Brady Vail and the Windsor Spitfires

In honour of Bradys first pro game tonight at Syracuse, NY. I think this is a great opportunity for Brady to play 16 games as a pro. He will gain very valuable experience that he can bring back to the boys at the WFCU about working hard. I have had an experience to work in both  professional hockey dressing rooms and junior hockey dressing rooms. They are totally different enviroments. One (junior) is fun, light hearted and happy go lucky enviroment. The other ( PRO) is a business like environment where everyone knows their job and responsibility. It truly is a work place. Usually with a demanding boss and equally demanding co workers. I believe so many valuable lessons can be learned just by going through the process. Seeing guys after playing 25 minutes get undressed and riding a bike for 20 mins or taking a cold tub. Eating right not fast food. Working out in the gym after practice. When the ice is empty after practice. Shooting pucks, taking draws and working on all parts of your game long after the coach has left the ice.

These are the valuable lessons that i think he can learn and bring back to the local boys. Brady was a significant contributor to the spitfires scoring this season by being involved in 26 percent of the teams goals this year. This was second to only Kirby Rychel for contributing to the teams scoring. It is my belief that this team is only going as far as these 2 can take them. They are a solid first line when they put Josh Ho Sang on the right wing. The issue is going to be whether the team can put together a contributing 2 nd line. There are rumours of US players waiting to see if Windsor wins the bid to the Mastercard Memorial cup. Talking to some in the know, It is all about the money and that London with its larger arena and better hotel space will likely win the bid again. ( This in my opinion is unfair.). However the money always talks and i do believe financially London does offer a better opportunity to make serious money.

So I stated before I am not about speculation and rumours. So until I see a press conference with Warren Rychel and the players signing i wont be getting into those situations but rather dealing with what we do know.

I also believe that Windsors dealing with US players who have committed to University will be highly scrutinized. They will not be able to pull rabbits out of the hat kind of tricks this time around. Nick Schmaltz the Spitfires 4th round pick in 2012 has followed his brother to both Green Bay of the USHL and University of North Dakota. He is registered and due to start the 2013 2014 season there. Do I believe he would help, ABSOLUTELY, I would be stunned if he comes.

So good luck to Brady tonight Go DOGS GO

Jaroslav Pavelka OA and Import DOES he STAY or DOES he GO

This will be, in my opinion, the Spiffires toughest decision to make this off season.If coach Boughners comments late in the season are any indication. He implied that they needed to know what they had in 2011 2nd round draft pick Jordan Dekort. The young goalie spent most of the 2011 season playing for the Lasalle Vipers Jr B team.( 25 gp 3W 11L 3 T) with a 4.34  Goals against average is well behind pavelkas 3.65.  I have not seen enough to make me believe that he can put the team on his back and carry them to 40 to 50 wins that a team with Memorial Cup Run. Even with a very strong defense that the team will employ to start the season. 

All that being said will the team put a valuable OA slot on a goaltender. My personal opinion is that you can and in some cases should use the slot on a goaltender the older, more experienced guys are very valuable in net. The issue is going to come that he also locks up one of the two import positions. This is where the rubber hits the road for GM Rychel. This with years draft the team has two import picks. These could both be valuable scoring and skill players. The team has some serious weakness on the right side as well as lacking depth at center.

With Windsor not having a first or second round pick. They are going to have to get the skill either through trade or the import draft.

Windsor has been successful in the import draft with the likes of Andrei Loktionov, Tom Kuhnhackl ., Alex Khokhlachev,. as well as the goaltending prospects that. have found themselves playing at the next level.(Michal Neuvirth, Philipp Grubauer).

My guess is the team will take 2 skill players in the import draft and try to trade Pavelka the award winning goalie( OHL Dickies Hardest Working Player of the Year) will have value on the trade market. Hopefully they can find a partner that will trade them a 3rd line player or middle round pick. Then find a trade partner who will offer some stability in goal. I think Dekort will have to show the team a lot in exhibition season to give them the confidence to not make a move like that.

