Past Accomplishments
'97s WIN 2009 V-REDS CHALLENGE CUP
The 97s V-Reds won there own tournament this past weekend (April24-25). The played the following teams, the Moncton Wild Cats and the NS Prospects. The 97s V-Reds beat out the NS Prospects in the final with a score of 4-2. All the people at the rinks watched a fast game going from end to end and even some good hits.
The V-Reds goalie had to make a save on a penalty shot and made sure that the V-Reds kept the lead. The NS Prospects scored to tie the game up 2-2, The V-Reds went a head in the 3rd period with a breakaway goal scored by Will Bower, the game was finished off by the V-Reds with a empty net goal by Hunter wood.
'97s PLACE 2ND AT HOOKSETT, NH
Although losing 2-1 in the final it was in a lot of ways a victory for the kids. Throughout the weekend they played teams that had the majority of their players in the '96 age group with an average of 16 players per team all the while playing with 5 forwards and 3 defense. Not even looking at the scores of each game what people didn't see were 8 skaters who really showed what it meant to wear the VReds colours. During the weekend there were kids on the bench sick, complaining of headaches (no doubt from being dehydrated a little) and laying everything out on the line for the sake of the "Team". This is a direct result of over the last 4yrs with Coach Wood putting as much time into coaching the TH program and consistently "preaching " on what it takes to compete as a V-Red.
When the final whistle blew all that could be seen was 8 skaters who had red welts in their eyes from being exhausted and not getting the outcome that they wanted. There were parents from the other teams who could not believe that they played at the level they did with only 8 players and then they were told that all of our players were all 97's and a 98 goalie. A lot of praise were given to the kids and a real boost to the V-Red program especially with the 99's winning their final. It was mentioned after the game to our kids never hold your head down even after losing if you put the effort into the game that they put in. They probably didn't understand a lot of it at the time but they took another small step towards not only being better hockey players but better young men.
