Mar 13, 2020 | Kevin Waddell | 719 views
Not how it was suppose to play out.
As my phone lit up with messages and notices regarding the end of the hockey season, my heart sank.
As a coach, you invest yourself more than you realize and the sudden stop of everything you were working on, leaves an empty feeling.
Every kid on the bench is more than just a number. Each one of them has their strengths and weaknesses and each and every practice is geared to work on both of those.
As we began the process of splitting the PeeWee group into two teams way back in September, one squad was left without a coach. I remember speeding back from my daughters tournament in Oshawa, arriving with 10 minutes to spare, to step on the ice to just "help with the large group on the ice"
As I glided towards the far side, a group of coaches had already formed at the home bench and all were looking my way.
How it was said exactly escapes me, but in all it was all of them awaiting on me to arrive knowing that there was not a coach for the second group.
I thought about it during the entire ice time before committing by the end of the skate.
And so began the journey!
Some faces were familiar from being on the bench back in Atom and some I knew but never coached before.
My strategy has always been the same. Promise each player will be a better player at the end of the season than the start. From the start we took the better part of the regular season to find our stride as a group. The message was always the same "Work hard and good things happen"
As we rolled into the new year, the teamwork message was emphasized as well.
"They may beat one of you, but they can't beat all of you"
The lads bought into this and began to gel as a group, knowing each and everyone of them had each others back. Yes we had some bumps in the road, and yes there were some games where we forgot that, but overall the attitudes were always positive as we grew as a hockey family.
A fun tournament in Tillsonburg in February was a blast and none of the players wanted it to end. I don't think the parents did either. We learned a lot about each other that weekend lol
As the final game of the season came to the end, we found ourselves top of the middle group in the standings. We finished with a winning record and we just got better and better with every minute on the ice. Practice focus changed from overall skills and drills and began to focus on improvements to our team play and tactics. Tweaking things here and there based on previous games.
With tough opponents equal to ourselves, we brought ourselves to the top of the round robin standings with a 5 and 2 record. We knew Huron Bruce were the ones to beat and when we faced them in a rematch, what unfolded was one of the hardest fought games our lads ever had. We shut them out 3-0 and we didn't give them an inch.
Our final game was against our AEMHA brothers and sisters on the other local league squad. We struggled all year against them and i found out after from a couple players, they we were apprehensive of playing their friends hard. Respectful if you ask me but makes it tough on a coach lol.
All said and done, based on points by periods won, loss or tied, we were on top of our division and a win against Owen Sound would have had us in the finals.
And with that, the Covid-19 virus had Hockey Canada wisely cancel the remainder of the season. At the end of the day, your health is the most important priority.
To my players...... It's okay to be disappointed. It's okay to be hurt. But please don't hang your heads.
You have all done everything I know you could do. You all pushed yourselves beyond what you thought you could do. For this...... I thank you.
Thank you for understanding my passion for seeing you all improve.
You have all accomplished that. I promised everyone that at the beginning of the year and I will hold on to that as a success for the season.
So hats off to you boys.
In goal, Owen W (never frazzled) once again had a season of keeping us in games where perhaps we may not have had a chance. Many times leaving us all asking "How did he stop that?"
On defence, Owen M (those poor hockey sticks), Daemyn E (blames the stick), Anderson G (happy and determined), Ryan S (Is he's up to something?), Braden N (says little, does a lot) and Nick P (Always wanting to improve).... a group of defencemen who made playing in our zone a tough battle for any opposition. Speedy backchecks and tough line holding in the offensive zone adds to your effectiveness. Nick and Owen, I commend you for being great two way players as you also filled in on forward when the bench was short.
Upfront, Lucas S (yes left wing), Cole L (who yells louder?), Sean W (right place, right time), Kaden C (Kadenisms), Austin L (The B game), and Leithan B (Happiest player ever)..... you showed us all what working as a unit can do. Seeing the game sheets full of assists made me proud you were all looking out for those goal getting passes.
Thank you to the parents for your patience and understanding. Don't worry, I can't hear the chatter in the stands lol
Thank you to Andrea, Brock, Kirsten, Randy and Chris for your help all year. It made it possible for me to focus more on the task at hand.
Thank you to John and Leanne for managing the jerseys all season. Another task we didn't have to worry bout.
Thank you to Leigh-Ann and Jenny for organizing everything behind the scenes. It made my job easy not having to worry about events and team communications.
It was going to be my retirement season as a coach, but this has left a "job not done feeling" Who knows.....
All the best to everyone during the off season,
Coach Kevin.