The Little Team that Could
David and Goliath…… 1972 Summit Series….. Miracle Mets of 1969…… Team USA 1980 Olympics….. Nothing more captures the heart of a true sports fan than the upset. Everyone wants the underdog to pull off that miracle win, yet it rarely happens in sports today. I recently had the opportunity to experience and share such a memorable experience with my daughter and the team she plays for, the Victoria Minor Hockey Peewee Female Ice Hawks.
A great story starts with a great line, and I guess if I were to use some poetic license with another great sports story it would start, “The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Victoria six that day….”
I took on the job as head coach of the Victoria Minor Hockey Peewee Female C team with a bit of trepidation. Not having played the game competitively as a child and seriously doubting my own hockey and skating skills, I was a bit afraid I would not be up to the task; but, with a strong group of assistant coaches and an enthusiastic group of girls eager to learn the game, the team has been pushing forward.
It’s a small group - just 12 girls now after adding a new player just the week before. Although playing as a Peewee Team, the team is in fact a disparate group with players ranging in age from 7 to 12 with nearly half the team playing competitive hockey for the first time. With not enough girls to field an Atom team and with most associations on the island in the same boat, we took what we could get and joined the island’s Peewee League. While all female teams are not new to VMHA, the association has really put precedence in building up a vibrant female program. Several in the association were worried that the girls might become dispirited if they joined the league and ended up getting thrashed game in and game out. I disagreed and pushed to have us enter the league. You can’t improve if you don’t compete; and, if there’s one thing I have learned working with these fabulous girls, it is that they want to compete.
In the early stages, it seemed as if the doubters may have been on to something. Through our first six exhibition and league games, we never came close to winning. Playing against larger teams, sometimes older, sometimes younger but always more experienced, the girls were clearly outmatched. Facing 40-50 shots on goal in most games while only getting a half dozen or so scoring opportunities per game, the team was clearly overmatched. Despite this, there spirit was never broken. They seemed to take delight in the 1 or 2 goals they scored each game, congratulated each other on good defensive plays or a good save and even took enjoyment from some of the exceptional stick handling, skating and shooting skills that the opposing teams pulled off. A true pleasure to coach a group so enthusiastic about the sport and the pleasure of playing.
Now, despite the results, these girls had progressed. Through practice and hard work, they had been learning their positioning, using their energy and speed to create scoring opportunities and making small steps forward week by week that one expects from a cohesive team. Probably more importantly, as a group, the group of girls had really started to become a “team”. We started seeing girls who excelled at various positions and worked well together as line mates, and as coaches, we tried to harness these small skill sets to the best of our ability. Seeing them work so hard from week to week, only to be so outmatched game after game, I really started to wonder if all the hard work would pay off with a win before the season ended. If effort and attitude were all that was required to seize victory, I don’t think this group could ever lose a game. Unfortunately, that is not the reality of the sport and we entered the Sooke Fall Face-off tournament with high hopes but as distinctive underdogs.
The tournament, held over the Remberance Day weekend, consisted of 6 Peewee Female teams grouped into two skill-based tiers. In round robin play, we faced the two other tier 2 teams and one tier 1 team. Despite our best efforts and great improvements on the defensive side, the girls fell in the round robin action 10-4, 18-1 and 12-1. The scores didn’t always reflect the play of our girls. With only 11 skaters compared to 16+ on most teams, they tend to tire in the 3rd period and the scores got away from them a bit. Still, as coaches, we were quite satisfied with their positional play and knew that when they pressed hard on the opposing defensemen they were creating scoring opportunities. While, perhaps, we did not anticipate a win in the Consolation Final, we certainly had high hopes that we could make a game of it.
We went with the best lineups we thought that could create a balance between good protection of the goaltender in the defensive zone and speed up front to create problems for their defense. Elidh Clarke (LW), Paige Lucas (C), and Sydney Jakob (RW) on the top line with Isabel Bodnar, Kelsey Carrothers and Jamie Dubois on the 2nd Line. Defensive pairings were Carey Stead/Jessica Coulombe and Chelsea Knox/Mary Harding. Emily Crowley stood in goal. The first period was well fought. They seemed to be keeping some of their better skaters on defense to slow down our speedy forwards from making any breakouts and though we did a better job in slowing down their attack they tallied scores on a hard wrist shot glove side just 30 seconds into the game, a wrap around goal at 4:56 and a poked in rebound in the crease with just 1:06 left. Another quick goal just two minutes into the second and the girls found themselves down 4-0.
Undaunted, the team battled back. A goal from Paige on a nice pass to the slot from Elidh followed by a shorthanded goal by Carey pinching in and as the buzzer sounded at the end of the 2nd period, the score was 4-2. We had ourselves a game. This wasn’t beyond the realm of the possible any more. I quickly reminded the girls that by outscoring Juan de Fuca 2-1 in the 2nd, they had just won their first period of hockey this season. They liked that and I really didn’t have to say more to get them motivated. They battled hard in the third, the balance of play clearly shifting in their favour, but the goals wouldn’t come. With Elidh’s back ailing a bit and the girls getting tired, I moved Carey up to the front line. The move paid off with two quick goals just 90 seconds apart and with 5:15 left we had ourselves a tie game.
