Coach's Game Notes

On April 6 the U 11 Storm battled to a 10 to 8 victory over the Creeks 3. Tommy Zitiello led the team with five goals and three assists. The Storm also had two goals from Connor Buckles and a goal each from Jack Czubati, Jack Norton and Palmer Dunn. The Storm defense, led by goalie, Colin Snow, and defenseman Troy LeMay, Jon Cleary and Grant Mohn was outstanding. Conrad Vent also had a great game at attack. Matt Bednar had at least 10 ground balls and Michael Easom did a great job on face-offs and clearing the ball.

March 9th - The U11 Storm team suffered a narrow defeat on March 9 to Fleming Island. The game was an up-and-down battle but Fleming Island ultimately prevailed 8-6. The Storm was led by Tommy Zitiello, who scored three goals and had two assists. Jake Santore, Connor Buckles and EricTomaszewski. Daniel Murphy had two assists and Connor Buckles also had an assist. Once again the defense played extremely well. The defense was led by Thomas Pulzone , Troy LeMay, Jonathan Cleary and Matthew Keller. Colin Snow also made several key saves in the goal. - Coach Cleary

March 9th - The U-13 White team had back to back games this past Saturday, and even though the scores were 3-12, and 4-12 respectively, there was a lot to be proud of for them. In the first game we began slowly but had a very good second half.  This was the first game where we had the boys playing specific positions instead of rotating, so it took a while for them to get used to that.  In this game, Andrew Ard had one goal and Jack Burke had two.  The boys played with heart and I was pleasantly suprised with their speed getting back to the hole on defense.  JP Simpson played extremely well in transition, as did Theo Shaw.  One of the problems we had in the first half was catching and passing.  We tended to force passes into traffic, so we lost the ball often.  Even so, we had the ball in the offensive end quite a bit.  By the second half,  we picked up the pace and began to play much better.  Noah Kirk picked up a few ground balls, and controlled the ball well.  As a team, we controlled the ball more often, had a few fast breaks, but our shots did not produce goals, as we finished the game with just three. Many shots were too high, and we had a few pipers as well. The defense of Ryan Delaney, Chad Gaff, and Hunter Crane played well, and were able to clear the ball back to our offense often. Aleaxander Boryszewski and Chance Millon played well on defense too.

We began strong in the second game as we took a 2-1 lead in the first quarter.  Ryan Wolpert was outstanding in the goal, making save after save.  He had about 8 saves in the first half alone. The defense, let by Sam Snow, was very tough, creating turnovers to give to our offense. Our middies were strong, moved the ball well, and played very good defense.  Our man up offense was productive with Andrew making good cuts from X, getting feeds from Jack, Whit Hemphil, and Danny Yalch.  Andrew had a great game with 3 goals.  Jack Burke added a goal and an assist.  We still had trouble taking good shots, even though we did take many.  Our second midfield of Theo Shaw, Ty Lewin, and Kelly Bickers ran well, made great clears, one of which produced a goal.  By the second half, however, having back to back games, took its toll.  The boys were very tired, and the Creeks team took advantage and pulled ahead. 

I was very pleased with the improvement of this team.  We are getting better every week.  These games showed we can be competitive, and I am optimistic for the future.  More improvement is needed, of course.  If we can slow down on offense by not forcing passes and learning to move to open space, pick up more ground balls, and take better shots, we will win.  On defense, we are getting much better, but we need to not overplay as much.  By knowing where the ball is at all times, and where their man is as well, the other team will score less.  Game balls were given to Andrew Ard, Jack Burke, Theo Shaw, Ryan Wolpert, and JP Simpson. - Coach Kevin Finn