Al Bundy’s return to Polk High not what he had hoped for…, News, Novice AAA, U9, 2019-2020 (Oshawa Minor Hockey)

This Team is part of the 2019-2020 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Feb 05, 2020 | U13 AAA Mgr | 1691 views
Al Bundy’s return to Polk High not what he had hoped for…
Jan 31 & Feb 1 2020 - Ok maybe Al Bundy didn’t return to Polk High, but one of our coaches, Josh Ford, returned to Whitby for the first time in his life to face his former team/association.   Coach Ford was a member of the All-Ontario Brooklin Whitby Family Kartway Major Bantan 1990-91 Championship team.  “DOUBLE A!, Don’t forget to make sure everyone knows it was only a “AA” Championship!” – Credit Coach Sean Dionne for pointing out the level at which Coach Ford played at the time.  (It should be noted for historical purposes, at that time the town of Whitby did not have a “AAA” Program.) His glory days long behind him, Coach Ford had hoped that our Generals would have skated onto Iroquois Park Arenas Pad #1 and hand Whitby a convincing defeat.  Alas, that was not the case.

The boys were down early after one of Whitby’s players (#33 Jordan Ellis) went coast-to-coast and buttered the toast.  He literally went the entire length of the ice and passed all five of our awe-struck Generals and finished with a top-shelf wrister over the shoulder of a stunned Brady Rancourt.  That set the tone for what was not going to be a good night for the Gennies squad.  The boys seemed to forget how to play Generals Hockey and instead tried to mimic the likes of Ellis and the other Whitby players that can really fly with the puck.  We learned a very valuable lesson in team hockey on this night.  Down 2-0 after one period and 6-1 after two periods it was time to get the boys back on track.  In between the 2nd and 3rd periods, Coach Corey Lucas challenged the boys to win the third period.  Your Oshawa Generals were up to the challenge!  They set the score aside and focused on getting back to playing Generals Hockey.  Dylan Tavares with one and Liam Johnston with two goals lead the way to a 3-2 mini-victory in the third period.  Final score 8-4 in favour of Whitby. 

That was not the start to the weekend we wanted but the very next day offered up a chance to get back up off of the mat and right back into the ring for an even tougher battle against a very strong Quinte Red Devils team in Trenton.

The first period was by far the best period of hockey to date!  We not only skated with the Red Devils, but we carried the play and generated multiple scoring chances. The score was 0-0 heading into what was about to be the second period when the referee’s missed an opportunity to make the right call.  A shot from the Quinte team bounced off of the post and trickled behind Rancourt and was cleared away only to have the refs blow it down and call it a goal.  Nothing was going to change the refs minds.  The team regrouped between periods and came back out strong with Brandt Nabigon scoring on a goal coming out of the corner on a high short side wrist shot beating the goalie over the shoulder to tie the game at one a piece.  Penalties trickled back into the game and we were punished two time by the Red Devils.  End of the second period the score was 3-1.  This reporter is just going to pretend that the third period didn’t happen…in short, the wheels came off and Quinte scored 5 unanswered goals.

As a reporter, I might have forgotten the third period, but I can assure you that the coaching staff and the players did not forget it, nor will they forget it anytime soon.  In this year of growth and learning, they continue to grow and learn many valuable lessons that in time will make this team one of the best in the Eastern AAA League.

The mini-season is half over and all of our road games are behind us.  We sit with a record of 1-3 as we head into our 4 game home stand against Clarington, Peterborough as well as both Whitby and Quinte again.  We will be looking to improve on our record, but more importantly, we will be looking to see how much better this team can get.  The score often does not indicate the true story of where these boys are at developmentally wise. 

Looking forward to the next 4 games.  Good seats still available.