Philly Frozen Cup

Zak's team participated in the Philly Frozen Cup tournament this weekend.  The games were played at the Flyers Skate Zones (Philadelphia Flyers practice facilities) in Pennsauken, NJ, and Voorhees, NJ.

Pennsauken, NJ

Voorhees, NJ

There were 5 other teams in our division:

Boston Bandits

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Jr. Knights

Syracuse Stars

Team Comcast

Warwick Wildcats

We played 3 regular games: lost to the Syracuse Stars 4-0, tied the Warwick Wildcats 6-6, and lost to the Boston Bandits 4-1.  We were in the consolation game last night and lost to Team Comcast 3-2.  The boys played tough and never gave up, we are very proud of their performance!

Zak's girlfriend, Meesa, was even able to join for one of the games.

The coolest part is Peter Laviolette (the Flyers head coach) coaches his son's team (Team Comcast) which also includes Keith Primeau's son, and after the consolation game we were standing 6 feet away from Brian Boucher (former Flyers goalie).  :-)

Jr. Flyers Updates

The 2012-2013 hockey season is well underway....the team's first non-league games were in late August and league games started in mid-September.  The team has participated in 2 tournaments so far, 1 at home over Memorial Day Weekend and 1 in Boston in early September.  Their record is currently 7-4-3 in the league and they are in 5th place of 12 teams.

Tomorrow begins the Frozen Cup Tournament at the Flyers Skate Zone rinks in Voorhees, NJ, and Pennsauken, NJ.  We have 2 games tomorrow and 1 Saturday and playoffs begin Saturday evening.  Wish them luck!!!

Hockey Night In Boston

This summer, Zak was selected to play with Team Philadelphia in the Sophomore Division of the Hockey Night In Boston Tournament.  There were teams from across the country in the tournament.  The tournament took place July 15th-21st at Haverhill Valley Forum just outside of Boston, Massachusetts.

Haverhill Valley Forum

Team Philadelphia consisted of not only players from the Philadelphia area, but also 3 from Virginia, 1 from Florida, 1 from California, and 1 from Michigan.

Team Philadelphia Sophomores

Zak wore #8

Coach and his son

Coach Charlie Pens, who runs American Hockey Schools, has been taking teams to this tournament for years and has never won.  Well Zak's team changed that this year!  Not only did they win the championship, they went undefeated 6-0!!!

The smile of a champion!

Each player was rewarded with a Hockey Night in Boston "Festival Champions" jacket.

Moving Up!

Zak decided this year was the time to try and take a step up in his hockey career.

Let me give a little background first:

He has always played in what is called a Tier II league which has only required us to travel within about an hour and a half from our home rink for games, there are about 20 teams in this league each year, and their play levels are AA, A, and B.  Tier I league teams are very competitive, highly skilled, and can require travel up and down the east coast, there are only 3 teams within an hour and a half of our house, they are AAA, and are scouted by college and pro teams.  Additionally, youth ice hockey groups 2 birth years together each year into the following brackets: Atom, Mite, Squirt, PeeWee, Bantam, Midget U16, and Midget U18.

So, back to our story:

This season Zak is moving into a new age bracket, Midget U16, and since he seems to want to continue playing hockey hopefully into college if not further, we decided now was a good time for him to take the chance and try out for a Tier I team and if he didn't make it, no big deal because we love our Colonials family.  The tryouts were much more intense than he had ever experienced and the skill level of the boys was amazing.  Well, he made it...he is now a Jr. Flyer!!!

Way to go, buddy! We are so proud of you!!! We can't wait to see what exciting opportunities next season brings!

Saturday, February 4th, VFC vs. York Devils

This was the 4th time we played this team, and boy did we play them with a vengeance.  They have beat us the first 3 games, but we took the lead early and held on for a 6-1 win!  Zak got an assist, but most impressive was a mid-ice check he laid on a kid that was totally legal, but left the poor kid down on the ice.  When Zak sets his mind to it, he is like a human wrecking machine on the ice!

