The Sheep Win the Co-Rec State B Title!

Chaska, MN

March 18-19, 2006

Check out the scrapbook for more pictures

The Sheep had a lot to celebrate this weekend.  This was our 11th year playing together and our 9th year competing at the Minnesota indoor co-rec championships.  The team had a great time playing together – and winning was the icing on the cake.  We were coming off a C championship from last year and playing B for the first time (if you don't count the 2001 blunder when we underestimated the division levels and got clobbered).  And to top it off, March 17th was Al's 50th birthday!

Quote of the weekend goes to Emma (7 years old):
"Daddy, so you're the best boys and girls team in Minnesota?  In the whole state?!!!"  
Daddy told her yes.  She didn't need to know about those A level teams :)
"Wow!  I hope I can play for the Sheep when I get older...then I can be the best broomball player in the state too!"
 
So to clinch the B championship only one year after winning C is something the entire team can be proud of.  The Sheep played well together and all the Breck ice time definitely paid off.  We executed our breakouts, spacing and passing just as planned.  Our defense limited our opponent's scoring opportunities and Al nearly had a shut out - only allowed one goal all weekend.  Al lead most of the breakouts from our zone and everyone was involved in breakaways.  We had the best passing we’ve seen all season and we spread the ball around.  Our power plays and penalty kills were very successful.  Thanks a ton to Jill and Heather who joined the Sheep for the first time.  You two played great!

Looking back to the last four state tournaments, we were able to increase our goals for average while at the same time reduce our goals against average.  Check out this pattern:

Game Summaries:

Game 1, Saturday, 6:00 pm.

Sheep defeat Terminal Frost 5-0.

The Sheep started strong in this game.  Terminal's goalie was late, didn't get any warm-ups and went in after the first whistle.  The Sheep won that face-off, took a shot from the top of the slot and the score was 1-0 only minutes into the game.  We consistently shut down Terminal's scoring chances and didn't give them anything on their power play.  Jessi logged her first penalty in as long as the team can remember.  Kayne and Brian each had 2 goals, Kayne added 2 assists, Jessi had an assist and Matt had a goal and an assist.  The team played great and won their first B level game ever!  Off to a good start!

Game 2, Saturday, 9:40 pm.

Sheep defeat Meerkats 1-0.

We knew the Meerkats would be our toughest competition of the weekend.  And having played against them many times over the last few years, there weren't too many things we could do differently.  They know us and we know them.  Brian got the only goal of the game from a rocket shot on a breakaway with Jason in his face and nearly no angle.  Actually reminded me of a shot Jason got on us at Winter Carnival two years ago.  Both teams played tough and Alan almost scored on a flip when he caught Al outside the net.  Hat's off to the Meerkats.  At that point, we had a good idea that we'd face them again in the final for the second year in a row.

Game 3, Sunday, 10:40 am.

Sheep defeat Duluth Athletic Club 6-1.

DAC had a couple pretty good men and they teamed up on a good breakaway to score the only goal the Sheep allowed.  Matt made the mistake of coming over to double team their biggest guy on the breakaway and left the weak side open.  Al stopped the shot, but DAC was there to clean up the rebound.  Other than that, the Sheep played great defense.  We had a lot of offense in this game.  Jessi almost had the hat trick only 10 minutes in.  She scored two early and hit the top bar on a nice lift shot.  Kayne did get a hat trick in this game, Brian added one and Neil and Ann both had assists.  The scariest moment was when Jessi got checked into the boards.  There was a little drama in this game with a DAC player getting ejected, and we were glad it didn't get any worse.

Championship, Sunday, 2:20 pm.

Sheep defeat Meerkats 2-0.

We meet again.  :)  We really wanted to try and pull Jason out of the middle of the pack so we could try and get better scoring chances in this one.  Jessi came up big with 2 goals in the first half and earned the Sheep's MVP of the tournament.  The first goal was a nice give and go between Brian and Jessi and Jessi finished it off.  The second was a great second effort dive at a loose ball in front of the net.  A 2 goal advantage allowed our defense to play a little more conservatively and we didn't have to pinch as much.  The Meerkats did a good job of picking off our passes, but our defense was able to collapse quickly so they couldn't turn it into a scoring chance.  Jason had a great shot with only a minute left in the game and Al made a super hand save.  The Sheep took home the trophy in yet another close fought match with the Meerkats.  Hat's off to the Meerkats for a fun, clean, competitive game!

Look here for our picture on the MSF site (when they get to it):

http://www.msf1.org/broomball_results.htm

Stats:

Overall record:  4-0

Goals for: 14

Goals against: 1

PARTY PARTY SHEEP!  BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!