Tuesday, June 10, 2008

All Good Things Come to an End


Well, the final tournament has come and gone for the 2008 Spring season.


The 2000 team showed a lot of resilience, after dropping the first two games of the tournament, the boys battled back to win the next two and advance to the consolation round. The field consisted of 20 mostly Canadian teams. The consolation round consisted of the second group of eight teams. As Sunday approached, the team seemed to have regained some of the confidence they had lost over the last month. Facing elimination with each game, the boys jumped on the Toronto Bad Boyz (ONT) early and were able to advance with a 6-5 win. Next up was another hard fought battle with the Niagara Vipers (ONT), again the boys got out of the gate fast, only to watch Niagara tie the score 4-4 late in the third period. A late goal, along with an empty netter, sealed a 6-4 win. It was on to the consolation finals! After jumping out to an early 2-0 lead against the Cougar Selects (IL), the Mega Men were unable to sustain their momentum and the Selects stormed back to defeat the Mega Men 5-2. The season had come to an end. The boys had a great second half of the tournament and should feel proud of their accomplishments.


The overall experience for the boys was invaluable. They got to experience hockey at a new, more faster paced level, than they had ever seen before. There were some tough stretches along the way, but they grew as players and children. The boys finished the season with a 14-8-1 record. Not bad for their first experience against top competition.


I just wanted to say thank you to all the parents for your commitment to the team and a special thanks to Gary Gorscak, Bill Crousey, our coaches, for providing our boys the fundamental hockey skills to be successful. Without you folks believing in what we were trying to do, I would have never got this off the ground. Also, a special thanks to the Borghini's and others, for their hard work with fundraising and other team events. This would have never been possible without your hard work.


I'd also like to thank all the folks who contributed financially to the Mega Men. Your generosity helped enable our boys to have experiences they would never have had the chance to realize!


Finally, we move forward with even more hope for the future. As the team continues to grow, we look forward to helping the boys improve in all areas of their game. I fully intend to continue the Mega Men team for next Spring. Tryout information for the 2009 Spring team will be communicated sometime in October\November. Hope to see you all there!


Thanks,

Bob Adamski