With 3 wins and 2 losses, the Red & White qualified for the Championship Division after round-robin play, ultimately finishing fifth or sixth, what I call fifth and a half, but what the girls simply call fifth! Yes, the bus rides were long; yes, we stayed at two different hotels in two difference cities; yes, the weather was cold; and yes, we had a great time and made great memories:

 

The first 30 minutes of the tournament, that first half vs St Clements School (Toronto), where we could have come out cold – it was freeeeezing – but instead came out flying, with goals by Esperanza (her first!), Mylee, Raf, and then Mylee again. Maybe we should warm up every game with a Happy Feet penguin dance?

Katey to Margot to Kaitlyn in the second half for the prettiest goal of the game

Zoe’s comment after taping her sore ankle before a game for apparently the first time: “Hey, that actually helps!”

“Parking the bus” and allowing only 10 shots to juggernaut and future finalist Havergal College from Toronto (although they did score on 6 of them – man, could they shoot!)

Our awesome bus driver, as well as the special treatment (welcome gift bags, private conference room, etc.) we received from the Hampton Inn once we finally(!) got there on Thursday

Happy Birthday song at Eastside Mario’s and “The Server Takes Away Food Tiktok Trend” working perfectly on Coach Van Dyke

The funnest game of the tournament vs Sacred Heart School of Halifax, with Coach Van Dyke coaching in a “Birthday Queen” sash (which now hangs in my office!), Katey sending Raf on a breakaway with a perfect through ball to open the scoring, Esperanza setting up Hailey in a carbon copy of that first goal, Raf to Hailey to go up 3-0, Margot assisting on Raf’s second goal directly off a monster throw-in, and Raf’s fancy right-left-right footwork around the goalie to complete the hattrick

That said, the most memorable part of the game was the last 15 minutes, with Hailey desperately trying to get her own hat-trick, and battle-wounded birthday girl Jane coming oh so close to the first goal of her SC career not once, not twice, but what felt like 6 times – we were going nuts on the bench at every close call!

Watching our varsity boys team in the coldest rink in Canada

Sharing a group photo with BSS; I love watching athletes get to know each other at these tournaments.

Our best game of the tournament in the quarter final vs the host school Rothesay Netherwood School, our most closely contested game, two strong teams, Mylee sends in Raf who launches a missile from 35 yards out to open the scoring, RNS answers with a beautiful shot from the top of the box, 1-1 for the next half hour, a terrible bounce gives the Riverhawks the lead, if they score next it’s over, if we score we’re right there, back and forth we go, but three consecutive missed chances to clear lead to RNS making it 3-1 which ends up being the final score. Great game by both teams, and a shoutout to Olivia who maybe should consider playing angry more often?

The ‘friendly’ vs ECS (Montreal) in our final game on Saturday, a comfortable 2-1 victory that could have been more if not for the 12-year-old ECS keeper who made several highlight-reel saves. Main memory from this game – Hailey taking a corner kick surrounded by our varsity boys hockey team who had come over to watch – no pressure!

Room 409 managing to forget an iPad and a laptop AND a pair of pants at the hotel. But I won’t mention names… changed my mind, it was Katey and Etsuho!

My first 6-7 photo

 

All in all, a great trip with a great team. Thank you to every single player for playing so hard and being perfect ambassadors of Stanstead College.

 

But now… the most important game of the year is this Tuesday @ Galt. If we lose, Galt wins the ETIAC banner. They know it, and they’re pumped. But if we win, we keep our banner hopes alive until Wednesday (when we play BCS). Our fate is in our hands. This is what we play for. The biggest game of the season. This Tuesday. Can we bring our best?