This is why the GM makes the big bucks. I look forward to what happens with this young man in the off season. One thing that also needs to be taken into consideration. the players personal decision.  He could, as a twenty year old, find some work in pro hockey. Europe or AHL as a free agent. 

Spifire news for March 18 2013

I am sure you have heard the news about Ben Johnsons indiscretions. I have no interest in talking about it. I will say the legal system and the team will have to live with the distraction. I wont talk about what he did and gossip. I will talk about how it affects the team. 

I will say Johnson was a solid 3rd line guy who could shut down other teams guys and chip in offensively. Even be a factor on special teams. I could see him as a valuable penalty killer. Now this will take probably the whole year to go away. Media asking questions( Doing their job ) Even his off season training will probably be affected. 

The team is probably going to need 2 centers and at least 2 wingers. We have good depth on defense. Looking forward to watching this team take shape right into the training camp.

 

Windsor Spitfire First post……

I am changing the purpose and focus of my blog to something I have always had a passion for.the Windsor Spitfires.I am going to give feedback on the moves of the team as it attempts to host the Mastercard Memorial Cup. I will watch the moves that the team makes as well as how they are playing. Throw in my thoughts on how the team as a whole is playing. How the special teams are playing. I will be doing some player profiles. I will be discussing strengths, weaknesses, expectations, I will definitely offer a how they were acquired. Especially with an active general manager. This will be an overall overview of the spitfires season. I think this will be one of the most interesting off season for the team in a very long time. The have some over ager decisions to make. Import draft. A priority draft without a first or second round pick. The first rounder was lost due to some improper benefits paid to players to acquire services of some high profile talent.

My first post will be on the state of the defense. Who is back. Who should be back. Who they may need to acquire. Where the team stands. 

CLEAN YOUR STINKY GEAR? Heres Why!

I wanted to talk this month about smelly sporting equipment. The recent Chevrolet Olympic commercial brought it to mind for me. When the one car did not even want to be around the other vehicle that had the smelly hockey equipment in the trunk. It is like coming home from a tournament or a play down game far away and have to ride in the car all the way home with that stinky gear. Worse yet staying in the hotel room with the gear spread out all over the place. “Hockey, football and lacrosse equipment is notorious for being foul smelling. Those odors are a result of bacteria and germs growing inside the equipment. Protective sports gear is meant to keep the athlete safe, not cause them harm. It needs to be sanitized regularly.” says Michael Antinozzi, owner of Ozone Nation. “Moms everywhere know that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. The best way to fight MRSA infection is to prevent it.”

We have the solution

Simps Skate Shop has introduced a service that disinfects and deodorizes bacteria infested sports gear worn in hockey, football and lacrosse. These sanitizing services are also able to clean fire fighters bunkers and police officers bullet proof vests as they use this process as part of a hygiene regimen that also extends the life of their gear. The Fresh Gear C35 machine forces ozone, with high volume and velocity, straight into the gear, penetrating deep into the dense padding and hard to reach places like gloves and skates. Thus enabling ozone to kill up to 99.99% of the bacteria lurking there.

The patent-pending process takes 20 minutes to sanitize and deodorize the equipment. Eliminating nasty odors and leaving the gear smelling fresh. Ozonation is a widely used method of eradicating bacteria in drinking water, food preparation, hospitals and health care facilities.

Is your equipment putting you at RISK

North America is faced with a looming epidemic of infections caused by a deadly bacteria known as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Recent studies published by JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), have found that infections caused by MRSA appears to be more prevalent than previously believed. It is being found in schools, locker rooms and in high contact sports. “We estimate that 94,360 invasive MRSA infections occurred in the United States in 2005; these infections were associated with death in 18,650 cases,” says the JAMA article. For additional information on where Fresh Gear services are offered and what you can do to prevent MRSA infections, visit http://www.FreshGear.ca

How much bacteria is generated after each use?

