Wednesday 28 June 2017

Day 4 - Knights IV Tour 2017




Won 6-5

Goals
Dan Jones
Elliott Bickerton 2
Joe Cheetham
Will Prescott
Mike Pomfret

Assists
Mike Pomfret
Dan Jones

Face offs - 5
Saves - 12

I again awoke before my alarm, it's a peaceful time of the day for me and a bit of calm before the storm. 
I showered and set off to 7/11 to buy coffee, it's a beautiful walk through campus and gives me time to think 
about the day ahead, any issues from the day before and to just do me for an hour or so!

My mind regressed to the first game against clams and how we should have won that game, I thought that the tournament for us would have been very different if we had started with a win. We let ourselves down in the secon game and made a poor team look good. 

The lads deserved a win and had seen flashes of greatness from different players in different games, we had been close in every game and give away goals, missed opportunities or hitting posts and bars had been the difference.
We had constantly given the team the same message, the face off guys had given us possessions, goalies where playing great and we had created the shots to win the games twice over, we where not going to give up and needed to support each other off the field to hit our goal. A win today would put us in a great position going into the second tournament and regain our confidence.

We where to play Battlelax this morning, the boys ate breakfast and went back to the dorms to prepare for the game. No one forgot their meal card or key today they had got used to the life!

We met downstairs in the communal living room as always, the boys put their keys and valuables in the bag and we went through the key points to focus on for the day! Most of the, had packed the night before to make it easier to check out later and give us time to watch some of the final in the main stadium before our game!

The 4 games the day before and the excitement of the All- Star game had taken its toll and a few of the boys needed to see the trainer, it doesn't help that they are all 18 year old blond girls which makes seeing the trainer all the more attractive, no wonder we had so many injuries!

We warmed up for the game and the coaches concluded that we needed a complete performance and to get a lot more players involved and confident.

Dan Jones again stung the top corner - as the youngest player on the team he plays beyond his years and the boys all respect him, he's one of the best talents I have seen come through this program and I have seen a lot in my time! He can go as far as he wants and may be the first legit DI player I have had.

Mike Pomfret or Mick Pom, brother of Knights III James Pomfret is a one of our best players but had struggled to finish, this game was the turning point and he came away with a great goal and assist it was important for the team to get him going and the boys jumped on him when he came off the field.

We started the game very well but mistakes began to creep in we had to keep our nerve and not let this team come back!

The parents and players loved the experience of playing against English opposition and they all wanted to trade with us after the game and pay us compliments, they where very humble and nice people.

We took the boys to Subway in gettysburg to get them fed, to Tom McArdles dismay they dint do Chicken Tikka and did not look happy!  I treated TJ and Ben to Tacos from Tania's and even found a Chinese and asked if they sold Salt and Pepper chicken to get for Billy (to feed his habit) unfortunately I got a blank look from the lady behind the counter so left!

The bus came on time and I bought a bottle of water for the driver, the boys packed the bags onto the bus for our three and half hour journey to Lomg Island, little did I realise that we would hit rush hour New Jersey and New York traffic so it turned into five and half hours. Tom Mac watched the motorcycles and cars, Kai pointed out thenToyota Prius's, some slept and some payed music to entertain themselves and Billy locked people in the toilet!!,  the boys went a bit stir crazy later in the journey but Lewis kept them entertained and explained the
Definition of revetments, we all got an education. Driving past the NY skyline was something to behold and the first time a lot of the boys had seen the city!

nounnoun: revetment, plural noun: revetments

  • 1.(especially in fortification) a retaining wall or facing of masonry or other material, supporting or protecting a rampart, wall, etc.
a barricade of earth or sandbags set up to provide protection from blast or to prevent planes from overrunning when landing.
The driver put his foot down on a road that didn't allow commercial vehicles and had us all ducking going under low bridges, he was a great guy and we had a picture with him in his Knights cap when we arrived at the hotel.
Treated outside by the Richard Major and the Robinsons it felt like home. We checked into the hotel after clogging the revolving doors and the lads checked in their comfortable plush rooms to then re-focus on their main priority what we where going to eat and what time the pool was open until!








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