every time i see this sign in the winona, minnesota hockey arena my brain changes the last word to a word that’s not so nice that rhymes with puck.
a great game was played though i think a few words that sound like puck were muttered by parents flabbergasted by the officiating, rough play and poor sportsmanship on display by the opposing team. in the end, viroqua lost 4-3.
odin’s hockey team played a rough and tumble game against a team with players from reedsburg and wisconsin dells.
it’s always tough to play a team “coop” team that can select the best players from two towns so we knew it’d be tough, but i was super impressed and proud that odin and his team held it together, stayed in the game, and played with a lot of heart.
great game!
once again, after a couple of months in my possession, of the 104 hockey program fundraiser candy bars i had to sell, i have approximately 85 left to sell and the money is due 🙁 #happenseveryyear
odin’s hockey team won their third and final tournament game 6-2. great game. even though they won 2 of the 3 games they played, in a bracket tournament, losing the first game means the best they could hope for was third place, which means no trophy. hi. ho. who needs a trophy? not these kids!
the parents tried to get a proper team photo of the kids, but they were excited to get some time in racing around the 400m olympic training speed skating track, so the best we could hope for was a half-hearted team photo 🙂
the kids played two games of a two today tournament today in the impressive pettit national ice center which is an official us olympic training facility in milwaukee, wisconsin. it’s a little hard to see in this photo but in the arena there are two international-size ice rinks ( the second rink is behind the one in the foreground ) surrounded by a 400-meter speed skating oval. it’s impressive!
the first game was pettit versus viroqua. we knew it would be a tough game on pettit’s home ice and uuuufffffff-dddaaaaaaaa viroqua got a character building lesson and lost 1-9!
the final score doesn’t tell whole story. they were tied 1-1 at end of first period. kept it together and it was 1-3 and end of second period and it stayed that way until the final 7 minutes when, i think, viroqua ran out of gas and spirit.
the second hockey game of the day was in the evening and viroqua faced off again shaw. we hoped they could bounce back from the first loss even as it was getting late the kids and already played a tough game.
it was a little ugly but viroqua won 5-4 in overtime! we’ll take it!
we drove back from the upper peninsula of michigan and turn around the next day and drive 35 miles for a double header hockey game against onalaska.
odin’s team won the first game, 3-9, with 22 shots on goal to their 16 shots on goal and they tied the second game against the same team 7-7, with 33 shots on goat to their 23 shots on goal.
rumor has it onalaska was not expecting to lose by 6 points the first game so they had fire in their bellies for the second game. congrats to both teams for a great games.
i have to say, odin did a good job but he was off a bit and didn’t play his best games. i think vacation sleep schedule, the drive and quick turnaround took a toll on him.
and odin’s first game as a pee wee skating with 11 and 12 year olds. viroqua played sparta at home. holy cow, right from the start it was apparent this season is going to be something new. with bigger kids on the ice it seemed like they were playing double time!
i wasn’t sure what to expect, since odin’s team has a new goalie with no experience. but he did a great job and the defense, odin included, did a tremendous job helping him out. the offense kept the pressure on with 24 shots on goal ( twice that of the opposing team ).
whooohooo – viroqua won 8 to 5!
( in this shot odin is in the foreground chasing down the puck. )