Significant bacteria is introduced to our clothing or sports gear each time we sweat. However, what we do with the gear after we sweat into it can be an even greater contributor to bacteria buildup. What storage conditions contribute to rapid bacteria cultivation? Bacteria thrives in warm, wet and dark conditions like hockey bags and locker rooms. Washing the pads with a “pressure washer”

would only add more moisture to the gear and toxic black mold may result.

How can you reduce the risks of these infections?

(1) CLEAN REGULARLY: NATA (National Athletic Trainers Association) official direction is to clean athletic clothing after each use and clean protective sports gear REGULARLY. To be safe, we recommend sanitizing your gear every 6 weeks or 15-20 uses. Ask about the Ultimate Clean Package It provides UNLIMITED cleaning for 1 full year.

(2)AIR OUT YOUR GEAR

We recommend drying your equipment in a cool, dry and well ventilated location after each use. Get it out of the equipment bag! That is probably the worst place for your gear.

http://www.skateconsultant.wordpress.com/



Grow the Game of Hockey

I have been inspired by the Olympic games. Over 80% of the Canadian population watched at least part of the Gold Medal game. Why are not more people playing hockey in Canada? When I was a kid every division in  hockey had at least 4 house league teams. We had an A team and an AE team and even a couple years a Select team as well now the number of teams is greatly reduced.  I thought we could capitalize on the increased popularity created by the Olympic games. With both the Men and Women’ s teams bringing home the Gold and standing at the top of the podium. If this Olympics showed me anything along with the world juniors this year is that the United States is closing the gap and we as Canadians need to do all we can to protect what is rightfully ours.

I have wondered what is causing this to happen. We all know that hockey is an expensive sport. With registration, ice time and equipment. You need to be dedicated and committed to the sport for your child to play. I am going to be asking for  your ideas to help me come up with ways to Grow this Amazing Game. We all love it and have a passion for it.  So that every child who wants to play gets to play.

I play hockey with a group of people on Monday nights in Lasalle. We do not keep score or have refs. We just have fun score goals make mistakes and enjoy being out on the ice. We play with a few people who have never played organized hockey before and make some pretty big  etiquette mistakes. They truly love the game. I bet if we asked them they wish they would have played all their lives but circumstance prohibited them from playing. It would be my dream that a  bunch of kids could start playing right now with the same passion as these guys play with. I am asking as a passionate hockey fan that we do all we can to eliminate these circumstances so that all kids that want to play can play.

I do not have all the answers. Heck I do not know if I even have all the questions.

I would be looking for some feed back from any of my readers. Please pass this on to anyone you think might have some influence, ideas financial contributions or just the same passion to make this everything it can be.

Canada at the olympics.

I am wondering if the guys were trying to hard against the U.S. I know Brodeur was. My biggest beef with the game was that they started slow against their biggest rival in this tournament. The Americans were ready to play. I hope that Sidney Crosby gets mad early in the game and stays mad (Mike Babcock should pay someone to kick him in the shins. It seems Crosby plays good mad and disappears otherwise. I want the Canadians to win and win big. We cannot afford to take lightly any of the competition that we play. First the Germans(scrappy), the Russians (tough and talented), The Swedes (pre-tourney) favorites and hopefully a rematch with the Americans for the Gold Medal they will have every Canadian Hockey fan sitting on the edges of their seats ready to cheer. I hope come Sunday we are not very disappointed nation.
The Womens hockey team has done every thing that has been asked of them with our own Meghan Agosta leading the way what a performance by our home town girl. We at Simps Skate Shop are extremely proud of the Show she has put on What a shining star she is. Leading goal scorer hope she gets a chance to finish the job against the US.
All the athletes have pulled me in. The Ice Dancers, short track, speed skaters, and long track speed skaters and all of a sudden I care about curling. The only thing i have to say is if the Olympics do not end soon the sleep depervation may kill me.

