Spidey's 08-09 Major Novice season

[Goalie'sDad]

7 year old Spiderman has been reading a little of the other goalies posts on their seasons and figured since he is doing a Keeks-inspired goalie journal anyway, he should track his season here as well.


Despite having just turned 7 a couple of months ago he is in his third season between the pipes. He was going to play with and against some friends from his spring league team in minor novice this season but the major novice coach convinced him to play up a year so he is on our city's top 8 year old team.


The regular season opened a couple of weeks ago and Spiderman got the start on the road against West London - considered the team to beat in the league. His team got off to a slow start and were completely outplayed in the opening period.


Spidey got beat by a good shot high glove side early in the period and pulled off his post a little too much to allow one short side as the 1st came to a close but in between he made a few solid saves including a great glove save on a one-timer off a pass from one side to the other.


In the second period his team carried the play to West London but neither side could score and it remained 2-0.

We had some chances early in the third but again a high glove side shot would beat Spidey. They added 2 more in a thirty second span on a breakaway and a pass to an uncovered player on the far post. We scored a couple of late goals but fell 5-3.


Spidey came away from the game realizing he had to challenge shooters a little more and rely on his quick feet to make up for his lack of height. He felt he did a good job fighting through screens as he learned the players up a year are bigger and shoot faster than what he was used to in the spring and last season.


Here are the highlights from his opening game.

YouTube - Oct 8/08 season opener (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOG-mbviphI)

[Goalie'sDad]

GAME 2
His next start came against LMHA and it was a tight battle but Spidey was rewarded with his first victory. They had a slow start as his club allowed the other team to build a 2-0 lead before they got their road legs under them and the team began to generate some scoring chances, notching 4 unanswered goals. LMHA would get one back in the third but Spidey made some strong saves and was aided by a pair of goalposts and hung on for a hard fought 4-3 victory. The London squad had pulled their goalie and had a man advantage in the final minute but could not gain the equalizer.


Watching the game tape back afterwards Spidey said he knew exactly what went wrong on all 3 goals. The first one was a pass out front from behind the net and he did not get out to challenge the shooter, leaving far too much room open on the far side.

The second goal came from a pass from the side of the net and Spidey moved off the post too quickly heading towards the man on the slot. The puck hit his pad and bounced in.

The final goal came on a rebound of a shot that hit the post. It bounced out behind him and a player on the other team was right there to bang it in.

YouTube - Oct 13/08 game (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEVGOaGPFtE)

[Spidey]

I forgot about little man LOL

At first I was like WTF do I got a stalker or fan??

Go Mini-Spides!!

[Goalie'sDad]

I forgot about little man LOL

At first I was like WTF do I got a stalker or fan??

Go Mini-Spides!!

Sorry. I should have remembered your board name before posting the thread title. Don't think I can edit it either.

[Spidey]

Sorry. I should have remembered your board name before posting the thread title. Don't think I can edit it either.

No worries, I can share the nickname :)

Go mini-Spidey!!

[Goalie'sDad]

ST THOMAS TOURNAMENT
Their first tournament of the season took place in St Thomas. His club was a little too strong for the rest of their division, beating the host team 13-6 in the opener. Spidey played net but it was far from his best effort as he seemed to be fighting the puck all game. He also told us afterwards he did not challenge the shooters nearly enough and was again beat high to the glove side on several occassions. Not to make excuses but it was also a morning game and he struggled with morning games on our spring tournament team as well.

His next start came the following afternoon and he was pumped to have a big game, as was his team which was coming off a 10-0 victory the previous afternoon. Spidey faced just 2 shots all game as his club beat Stratford 11-0. It was his third career shutout and by far his easiest.
After his team beat Richmond Hill 8-3 in the Sunday morning semi-final, Spidey would get the call to start the final. The 2 goalies on the team would split the championship game against Petrolia, a team they beat handily in the preseason.

His club would score first but Petrolia would answer midway through the first period when Spidey and his defenseman failed to communicate and the D moved the puck as Spidey dived to cover it. When he looked at the tape afterwards Spidey realized he should have left it for the D to play. The resulting clear went right to a Petrolia player who made no mistake with a half empty net in front of him. Just a minute later Spidey was caught off-guard on a high lob shot and Petrolia led 2-1. It stayed 2-1 when the goalie change was made midway through the second period. Spidey's team had plenty of chances but failed to score and Petrolia put the game away with a pair of goals late in the third period.


