Tri Valley Blue Devils B2: Welcome

Stockton Ice, Stockton, CA: The prior three meetings between the Stockton Colts and the Blue Devils were razor close games.  The Colts won the first two pre-season games by just one goal each.  The first regular season game between them ended in a tie. 

The ice surface at Stockton Ice was chewed up from the public skate before the game and quite wet from the Zamboni.  Both teams had to struggle with it, however, so it was a question which team would adjust to it better.

The first period started well for the Devils.  Three minutes in, Cole made a nice move around a defender on the right wing and drew a tripping penalty.  The Devils cashed in making it 1-0 on the on the powerplay.  The play started with Jeff skating in on a very strong rush.  Mason and Dimitri stayed onside  close behind him. The puck came free to Mason who poked it to Dimitri.  Dimitri’s hard shot hit the right pad of the very tall Stockton goalie, and Mason backhanded the rebound over that same right pad into the net.

The first period was played evenly after that, and Max was tested a few times.  He made one great scrambling save, and was flat on the ice when the puck slid to a Colt forward staring at an empty net.  But Neil managed to get in front to block the shot.

Stockton tied the game 1-1 ten minutes into the first period when the Devils were caught at the end of a long shift. A Stockton forward made an excellent end-to-end rush and lifted a backhand high into the net.

Two minutes later, the Devils responded and took the lead back 2-1 when Nick made a strong end-to-end rush of his own.  He skated around several Colts and made a brilliant backhand to forehand move in front of the Colts goalie and then wristed a shot past him. 

The first period ended with a great save by Max.  He had to make a headlong dive from his right to his left across the crease to stop a shot – right as the buzzer sounded.

Less than 5 minutes into the second period, the Colts tied the game 2-2 on a power play.  There was a battle behind the net and it appeared a Colts player was holding a Devils player which allowed a centering pass to enter the slot.  The Colts defenseman took the pass and scored on a slap shot from less than 20 feet out.

The Devils controlled the play for a good portion of the game after that.  Cole, Philip, and Matt W. created a lot of shots and good scoring chances.  Cole had many great shots on net that the big Colts goalie stopped. All three were getting rebound chances after shots from the point by Connor and Jeff but couldn’t score on any of them. Nick was also robbed on a quick one-timer off a clean face off win by Gordie. 

The third period started with the Devils still putting on pressure.  Jeff was keeping clearing attempts in at the point, taking hard shots, and making good passes to forwards.  Matt V. took a hard shot from the slot after Gordie got it to him with another clean face off win, but again no goal.

Then almost midway through the third period, the Colts took the lead 3-2.  A Colt’s forward took a bad-angled shot from the left corner.  It appeared to deflect off a skate or two in front of Max and trickled by him just inside the goalpost to his left. 

During the remaining 8 minutes of the game, the Devils poured it on in an effort to tie the game.  Nick, Jeff, Neil, and Connor were keeping the puck in the Colt’s zone on numerous occasions.  They would either shoot it or put it back into the corners for the forwards to work their cycles.  Shots from the point were creating rebound opportunities, but the Devils simply could not cash in on them.  The cycles were working as the Devil’s forwards were getting shots from in close. Matt W. was stopped on two wrap-around attempts, but the big Stockton goalie followed every play, and he gives very little net to shoot at when in so close. 

The game ended with the Devils losing 3-2 despite outshooting the Colts 35-18.  The third period alone had the Devils outshoot the Colts 16-3 with most of those shots coming in the last six minutes.  Coach Jim said, “The good news is we peppered the Colts goalie with shots and he left some rebounds. But we need to anticipate and be hungrier for those rebounds with a higher expectation to score on them.”

Shannon added, “We cycled the puck well after dumping the puck in.  We put the puck in front to get good shots, but we still need to work on our break outs to create better scoring chances.”

The game seemed to have a lack of checking to which Connor responded, “The ice wasn’t so great and it was hard to get an edge to line up the checks.  Even so, we could have and should have played more physical.”

