That's all Folks!

Bantam Leafs finish playoffs in Simi to end season

As we seemed to play them more than any three other teams, the weekend concluded with the Bears (classless, may some twist of fate force them not win and advance!), the Ducks, small pesky, very unlikable, but fun to push around, and those Dragons of Bakersfield, our foes in pre-season, at home and on the road, in tourneys, and even on the last day.

The parts never could seem to add up to a sum of any note, and the team never was able to gel due to illness and goalie changes and an inability to learn to play together.

Thanks to Coach Joe for trying everything he could come up with down to the bitter end. Thanks for letting the Michelle boys play along, as all three and Debbie are better for having been a part of the Leafs family. Many thanks to Edward and the Schramm family, fine folks who we have shared a team with many times, and we will see you down the road.

Leafs falter in second and Oilers roll to 6-1 win

The Bantam Maple Leafs were strong for the first, a bit wobbly in the second, and mostly solid in the third. Three goals early in the second were too much to rebound from as the visiting SDIA Oilers took over. Once again, a solid start and excellent effort in the first could not be sustained. A 5-on-3 late power play allowed Julian to score late, but the outcome had long been decided.

The game was not without excitement, as the lunatic parent to my left was escorted out by CSO Lilly (Chief Security Officer) in the first after banging on the glass in the refs ear. Of course, me and my camera crew were the picture of proper hockey parent behavior.

Late in the game, Tommy was run from behind, always a bad idea with barely two minutes left in the game and a six goal lead! Sadly, a certain young man decided he had to right that wrong, and was asked to leave as well after he lost his cool yet again. (Would have been cool if the SDIA parent and he could have had some sort of mano-a-mano to settle it properly, huh??)

Seriously, we all know we can play with the Dragons, and the Ducks are not expecting us to pick up the intensity, so give it all you got! They said Custer had no chance and look what...no wait..Napoleon was not supposed to do well at Waterloo..oh never mind! Make some new history so I'll have something relevant to quote!

Leafs get 5-4 win at Paramount over Lightning

Blake and Edward faced an old teammate, #21 Michael Fary from Beach City, who they played with for a couple seasons as Squirts. The Leafs jumped out to a 4-1 lead, and when I arrived a few minutes into the second period, it was 4-2. A parade of second period penalties and and the Lightning had made it 4-3. Cole had a great goal on a spectacular effort, which proved to be the game winner.

What the heck--do it again next week!!???

Ryan, Robert Riddle Reign

First, many thanks to Debbie and Edwin (Edward's dad) for handling the video duties for this game. In addition, lovely photos were also taken with the fancy high grade camera lens Deb rented for the weekend to cover the Bantam game Saturday and the Pee Wee game Sunday in Paramount!

With just Blake, Doug and Julian on defense, and six forwards, the Pasadena Maple Leafs Bantam outshot the Riverside Jr Reign 34-16 on the way to a 3-0 victory. Robert scored twice, and Ryan was solid in goal, turning aside everything that came his way.
 
Anyhow, here are the highlights from a scoreless 1st period. Some hits, some saves, some shots, everything but goals I reckon! Enjoy--

Per 1 at Jr Reign

More control of the action by the Leafs, still no score-- Scoreless after two periods.

Period 2 action

And in the third, Amanda scores and Robert on a great deflection and a sweet one-timer from the slot make it 3-0. Then Doug and some dude went nose to nose and hugged it out..HITS, not HUGS dude!

Period 3 -- The Feud is settled but gets ugly before it ends!

And a couple fotos--my favorite is the "Do(u)gpile" shot!

That dude can fly, but he can't knock our awesome Amanda down!

Robert first of two!

Everybody, DOUG-PILE!

Robert gets congrats a second time!

Time for some perspective

I know it has been tough on all of us, but I want to let you know that our pains can't touch that of the Jr Reign.

In the last seven games, they have scored in just one game, and have been outscored by the incredible sum of 79-2!

 Ya think maybe they are looking forward to our showdown coming up? Ya think??

Dragons outman undermanned Leafs in Bakersfield

With just 8 skaters and a goalie, the Bantam Leafs could not put up much opposition to the Bakersfield Dragons. Another shutout loss made the drive back seem longer than ever.

The schedule makers thought a nice reward would be a home game the next week--against the Bears, who have given up just 8 goals in their 10 games posted as of Monday! We must score somehow!

Leafs visit Anaheim Ice to start 2011

How do you spell intensity??

Duck Hunting---BANG!