This game was more of a score fest. Our guys got exhausted from setting up and scoring goals. Leading the way was the prolific scorer and consummate puck hog Ryan Nafziger. Ryan finished with four points, a hat trick with one assist. He was closely followed by Crockett Harper who had three goals but no assists. OK, so Ryan had one assist. I guess he isn’t a total ‘puck hog’; so I take that back. Other contributers included Max Alexander with a goal, Quinn McConnellogue with a goal, Tyler Falk with a goal, Jason Chipp with an assist, Nick Collins with two assists. Finally, leading the way in the assists category was Zac Alexander with three. This was Zac’s first go at playing center and it showed. He was skating all over the place at Zac speed. Zac speed is pretty good at this level. Zac complained he needed more shifts; like you get when you play defense. I expect Zac will do what he can to get back to D.Max, Jason, Nick C. and Quinn were able to erase their goose eggs and get on the boards (as in scoring) in this game. There was no shortage of smiling faces, high fives and hugs as the goals just kept on coming.

Stats courtesy Coach Shane Chipp

See the photos »

View Stats Totals »

Bowling Party a Hoot

Players, friends and family re-grouped at Chippers Lanes for a post game reality check; life is more than hockey eh? With chips pizza, sodas, and plenty of healthy horse play every body had a hoot of a time. Oh, there was some bowling too. As it turns out Coach Shane Chipp has been keeping it a secret that he started blowing at the age of eight. It was a great contrast between his form and function and that of the rest of the team.

Final Score: 4-2Off to a very fast start on a goal from Zac Alexander your Jr. Eagles Bantam Black team put another W in the win column in a reasonable close contest with the Yellow team.

The real showman and most likely MVP of this game was Ryan Nafziger. Ryan has that unusual ability not only to securely handle the puck through traffic to also knows when to get a shot off before the stick-check.

Jason Chipp (coaches kid pictured) had a great scoring opportunity going. Unfortunately he saw the puck go long on a stick handle and his chance slip away. BTW that wouldn’t happen in roller hockey. Harry whom many fans refer to as Big Red (red helmet) was robbed of his ice time by the refs who wouldn’t let him play without his mouth guard. Hey Harry, talk to me, I have an extra in my car at all times.

Next up is Bantam Blue, soon to be Bantam Black and Blue (that was a joke). Watch out for the multi-sport phenom Lukas Lindquist who is just coming off of a stellar football season. Remember, bowling party after the game (if memory serves).

See the photos>>

Note: Maribeth Taylor, Adam Taylor from the Yellow team’s mom graciously supplied many of the game photos in the gallery. Thank you Maribeth!
Stats courtesy Coach Shane Chipp

Stats Totals>>

Final Score: 3-2Who would of thunk it? Educated sports fans had concluded the Jr. Eagles Black team was out classed by the Capitals. After two periods of play the Eagles were down 0-2. Generally the players were stuck in their defensive zone where wingers were consistently failing to cover the point; the Capitals took advantage by passing the puck to their defense men whereupon it would come right back in front of the Eagles net, gotta hate that. Coaches Brian and Shane did their best on the bench at the start of the third period and I’ll be darned if they didn’t fight their way back into the game.

Zac started things off by seizing opportunities from defense and skating the puck into the offensive zone. The ensuing shot opportunities resulted in a flurry of goals. Zac tells this reporter that the goal was his but the refs gave it to Ryan. I told Zac he was better off with an assist than a goal. As the score evened the Capitals began trying harder and harder. Unfortunately they thought being more physical was what was need most whereupon their game become more like wrestling and less like hockey.

Final Score: 3-2
See the Photos»

Stats courtesy Coach Shane ChippStats Totals>>

Black goes down 2-1 in a close fought game where they had led for a large part. The bantam Cheyenne Capitals looked to be the more experienced and skilled team of the two; still the Jr. Eagles had a chance to tie it up late in the third period. With 1:46 on the clock they were awarded a face-off in their offensive zone. Coaches could have called a time out, pulled the goalie then with their best skaters on the ice make a bid for a game tying goal. Instead they dropped the puck and got pushed back whereupon they successfully defended their own goal.Zac Alexander scored the only goal for the Eagles. If MVP were to be awarded most fans would have it go to the goalie who withstood the large majority of shots making some fantastic saves.

Game Stats

Stats courtesy Coach Shane Chipp

View Game Photos »

Stats Totals>>

View Stats Totals »

Final Score 0-6

The first thing I said our assistant coaches was a comment on how big the other team look. I have to admit opponents always look bigger from the bench but not so much from the ice. At the drop of the puck it took less than two minutes to observe that they were not only bigger, but more skilled as well. In general they were faster to the puck and better able to control the puck. I have to hand it to our guys for hanging in there. They tried to integrate hat we went over in practice. Our centers were better positioned, which helped improve our breakout to a small degree. Open players could more often be heard calling for the puck. These are the good things. Most of the players had a good time. Isn’t that what it is all about? Chris had a good time. He had no clue as to what was going on in the defensive zone. Us coaches will no longer assume goalies know anything about defense, eh? After three periods he had most of it figured out; culminating in standing up one of AHA’s wingers as he entered our defensive zone. Jeff distinguished himself too. He plays hard and we feel two of his penalties were not for specific infractions but rather for playing with an intensity that Rec. referees are not used to seeing. Then at the very end of the game he showed us something nobody wants to see. I was glad to see that didn’t make it to the stats sheet.

