March 3, 2018: Season Ending

We were back on the floor Saturday morning for the final, regular season ending game.  Yeah, that was quick, right?  It seems like the season flew by.  At 4-3, we needed a victory to firm up that 2nd place.

At the end of the day, all the kids will get the same trophy; that’s how they work this age group.  I’m totally fine with it for the 4, 5, and 6 year olds.  Still, with floor hockey being the first time actual win loss records are being kept, my competitive blood is bubbling.  Still not enough to overshadow what is most important at this age, which is having fun and learning how to play, but I feel it.  It’s right there under the surface.  Winning is NOT the most important thing right now, but I definitely love to see our kids win.  Onto the game…

It was against the worst team by record, but honestly, they didn’t play like it.  I think we crushed them the first time around; maybe this time around they had more players?  I’m not sure, but it certainly was not the crap team I expected to see on this Saturday morning.

But we still had plenty to get the W.  3-0 was the final score.. another shutout, which is more a testament of our defense than any goalie we put in there.  Again, they didn’t have to deal with a lot of chances.  Now it’s time to focus on the playoffs.

Next week is a scheduled practice.  Practice?!?!  We’re talking about practice?!?!  Yes, and actually, I think it’s nice timing.  That’s the one thing I didn’t like about basketball and floor hockey season; there are no practices.  What a difference practicing one day a week makes, like we did in baseball.  You get to actually teach the kids; they get to try and learn different things, instead of just winging it on the fly.  There are a couple things we can work on…
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I don’t want to overlook the number 3 team, if that’s who we play in the playoffs prior to the championship game.  Again, I don’t know how they’ll break out.  If it’s me, 4 vs 5, season over for both those teams after their game.  Then, 2 vs 3, and the winner plays the next game against 1 for the championship.  But, we’ll see how it goes.  The number 3 team is no slouch; they do have the most skilled player in the league, but… I’m fairly confident we can beat them.  If we play them, “strategy” is easy; keep somebody in that kid’s face the whole game.  It’s the number 1 team that I’m thinking about..

Their best player is no slouch; they put him at center, and when the puck rolls into the corner, he plays like free safety at about half court, waiting to cherry pick our outlet passes.  After all, that’s what we tell our defenders to do; shoot it down to the other end.  He waits there, and intercepts it, and shoots it back towards our net; a couple of those shots have actually went in.  We need a different plan there, like walking the puck up a bit before shooting it down.

Secondly, the biggest kid in the league resides on that undefeated team too.  They plop him right in front of their goalie.  It’s a good defensive strategy.  Maybe we keep him occupied all game with one of our offensive players and/or shoot as much on net as we can, from any distance.  Maybe he’ll serve as a screen to our benefit.

I’m not sure what the head coach has in mind, but I’ll discuss with him when we get there next week.  Heck, if we could walk out of that practice learning even one new concept, that may be the difference in the playoffs.  I really love coaching… I love watching my son play… I love working with the kids.  Now only if I could get paid for this… haha.  Until next week…