Dec 05, 2017 | Darren D'Aguilar | 1013 views
2017 Motown Cup Finalists
Kitchener Rangers Minor Atom MD Blue wins Silver Medal in Detroit!
Wow! - What a long weekend we had together as a team and as a combined hockey family. On behalf of the coaching staff again - I would like to thank all of the boys for their hard work and belief in our system. As you all know, the boys played some amazing hockey against this weekend against some older (and bigger lol) boys. I think all of the boys will remember our first game against The Irish of Notre Dame. You couldn't write a better script for a comeback in their first International Game.
The boys played hard in all of our games and quickly took to the new rules which included no icing on penalties, no one in the crease and seemed to include body contact. :)
As always in these long tournaments on the road - it becomes a challenge to keep 8 and 9 year old boys rested and out of trouble at the hotel. I'd say we did a pretty good job with that but I think we were all a little exhausted by the time we had to play our fifth tournament game and second game of the day on Sunday. Full credit goes to The Irish Rovers for their victory, and as their coach said it would be fun to play them a third time.
I know the boys were sad to not win the tournament but I hope when they look back at their medal and realize they played up a level and an age group - they will appreciate how great they played and how it should make them better hockey players and also to teach them the value of sportsmanship and that someone has to win and someone has to lose. That's sports.
Of course the best part of tournament hockey is the fun times the boys and the parents have together. I witnessed a lot of that.
I think all the boys will remember fondly our Thursday night bus trip to the new Little Caesars Arena to watch the Red Wings play the Canadiens. (Too bad about the outcome). That was a great way to start our trip and have some fun together. At the hotel - it was great to see all of the boys playing together and all of the parents bonding. I won't forget our Costco trip and our "Costco Thanksgiving Dinner" and all of our team breakfasts that Dave Erb organized.
I've said it before and I will say it again, I think KMHA should be very proud of the 2008 birth year boys. I know that the AAA, AA, MD Red and Blue and our Minor Atom Selects are all having amazing years and that is a reflection of the amazing coaching staffs every team has and just the level of talent and commitment to hard work and constant improvement that all of our boys have. Great work parents.
In closing - I just want to thank Paul Henriques, Jeff Hohl, Matt Harper and David Erb, Darren Todd, Brian Curtain, Jeff McDonald, Brad Marsh and Trent Montgomery for all of the amazing coaching and guidance you give our boys. And to all of our fans - I want you to know that we can not only hear you on the bench, we can feel you. You inspire us. Keep it up.
Go Blue!