Weekend Preview: Team CLE at Gilmour U19

Pretty!

The Matchup: Team CLE vs Gilmour U19 on Sunday at 1:10 pm at Gilmour

Why it’s exciting: Gilmour is chock full of competitive girls who no doubt have played most their life, love hockey enough to play it at prep school, and want to take their game to the next level. These are some of the most fun people to play against, a reminder of how fun competitive hockey can be, and how fun it is to challenge yourself to do well every time you are on the ice.

Past Results: Last year the Twisters played Gilmour to a 3 all tie at Gilmour, early in the season. The game was early in both teams’ seasons so the outcome probably not too predictive of anything for this year. Gilmour appeared to have an edge in speed, and did a good job crashing the net for rebounds. They dominated time of possession with the puck but didn’t get a lot of cross ice movement happening. Kristen’s stick was on fire and I think she scored three goals. (Maybe? I’m working with a memory here).

This year: Both teams have improved since last year. Someone (I forget who) saw Gilmour play recently and said they looked quicker than last year. Team CLE had its first practice Sunday night and also looks to be icing a solid team once again.

Keys to success for Team CLE:

·        Short shifts. It’s early in the season. Those Gilmour girls are young. We are also young, but relative to the Gilmour girls, nope. Ok except maybe Audrey. Audrey is young.

·        Backchecking and communicating with D on the rush. If things are like last year, Gilmour will get inside the zone, shoot and crash the net, looking for rebound goals. This wouldn't even merit a mention except that most teams we play don't seem to crash the net too much, after a rush. Maybe it's a younger player thing? Either way, backchecking forwards will be key to clearing out rebounds and tying up Gilmour girls striding towards the net.

·        Patience. It’s super early. We’ve had but one official practice. Chuckie says her skates weren’t sharpened. Kristen’s stick was clearly broken that she was practicing with. There was a puck situation. We were/are just getting organized. We are ready, but you know how first games are. Might take a bit of perseverance, yes?

Here we go. We waited all summer for this. College hockey is a couple weeks into its season. The NHL kicked off this week, and on Sunday our season gets its start as well. Go Team CLE!