A day to remember

Sunday, February 28th was a good day. It involved Aidan's team playing two Island Cup games in Powell River, and the Mens' Gold Medal Hockey game between Canada and the US on the final day of the Olympics.

The day began with a meeting at the Willow Point 7-11 parking lot, where we loaded up four vehicles with gear, players, coaches, and parents, and headed for the Little River ferry landing for Powell River. During the crossing, Lisa, our boys' Head Coach, gave a really good pep talk to the boys in the bow of the boat. I remember during the talk some soccer playing girls of about the boys' age had planted themselves just outside the windows and in clear view of all the boys. However, not one of the boys was distracted from the pep talk. Perhaps it was the gravity of the upcoming games that allowed the boys to focus on Lisa and what she had to say.

Upon landing, the coach of the Powell River team met us with a bus and took us to the field. The first game was against the dreaded Comox team that we had beaten the week before to represent the North Island in the Provincial cup playdowns (see previous post). Our boys came out really strong, and went into half time with the score 0-0. In the second half, our pressure brought results, so that we scored four goals, eventually winning 4-0. It was truly a remarkable win against a really good team.

Throughout the second half, people in Powell River would honk their horns after a Canada goal. Soon after the honking we would hear parents' cel phones ringing with the latest score, and the parents would then indicate the score to us by holding up fingers. In this way we were able to keep track of a game that saw a score of 1-0 after the first period, 2-1 after the second, and with 20 seconds left in the third, 2-2.











During the break between the third period and overtime of the hockey game, our boys warmed up for their second game against Powell River. While we were under the tent for the pre-game pep talk, we heard car horns go off around Powell River, at which point we all erupted in cheers and high fives.

The boys then played their game, scoring 7 goals to none in the first half. In the second half we put the boys in positions they were not used to, and the final score was 8-2.

We all then boarded the bus to the ferry, sailed across the strait, drove to 7-11, and made our way home. Perfect day.

As an illustration of how important the gold medal game was to Canadians generally, and Edmontonians in particular, have a look at the following graph showing when they visited the rest room.