Shark’s Ice (North Rink), San Jose, CA: The 2009 Silver Sticks championship game pitted the Devils in a rematch against their rivals, the Santa Clara Blackhawks.  The Blackhawks cruised to the championship winning every game handily except one.  The exception was the hard fought 3-1 victory they had against the Devils in the tournament’s first game.  The Blackhawks have a deep roster which allows them keep their players fresh. The good news for the Devils was that Matt W. was able to rejoin the team for this game, so the only players missing from the Devils roster were Arjun and Philip.

The Blackhawks seized momentum early and scored the first goal in the first minute of the game.  The Devils failed to clear the zone, and a slap shot from the point by a Blackhawk defenseman eluded Willie.

The Blackhawks dominated the first period, as the Devils could not muster any significant offense.  With only 30 seconds left in the period, the Blackhawks made it 2-0 when the Devils couldn’t keep a bouncing puck in the Blackhawk zone.  It resulted in a 2-on-1 break for the Blackhawks.  Willie saved the first shot, and tried to freeze the rebound, but the refs didn’t blow the whistle.  An alert Blackhawks player poked it in.

Just over a minute into the second period, the Devils made it 2-1 on a pretty goal.  Matt W. centered the puck from behind the net to Cole camped out in front just to the right of the goalie.  Cole shot it quick, hard, and high into the net.

The goal made the game exciting, despite the fact that the Blackhawks dominated the rest of the second period. It appeared the Devils were tiring a bit, and players were often out of position.  It was common to see all three forwards swarming the puck on one side of the ice or behind the net.  Even if they won these battles, there was nobody to pass it to. 

The Devil’s defensemen were also having difficulty getting the pucks to forwards up ice whenever they tried to break out of the defensive zone. The forwards were not helping because they often missed passes or not were not strong enough with their sticks allowing the Blackhawks to go back on the offensive.  The breakouts for the Devils were developing too slowly, and fresh waves of Blackhawks players were simply quicker to the puck.  Still, the defensemen and backcheckers for the Devils used whatever energy they had to challenge every shot taken by the Blackhawks.  They disrupted many of them, and Willie once again made many good saves.  As a result, the second period ended with the Devils only trailing 2-1.

The Blackhawks, however, made it 3-1 early in the third period.  Again, it was a Blackhawks defenseman taking a slap shot from the point.  It was deflected by a Blackhawk forward and bounced over Willie’s right pad into the net. The Blackhawks continued to pour it on trying to put the game away, but the Devils dug deep and did not yield another goal. 

With 8 minutes left, the game became very interesting again.  Shannon took a pass from Neil and darted down the right wing.  His shot from the far right side deflected off the goalie’s stick and into the net and the Blackhawk’s lead was down to 3-2.  

The game was winding down and the Blackhawks were still on the offensive.  The best opportunity the Devils had to score was a shot by Jeff after a solo rush from the left wing.  But that was it for any Devil’s rally.  The shots on goal for the game were Santa Clara 33, Devils 10. 

Coach Bill said about the Devils in this game, “Our players played hard, and we’re on the cusp. But we’re not there yet.  We were out of position a lot and we’ll need to work on that.”

Coach Jim summarized the tournament by saying, "Hockey Tournaments are one the most exciting events during a season and hockey career. They provide great memories for hockey players, coaches and parents from each season.  The crowds, the noise, the adrenaline rush of the Star Spangled Banner, the hotels, and so forth help bring teammates together to have fun.  And then there are the games themselves where all players must bring their ‘A’ game for every game.  Tournament play is very competitive, any team can beat any team on any day, and it truly takes a team effort. I was impressed with our team and their ability to play with a short bench, play with heart, and play competitive tournament hockey.  All players contributed, and it was a great thrill to play the Championship game and come as close to winning as we did.  I am proud of our players, appreciative our parents and their support and look forward to more fun and success in the coming weeks."

Shark’s Ice (North Rink), San Jose, CA: The Silver Stick tournament format was such that the Devils qualified for the playoffs despite a 1-3 record.  Their opponent for the semi-finals was the Oregon Summit, also with a 1-3 record.

Willie was in net, and had to make only a few saves early on that were routine for him.  The Devils started the game aggressively and spent a large part of the first period with the puck in the Summit’s zone.  They took a number of shots on net with some of the better opportunities coming when forwards dug the puck from down low and sent passes to Connor, Nick, and Neil at the blue line.   Taylor had a rebound chance on a shot from the point by Conner.  Then with 2 minutes left, The Devils scored the first goal when Mason won a scrum in the right corner, passed to Nick at the point, and Nick’s shot was deflected by Cole in front and past the surprised Oregon goalie. 

