Each
member of the coaching staff was asked to give one sentence to describe the year, and here’s what they had to say:
Matt
Herron (Coach): “It was a coach’s
dream!”
Dayle
Smith (Manager): “No player that played their heart out ever regretted it –
that’s why this team has no regrets.
They played with their hearts, their heads and with 100% determination
every shift, every game! I feel so
fortunate to be a part of this team.”
Steve Barber (Trainer): “To watch the kids transform from individuals to a cohesive team, one that works together and relies on each other, on and off the ice has been heartwarming.”
Mike Reid (Assistant): “I would sum up this year by saying the following: Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, that is what made this team work. We created a plan around key areas of the game of hockey (have fun, work hard, play as a pack, and maybe a little secret strategy), and each and every player on this team, committed themselves to that plan – the success takes care of itself.”
As a coaching staff we committed to the premise that if our team put in more effort than the other team we will win every battle for the puck, if we win every battle for the puck, we will win every shift, and if we win every shift, we will win every period, and if we win every period, the game will take care of itself. From the beginning of the year it was the coaching staff’s goal to make this season fun, but at the same time teach the children respect for the game of hockey, which included, respecting yourself, respecting your team, respecting your opponents and the game. The score of the game was never our lesson to be taught about the game of hockey. The lesson was that if you work hard each and every time you participate in this game, you will take something special away from it. If you give all your efforts towards the team’s best interests your team successes will be larger than the sum of your individual efforts.
Henry Ford is quoted as saying “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success”. That really defines our season: We started the year as 13 players and 4 coaches all newly introduced and awkward and unsure. In our first 6 games we were 2-4-0. We organized an early season tournament in Ayr where we had a ton of fun that seemly sparked some friendships and brought a sense of family to the team. Through the mid-season, the team had a tough stretch where we were 3-10-1. But we were growing, and learning, and let’s face it we had a rookie bench staff who had never coached minor hockey before and it took some time for them to get their game plan together. Then there came the Coldwater tournament in the beginning of February, where in the wheels started to align. While the first games of that tournament didn’t go our way, something happened in the last game that started our run for the finals. A quadruple overtime win against a hard fighting Muskoka Rock in the finals really lit up the kids’ faces, and that sense of ‘so that’s what happens when we battle every shift and don’t let up.’
It is safe to say at that moment there was a change in our commitment to the game. There was a change in our efforts, our performance and our fun. Somewhere in the midst of the first round of playoffs, everyone on the team seemed to finally understand and be able to execute that game plan that had been talked about before every game since the Christmas break. Things like, “whistle to whistle”, “own the nets”, “lock down the blue lines”, “be first” and “the team before self” started to show up in their play. That led to a first round playoff group leading record of 5-1-2 and a second round entry against our toughest opponent we had faced all year. The energy in the room was very different during the last 5 games of the year, than it was during the first 5 games. Every player was laughing, and smiling, joking and calm; there was a sense of confident, or understanding. The pregame talks had no questions about what “be first” meant or “does crash the net mean body check them?”, only nods of understanding, and nods of we got this coach, we get it. Frankly, that understanding, and that commitment led to our year end results. During the regular season, our goals for / goals against was 45-96 (1-2), during the 1st round of playoffs that changed to 27-17 (1.6-1). During the second round, against the most difficult team we’d faced in our pool, it was 13-1 over the 3 games.
So, to answer the original question that was posed at the beginning of this article, the season can be best summed up by an exchange between the coaches during a friendly exhibition game between our Elmvale LL#2 Coyotes and the Muskoka Rock that took place this past Sunday in Mactier, as a rematch to our quadruple OT win just 6 short weeks earlier. As a late arriving bench staff member (#1) stepped onto the bench in the second period when the game was already 5-0 in our favour, and asked another coaching staff (#2), “wow, we already up by 5?”, #2s Response: “Yep”, #1, “Are they having a bad game, or what?”, #2s Reponse: “We have just gotten that much better!”
The real answer to sum up this year could be seen in the smiles on the coaching staff’s faces that said: “We’re a team now, Baby! We’re a team!”
(And the Coyotes Howl…….)