It was a weekend of First’s for the 2009 Green Team!   First up, a game bright and early on Saturday morning against the NH Monarchs.   It was a bit of a bleary-eyed morning for most parents and some kids after the longest World Series game ever the night before.    The Monarchs came to play after the last meeting of these two teams, where the Monarchs came from behind and almost tied the game in the final second.   This time around, it started off rough for our Shamrocks squad, with the Monarchs netting the first goal. But the Shamrocks wouldn’t let that keep them down and they battled back to win in convincing fashion 5-2.   All three lines of forwards contributed on offense, the D was strong protecting the house, and the goaltending was solid as always! The win gave the Shamrocks sole position in first place in the White Division, a spot they won’t give up easy!       

But, this team knows that trophies are earned at practice and just given out at games so they got back to work that same day!   They returned to the rink just a few hours later, and had a special practice at the brand new Bentley University arena, home of the D1 Bentley Falcons.  The Shamrocks were the first youth team ever to get to skate at the facility and be the VIP guests. After a locker room tour, the kids started off practice with their usual “Minnesota Mile” drill to which the Bentley athletes were impressed at the teams conditioning and very thankful they didn’t have this coaching staff!  After a bit of hard work, the practice lightened up with some fun skill competitions and playing a bit of “baseball” on the ice with a few members of the Bentley hockey team. After practice some much-needed nourishment at a local restaurant; along with a bit of team bonding, before they returned to the rink to watch the Bentley Falcons take on the UMass Lowell River Hawks.    

First place in the standings, first youth program on the Bentley ice, first-rate weekend all around!