Penalties:

Final Score 3-1

Goal from Kevin with an assist from Tyler. Goal from JD Unassisted. Gaol from Jeff assists from Kevin and Tyler.

Much quicker to the puck enabling players to keep it in the offensive zone much longer thereby improving scoring chances. Christopher Morgan had an excellent game in net, one shy of a shutout. Sam and Kevin showed great efforts. Quinton took a turn at D with great results.

Your Grizzly Bantams lose. But this time we have an excuse. My clever wife Jan Baby did some sleuthing and discovered the NCYH has setup both Ice House Bantams and EPIC Bantams as fodder for the developing Breckenridge Competitive Bantam teams who are in training for an upcoming tournament in Calgary. They played and humiliated us in the morning then went East to Greeley where they got themselves into a dog fight with the IH Bantams. Yes, they beat them too but it was a close game with a final score 3-5. Would have been 3-4 except for that empty net goal at the very end.Some parents thought we looked flat. I guess it would look that way seeing as how we were in over our heads. From my vantage point I had concluded that the nature of the program up there in that thin air of Summit County somebody decided to ax the competitive program thereby moving those guys to the in-house program. Wrong of course but a good guess based upon how things turned out.

Hey, how about that Chris Morgan?!
He did have some dazzling saves. The pucks he let in were on the, ah er… 3 on 0, then there was the 3 on 0, and of course there was that 3 on 0. Our goalie Arden skated on the first line with Sam and Tyler, those three provided our best scoring chances. They actually had one break-out; Arden to Sam and Sam to Tyler whereupon Tyler got himself into quite a drag race with a Summit speedster. Zac Alexander insisted he would be willing to score a goal if the coaches would give him candy. Well, I brought a big bag of candy and held it out here as a carrot but alas, he didn’t get first pick. We have Chris first dibs from the candy treasure bag, then Sam and Arden. C’est la vie.

Game Stats
Shots on goal. Chris saw 31 shots and made 26 saves for a .84 save percentage. Only one penalty on famous #22 Jeff Raine for 2 minutes of sin bin time. Seems a Breckenridge player had a hold of his stick forcing Jeff to get a call for hooking. Jeff tried to explain that but only angered the ref. The other guys earned two penalties for a total of four minutes in the box.

View Photos»» 

Photos from Sunday’s game vs. Jaguars have been posted in the gallery. Maribeth Taylor got us some great shots that you won’t want to miss. So what if most of them are of Adam Taylor?!

vs. Hyland Hills Jaguars :: final score 0-4

Your DNHL Bantams used their pre-game locker room time to go over game plans to the sound of heavy metal music provided by Adam Taylor. Our boys hit the ice hard knowing that lines would be short with the high number of absent players. For a variety of reasonable reasons JD, Tyler and Kevin found themselves otherwise engaged. Colton was glad for this turn of events as he was able to finally get off defense and play his favored position of center.

From the coaches point of view things seemed to be going well. The jaguars earned one goal off of Arden with some great team play in the zone. However the second goal came on what seemed a bizarre call where Jeff, lying in front of his goalie on the ice, tried to sweep a loose puck back to Arden. The puck became entangled in Jeff’s jersey and the ref called him for covering a puck in the crease. That equals a penalty shot! Wouldn’t you know it, their shooter scored. The referee explained had Jeff covered the puck outside the crease it would have been a two minute delay of game penalty. Well, at least Jeff didn’t have to go in the box.

Later in the game one of our defensemen had a puck deflect off of him and right into the net. Arden had the shot covered but was not prepared for the deflection. It seems sooner or later every player gets a turn at scoring on their own goal.

While we coaches liked how our guys were playing; breaking out, making passes, holding the zone, we were amazed to see the shots on goal differential. We had a scant thirteen shots on their goal while they had a whopping 28 shots on Arden. I had to ask our parents and fans what their take of the game with and across the board they echoed our impression of a great game. Two weird goals and fifteen more shots considered we didn’t do half bad given the short nature of our lines. I also feel stick and puck on Friday, practice on Saturday left a few players flat for Sunday’s game. Moving stick and puck to Wednesday should solve that.

Goaltender	Shots Faced	Saves	GAA
Christopher Morgan	28	24	.86
Opponents	13	13	1

Penalty	Player	Jersey	Min.
Interference	Jeff Raine	22	2
Roughing	Colton Aguiar	4	2
Slashing	Austin Leigh	19	2
Total:			6

Opponents Penalties	Min.
Total:	6

View photos>>

Grizzlies hit .500 with win over Arvada 1. What differentiated this game was overall anticipation and commitment. These intangibles translate to speed, puck possession and opportunities. One fact of hockey life I’ve shared with the team was a Wayne Gretzky interview where he likened hockey to playing poker. One does what one can to capture the best odds possible thereby creating more and better chances of a positive outcome. Winning face-off creates puck possession and a better chance. Playing position creates better chances of something good happening, and so on.
Our distributed scoring tells a story of balance in the lines and positions being well played. Max Wagner discovered the joy of defense and doubled his value to the team. Mark Travers discovered intensity and doubled his value to the team. Preston Barnhart improved his skating skills by putting in extra practice time mid-week thereby doubling his value to the team. Austin ‘the Quite Riot’ Leigh quietly and consistently contributes. Austin has earned points in every game he has played in while staying out of the mob scene. Improved skills both mental and physical have benefited individual players while making us a better team.