The last game ended 2 - 2 after overtime and we ended up with a loss in the shoot-out!
All good things must come to an end, thus the inaugural season of The Frisco Blackhawks. I have to be honest though, back last February when this whole process began I had no idea how great the experience would be.
Let's set aside the dream of getting on the ice and actually PLAYING hockey, as I'm sure most of you have read the March issue of Frisco STYLE Magazine that chronicled the process of buying equipment, taking lessons, and just learning to stand up on the ice, this has been a life dream of mine. I have to say it was more than I ever could have imagined.
The part of this I never anticipated was the people, really when it comes down to enjoying anything, what makes it great is who we have around us.
A few months ago as I began the process of recruiting team members it never occurred to me that I was actually recruiting a new set of great friends.
A big thank you must first go to Coach Modene who was the first to witness my attempt at skating in his Hockey 101 class, who later then took on coaching responsibilities......I kinda think he is pretty impressed with how far this group has come.
From Russ in the Hockey 101 class who garnished the nickname hat-trick....come on Russ it is time to live up to that name, to Vince who I'm not really sure how I met him but has been not only a great teammate but also an instrumental part of the decision making process on the team, we've actually made a pretty good pair on the defensive side of the ice, to Kelly who I met while he was playing drop-in goalie in Plano, to Matt Thibeau who his wife overheard a couple of us talking during an adult skate at the Stars Center, to Brian (who really likes his breakfast at the great Bills Cafe' in McKinney), to Scott who is no doubt the most improved player on the team, Dan who had the only major injury with a broken hand in the 2nd practice who finally got on the ice near the end of the season, Matt Neyra an old golfing buddy (Hey Matt the beer is for AFTER the game!) who actually scored a goal in his first game, Duane who sadly won't make the team the next session. Of course there is big Jon who I think the biggest accomplishment of the season was that he did NOT THROW UP on the bench! We did have a few veterans of the game on the team this year and boy did we rely on them, Emily who I think proved it is not a "no-contact league, to Billy who is really getting his legs under him and has became our main offensive threat, to Caleb who I really enjoyed confusing the hell out of the first few games as he was my center when I played wing, thanks Caleb for showing me where to stand......at least 5 or 6 times! We all will be sorry to lose DK whose work project will carry him back to Canada. There is of course Antoine, he started off the season as the quite type but has also been an instrumental part of the offense. Of course I can't fail to mention Bryce, what a great player, Bryce has been instrumental in helping the team come together. Bryce made a suggestion about 2/3rds of the way through the season that he'd like to move to defense. Of course this scared us since at this point I think he had scored all but one or two of the goals including a hat trick in one of the first games. As we learned Bryce was dead-on as usual as the strategy to move to a defensive team made us competitive in every game after that.
So team...thanks!
I never anticipated meeting an entire new group of friends!
Now practice starts this Saturday July 12th......SEASON 2.....Here we go!
