A Chance for the Championship

Last Friday Frudoch and I headed up to Cleveland for the Rock and Roll Tournament. Its an almost weekly series of tournaments in Cleveland and for us it was the last chance the North Stars had to win big. 3 games were guaranteed with a championship game for 1 vs. 2. Our first game was Friday night in Euclid vs. the Georgetown Raiders from Canada. This group was a well coached and very disciplined team. The Stars were missing a couple of players and unfortunately for Fru they were his linemates so he had to skate with new players. Lets just say the game was very competitive, but never in doubt as the Canadians won 3-0. It looked like the start of another not so successful tournament. Saturday morning we had an 8:00 game in Chagrin Falls against the Mentor Cardinals and the team played great. They passed the puck and worked hard. They came away with a 4-1 win and we had the whole day open with nothing until 7:50 am Sunday. Lots of ideas were tossed around, but a bunch of us went to Perani's Hockey World which is a big hockey store. It was a load of fun and then it was time for a nap and then Mass. Frudoch and I finally got our dinner at Outback Steakhouse that we had been trying to do for a few months. So early to bed it was for an early game in Strongsville against Rocky River was coming. It was a super game of back and forth with the North Stars pulling out a 4-3 win. Frudoch had a penalty for interference, but was otherwise held in check. We all went back to our hotel to check out as we were now going to the CHAMPIONSHIP GAME in Lakewood against.... the Georgetown Raiders again. WOOHOO..... redemption.

It was about this time I noticed the scores for the games that had been played and the team we were about to play had not been scored on yet in the 3 games. Uhh Oh. But thats why they play the game. In this game the ref's were the story. The whistles were a blowing. The raiders got a quick goal and we matched them. Or did we. The ref claimed he lost sight of the puck which was a really bad call.

Frudoch Working Hard
Since the puck was never frozen or near the goalie. They immediately came right back and scored to make it 2-0. We got a break and finally got one past the goalie to cut it to 2-1 and then they had a goal waved off for a crease violation that was not a very good call. At this point the floodgates opened for penalties on the North Stars and Fru got one for a trip. He also got hosed on a no call while he was on a breakaway.

Those kids were big!
At the end there were 7 penalties on the North Stars and 1 on the Raiders. Not exactly even. They even called a penalty with 4 seconds to go in the game. So an empty net goal and a cheap goal later it ended 4-1. The penalties really did the North Stars in as the Raiders collected a couple power play goals. I'm not one to complain about officials, but it was not an evenly called game. The kids deserved better. So second place it was.

Once again a prime spot---In the penalty box!


Second place and a medal!
Not the Stanley Cup, But Close Enough