Flin Flon’s A and AA Atom teams welcomed eight other clubs for the annual Jason Morran Memorial Tournament as “good competition and exciting games” kept the young players going for gold.
Tournament coordinator, coach and parent Scott Eastman was pleased to see the effort on and off the ice from all 10 teams in the tournament.
“Overall, the weekend went well,” he said. “I believe all the teams and the parents had fun. There was some good competition and exciting games.”
Neither Flin Flon team fared as well as they had hoped as Thompson took the AA final over The Pas while Gillam took the A side final over The Pas.
The Atom A Northland Ford Bombers rounded out their pool with a 7-6 loss to Thompson while Norway House defeated La Ronge 5-1.
The Atom AA Ped’s Threads Bombers went down 6-1 to Swan Valley in the final to end the weekend.
The biggest comeback of the weekend began with the A Bombers down 6-0 at the end of the first period against Thompson.
The Bombers took big strides and ended up with an 8-7 win in the round-robin game.
“It was really fun watching the kids on the bench,” said Eastman, coach of the A Bombers. “The morale was low, but after each goal the kids perked up a little. We kept telling them to keep skating and that they can do it. When they scored to tie the game, they were so pumped up I don’t think a freight train could have stopped them.”
Like any team, Eastman says he and the Atom A coaches like to focus on the good things the players did during the game.
Both Flin Flon teams finished last in their pools, but Eastman says the focusing on the strengths will help a team and its players advance.
“Then we address things we may have to work or focus on for the next game or practice,” he said.
As a coach and a father of two hockey players, Eastman says it’s “more about the kids knowing what they did right over what they did wrong.”
Atom hockey players continue to learn and develop from each game and practice they have, but Eastman says at that level fair play isn’t the same as it is in Hockey D or Novice.
“Fair play or equal play isn’t a rule for Atom rep hockey, but I know with us [the Atom A Bombers], we try to equal out the ice time,” he said. “As long as a player shows up to practice and puts in the effort, then they deserve the ice time.”
