MAY MADNESS
The coaching staff is pleased with the team's effort in the past two tournaments. At the Toronto Cup the boys were the winner of the B side championship. This past weekend the QF 97 Team performed well: drilling Washington 5-2 in a fast paced game, dominating Buffalo 6-2 in a cooperative team effort, and destroying the Cylones 6-0 in a penalty filled affair.
After pool play the team ended up tied for 2nd with the Nordiques with a 3-1-0 record. The Nordiques were our only loss of 1-4. The teams were evenly matched, and the score remained close until well into the third. Penalties accrued for the Quick Feet Team and the Nordiques scored 3 power play goals. The boys moved on to the semi-final match to play the Nordiques, once again. Sunday, the hockey God's were not on the team's side. The team took 8 penalties in the 1st period, 5 penalties in the 2nd and 4 penalties in the 3rd. This cost the game as the Nordiques scored 4 out of their 5 goals on the power play. The final score ended up 1-5. With a few minor adjustments during game play and some officials calling a balanced game from the drop of the puck, the results would have been different. The team finished third overall this past weekend.
The coaching staff is happy because it feels this year's team has a nice balance of talent and toughnest on each line. The players have demonstrated a desire to come to compete every time they hit the ice.
To sum things up, before the semi-finals of this tournament we had 4 QF players in the top 10 for tournament point leaders and our goalies combined for the least goals against average. The coaches of the 97's believe each player is bringing something different that contributes to this team's success.
Keep working boys and in two weeks the championship will be yours.
By: Greg Wand, May 15, 2011