VtGav - talking drivel

Well it was to be the last day of hockey, the FIRS jr women reached its climax with GB taking bronze in a superb game vs Columbia who’s they’d lost to earlier in the competition – a great time to come up big ( a few photos here )

Bronze for the girls

Meanwhile the U18 lads looked tired and didn’t do much in the club competition vs kryptonics, AKS or the Phoenix Dragons, and only really picked it up in the loss to QF game vs Anarchy which ended as all good tournaments should, with a bit of a fight

Jordan gets checked to the head

Cal gets to the guy

U18 Lads got through Germany 4:0 in a bad tempered game and off into the semi’s vs New Zealand, our bogey team, where we lost to them again 7:6 in a very very tight and hard fought game – they went on to lose to the USA in the final. GB went on to play Hong Kong for the bronze and beat them 6:5 in a game where we kept giving them chances.

U18′s then started the club games with a narrow loss to Tour Black Diamonds.

Meanwhile in the ladies it Gold Medal day; the women played Tour Bandits in the International Womens division and came out with the silver, and the U18 Girls followed with a loss to the USA to also take Silver. Later on the FIRS girls team played New Zealand again and again came out losers after playing a hard game, this puts puts them in contention with Columbia for the Bronze tomorrow.

Karen with medal and cup

Cal

Kirsten

Starting off with the U18 Girls vs Columbia, it was a very close game but the Columbians edged it and took a 3:1 win out of us ( photos here ).

Meanwhile, the lads played Germany in the U18′s and after a possibly over confident start were 2 goals down after a couple of minutes. We settled down and levelled the score before motoring away to take the game 10:3 ( photos here ) , ending the round robin series 3rd overall and destined to play 6th place Germany again tomorrow, and if we get through that game we’ll meet New Zealand again in the semi’s . . .

Cal takes a slap shot

The 18′s Lads played Hong Kong and in a tight game took a well deserved 4:2 win ( photos here )

Cal

Meanwhile the Girls had a few games – starting with the much anticipated GB Women vs GB U18 Girls, with the Girls very confident . . . however it was the Women who came out 3:2 victors – well done

Kirst

The U18 Girls went on to play Team USA, and with 30 seconds to go were 1:1 and all to play for, when that Team USA killer instinct gave them a last gasp goal and a sad loss for GB – but what a great performance ! ( photos here )

The GB Womens team played Tour Raw Steel and expected a pounding ( having previously beat GB U18 Girls 17:1 ) but the game was very different, our Ladies are playing much stronger and tighter now and it paid off with a superb 4:2 game, a loss for sure, but against several USA Olympic players who’d easily beat GB teams throughout the tournament it was a stunning performance

karen

It’s Day 7 and the GB women / girls face each other in the International competition, Women then play Tour Raw Select later on ( thats the team with 5 USA Olympic Ice Hockey gold medal winners in it ), and the Girls come up against Columbia in the FIRS World Championship game.

Meanwhile, 18′s Lads are in action twice with an afternoon game vs Hong Kong, and a late night game vs Germany - here’s hoping for two wins today.

Cal

Well its been a strange and frustrating 18′s competition so far, last night we went down 4:3 to the favoured USA team, and it has to be said the 1st USA goal should never have been counted – the ref blew the whistle after the netminder made a save, a couple of seconds later the puck bobbled over the line and he gave a goal !! how does that work ?!!!?!? anyways, lose we did 4:3. In the other games New Zealand looked strong as they beat Germany, and Columbia beat Hong Kong.

And so to tonight . . . we played New Zealand and it was clear from the first shift that this was going to be a tough physical game as Cal was hip checked and limped off, fortunately to return a couple of shifts later, but that’s the way the game was being played.

It was end to end for the whole game, and after GB took a 2:0 lead early on, the Kiwis kept coming back and finally levelled it 2:2 before taking the lead, with GB levelling to 3:3 going into the last few minutes, sadly those Kiwis pulled another goal and GB couldn’t find a way through – final score 4:3 in a heart stopping tough game of hockey ( photos here )

Cal on the puck

Cal shoots on the kiwi goal

The other 18′s mens results took a strange turn – USA went down 6:4 to Columbia and Germany misfired to lose to Hong Kong.

What a day for the ladies – first up the GB Women faced the USA team in the International event, and lost out but put up a great showing losing 6:2 ( I think )  - photos here

Karen chasing down the puck

Later, in the first of the FIRS Junior Women’s World Championship games, the GB junior women faced the USA and had us all on the edge of our seats, they played the game of their lives and despite going a (very disputed ) goal down in the first few minutes, they pulled back and amazingly led 3:1 going into the last depressing two minutes of the game, where unbelievably the USA team scored 3 more goals to win the game 4:3 and leave a heartbroken GB team – photos here.

On the face of it, a very sad result, but coming from last years results in Philly, leading the USA 3:1 into the last two minutes is an awesome step forward.

Kirsten after the puck

GB have two teams in 18′s and Womens, Womens 1st game saw a loss to Tour Bandits, photo’s here

Karen

Meanwhile, after 1st practice this morning, Cal’s wait comes to an end at last with the 1st 18′s game vs Team USA West tonite at 8 pm  . . . good luck son

GB Women played the awesome Tour Raw Steel Select in the Semi’s ( photos here ) and put up a good fight but came out losers putting them in the 3rd / 4th playoff for bronze and copper medals later in the day, where in a great game they took Tour Bandits to the cleaners and took the Bronze – photos here

Meanwhile the Girls played Pandemonium Black in their 3rd / 4th playoff, narrowly losing to take the copper.

GB Women and Tour Bandits

Women and Girls both have medal games today in the club tournament . . . Semi’s for women and 3rd/4th playoff for the Girls –  Go GB

Meanwhile, the 18′s are all here and training starts Monday morning at last ! Their 1st game is Monday night vs Team USA . . . should be good . . . good luck Cal and all his team mates . . .