Square Blade Sharpening

We all know that we want both edges to be equal but do we know why.  The explanation is that if the blades are out of square one edge will be higher than the other. The skate will react differently depending on which edge you are relying on. If you are on the high edge. This will act normally as if you had your skates sharpened correctly. When you put the skate on the angle that you usually do it will do the exact same thing. However, when you go to lean on the lower edge it will be acting totally differently. You will have to rotate farther over to get it to engage the ice. You will also find that it does not engage the ice deep enough as if the skate was not sharpened at all or with a very flat radius. If a skate is out of square by as little as two thousands of an inch out of square a player who is six feet tall would have to lean and extra inch and a quarter farther to get his edge to engage.

The blade will feel slippery on the lower edge. If you can believe the human body can compensate for this two thousands of an inch fairly easily but as the skate is farther out of square it becomes signigicantly more difficult to compensate.

Skating straight ahead will be fine if the inside edge is the higher edge however if you tried to turn either left or right it will be difficult. If you are outside edges are high starting out or trying to skate straight ahead will be difficult. Turning will also be difficult in this case because you will only have one skate working for you during your turn. This difficulty becomes compounded when each skate is different. It would be further compounded when what I like to call blade roll when at the front the outside edge is high and the back inside edge is high so the skate is even acting differently front to back.

Square blade sharpening is very important to all skaters beginner to uexpert. This will help make your trip to the arena more enjoyable. These extra compensations will tire you out and have you thinking about your skates instead of your skating experience. It is very import to us at simps skate shop that you have an enjoyable time every time you go to the rink. It is important to us that you get our best skate sharpening each and every time.

For years skate sharpeners used a dime or a quarter to check whether a skate was square. They have know for years that it is important they just did not know why. Now you do.

The Maximum Edge quick square is a tool designed to measure how far out of square the skate is. Every skate that leaves Simps Skate Shop is checked both front and back to ensure that the blade is square. This is step six  of the Maximum Edge Performance Standard. This is  a seven step process to ensure that the skating public getting a Maximum Edge Skate Sharpening will always be the same no matter where it is done.

Have fun and play hard.

Your friendly skate consultant

Jeff Simpson

Co owner Simps Skate Shop

Sticks, Whats the difference?

People maybe wondering where the wood stick has gone. Well it went the way of the Dodo bird. The reason it went away is that companies have found a way to make an inexpensive composite stick in the fifty dollar range. This stick may not be the best. It will be lighter than its wood counterpart. It is made up mostly of  fiberglass and glue  made with the same concepts as a graphite stick. The biggest difference in price is the quality of materials and the quality of workmanship put into the stick. So the more money you spend the more graphite and technology you will receive.

A true composite stick will be made of a very high content of graphite. A three hundred dollar stick will have around ninety five percent graphite. It will have very good balance. This means that the blade is not significantly heavier than the shaft. Today, stick companies have advanced the way the stick works. For example Warrior wraps the graphite differently to get better results.  The have even created sticks with two kick points one very high in the shaft and one down at the bottom. Some companies are using different flex points gradually up the stick. Creating more stiffness at the top and more flex/ whip at the bottom. Sticks are no longer acting the way a wood stick would react. Generating more power with less energy.

It does take a while to zone the stick back to start shooting accurately again. This occurs because of advances in the blades making them stiffer. Some companies have gone to reinforcing the hozel (the point where the blade and shaft meet) to reduce torque and create more power transfer. This means the blade stays in position longer and more energy is transferred to the puck. This making your shot harder.

Some companies have tried different ways to make the graphite feel more like wood by putting foam in the blade to help with vibration dampening. This will give the stick better feel.

Some players do not like the feel of a smooth stick so the have added a grip or tackiness to the stick side so once your shoot the stick does not turn into your hand opening the face of the blade and causing your shot to become less accurate.

Hope you have found this useful

Until Next time

Jeff Simpson

Your Skate Consultant

Adam Henrigues-World Junior Blog….

World Junior Experience Adam Henrique

Dec 12th– I headed into the world junior orientation camp on December 12th. Going into the camp I was pretty nervous, but I was also very excited. Arriving at the airport in Regina was pretty cool. We were welcomed by all sorts of media representatives from all over. It was pretty overwhelming, but at the same time I felt honoured to be there. Once we left the airport we headed right to our hotel to get settled in for a few days.

