Jackson Youth Hockey

It has been an amazing year coaching these boys.  We finished the year 26-9-3. We showed everyone in the region that we are one of, if not the best, A-division team out there. Every tourney we went to, teams feared us.

This weekend was a very positive weekend going 3-2 with both of our losses coming against AA teams.   Friday night we opened the tourney against the NW Regulators a select AA team out of Salt lake area.   We played a pretty tight game out shooting them by 5, allowing two power play goals and losing 2-1.

Saturday morning the boys showed up and earned a great win 4-0 against Team Idaho. Later Saturday we played the host of the tourney the Salt lake Lightning. We handled them 5-0. After the round robin we finished with a 2-1 record good for second place in our pool.

Sunday morning we faced a tough team from Ogden, who we have continued a great rivalry with for two seasons. The last time we faced Ogden was at our home tourney and we lost 6-4.  So far, Ogden in the tournament was 3-0 out scoring their opponents 18 to 0.  We knew we had to come out flying and as always the boys did.   Scoring the 1st goal quickly and setting the tone physically.   We won the game 4-2 although it was more lopsided than that. This game was possibly our best game of the season. We knew if we won this game we had a shot at the Regulators again.

You do not always get second chances and we had ours now, in the finals.

In front of a pretty good Bantam crowd we came out skating hard and playing tough hockey. We battled back from 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 4-3, then tying the game in dramatic fashion with 16 seconds left on the clock.

In overtime we had some chances, as did they, and neither team capitalized. After OT we were set for a five-man shootout. Both goaltenders were strong, each stopping 4-5. It came down to a sudden death 6th shooter. The Regulators scored 1st. We missed and lost the game on the scoreboard but not in our hearts.

I told the boys I have never been so proud of a 2nd place throphy and each and every one of them. They left it all on the ice and as a coach that’s all you can ask. Thank you all for an unforgettable year!!

Coach Hanny