GAME 3
Back to league action and Spidey played a strong game in a 6-2 road victory over SSE. The game was scoreless until midway through the second period as both goalies made some solid saves. Spidey's two goals against came on a deflection and a turnover that led to a shot from the slot. He got a piece of that goal with his arm but not enough to prevent it from going over his shoulder and into the net. Spidey did not face a lot of shots but he made some strong saves particularily when the game was still very close.

Afterwards, he was really happy with his effort and felt it was his best showing of the season. Although he said he felt he should have had both goals, particularily the little shot from their slot where he just didnt get enough of it.


Here are the highlights from that game.

YouTube - Oct 30/08 Game (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTDw1oq2vg8)

[Cujo_64]

very good work ! keep it up, keeping a journal or an online review can show you your progress which is important !


Rob

[Goalie'sDad]

very good work ! keep it up, keeping a journal or an online review can show you your progress which is important !

Rob

Liam was at one of Keeks' mini-clincis last year and the topic of keeping a goalie journal came up. Since then he has made it a point of collecting articles and different drills and also writing the occassional comment on his games.

Of course being 7 it would take him forever to write things out. He loves this a lot better - just dictating to me what I should type about each game.

[Icelander35]

I remember seeing Spidey about a year ago at a Keeks clinic. Icelander Jr. got to see him last weekend and said he has really improved. After watching the videos you posted I would have to agree.

[Goalie'sDad]

I remember seeing Spidey about a year ago at a Keeks clinic. Icelander Jr. got to see him last weekend and said he has really improved. After watching the videos you posted I would have to agree.


thanks for your kind words. He was really pumped to read that your son thought he looked good at the clinic. Also, we are glad to hear your wife and son made it home safely as it was just a brutal drive down the 402 from Strathroy that morning.


I will have to get back to posting the game recaps for him. He has written out notes for the rest of his starts I just haven't had time to upload his video or type out his comments.

[Goalie'sDad]

GAME 4
Spidey improved to 3-1 in season play but he did not have that great a game. The Sting were all over the LMHA Thunder for 2 periods and built a 4-1 lead but then fell apart in the third period. We managed to hold on for a 6-5 victory and Liam redeemed his sloppy play in the third with a tremendous sliding butterfly save on a breakaway deke attempt with 2 seconds left on the clock.

In watching the game tape back he knew he had some problems with his angles and also going down too early but understandably :-) he spent most of the time replaying the great breakaway stop to preserve the victory.

http://www.youtube.com/v/51FpCZoShIw&hl=en&fs

[Goalie'sDad]

GAME 5
No tape of this one as I spent most of the game taking some still pictures instead but Spidey had a fairly easy go of things as the Sting cruised past Oakridge on the road 10-3. Liam made a couple of nice glove saves and did a nice job not dropping down too early.

1 goal was a rebound that he did not have much chance on. The second goal was a breakaway he should have had as the player lost control of the puck while attempting to deke and it slid between Liam's pads as he was extending into his slide. Afterwards Spidey immediately recognized the need to try and keep his stick on the ice as he goes into his slide.

The final goal was a shot from a player coming down the left wing and Liam over shifted on his shuffles and left the far side open. It was the third time this season he has been beat that way but thanks to some tips from Keeks we think we now have the problem under control.

[Goalie'sDad]

GAME 6
A rematch with Oakridge this time in our rink. The Aeros played with a lot more inspiration than the last time we met them. Meanwhile, we were very rusty after going a week and a half without a game and our play showed it. In watching the tape I told Liam I thought it was probably his best game of the season as he did well despite his defense falling all over him most of the game.

He made a couple of real nice pad saves in the first period but also committed his only error of the game. He thought he had a slow roller covered but the charging Oakridge forward knocked the puck free and proceeded to score the period's only goal on a wraparound into the empty net before Liam could dive back.

No one scored in the second period as Liam again made a couple of very good saves including one that he just got his skate on after it hit his defenseman's stick right in from of him.

He kept it a 1 goal game to start the third but Oakridge went up 2-0 5 minutes in after banging in a centering pass from the corner. I dont like to blame the defense and in fact I think his D has performed exceptionally well this season, but in this case one of his defenseman bumped Spidey out of position while trying to chase the puck behind the net and left Liam with no chance once the pass found it's way out front.

The Sting did answer less than a minute later, scoring to cut the deficeit to 2-1 with 8 minutes to play but that would be as close as we would get and Spidey suffered his second loss of the regular season.

