Warming up outside the hotel outside the NY Islanders NHL stadium.
Looked tired first game
Lost 7-2
Goals
Dan Jones
Pat McGowan
Assists
Ed Loveland
Mike Pomfret
Saves
Ethan - 10
Lewis - 4
We played CT Charges Gold, coached by England Euro Championship winner Alex Majd. This was a game of pride, however unfortunately a mixture of over confidence and tiredness meant we came out sloppy and slow. I didn't want to over coach this game and wanted to see the boys take control and be accountable. We scored a great goal from our 2 man up play we had practicesed for a long time, they really worked out the defence and we got Dan jones open for a shot from the right wing, with him being a lefty it's a difficult skill but he didnt let us down and finished nicely. CT Chargers faceoff mana was very good with a very fast clamp and we struggled to gain possessions early in the game.
Ravi Sitlani from Stockport, Metros and England had made the trip by train from Manhatten to see us, he gave me my first opportunity with England U19s and he's a good friend. We grew up playing against each other and have a great respect for each other. He really knows everyone in the game but on both sides of the pond.
Ed Loveland really got into the groove in this tournament, he rides very well, wins back possessions, has great Vision and has developed a cannon of a shot!
The game finished 7-2 and I think the players felt disappointed with the loss and they way we had come out. I explained to a number of them how important rest really was and that in the future they can learn from this and that is really what this tour is about. We motivated ourselves by being scheduled to play in the huge main stadium
And getting a chance to finish the tournament with 3 wins from 5 games something really to be proud of.
We returned to the hotel and Julian and our roaring reporter (twitter Knights IV Scores) Andrea had gone to pick up sandwiches for the boys from Colesium Deli.
Won 6-5
Goals
Edward Hilditch
Will Prescott 2
Elliott Bickerton 2
Dan Jones
Assists
Elliott Bickerton
Ed Loveland
Mike Pomfret
Will Prescott
Edward Hilditch
Saves - 4
Face-Off - 4
This was the last game and we all knew it, we returned to the field and got ready, Marius had a bad ankle and got his boot taped, you could tell he was struggling but wanted to see the field! I always get emotional as I know it's the last game I will coach these guys, I told them that we where proud to be their coach and to go out to win the game with confidence and do it for no one else but themselves.
Lewis started in goal and was under pressure immediately, Twist had a great face off man some Atheltic players, we where a match for anyone and Mike Connor kept telling me we just needed a possession to get going and he was right. Ed Hilditch stepped in and shot off stickmside hip, an impossible shot to save for any goalie and was great to see him score after hitting the post 4 times and playing so well.
You could see Elliott 'Bick' Bickerton was getting impatient with the amount of possession and as always wanted the ball, we began to fight back and scored in bunches fighting back to 4-4.
It was the last 3 mins and the score was level we cleared the ball brilliantly with Cam Major and as Mike Connor was worried about them pushing out, trapping us and winning the ball back he called timeout! I gave him the look that I wasn't happy, but we had already discussed taking timeout. It was fine and we got our best offensive players in the game! We wanted to initiate with a middie and then play a big/little behind goal to try and get a short stick on Bick to let Bick do what he does best, he received a great pass from Ed Loveland, after a pick and roll and Elliott unleashed a beautiful low to high near side top corner goal, we reached for the stars and the sideline went crazy!
We knew the clock was against them. The Last face off was taken and they raced towards the goal, Kai unfortunately ran the opposite way (to almost cause me to cardiac arrest), Anyway they didn't get a shot off as our defence swarmed their players and put the ball on the carpet. We had won and I watched as they players showed some emotion and ran towards Ethan in the goal.
The parents stormed over the field to greet us, the game couldn't have ended in a better way, it was exciting for everyone and I thought about the parents at home watching the scores roll in on Twitter! I can't say that Twist dealt with the loss very well. they clearly didn't want to have their picture taken, but we had more fun because of it. To call a time out in the last few mins and for the team to execute what you have planned is amazing for any coach. I was proud of the team and what they had achieved, all you parents should be very proud of your sons in the way they have conducted themselves.
After the game the parents where fascinated by our coded calls like 'yellow', 'Axe' and 'Hammer' etc, I explained what they meant, Yellow is like a traffic light and we could also use green go to goal or red do not go to goal. Ask your sons if you would like to know the rest!
