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For the past few years the teams we've played for have opted to sit out the Christmas tournament season so I've gotten in
the habit of forming a squad just for fun. I want to keep the kids skating over the break and give them something better to
do than playing video games. The formula is always the same: first I invite my son's teammates, then I fill in the empty spots
with friends from other teams. This year I was pleasantly surprised to get almost all of the Ventura Mariners Bantam Killer
Bees to participate. The only ones missing were Shawn Wentzel, who was on vacation, and Timor, who joined the team too late
to be included. I rounded out the roster with former Killer Bee and current Wolves goalie Mark Becica, Bees alumni Luke Tickle
and JB Lovelace from the Simi in-house, and long-time friend Corey Pelone from the Titans.
The
team was set and ready to take on all comers in the 10th Annual Hockey Fest in Valencia. Of course, the bantam B tournament
we entered became a bantam "open" division, which is a nice way of saying: any team with a check is welcome. It didn't matter.
We had a contender.
Game #1 @ Valencia Express
The opening battle was against the host team and fellow
bantam B'ers The Valencia Express. In our previous meeting they played us pretty tough so we wanted to come out strong. I
blinked and the Mariners were down by two goals. This was definitely not the start we wanted. After a change in net and a
few gentle words to the boys, things settled down and the Killer Bees got to work. AJ Zavitz got the team on the board first
with a quick shot from the circle. Minutes later, Corey Pelone carved up the Express defense and tied the game at 2-2. The
second period kind of went back and forth, but Corey got the lead for the Mariners with a beautiful top-shelf goal. With one
frame left to play, a one-goal lead wasn't enough. The boys took it upon themselves to finish strong. Killian Anderson got
things going with a multi-deke run at the net and back-hand finish. Then, we had the best penalty kill ever. Zach Marshall
was in the box and Corey was killing some time when he found himself one-on-one with the goalie. Boom, he got the shorty and
completed the hat-trick. Six seconds later, Brian Zacchia scored another short-handed goal when he ripped it five-hole from
the slot. We finished the game off with a great move and shot from AJ. Once again, the Mariners used their patented third
period surge to win 7-2.
Game #2 @ Sabers
The Mariners second opponent was the Sabers, a squad of in-house and
travel kids. Before the game, some of the Sabers players were walking by me and commented on how the Mariners suck and would
be easy to beat. I guess they didn't realize I was the coach despite my blue warm-ups and Mariners hat. I relayed this sentiment
to the team and they took to the ice with a mission. This was kind of an odd game. The Killer Bees were completely dominant,
but couldn't pull away. The Sabers goalie was playing lights out, but then again, so were ours. After a rough start in game
#1, Brian Felt came back strong. The defense was also in top form. Zach and Patrick Gibson both had stellar games and Brad
Kreigel made a goal-saving stop against their top skater. Scoring-wise it was the Brian Z. show. He accounted for all three
of the Mariners goals: one per period. As I said, we carried the play all game long but the pesky Sabers managed to get close.
With a minute left the Mariners were up by a goal. Tyler Serianne was in the pentaly box and the Sabers pulled the goalie
for an extra attacker. The puck was in our zone and Blake Burlew did a brilliant job of fighting three players in the corner
to keep the puck against the wall. Then, the ref decided he was going to give us a delay of game penalty. Blake wasn't sitting
on the puck. He didn't cover it with his hands. He was fighting off a bunch of guys. This is under no circumstance an infraction.
In any case, the boys had to kill off 3 seconds. They won the face off, cleared the zone and took game #2 3-2.
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Game #3 vs. California Wave
For the third game of round-robin play, the Mariners
faced a team from the A division, The California Wave. Because of the previous two wins, it seemed likely the boys would make
the championship game, but we didn't want to leave our fate in anyone else's hands. The team treated this one as a "must-win"
situation. Wasting no time, the Mariners got goals from Corey and Brian Z. to take 2-0 lead. Corey had another in the second
to extend it to 3-0. We could have gone up ever further. The Wave goalie raced out of the net trying to beat a streaking Conrado
Gesauldi. Conrad chipped the puck through and had an empty net to shoot on, but the puck sailed over the crossbar. It didn't
matter, the Mariners were in complete control of this game. Well, they were until the series of weird incidents of the third
period. First, Luke Tickle got a 5 minute major for a clean hit because the recipient got hurt. The Wave scored. Corey responded
when he scored on a nice Josh Donovan feed, but the Wave came right back with a flukey goal. Things got even weirder. Poor
Luke had his stick on the ice, taking away the passing lane, when the Wave player kicked it out of his hand. Luke got called
for throwing the stick and the Wave scored on the subsequent penalty shot. This game that was completely in the Mariners hands
was now a one goal game. The Wave pulled their goalie, but it was no use. Niko Utash came screaming out of the zone with nothing
but net in front of him. One of the Wave players took him down lumberjack-style, but because of the empty net the Mariners
were awarded a goal. The boys won 5-3 and secured their spot in the championship game.
Championship Game vs. Sabers
It's not every day that you get a chance to compete
for a championship banner. The boys realized this and knew that had to bring everything in their arsenal. Though they had
outplayed the Sabers in the first meeting this was a much bigger game. Benches would be shortened. Players would be mysteriously
added to rosters. The intensity would be through the roof. This was the real deal. AJ got things going with an early first
period goal. That lead would increase when EJ Frank crashed the net and popped one in. The Sabers came back and scored, but
that's as close as it would get. I'm sorry if I can't build the anticipation and make it seem like this was tight. Our boys
had this thing in the bag. They all played so well there was never any doubt, at least to me, that they would win. Corey scored
with a roof rocket in the second. The Sabers got a powerplay goal in the third, but it didn't matter. Tom Dobrokhot, Blake,
and Brad had things clamped down on defense. Goalie Mark Becica shut the door on any Saber hope with 31 big saves. The only
thing in question was the final score. Conrado gave the team a two goal lead and then he managed to redeem himself. The Sabers
pulled their goalie for the 6th sketer. Brian Z. had the puck in the neutral zone and very unselfishly passed it off. Conrad
shot the puck and proved that he can indeed hit an open net. The boys took the game 5-3 but it wasn't nearly as close as the
score would indicate. They won the cup. They won the banner. They are the deserving champions of the Hockey Fest tournamnet.
I would really like to thank Corey, Mark, JB, and Luke for playing for us. It was great being back together again even
if it was for a brief time. I also want to thank Sergey. Originally he wasn't going to be with the team for this tournament,
but I'm really glad he was. My coaching skills are limited to opening doors and picking up pucks after warm-ups. Also, big
thanks to all of the parents for committing to the team. Mostly I want to thank all of the kids for kicking so much butt.
Every single one of them kicked it up a notch to help win this championship. I'm proud of these boys and feel privileged to
have had the opportunity to coach them.
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