Soon after the goal, the Devils were called for a penalty.  Nick almost scored a shorthanded after taking the puck end-to-end, but was stopped on the breakaway.  While still on the penalty kill, Willie made a good save from a shot from the slot by an Oregon forward.  The first period ended with the Devils holding a 1-0 lead.

The second period started with Willie making tougher saves.  The action was back and forth, however, with Mason, Dimitri, and Cole creating a number of scoring opportunities.  With 5 minutes left in the second, Mason drew the attention of two defenders and took a hard hit while entering the zone on the left wing.  Mason still managed to get the puck deep to Dimitri behind the net.  Demitri centered it nicely to Cole who scored his second goal of the game giving the Devils a 2-0 advantage. 

Despite the Devil’s lead, the momentum was shifting to Oregon.  They poured many shots on Willie, and other shots barely missed the net.  The second period ended with the Devils still holding a 2-0 lead thanks to Willie, the defense, and the backchecking forwards. 

In the first shift of the third period, Oregon pulled within 2-1 on an excellent hockey play by them.  Their left wing entered the zone, but was checked hard by Nick separating him from the puck.  It squirted down in the corner where there was another tough battle for the puck.  The Oregon center managed to poke it across the slot to their right wing whose shot flew over a sliding Willie’s left pad and into the net.

For the rest of the game, the tiring Devils bent but did not break.  Willie came up with big save after big save.  The defense and backchecking forwards did as much as they could to disrupt the Summit’s offense.  In the final seconds, Oregon was swarming around the Devil’s net, but Willie’s right goalie pad pushed back one final shot from in close as the buzzer sounded.

The shots on goal were 13-8-4 for the Devils, and 4-11-12 for Oregon.  It shows that the first period was a strong one for the Devils and that Oregon came on strong after that.  All of the Devils fought hard through their fatigue to earn their trip to the Silver Sticks Championship game.

Shark’s Ice (Center Rink), San Jose, CA:  The Ontario Reign came to the Silver Sticks tournament from Southern California (not Canada like some thought or hoped).  Like Fresno, they had a number of large players, but the Devils had an air of confidence about them coming into this game.  Max was in goal for the first time since being sick. Taylor surprised everyone by dressing for this game and being ready to try out her injured knee in game play. 

The Devil’s confidence was quickly enhanced when they scored on the very first shift. Jeff was playing left wing to start the game, and he chased the puck down in the offensive zone. He sent a pass to Nick at the right point. Nick’s low shot skipped through the “Five-hole” of the Reign’s goalie and it was 1-0 Devils. 

Three minutes into the game, however, the Reign tied it 1-1 on a confusing play.  The Reign sent the puck down ice from their zone, and the Devils players appeared to think icing would be called.  The puck bounced off the end boards to roughly 20 feet in front of Max.  Icing was waived off, and a Reign forward took the puck and slid his shot under Max.

The Devils responded strongly, and at 5:08 regained the lead 2-1.  Mason won a race to the puck in the left corner, avoided a check with a nice move, and sent a centering pass to Cole who whacked the puck in from the right side. 

The game became physical if not outright chippy.  Jeff, Nick, Conner, Dimitri, and Cole delivered hard checks in return for the hard hits the Devils were taking.  Shannon delivered a particularly good clean check stopping a strong rush by a Reign’s forward in front of the Devil’s bench. However, some of the hits were controversial, and one must remember that two officials cannot see everything. During the course of the game, Jeff was injured briefly on hits, sticks to the throat, and so forth.  Mason had the wind knocked out of him on one elbow to his breadbasket that the ref didn’t see.  Many hits were just hard hockey hits and difficult to determine whether they were clean or whether penalties should be called.

The Devils gained a powerplay advantage after Mason was tripped skating up the right wing.  The Devils, however, did not muster any offense during the powerplay, and in fact were having difficulty merely entering the zone to set things up.    The Reign also had a powerplay after a bad line change by the Devils resulted in a “Too many people on the ice” penalty (being politically correct here).  The Devils killed the penalty easily, and the first period ended with the Devils having outshot the Reign 7-5.