Dec 13th– on the 13th we had our first ice time bright and early. We arrived at the rink around nine in the morning, where we had to be fitted for all of our new equipment. That night was our first chance to put an impression on the coaching staff in the red and white game. I was nervous heading into the game but once I got a few shifts out of the way I settled right in. I was playing on the team white, along with teammates Greg Nemisz, Taylor Hall and Ryan Ellis. We ended up winning our first game 3-2 over the team red.

Dec 14th- tonight we had our second big game of camp, another rematch of red vs. white. After the first game the night before, our team was feeling more confident heading into the contest. You were still able to feel the nervous energy around the rink as all of the players had heard rumours of cuts being made after the second game. I knew that tonight had to be my best game or that it could be my last for team Canada. Fortunately the game went very well. My line of Greg, Taylor and myself ended up having a great game, combining for ten points as team white won 6-4.

Dec 15th– unfortunately everyone didn’t make it through the night. This morning was the first set of cuts from team Canada, luckily I made it through. Among the first players cut were Tyler Seguin and John Macfarland of the OHL. Tonight is the last chance to impress the Canadian coaching staff as there is only one game left in camp. We are playing the University of Regina’s CIS team. The game didn’t go as planned. We didn’t play as well as we wanted to and ended up losing the game 5-3. Tonight not many of the players are going to get much sleep and the final cuts come in the morning. I was up all night going over the final roster in my head just hoping that I would be on it and be able to get a chance to represent Canada at the World Junior tournament.

Dec 16th- I made the team!! This morning I didn’t receive the dreaded phone call from the coaches to pack my bags and come down for a meeting. Instead, I got the knock on my door that I was waiting for all night from the ass. coach. Finally one of my dreams had come true. I am getting the chance to represent Canada at the world juniors for the first time. Today might have been the busiest day of the entire tournament. The entire team was overwhelmed with media throughout the whole day. This might have been the greatest news that I have gotten in maybe my entire life.

Dec 17th- 19th – on the 17th, we moved out of our hotel for a few days and headed to the RCMP Depot camp in Regina. Here we would participate in many team building activities, which would build and strengthen us as a team. Our first objective was to move into our dorms. Little did we know that the entire team would be living under one roof, in one big room with 25 beds? This seemed to be a little rougher start to the trip than we had planned, and I think most of the guys were wishing that we had never left the hotel. The second objective during our stay was to meet the ever so hated staff sergeant. Our first encounter with the staff sergeant was in a small gym where he immediately began yelling at us. This tall skinny man with a huge hat and a huge mustache entered the gym and began shouting out orders. We then figured out about 30 seconds to late that he wanted us to line up from tallest to shortest. Apparently we took too long and we had our first set of push ups on the day. We ended up marching around this gym for two hours, and still didn’t seem to have done anything right. The staff sergeant was still yelling at us by the end of the day. Our second day at DEPOT was packed with activities. We had our first practice as a team, but the thing everyone was most excited for was we were going to get a chance to shoot some guns. We were lucky enough to be put through some police training activities where we had the chance to drive simulation police cars and shoot some fake hand guns. Next we went to the range to have a little contest. The top eight shooters on the team would be able to shoot a machine gun. The first round of shooting was with a 9mm handgun. I ended up moving on into the second group, where I was able to shoot a semi-automatic rifle. This was definitely one the highlights of my entire trip. On our third and final day at DEPOT, our team had to lead all of the troops in a parade. We had been practicing for it during the last couple of days. Everyone seemed a little nervous before, but we pulled it off with only a couple of little mistakes. This was our final task of team building before we left DEPOT and headed back to our hotel for a few pre-competition games against Sweden, Finland and the Czechs.