February 3rd, PJPII vs PACHS

This was a very good game for our team and a huge victory, 7-0!!!  Zak had a goal and an assist.

January 28th, VFC vs. Quakers

This team is in 1st place in our division, any team below 5th in our division they have beat by a margin of at least 6 goals.  Well we gave them a run for their money and did not let them walk all over us!  The final score was 7-4.  Their coach even complemented our coach on how well our boys played.  We're really coming together as a team...unfortunately it's with only a handful of games left and not enough time to dig ourselves out of the cellar.  But at least we're going out with our heads held high!

Friday, January 27th, PJPII vs. Phoenixville

This was our 3rd match-up against the Phantoms and the this time we emerged victorious, 4-0!!!  We keep going up little by little in the divisional standings...if we keep this up we may even find ourselves in playoffs!

Sunday, January 22nd, VFC vs. Glaciers

Zak sat out of this game because he was still having pretty serious pain in his shoulder.  His teammates played a great game.  We scored first, then the scoring went back and forth throughout the game, and ended with our team on top...they pulled out a 5-4 league win!

Saturday, January 21st, VFC vs. Cap City Vipers

This team is 5th in our division, so when we were leading the game 2-0 midway through the 1st period the spirits were high.  However, we soon started losing the grasp on that lead.  Late in the 1st period the game was tied.  Then a fellow defenseman went out of the game with an injured knee.  Shortly after that, Zak took a hit that crashed him into the boards shoulder first and he immediately headed to the bench...you could see the pain on his face from the stands.  By the start of the 3rd period we were losing 5-2.  About midway through the 3rd we scored and brought the game to 5-3.  Zak rejoined the game shortly after that and had a few great last shifts, including a beautiful breakaway that the goalie stopped (stupid goalies).  All in all, we ended up losing the game 6-3, but it was a hard fought battle and we gave a much higher ranked team a run for their money.

Friday, January 20th, PJPII vs. Harriton

This was the third and final time we had played the Harriton Rams.  Both previous games they had beat us by one goal: 4-3 and 3-2.  Well last night our boys finally came together and played like we always knew they were capable of and beat the Rams 6-2!  Way to go PJPII Panthers!!!

Sunday, January 15th, VFC vs. Haverford Hawks

This was an extremely early game...7:45am, yuck!  But it ended up being worth the early wake up call as we won the game 4-3.  Again, Zak was a wrecking machine today and ended up finding himself in the penalty box 4 times!

Saturday, January 14th, VFC vs. New Jersey Freeze

Today's game was a very good, competitive game.  Scoring went back and forth throughout the game, it was tied 5-5 halfway thru the second period and stayed there until just 6 minutes left in the game when the Freeze scored making it 6-5, and they held on for the win.  Zak had a great game, though, and was like a one-man wrecking machine out there. :-)

Friday, January 13th, PJP vs Upper Darby

Tonight's game was a tough one.  Our bench was short 2 players to start and then another went out shortly after the game started.  They held their own in the first period, ending 3-2, but the next 2 periods did not go nearly as well.  With just a couple minutes left in the game, they were down 8-2, but then Zak got a goal from the blue line, ending in an 8-3 loss.  Zak got a goal on his birthday so it was a small success for him!

Sunday, January 8th, VFC vs. Grundy Senators

Today's game was a tough one, a 7-2 loss, but Zak played hard and stayed tough the whole game.

Saturday, January 7th, VFC vs. Blazers

The boys played smart and hard today and secured a big win, 4-3, moving them up in the League standings.  Zak scored the game winning goal...a slapshot from the blueline!

Friday, January 6th, PJPII vs. Plymouth-Whitemarsh

The boys played a great game, stayed motivated, and won 5-3 against the 2nd place team in their division.

Thursday, January 5th, PJPII vs. Harriton

The boys played a very hard fought game and never gave up, however they fell to a 3-2 loss.