The second period started with a strong shift by Dimitri, Jeff, Matt V., Conner, and Neil.  It turned into a long shift because the Reign could not clear the zone (In particular, Neil did a great job keeping it in).  Other Devils were forechecking hard and winning battles. The Devils did not score on this shift, but the Reign players were getting frustrated. Soon after, a Reign player was given a 2 minute boarding and 10 minute misconduct penalty for smashing Mason’s head into the boards. On the powerplay, however, the Devils once again had trouble setting up the offense. Jeff had one decent shot from the left circle, but that was it.

Although the Devils were dominating, the Reign surprisingly tied the game 2-2 about six minutes into the second period.  One of their forwards squeezed by on the right wing and fired a shot on Max.  The rebound slid through to the other side where another Reign player corralled it and shot it into the net before Max could slide across to stop it.

The Devils responded quickly.  Dimitri took a loose puck from the Devil’s blue line and raced ahead of the pack for a breakaway.  His shot slid behind the Reign’s goalie, and she appeared to pull it back from across the goal line.  A lot of people thought it was a goal, but not the ref and his vote is the one that counts.  The Devils kept the pressure on, however, with Dimitri and Gordie staying after the puck in the left corner.   Gordie sent a pass to Jeff, and Jeff’s hard wrist shot from the top of the left face-off circle whizzed by the goalie (no doubt about this one) giving the Devils a well-deserved 3-2 lead.

The Devils kept the momentum going.  Nick powered through everyone for a breakaway, but his shot just missed high.  Later, the Reign were given another roughing penalty, and this time the Devils put on decent pressure during the powerplay.  Taylor had a great shift throwing checks and winning the puck in the corner. 

The Reign killed that penalty, but with 29 seconds left in the second period, the Devils opened a 4-2 lead.  Dimitri, Cole, and Mason were applying the pressure.  Cole put a shot that hit the side of the net.  Mason scooped it up, circled behind the net, and fired a centering pass to Dimitri who had positioned himself perfectly to score the goal.

Overall, the second period was a strong period for the Devils, outshooting the Reign 8-5. The Devils had other good scoring opportunities, but their shots missed the net.

The third period started with Gordie taking a hard hit, but not before delivering a pass to Matt V. for a shot.  The Reign also had a great scoring chance on a 2-on-1 breakout, but Max made a great pad save on a hard wrist shot from the slot.  The game heated up and became more physical. The Reign were once again penalized for their rough play.  On the powerplay, the Devils had good shots from Conner and Jeff.  Sarah and Neil played a strong point keeping the puck in on several occasions.  However, the Devils didn’t score.

The Reign didn’t go away as they scored again with just over 8 minutes left in the game. Two of their better players worked around the Devil’s defense in the neutral zone. This time the hard shot taken from the slot whizzed by Max’s right pad and the score was a tense 4-3 in favor of the Devils.

Mason was called for high sticking with just a few minutes left.  The Devils’ penalty killers had difficulty getting the puck out of danger, but they killed off the penalty without allowing many shots on Max.

Mason, back on the ice, took a loose puck in the neutral zone and skated around two Reign defenders.  His wrist shot clanged hard off the post.  From that point on, the Devils protected their slim 4-3 lead, killing the remaining game time by repeatedly dumping the puck into the Reign’s zone. The Reign never had a chance to pull their goalie for the extra skater.

The Devils outshot the Reign 10-5 in the third period, and 25-15 for the game.  Afterwards, Coach Jim said, “This was a total team effort.  Every single player made a positive contribution to this win.”  Dimitri (who received a game puck) added, “We kept within our system for the whole game, and we didn’t run out of gas in the third period like before.” 

Player update: Taylor said her knee felt good after the game.  She’s still planning to have an MRI on Monday to make sure things are ok.  Having her back also helped the Devil’s endurance in the 3rd period.

Sharks Ice (East Rink), San Jose, CA: The second game of the Silver Sticks tournament pitted the Devils against the Fresno Falcons, a team in our league, for their first meeting of the season. The Devils and Fresno have a similar small number of skaters for the tournament.  Fresno was missing Andrew Pellegrino who is one of their better players.  Still, Fresno players have size, speed, and they have a reputation of playing hard and physical. 