Dec 20th – Today is our first pre tournament game against Sweden. Everyone is very excited and really looking forward to it. I myself and a little bit nervous about the game, but I can’t wait to get on the ice. We are also wearing our new green Canada jerseys which are really cool. We ended up playing great and winning our first game 6-3. This was a huge boost for our team’s confidence as Sweden was ranked favourites to win the tournament. Dec 21st– After our big win against Sweden, we are heading to Calgary for a tilt against Finland. It will be a pretty cool game as we get a chance to play in the Sattledome, home of the Calgary Flames.

Dec 22nd– Tonight is another tough challenge for our team. We are facing Finland, who always has a solid squad. As we were getting dressed for our morning skate, Jerome Iginla and Dion Phaneuf came into our room to talk to us. They both had their experience at the World Juniors and shared them with our team. Of coarse when they walked in the room went completely silent. It was an honour to be able to listen to these two guys share their stories with our team. Heading into our game tonight, we are feeling very confident after our big win against the Swedes but we know that we can’t underestimate the Fins. The game was a battle, the fins play the same hard and intense style of game that we do. We weren’t about to back down to a challenge though, and ended up winning the game 4-2. After the game we had to catch a flight and head right back to Regina and play the Czech Republic tomorrow night.

Dec 23rd– Last night was a very late night. After our game we headed to a restaurant to eat and we were supposed to fly out immediately after, but our flight was delayed an hour due to a storm. We didn’t get back to our hotel until 3:30 am and we had a game tonight. Unfortunately I am not playing in the game tonight due to an upper body injury. All the guys seem pretty tired after a very late night, but I know that they will not give in tonight and I’m sure that we will come out with another win against the Czechs. While I was sitting out during the game, I had the chance to meet Pierre McGuire and Gord Miller. It was pretty cool getting the chance to meet the guys you see every day on t.v. I was also sitting with team Canada’s head scout Al Murray. We pretty much just sat, watched the game and talked hockey stats the whole time. We ended up winning the game 3- 2.

Dec 24th– Christmas Eve. After a successful pre-tournament record of 3-0, we finally have a day off. It’s Christmas Eve, and everyone is very excited about Christmas. Since no one is home for Christmas, the Saskatoon Blades owner invited us all for Christmas dinner at his ranch. We had a very good home cooked meal, which we hadn’t had in a very long time and headed back to the hotel for our team Christmas. Once back at the hotel, Hockey Canada had set up a Christmas for the team. It was almost like being home as we received a bunch of great gifts. Santa and one of his elves even showed up to hand them out to the team. It ended up being one of my greatest Christmas moments, and one that I will never forget.

Dec 25th- Christmas!! Today is Christmas, and we are only a day away from the start of the tournament. Tomorrow is the opening game against Latvia. This morning is a little bit different than every other Christmas I have had. Obviously I am not at home for it so it’s a little sad, but on the other hand it’s also one of the greatest Christmas’ that I will ever remember. Everyone is a little nervous for the game coming up, but also very excited. Dec 26th-Jan 5th– we have our first game of the tournament tonight, everyone is a little tense around the hotel. As the game got closer and closer, I began getting more and more nervous. Once finally entering the arena my nerves started to calm down a bit. And once we hit the ice I felt right at home and the nerves seemed to disappear. The game ended up fairly lopsided, we won 16-0. Our next game is against the Swiss. They will definitely be a harder challenge, but one that we cannot look past. They have two players that will be participating in the Olympic games this year for Switzerland. This game was a little closer, we still managed to come out on top 6-0. At this point in the tournament we have tons of confidence. We haven’t let up a goal yet and we have been rolling through the competition. Although we still have our toughest challenges ahead.

We have our toughest test of the tournament coming up against the Americans, but first we play the Slovaks. They have a good team and will be tough to play against. During this game, my spitfire teammates and I will be playing against one of our own teammates Richard Panik. The game against the Slovaks went very well. Every game our team is becoming better and better. We won 8- 2, Panik scored one of the Slovakian goals.

