The 2012 / 2013 York Mills Season

My first year of playing York Mills hockey has officially come to end… and what a season it was! 

 The York Mills Thunderbirds had a rough start to our year (i.e. losing a lot more games than we won).

Actually, in all honesty, we sucked pretty bad during the entire regular season and only won one game… BUT (and it is a big but) miraculously we became unbeatable in the play-offs! Much to the surprise of every parent and child in the league (including our own parents)

I think Papa B said it best when watching one our pivotal play-off games… “well, if they’re going to peak, now is the time to do it!”

Almost overnight we became a great team and we successfully made it to final championship game!

 

Being in the final game meant that we got to play at York Mills arena… and for those of you who know mom and dad well, you know that this is the arena where they got engaged over 12 years ago. Therefore for me to be able to play a championship hockey game there (in my York Mills jersey!) was VERY, VERY special to mom and dad

The game was at a bright and early 7:30am on a Saturday morning… and, despite the early hour, the York Mills arena parking lot was FULL before 7am!

We all got a pre-game talk in the dressing room… and afterwards Dad and I went through my own goals for my personal style of playing (there are 3 as seen in the pic above… all totally memorized btw)

Most of the Dads were busy re-taping our sticks in the dressing room, and my Dad was no exception.  New tape looks good dad - all ready to go now!!

The arena was packed and we could hear our fans cheering as our team lined up to leave the dressing room…  there was even loud rock music playing as we entered single file onto the ice.  I think that the Leafs would have been envious of our rock star status that day.

The gravity of the game really sunk in when we were asked to line-up for the playing of O Canada.  Only real hockey players get to do this people  – SO AWESOME!

When the game was ready to begin I wasted no time planting myself at centre ice, anxiously anticipating the first puck drop of the game.  In fact, I was ready to go before the other team had even finished their pre-game talk!  And, for the record, I won the first face-off J

The game itself was a nail-bitter… making the parents / fans even more obnoxious than usual (of course, I say that in the nicest way possible… as my mom was among them)

We scored the first goal and the crowd went wild. There was a loud buzzer and a funky disco ball light that went off when we scored… and our little faces upon seeing these extra bells and whistles was completely priceless 

At the end of every shift I would cozy up to my dad on the bench and tell him all about it… as though he didn’t just watch every second of it.  I can’t help that I become extra chatty when I am really excited…

The Mustangs came back and scored one on us… but, for the record, the buzzer and disco ball were at their coolest the first time. Sorry boys.

And when the clock ran down to the final second, we were still tied 1-1. Then we played sudden death OT. Then double OT and then triple OT… our parents nerves were completely shot by this point.

With OT exhausted, it was time for a shoot-out. The Thunderbirds scored first and the Mustangs reciprocated, and the second round we missed, but their player raised the puck. When we missed our 3 shot, the game was over.

While the Mustangs were declared the victors, in our hearts, we felt we won as well… as it couldn’t have been any closer. As true underdogs we made a great go at it, we all gave 200% and the coaches and parents couldn’t have been happier with our stellar performance.

And, besides, we all recieved these wicked trophies.  So, that certainly helped to heal our wounds.  Everyone wins when everyone gets trophies to take home (we’re 6 & 7 year olds, what do you expect?)

A HUGE thanks to all of my incredible fans who came out to watch me play this year (Grandma, Papa John, Nana, Papa B and the entire Garard family!!) It meant the world to have you there – both to me as well as mom and dad.

Can’t wait to play again next season!!!