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Recent Springfield Spirit Peewees - Dannegger News

Tough First Round Playoff Loss

By Coach Dannegger 02/25/2015, 5:45pm CST

Outshot Chesterfield 20-7, but Couldn't Get The Win

The Team came into the Playoffs on a 5 game undefeated streak and had been playing good hockey.  They continued playing good hockey, but unfortunately were upset in the first round of the playoffs as #10 seed Chesterfield #2 knocked us out.

The boys did all they needed to do to win: played in the offensive zone, took shots (outshooting them 20-7), stayed out of the penalty box, played aggressive and won battles for the puck, kept the front of our net clear and minimized shots, and made frequent smart line changes.  However, the Chesterfield goalie was on fire and stopped everything we threw at him.  He only let in one goal late in the third that Tyler scored.  It was an exciting game as we played in their end most of the game and had many opportunities, but couldn't capitalize.  We pulled our goalie with 3:40 to go in game and got within a goal still with 1:50 to go.  We got in the offensive zone and pulled John again.  Unfortunately, this time we gave up a goal with 16 seconds left that sealed our fate. 

The boys had a great season and accomplished a lot of good things this year.  They were promoted from A2 to the A1 league after an excellent undefeated and unchallenged Declaration Season.  They played well in the A1 league even with a short bench and finished seventh with a league record of 5-10-5.  We beat or tied the top 4 teams in our league.  We won the KCIC Winter Classic Tournament.  I am very proud of the way they played and performed this year and they all developed into better hockey players and better young men.  Great Job boys!

Thanks to all who helped out this year!!!!!!!  Assistant Coaches- Chris and Alex, Development Coach- Phil, Team Manager and Athletic Trainer and Penalty Box Manager- Kevin Johnson, All those who worked scoreboards and timeclocks, All those who brought kids to and from practices and games, paid league tournament and travel fees, and everything else that needs to be done to run a hockey team.   It obviously takes a village to do so. 

 

Winter Classic Pee Wee A Champs

By Coach Dannegger 02/17/2015, 9:45am CST

Undefeated through whole weekend of tournament

This past weekend we played in the KCIC Winter Classic tournament.  It was a round robin tournament with the top two teams playing in the final on Sunday afternoon.  It also featured one game on an outdoor rink.  In our division was two teams from our league (Chesterfield #2 and Kansas City), a team from Allen TX, and a team from Oklahoma City.  

Our first game was on the outdoor rink on a nice mild 45 degree evening just as the sun was setting.  We started the weekend off with a win over KC.  On Saturday we kept the ball rolling with a shutout of Chesterfield and a win over OK City.  That solidified us a spot in the final, so the tie on Sunday morning with Allen TX really didn't matter except to make us the #1 seed instead of #2.  In the final we played a tense back and forth game against KC which we ended up winning 4-2.  

It was a good weekend to get the championship and build the momentum toward the State Playoffs.   Everyone had a good time.  Thanks to Kevin for getting the tournament and team fees together back in November (as well as working the penalty box for us), Tosha for organinzing the hotel, and to the Stack's for organizing pizza on Saturday evening.  Great Job Boys!!!!! 

It's About More Than Hockey

By Coach Dannegger 02/01/2015, 3:00pm CST

Team Learns Life Lessons

The first place KC Stars came to town this weekend for two games on Saturday.  They were a good team that played well together as we quickly found out in the first game which we ended up losing 6-3.  However, for game two we were more prepared and came out with an aggressive forecheck that disrupted the passing game of the KC team.  The aggressive forechecke and tenacious defense also resulted in us leading for most of the game.  As the game wore on, we were unable to hang onto the lead as they tied the game with 4:50 remaining in the third.  As the clock dropped to two minutes we had some chances to take the lead, but just couldn't quite find the back of the net.  The game finished in a 3-3 tie.

Sunday there was no game scheduled, but as a result of an incident at the rink on Saturday the team earned some community service time picking up trash around the rink parking lot for an hour.  The team has really learned to pull together and win, lose, tie, and do community service as a team.  They also learned about being accountable for their actions and did so with a good attitude and without grumbling, complaining, or pointing fingers at each other.  There was even competition about who could gather the most, biggest or most unique trash on the parking lot.  The boys are having a really good season and I am very proud of them.

The hard hat went to Sam Stack this weekend.  Sam has been playing very solid defense all year long and really stood out in the games this weekend breaking up several odd man rushes and 1 on 1 situations.  Great job, Sam, keep it up.

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