This is the game that everyone in Canada has been looking forward to. We are playing the Americans on New years eve. Every year during the tournament this is the biggest game. Heading into the game I don’t really know what to expect. I know the crowd is going to be louder than ever, and that there will be millions of people watching all over the country. We know the Americans have one of the best teams in the tournament and it will be our toughest test to date. The game was very close. We were down 2 goals late in the game. We came back and tied the game to send it to overtime. I’ve never heard a louder building in my life. It was one of the greatest feelings that I have ever experienced. No one scored in overtime so the game was headed to a shootout. I’ve never been more nervous during a hockey game than I was at this point. I was confident in our shooters and our goalie. Jordan Eberle was up first. He scored and we were up 1-0. The Americans tied it up 1-1 after their first shooter. Next up was Nazem Kadri. He scored again to give us back the lead, 2-1. Next up the Americans tied the game yet again. 2-2. Our third and final shooter was Brandon Kozun. We took the lead right back. 3-2. Now all we needed was a stop to win the game. Our goalie Jake Allen came up big and made a huge save. We won the game 5-4 in a shootout. This was one of the greatest games that I have ever played in.

We have successfully got through the round robin 4-0. We earned ourselves a buy to the semi finals. Now that we have earned a semi-final birth, it will be nice to get a couple days of rest. We are not sure yet of who we are going to be playing, but it is between the Russians and the Swiss. Everyone thought that the Russians would have a sure win, but team Switzerland came up with the biggest upset of the tournament and pulled off an overtime win. Now, heading into the semi finals with our confidence at an all time high, we are not going to let the Swiss get in our way of what we came here to do. We are only one game away from the finals, and winning the gold medal has been our goal since day one. We have already played and beaten the Swiss in the round robin, but we know that this game will be completely different. This game there is a spot in the finals on the line. We knew that if we played the same style of game that we have been playing all tournament long that we would come out on top and find ourselves in the gold medal game. That’s exactly what we did and we won the game 4-2. The Gold medal game With a big win in the other semi final matchup, we play the Americans in the finals, a rematch of New Years Eve. To this point in my young hockey career this is definitely the biggest game of my life. I have always dreamed of playing for team Canada and winning a gold medal, and now it’s right in front of me.

This is the matchup that everyone wanted to see in the gold medal game. it is arguably the biggest rival in hockey history, and it always seems to be a great game against the Americans. I was more nervous than I can ever remember before the start of this game. This will be one of the games that I will remember for the rest of my life. The Americans jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. We knew that the game was going to be a battle, and we dug ourselves a whole early. Before the end of the period we got one goal back, scored by Luke Adam and headed into the first intermission down 2-1. Going into the second period down one goal we knew we were going to have to pick up the pace of the game. Half way through the period we tied the game 2-2. This was a huge confidence booster and gave us a chance to take our first lead of the game. The game has been back and forth all night so far. Both teams have had great scoring chances, and the Americans have already switched goalies. After two periods of play the game was tied 2-2. Heading into the third period tied up at two was good. All we had to do was win twenty minutes and we were the champions. But things quickly turned in the third and we found ourselves down two goals yet again. Now we have changed up goalies, as the Americans did earlier in the game. it was going to be a battle to get back in the game, but we were a confident group. Late in the game Jordan Eberle once again came up huge a scored back to back goals. Once we had tied the game the crowd erupted. I have never heard a louder building in my life. At this point we had no doubt in our minds that we were going to win the game, but we would have to do it in overtime. Early in the overtime period we had a three on one. Surely I thought we were going to score and be champions. There was a slap shot from the wing and a huge rebound popped out and turned the Americans back the other way for their own three on one. Sure enough after a great chance for us they turn right back with one of their own. John Carlson headed down the wing, took a shot and sure enough ended the game. The Americans were gold medalist, and we were bringing home silver. This might have been one of the worst feelings that I have ever felt. It sucked. I will always remember the time that I spent playing for team Canada at the world junior tournament. It will be something that remains with me for the rest of my life. I made many new friends and met a lot of great people while I was there. Even though we didn’t come out with a gold medal, it will still be one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Adam Henrique