Go Polar Bears!!!!

We have EXTREMELY exciting news. Eric coaches a 16 year-old travel hockey team and they had a big, important tournament in Las Vegas called the Silver Stick. They have regional Silver Stick tournaments all over and the winners of the region will meet in Canada for the national tournament. Eric's team came out on top of our region! It was soooo exciting, as the last two games went overtime. The Championship game was tied 1-1 after overtime, so they went to a shoot-out! It was crazy, but we came out on top. Our goalie did awesome under pressure! I felt very blessed to be able to be there to cheer them on. Canada here we come!!

The boys were champs off the ice as well. The team adopted a family for Christmas, so we went to Target to shop for them. I had a group of four of the players, and they cracked me up. We only had one threat to kick us out of the store, and the boys helped me by trying on women's shoes to see which ones looked nice. They each donated money for the gifts. They are a really fun group of young men.

Here is an article from the Arizona Hockey Union website. We now have a banner to hang at the rink and each of the boys received a pin and a medal. So cool. Eric received one too. There is a quote from Eric in the article below.

Midget U16AA '92sThe Arizona Hockey Union 92U16AA team captured the Silver Stick Western Regional championship in Las Vegas over the December 5th thru 7th weekend.

The team played three tough games in the round robin, finishing with two wins and one loss and earned a trip to the semifinals as the second seed in their bracket. On Sunday, they rose to play the California Heat and it came down to the wire, winning in over time 2-1. That wasn’t the biggest task of the day, as just five hours later they were to play in-state rival Phoenix Jr. Coyotes for the chance to move onto the Silver Stick finals in January. Trailing 1-0 with about 11 minutes remaining, they tied the score. It was to be a battle to the end as both teams were fighting for the go ahead goal. The game ended tied and made it through five minutes of over time still knotted at 1-1. Nine shooters later, the Union 92 team came out victorious in the shoot out and earned their chance to play in New Market, Ontario, Canada at the Silver Stick National Tournament.

Coach Eric said, “It was a tough weekend, but the boys battled and wanted to win this tournament. We came up short in one game on Friday where we fell apart as a team, but they learned from it and found a way to get it done today. They should be proud of what they’ve accomplished.”

It was a great weekend for the boys and Coach Eric (and parents too!). Everyone is very excited to be moving onto the finals in Canada over the January 16th thru 18th weekend.