He can take a lot of positives out of the game as he made several great saves to keep it 2-1 and the extra practice we put in on shots coming down the left wing seemed to pay off as he looked great on his angles.

Here are the highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Cvbo6IIsk

[Goalie'sDad]

GAME 7
This was a game Spidey would love to do over. Watching him it is easy most games to forget he is just 7 years old but it showed this time as for whatever reason he was not ready to play.

He lacked his normal concentration, but then so did the entire team, and they were hammered by the league's second place team, North London, 7-1. Liam asked me to destroy the tape and never talk about the game again.

In the end it was a good lesson for him as he was unbelievably focused heading into his next start.


GAME 8
Following a terrible showing against the second place team, Liam bounced back with a great effort in a 2-2 tie vs the league leading West London Hawks. He was focused the entire game and the whole team played well.


Best moment for me was watching the highlights back with him and having him say to me "Watch this Johnny Bower style-save," as he did an old style leg kick on a long shot in the dying seconds. For a 7 year old to know Bower's style clearly shows he spends too much time watching the NHL network and Leafs TV.

Highlights are here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYGGZhPj_P8
The Bower save occurs right at the end about 9:15 into the highlights.

[Goalie'sDad]

GAME 9
A second strong outing in a row as Liam and his team beat 5th place LMHA 4-1. His defense played well and Spidey was not tested too often the first two periods but did make a couple of strong saves when called upon.

We were up 3-0 heading into the third but the visiting London team didn't let up and outplayed us in the final 15 minutes. Spidey made a couple of more nice saves but lost his shutout with 6 minutes remaining. Up to that point he did a very good job controlling his rebounds, something he has really been concentrating on, but he left a dirty diaper on this play and the Thunder got their only goal of the game.

Highlights are here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwl4VB-XpXs


GAME 9
His final start before Christmas was against first place North London. We drove to Toronto the night before as Spidey went out for a skate with a spring hockey team that morning. We thought he was going to just do an hour and a half session with them but when we got there we were told they were short a goalie so he spent the entire 3 hour tryout on the ice.

We had a messy drive from Toronto back to London for that evenings game and Liam was clearly dead tired. I give him credit for a strong effort and he did not play that badly, but it was clearly not one of his better days and his team lost 4-3.


At the Christmas break Liam is 5-4-1 with a 3.40 goals against average. Our team is 10-6-3 and in third place in our league.

[Goalie'sDad]

GRETZKY TOURNAMENT CHAMPS
Over the Christmas holiday Spidey as his teammates travelled to Brantford to take part in the 39th annual Wayne Gretzky Tournament. It would prove to be a great few days as not only did he get to meet Walter Gretzky but also earned a championship medal as his team won the Novice title.

Following an easy 11-1 victory over a team from Burlington in the opener, Spidey got the call for game 2 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus won the novice division the previous year and looked tough after an opening victory over host Brantford in the morning game.

Liam made some great saves early to keep the contest scoreless before we got the opening goal late in the first period. It stayed 1-0 for much of the second and again Spidey made some more big saves. Our entire team played great and were rewarded with a couple of more goals late in the second period to go up 3-0. Columbus had some good chances in the third but again Liam made some key saves and our offense put the game away with 4 more goals. Liam got his second shutout of the season and we clinched a playoff berth with a 7-0 victory.

We finished the round-robin with a hard fought 2-1 loss to Brantford but still finished first in our group based on goal differential.

Liam's next start was the semi-final and he had another very strong game. We won 4-1 over Stoney Creek and he just missed out on a second straight shutout when they scored on a goalmouth scramble with about 4 minutes remaining. He said he was going into the game with the mindset that he would not allow the other team to score first and he did a great job keeping it scoreless early in the game when he faced a few tough shots. We started to dominate in the second period and Liam had very little work that frame but he did face a few difficult shots in the final period.

It was the other goalie's turn in the championship game so Liam had to settle for cheering his mates on as we won a thriller 4-3 over Cambridge. The game needed five 3-minute overtime periods of 3on3 hockey before a winner was decided and the bench (and fans) went nuts when we got the winner.

The tournament finale was a little different for Liam as afterwards he admitted he was a little bummed he did not get to participate in the championship win but a number of parents thanked him for the job he did getting us to the title game. That, along with the gold medal and Walter Gretzky autographed Team Canada goalie stick, made not playing in the game a little easier for him to take. He said it was the first time sitting on the bench watching a game really bothered him. Last year and with his spring team he was the only goalie so he played every game.


No video from the tournament but here are a couple of pictures of Spidey in action