2016/17 Maj Atom Select Jr. Rangers Winning Season
What an excellent season of hockey it
was for the 2016/17 KMHA Minor Atom Select Jr. Rangers.
As a result of their hard work and passion for the game, the team was able to post a record of 20-10-3!
In addition to their winning record, they also brought home the Championship Trophy from the Frank Sabitino Memorial Tournament (Oakville) and made it to the semi-finals in both the Dan Pulham Memorial Tournament (London) and a very tough Alliance Championship Tournament (Brantford).
This season, the team scored a total of 123 goals which translates into a Goals For/Average of 3.7 and a Goals Against/Average of only 2.3.
As the season stats demonstrate, we had a very balanced team this year; 10 players registered 10 or more points, 6 players who registered 10 or more goals and 5 players who registered 9 or more assists.
We also had the hardest working defensive squad and two of the best goalies in the Alliance Division that posted a record of 12 games where we held our opponents to 1 goal of less, 4 of which were shutouts.
This is quite the accomplishment considering we had 8 players who dawned the Jr. Ranger’s jersey as rookies, not to mention the fact that I was also a rookie Head Coach!
A very, very big personal thank you goes out to my partner in all of this, Doug Beddow. In addition to serving as our Manager, Trainer and Assistant Coach he spent countless hours organizing the team’s exhibition games, tournaments and extra ice time and in between all of that, managed to put develop specific practice plans and drills for our goalies; without his leadership, organizational skills and guidance, we definitely would not have had such a great year.
I would also like to thank our Assistant Coaches John Narhgang, Anthony Schurr and Carey Brett for their contribution both on and off the ice with the players and me personally. As we all learned this year, getting up for Monday 6:30am practices is tough so I really appreciate their dedication to the boy’s development.
Lastly, I would like to thank all of the parents (and grandparents!) for all of their support and dedication to the team. Everyone was extremely POSITIVE and every single one of you are role models in my book for what a great Hockey Parent should be!
This was an excellent opportunity for me and I feel very fortunate to have been part of such a great season. Again, thank you to the players, the assistant coaches, the parents and the KMHA office staff for making this a fun and exciting season of hockey! I can’t wait until next year!