The Agony of Defeat

The Novice Napanee Crunch were playing in their second tournament this weekend in Kingston.  We played the Kanata Renegades first thing and won 11-1.  Keyra didn't have a lot of work in net but make a few really nice saves.  Next up was the Oakville Tigers.  We beat them 8-0 for Keyra's first ever shutout for a win.  The score really doesn't tell the story of the game though.  There were plenty of chances back and forth.  Their goalie made some really nice saves, and Keyra was supperb in our end.  I knew this team was better than the 8-0 score and I said that all weekend.  More on that later.  The next game was a team I have no idea where they were from.  We beat them 4-1 in a game that was very sluggish on our part.  Keyra had a great game again, but we just couldn't generate offence really.  This put us in 1st place in our grouping and a birth in the quarter finals.  North Cumberland was the team we faced early Sunday morning.  They were a very good team, and played positioning the best out of any Novice team we have faced yet.  They had a couple of one timers for goals which we haven't seen this year.  Offensively, they were very strong.  Not so much on the defence or goaltending.  Their goalie had one play, dive out at the puck when the player is coming in.  If our forwards made any moves at all, they just skated around her and put the puck in as she was WAY out of the net.  She did win the gamble a few times, but it really wasn't worth the risk.  The game was back and forth the whole way with no team having a 2 goal lead ever.  The final score was 8-7 and it took us putting some weaker players on the bench for the last 3 minutes or so to swing the offence the other way.  Keyra actually had a good game.  I think there was maybe 2 goals that were a little weak, but the rest were just good plays.  This setup the rematch with Oakville in the semi finals.  The girls were all commenting about how they beat Oakville the day before so this one is going to be easy.  I tried to tell them that they are a better team than that score, but to no avail.  Our girls came out flat.  They weren't skating to loose pucks, and they weren't really skating when they had the puck.  Neither team seemed like they wanted to win really.  Keyra was awesome again, making some key saves.  Their goalie also was playing great.  Regulation ended in a 0-0 tie, which meant overtime!  There weren't alot of shots in OT either and again, no scoring.  So, another shootout. All 3 shooters were stopped for both teams.  So, on to sudden death shootout.  The Oakville shooter came in and looked like she fumbled the puck a bit and kind of ended up shooting a backhander and squeaked it in beside the post for the only goal of the game.  Napanee had lost.  A devastating loss.  Keyra was crying and dejected.  Several other of her teammates were crying.  It was the quietest I have ever seen their room after a game.  I think some of our better players were just really tired after the hard fought 8-7 win in the morning.  They just didn't seem to have anything left in the tank.  This is why you play the game though and sometimes you win and everything is great, sometimes a team comes out of nowhere and strings together something special.  Oakville went on to win the tournament.  I think it is a good lesson for the girls and will build character along the way.  Next tournament is in Brockville at the end of the month.