Sunday's second game saw the Ventura Mariners Bantam Killer Bees traveling to lovely Compton-adjacent Paramount to take
on the Pasadena Maple Leafs. The massive police presence in the neighborhood was either a comfort or deeply disturbing depending
on your perspective. In the early game, the boys waited way to long to get going, so for this one we wanted them to get off
to a quick start. Unfortunately, what we want and what we get isn't always the same thing. This game was a mess.
The
Leafs came out hard. They were aggressive and physical. The Mariners were completely taken by surprise. I don't know if they
just took their opposition too lightly, or if they were tired from having a a game earlier, but they didn't look good. The
offense couldn't sustain any attack and the defense couldn't repel. Pasadena struck first on the powerplay, leaving the Mariner's
bench stunned. This was a mess.
The lone bright spot, besides goalie Brian Felt, was the Ventura
second line. Early in the second period, going 4-on-4, Killian Anderson and Niko Utash were playing "monkey in the middle"
with the entire Pasadena team. After about 10 passes back and forth, Killian snuck the puck in, finally getting his team on
the board. According to him, it was not a ninja goal, just a regular one. The team started to build up a little steam from
there, which was unfortunately deflated by a Pasadena short-handed goal. Did I mention this was a mess?
Again,
going 4 0n 4, Conrado Gesauldi scored to pull even at 2-2. And yes, he gets to keep this goal. No adjustments needed. Moments
later, still playing four aside, AJ Zavitz passed to Conrado, who made a beautiful feed to Blake Burlew, who was cheating
in from the point. Blake ripped the sweetest shot I've seen all year. It was a frickin' laser beam that found the top corner
on the far side of the net. The kids went crazy, the crowd went wild. For the first time in this game report, I don't have
to end a paragraph by pointing out that this was a mess.
But then the third period came around and
it was a mess. Actually, the kids played a little better, but the Pasadena goalie was having a strong game. Josh Donovan
got some quality time with the top line and they threatened often and the second line was consistently on the attack. For
whatever reason though, the Mariners couldn't finish their chances. One thing that Blake's goal did was open the boys
eyes to the fact that defesemen can score. The puck started making it's way out to the point more and Tom Dobrokhot and Brad
Kreigel were getting off some good shots.
About midway through the final period, Pasadena was able
to walk through to the net unmolested and tie the game at 3-3. Five more minutes of ugly hockey passed and looked like the
Mariners lackadaisical approach was finally going to cost them a win. We got an offensive zone draw with a minute to go. Brian
Zacchia shot the puck right off the face off and Conrado crashed the net to put in the rebound. Hey, we'll take it, right?
Surprisingly, Pasadena didn't pull their goalie for a sixth skater and the Mariners were able to kill off the rest of the
clock. They got a 4-3 win that can best be described as, you guessed it, a mess. They pulled this one out of their butts.
It should have never come down to the last minute like that.
The Ranting Coach
Before
every game I give the boys a big talk about the importance of hitting. I implore them to finish their checks. Every week,
I bring a hitting pad and let the boys wail on me. Why? I want them to learn proper hitting techniques. I want them to be
comfortable with the physical nature of the game. I want them to know that if they can hit a 200 pound man they can hit anybody
playing in the bantam division.
Despite all of this, very few of the kids actually hit. I had no problem with the
way Killian and Niko played and Tyler Serianne had a devastating hit as good as Tom Dobrokhot's last week. Patrick Gibson
and EJ Frank also put a lot of effort into the physical play. Neither one of them is afraid to mix it up in the corners or
against the boards. The rest of the team? Well, they play kind of soft.
The thing is, a lot of the
kids don't think hitting is important. They tell me all the time that it doesn't matter and their argument is usually that
hitting doesn't score goals. Really? Let's look at what happened in the game. Pasadena came out with a fury. They played aggressive
and banged our kids around. Sometimes they stepped over the line, but this is hockey. Play hard or go home. This physical
play took our kids off their game completely. It baited Shawn Wentzel into several retaliation penalties. It created open
ice for their forwards to score. BS hitting doesn't score goals.
Pasadena is the last team in the
division and we are first. This shouldn't have been a game that came down to a lucky last second goal. The Pasadena gameplan
was brilliant and they very nearly pulled off the upset. The Leafs have to be feeling pretty good about themselves. I tell
you what: if they keep playing like that they won't be last for long. Conversely, if our boys continue to play like a bunch
of marshmallows it will be very hard to hang on to the top spot.
