through the neutral zone was very quick and tended to catch the Flyers on the back foot quite a lot. However Hayden was not going to be denied in this game so with just 5 minutes to play, he did it all himself and scored a beautiful unassisted goal for his hatrick (what Steven – no hat again!! Unbelievable!!) and our 5th. This was a just reward to him for a really solid performance. The game was not over yet though and Blacktown had not given up.

Their drive now was to score and they did – with just 1 minute and 12 seconds to go, a magnificent shot over Harley’s shoulder had the back net bulging and they had broken his shutout. Harley still had stopped 17 other shots in this game so he performed really well and had kept his Goals Against average below 2.5 which is his target this year. We were able to get Lucas Hainey onto the ice for a couple of shifts as well so that he can get the required number of games up to be available in the playoffs, and he did a great job! The whole coaching and management staff were really proud of the boys and it was probably their most complete game as a team for the season so far. Now it’s on to Sydney on Sunday morning for our other bogey team, Canterbury Eagles…BRING IT ON!!

We are playing our nearest neighbors again this week, the Central Coast Rhinos, and even though they have struggled to field strong teams this year we have to be prepared for them to come at us hard.  There is already a healthy rivalry growing between these two clubs and it was our intention today for them to know who was still in charge! I spoke to Hayden Sheard and Patrick Nadin and asked them to try and switch roles for this game to help complete themselves as hockey players…Patrick to take on a more shooting role and for Hayden to take on a playmaking type role  around the Rhinos net. To their credit both boys did themselves proud during this game.

The Red line started and with Matthew Shorter away they lined up thus; Hayden, Patrick, Alex Lynch, Charlie Frazer and Luke Shafren. They started at a great pace but it took our White line that included Jed Adams-Jones, Dechlan Ireland-Grace, Jordan Lane (filling in for Connor Manwarring), Jake Teski and Josh Hansen to open the scoring at the 11:49 mark of the 1^st period. It was Dechlan with a blistering shot off a well timed pass from Jordan that had us on the board. Our Blue line was a player short with Lucas Hainey pulling out at the last minute so Matthew Sanderson and Kieran Turnbull had to play forward with either Patrick or Jed who were “double shifting”. The defensive pair was once again Michael Scott and Jackson Knight – a strong combination that is developing nicely over the season so far. The scoring blitz continued with goals from Alex who was assisted by Hayden and Luke, Patrick with assists from Charlie and Hayden, our 4^th from Patrick with an assist to Matthew Sanderson, and our last for the period from Dechlan again with assists from Jed and Jordan. We had totally dominated the period (5-0) and allowed only 2 shots on Harley Quinton-Jones who was struggling to stay awake!! At the end of the period we reminded the boys how we had lacked intensity against the Rhinos the last time we played them so we had to keep at them and take the puck from them. I also reminded Harley to keep doing his drills in the net to keep himself focused for any unexpected shots and…to his credit…he did do them.

The Blue line started the period, the Red kept the pressure up, but it was Dechlan on the White line at the 12:28 minute mark that popped his 3^rd (hatrick!! – where was the hat Steven?) goal of the night with 2 great assists from Josh  and Jake. Just as the crowd was settling from that milestone BANG…Patrick puts his 3^rd in the net from Hayden and Jackson…not a good night to forget the hat! Play started to settle a bit then and we started to get into bad habits with our defense carrying the puck a bit much and not getting it to the forwards quickly enough. This is a natural tendency when you are all over a team but we need to work on that discipline for future games. Back to the fun…and it was just fantastic when our 8^th goal of the game was scored by none other than Kieran – our rookie reserve – in his first season as a rep player and not originally picked on the team!! It was assisted by Jed and Michael and the period ended with the Rhinos starting to pressure our net.

I reminded the boys that we had to focus on our end as well as the offensive end as all the Rhinos would want to do now in this 3^rd period would be to score a goal against us. Again it didn’t take long for us to score our 9^th (at the 13:28 point of the period) with a beautiful shot from Hayden who was assisted by Patrick. The 10^th was scored by Jed, sweet for him as he was playing against his younger brother Noah who was in net for the Rhinos, and Josh helped him with the set up. The last of our scores was done on an unassisted break away goal from Patrick capping a great night for him with 4 goals and 1 assist and Hayden was not far behind with 1 goal and 3 assists. Unfortunately, it took only 39 seconds after this 11^th goal, at the 2:06 mark, for the Rhinos to get a sniff of a chance. They broke into our zone on a 2 on 1 set up, used our defenseman as a screen, and shot one low and hard to Harley’s stick side and found the back of the net. It was just so close to another shutout for Harley and only goes to show that we, as a whole team, have to be focused for the whole 45 minutes. A great result for the boys and a good skate before we meet our biggest rival for second place on the league ladder this Sunday night…the Blacktown Flyers…BRING IT ON!!