If you ever had a chance to watch the old lead-in to the ABC Wild World of Sports TV program with the ski-jumper crashing on his attempt, that’s about how I felt, when just 30 seconds after we scored the equalizer, JDF’s top player skated end to end down the left side and ripped a hard wrist shot past Emily on her stick side. It seemed as if victory would be snatched away from us in such a cruel fashion. As a coach and a father, I was heartbroken, hoping somehow we could manage to tie the game up to give these girls some sort of victory for all their hard work and perseverance. And they didn’t give up. They didn’t bow their heads in defeat. They worked even harder and with 1:26 left in the game, the top line came through again with Carey whipping a sweep shot under the sprawling goalie from the side of the net. The final minute was a blur, with scoring chances at both ends of the ice. When the final buzzer sounded, we couldn’t contain our joy. A tie! The whole team rushed the ice to celebrate. For once we would leave the ice without a loss.
But, wait… Hold on a second! The officials are conferring at the score box. The game is not over. The tournament rules state that as it is the consolation final, we must go to a shootout. Each team will select 3 shooters and at the end of the 3 shooters, the team with the most goals wins. Shootout! Half the team doesn’t even know what a shootout is. I quickly select our shooters and the order. Paige first, then Sydney, then Carey. I give Emily one last set of instructions – “stay high in the crease and don’t commit until they make their move or take their shot”. As the visitors, we go first.
Paige takes off from center ice, stick handling well all the way and gets off a nice wrist shot but right at the sprawling goalie – SAVE. #8 – JDF’s best shot comes down the ice and makes a move to Emily’s left side at the last minute drawing her across the crease then neatly tucks the puck to her opposite side – GOAL, 0-1. Sydney takes off straight for the net and from about 8 feet whistles a low shot, 5-hole and into the back of the net – GOAL. The second skater for JDF takes off and as she moves to her right, Emily goes down on her glove side and makes the pad save – SAVE. After two rounds, it’s 1-1. Carey is next and quickly makes her way down the ice and tries a hard wrist shot glove side that goes right into the goalie’s catcher – SAVE. Man, do or die now. A goal on this last shot and it’s over. Their shooter once again tries low on the glove side and again Emily is equal to the task, smothering the puck in her body – SAVE. 1-1! End of the shootout? Is it a tie?
No! Again the officials confer. The game will not end until a winner is declared. We got to another shootout, same three shooters, SUDDEN DEATH. Paige starts us off again, stick handling the puck. Oh no, she momentarily loses control of the puck forcing her wide. She tries to push it past the goalie on the right corner but is denied – SAVE. Here we go again, do or die – Juan de Fuca’s top scorer with a hat trick in the game already and a shootout goal in the first round. I can’t watch. I put my hands in front of my face and peer through my open fingers. Down the ice she comes, stick handling smoothly. She makes her move to Emily’s glove side. The last three weeks in practice I have tried to get Emily to learn the crease slide to seemingly no avail and now as if it were the most natural thing to do in the world, her left leg stretches out with the glove perfectly placed on her hip and as #8 tries to lift it into the glove side corner, Emily deflects it with her pad wide of the net – SAVE. My heart is pounding. Sydney’s turn again. Same as last time, nothing fancy – just straight down the ice and a nice low hard shot under the pads of the sprawling goalie – GOAL. Alright here it is. Just one more save, that’s all we need. The JDF shooter heads straight in on Emily. She holds her ground and doesn’t back down (for once in her life she may actually have listened to her Dad). The shooter gets in too tight and can’t make her move. She tries to shoot for the corner, but the angle is cut off and puck sails wide of the net as she crashes into the goalie – SAVE.
We don’t believe it. Half the team thinks we still have one more shooter to go. The coaches jump onto the ice and with a rush of sudden understanding the whole team rushes over to mob the goalie. WE WON. I think I nearly leapt the boards in a single bound. I can hardly remember ever feeling so excited for myself, for my daughter and for this team.
Afterwards, as the victory sank in and my heart rate slowly returned to something resembling normal, I was able to reflect on just how well these girls played and how much they epitomized what is great about youth sports. They didn’t care how much they were down by, they probably didn’t even think back on the fact that we had lost twice to this same team. They simply played hockey, the best they knew how and were rewarded for their effort. Aside from the wonderful girls from Juan de Fuca and their faithful fans, I don’t think anyone at the rink wasn’t behind our team in those final moments. I heard from parents afterwards that the Sooke Peewee team and the Campbell River Peewee team that were waiting to get on the ice for their championship match were both cheering us on down the stretch as if we were their own teammates on the ice. Now, we may not win another game the whole rest of the season or we may build on this and rack up a heap of wins as the season wears on. To me it matters not. I will always have that special afternoon, a special moment I got to share with my daughter and with a great group of girls, parents and coaches. The very first victory for the Victoria Minor Hockey Peewee Female Ice Hawks. No one can take that away from us.