Willie was in net, and faced a couple of shots early that he saved rather easily.  The Devils, for the most part, improved their quality of play to a higher level than the night before.  Players were controlling the puck better, more passes were connecting, and some of the tentativeness was gone.  The Devils created some offense with defensemen (Nick, Jeff, Neil, Sarah) either skating or passing the puck out of the zone more effectively. Forwards (Conner, Shannon, Matt V., Gordie, Cole, Mason, Dimitri) battled for pucks in the offensive zone and looked to make centering passes.  With the size and strength of the Fresno players, the Devils could have been even more effective had they been a little stronger with their sticks and crisper with their passes.  However, many Devils appeared to have their heads up with a better awareness of the space around them and were in better control.

An example of this was when Mason knocked the puck loose behind the net to Cole. Cole passed it to Jeff on the point.  Jeff took an excellent hard low shot that left a rebound and Mason whacked it back toward the net, but the big Falcon’s goalie gloved it out of the air. 

Conner on the right wing used his big frame to win the puck.  He also made a good centering pass to Shannon who worked hard to get into position but under pressure just couldn’t get the shot on net.

Jeff created another good scoring opportunity by keeping a Fresno clearing attempt in the offensive zone, taking another good low shot that Shannon deflected beautifully, but again it just happened to hit the goalie.

One of the better scoring opportunities of the first came when Cole passed to Conner wide open in front of the net. Conner fired a rocket but hit the goalie in the mid-section.

At the end of the period, the Falcons were given a roughing penalty.  On the power play, Mason made a rush on the right wing and was tripped giving the Devils a 5-on-3 power play.  The first period ended soon after with no score, and the Devils outshooting Fresno 6-2.

The second period started with the Devils still on the 5-on-3.  The Devils opened the scoring when Mason took a face off in the offensive zone, won it cleanly, and took a shot toward the net.  It was a high knuckleball that squirted past the goalie’s glove and into the net.  Mason said, “I’ve had much better scoring opportunities, but at least it was a shot. You can’t score if you don’t shoot it.”

For the next couple of minutes, the Devils continued to outplay the Falcons.  However, the Falcons tied the game 1-1 on a bad line change by the Devils.  The play was in Willie’s end, and some of the forwards came off the ice before the puck was cleared from the zone.  Fresno pounded the puck toward a somewhat abandoned Willie and pushed it past him. 

The Falcons kept coming.  They had a 2-on-1 break forcing Willie to make a sliding save, one of his best this night.   Soon after, however, the Falcons scored again making it 2-1 when Willie made a save on a shot from the point only to have the rebound knocked in from in close.  The second period ended with the Falcons holding a 2-1 lead, and the shots (9-4 Fresno) showed that the Falcons had controlled most of the play in the period.

The Devils used the third period intermission to make some adjustments.  The first three minutes saw the Devils putting some pressure back on the Falcons. Dimitri stole the puck on the forecheck, passed it to Matt V. whose hard shot on the breakaway was stopped.  On the next shift, Shannon put on a burst of speed down the right wing into the right corner.  He alertly spotted Mason flying down the middle, but his centering pass went slightly behind him. 

However, at 3:07 of the third period, the Falcons took complete control of the game. One of their forwards made an excellent rush down the right wing.  The Devils defense tried to play the body, but he avoided the checks, came in hard to Willie’s right, and made a perfect centering pass to a teammate who slid the puck into the open side making the score 3-1.

Three minutes later, Fresno cleared the puck out of their zone to a forward who found himself on a breakaway.  Nick caught up to the player and sort of tackled him from behind.  The referee awarded a penalty shot, and they scored making it 4-1.  The Devils were given a bench minor for complaining a little too strongly about the penalty shot call, and the Falcons made it 5-1 shortly after on the ensuing power play.

The Devils did not give up.  Jeff made a strong end-to-end rush.  Then Shannon made yet another determined rush down the right wing.  This time, Shannon took a shot, then fought through defenders to knock in his own rebound making the score 5-2. 

Fresno scored one last goal, making the final score 6-2.  The Falcons outshot the Devils 12-5 in the decisive third period, and 23-15 for the game.

