Our Blue roller hockey team completed a successful breakout season as D4 spring league champions. With a regular season record of 9 wins and one loss, we were the favorites going into the playoffs, although in typical fashion, we did so with a dose of drama to make the playoffs exciting.
The only team that Blue lost to all year was Live Oak, and as luck would have it, they were the team we faced in the semi-finals. The team, lead by Captain Zach Roelands, with scoring threats Kevin Kriegbaum, Austin Coon, Matt Agustin, Chris Gunsky and Nick Sohm, were backed up by Ty Venzon as goaltender, as well as their coach, Pat Reilly. The game was a nailbiter, with three ties up through the last three minutes of play, with neither team holding the lead for longer than a few minutes. The Bells came out of a timeout energized, and with just minutes to play, punched shot after shot at the Live Oak goaltender until one finally snuck through. Live Oak pulled their goaltender and the pressure was on Blue to not let them score. As the buzzer sounded, the team knew they had played their best game of the year - and won.
The Bells went into the championship game against St. Lawrence invigorated from the hard-fought win they had just earned, and peppered the opposing team so that the score was 6-0 at the end of the first period. With scoring from nearly everyone on the team, they routed St. Lawrence to take the division championship with a score of 9-1.
Go Bells!