Each division had 5 teams in it, which meant each team would play 4 other teams. Then the top 2 teams at the end of the day would play each other for the championship. In Lucas's division, there were 3 East teams and 2 West teams (including his team). They did remarkably well in the round robin, going 4-0. They didn't even get scored on until the 3rd game.
In the finals, the game was extremely close, and the game ended as a tie. Lucas's team scored with less than 2 seconds left to tie it up so it was about as exciting as a game can get. Unfortunately, they then went to a shootout, which in my opinion is the most anticlimactic way to finish a hockey game, According to the rules, the shootout order is done by player numbers, starting from the lowest to the highest. This put Teal at a distinct disadvantage as the other team's two best players wore their lowest numbers and Teal's best shooters both were high numbers. As a result, Teal lost their first game since Lucas joined the team a month ago.
As expected, the kids didn't let it affect them too much. It probably didn't hurt that the only reward for winning was taking a picture with a big trophy. They didn't actually receive trophies or medals for the win so it didn't feel like they were missing out on much.
For what it's worth, Lucas played pretty well. He had two very pretty one-timers, and I was lucky enough to get the second one on video, which you can see below. It's a little hard to see, but he's #55, and he is the kid planted just to the left of the goal. The video's a little slow since the play is mostly in the corner, but it pays off at the end.
Here's a goofy photo Lucas posed for prior to one of the games.
2 comments:
I just watched the video again. Lucas looked so matter of fact when he scored that goal...just taking care of business. Loved it.
His first one-timer was almost identical. They both looked really good. I joked that maybe he's gonna want to go back to forward after playing defense this season!
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