Since it was Mason’s first game as a teenager, he was asked for the game quote. He said, “We definitely settled down, controlled the puck better, and made a few passes.  But we still need to get more physical and figure out a way to get more shots on goal.”

Shark’s Ice, San Jose, CA: The Devils started the Silver Sticks tournament playing a familiar foe in the Santa Clara Blackhawks, but the Devils were short some key players.  Matt W., Philip, and Arjun were unavailable, and Taylor (in good spirits and cheering the team on) will have an MRI on her knee on Monday.  Santa Clara, on the other hand, had a full squad.  So a key for the Devils this game and this weekend is energy management.

At Silver Sticks, periods are 13 minutes instead of the normal 15, and warm ups are three minutes instead of five.  Perhaps it was the shortened warm-ups, or maybe just too much adrenalin, but the first period play was particularly sloppy for both teams. Many players were skating fast and playing physical, and a few players were playing tentatively as a result.  For the Devils, there were occasions where the puck would come to them, but instead of controlling it they would just blindly hit it someplace.  There were unforced icing calls, and unforced turnovers in the defensive end that resulted in Willie having to make good saves. 

On offense, the Devils were forced to mix up the lines and they struggled to find some chemistry. To the Blackhawks credit, their physical style was disruptive, as was the fast pace. The Devils rushed things and produced very little offense with players often overskating the puck, not making crisp passes, or not catching passes.  They would often try to use their sticks to stop a puck when the situation called for them to use their bodies. 

With all of that said, the Devils did hustle, and on occasion delivered good checks of their own.  This disrupted the Blackhawks offensive scheme and the game went scoreless for the first 10 minutes. 

Santa Clara finally scored the first goal at 10:11 of the first period.  The Devils were caught on a long shift because they couldn’t clear the zone.  The Blackhawks worked it in close to Willie’s right side.  A shot slid across the crease to his left and a Blackhawks player reached to poke it in.

The best breakout of the period came when Sarah skated hard to get the puck out of the zone. She hit Conner with a stretch pass on the left wing, and he slid it to Nick.  Nick flew in for a breakaway shot that was stopped by Santa Clara.  The first period horn sounded right after Mason delivered a crunching check in the offensive zone.  There were a lot of shots in the first period (Blackhawks 12, Devils 7), but only a few good scoring opportunities.

The second period was a much better period for the Devils. It opened with Dimitri delivering an excellent check allowing the Devils to make an offensive rush.  Shannon, Mason, and Cole had an excellent shift putting a lot of pressure on the Blackhawks defense.  The Devils earned a power play opportunity, but did little with it. Matt V. took a stretch pass and went in alone, but his breakaway shot was stopped.

On defense, Jeff broke up a 2-on-1 opportunity by the Blackhawks with good position and a good stick.

At 9:47, the Devils tied the game 1-1 when a Blackhawk’s defenseman fell and turned the puck over at their blue line. An alert Gordie pounced on it, skated in alone on the left wing, and fired a beautiful shot into the top right corner of the net. 

Although the Devils were outshot again in the second period (7 to 5), they had the Blackhawks on their heels and showing some concern.

The third period started with Willie stopping a wide open hard slap shot in close and leaving no rebound. The Devils were then repeatedly getting caught in long shifts.  On one shift, Dimitri finally made a good clear using the boards to send it out and get a line change.  

The game changed dramatically when Sarah was called for a boarding penalty, and a few seconds later, Nick was called for a hook.  Both were borderline penalties at best, but nevertheless, the Devils were facing a long 5-on-3 penalty kill.  The Devils did a good job killing the first minute of it, but the Blackhawks scored at 5:35 of the third period on a high hard wrist shot past Willie’s glove.  Still on the powerplay, the Blackhawks made it 3-1 just 39 seconds later.  It was a fairly basic passing play and their low shot slid under Willie.

The Devils played hard all the way to the finish.  Cole made great individual efforts to fight and battle for the puck.  But the Devils couldn’t rally (couldn’t even get any shots).  The Blackhawks outshot the Devils 6-1 in the third period, and 25-13 for the game.

Captain Nick said, “For being shorthanded, we played hard. But at times we need to settle down and control the puck better to get more shots on goal."