Senior C - Coach's Report - 2009
Thursday, 26 November 2009 15:36
Mark Tozer
We played, we had a good time, and we got beat a lot.
Firstly a great BIG THANK YOU to BIG BIRD for running the gate every week, it makes such a difference.
We had a few new players on board this season, Annie Miouse and Lee Brown, a husband and wife Canadian pair that the Big Bird found; I think it was at Nite Owls training. They were a good pick up. Annie plays really good solid defence and Lee had a gallop up the front with the Reverend and Woody. He banged a few in the back of the net too. Considering he shouldn't be playing at all because he has a cactus knee (you should see the brace thing he wears) it was a good effort.
Another newbie was David McLeod who came from the Development Council. He played the last 6 games or so and was getting to the right places at the right times. He showed great improvement from start to finish. How he did this with everyone including "Bird" telling what he should and shouldn't be doing/standing/thinking after every shift I don't know. He is either partially deaf of has a good bullshit filter.
Mick Rowan, one of the good old boys from the Dandenong era made a return to the not so big league, skated well and proved you don't forget how to do it, its just a case of making your body actually do what it is your thinking.
Bruno Gutton, a late life starter got the call up after playing in Div 4 over summer along side Mick and "King Andy". We had plenty of laughs, bagging his "Frenchness". We then found out about his previous life in the French Military and figured he could probably kill us all with a spoon and the French jokes dried up after that......
Last Updated on Sunday, 27 December 2009 14:43
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Reserve Grade - Coach's Report - 2009
Thursday, 26 November 2009 15:29
Dereck Hales
This year was my first year as a coach in Australia. Overall I deem the season a success that fell short of the ultimate premiership goal. I’m very proud of the level of commitment and passion that we developed and delivered in 2009. The team is positioned well to step up to the next level as champions in 2010.
Scotty Fagotter did an excellent job as a team manager as well. Great job Scotty!
Dave Beehler was a very strong and effective captain. I’m looking forward to working with Dave as a team captain again next year.
On Ice Performance
The Reserve Grade players started the season without a clear goal or style of play. Several players were new to the team or grade. Also, there were few leaders at the start and a lack of organisation. We lost quite a few games at the start as our direction was inconsistent. Injuries and absence of several key players compounded our slow start. Lack of experience was amplified by the need to use many young junior players to fill out the roster.
However, we slowly developed a consistent strategy of a relentless pressure attack and responsible but aggressive defense. Over time the players also gained greater experience playing together. This resulted in greater trust in each other on the ice and we started to turn the corner.
Several players returned from injury / absence – Kel Boers, Dereck Hales, Joel Unruh, Grainge Phillips and Tristan Woods. At the same time several players emerged as leaders. Dave Beehler, Kel Boers, Ryan Jeary, Sammy Diluca, Tristan Woods and Nick Trusewicz began leading by example. The combination of a gameplan fitting of our style of play, leadership and numbers resulted in a long winning streak at the end of the year to take us from last place into fourth place – locking in a finals berth on the last night of the season!
In the finals we continued our aggressive play with big wins over the Demons and Saints en route to a Grand Final appearance against the Sharks. We eked out a tight but deserved win in Game 1 but at a cost. We lost two defenceman in Games 2 & 3. We also lost a forward for Game 3. Despite a depleted bench, we pushed the Sharks to the limit losing by one goal in each game – the premiership winning goal coming in the final two minutes of Game 3.
Overall, our performance was very strong down the stretch and we lost out due to injuries.
Last Updated on Sunday, 27 December 2009 14:42
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President's Report - Season 2009
Thursday, 26 November 2009 15:20
Glenn Grandy
 Season 2009 was a year of several major changes for our club as well as being one of celebration for the league.
We commenced the IHV Centenary year with a changing of the guard in several of our key club roles. After a number of years as our President and over the past couple, performing the dual role as President of IHV, Andrew McDowell decided that the IHV role needed more attention and he has done an incredible job for the league. Having been a past member of the committee, I was elected as your President, standing down as the Senior Coach. Tom Powell put his hand up to take on this role and as one of our more decorated senior players the Committee believed was more than capable of handling the responsibility.
 We then set about trying to find a coach for the Premier Reserves. We felt that this was a very important role, as our “Rezzies” needed to be organised and led well to maintain enthusiasm and enhance development. To this end, Dereck Hales took on this role and his efforts were reflected by the results the team achieved over the season.
The Premier C’s was almost to the stage of having to hold tryouts and ably looked after by Mark Tozer we made sure there was always enough beer in the fridge.
Injuries, suspensions and withdrawals from the playing lists put a big strain on the teams early in the season, but as it progressed we were able to field three very competitive sides and by the time the season ended, not only did the A’s make another Grand Final, but for the first time in a number of years, the Premier Reserve team also was in the battle for a pewter.
Although, as we know, neither team was able to bring home the trophy, season 2009 still had many successes.
A highlight for me was the success of the draft for us this year. We welcomed to our club Matt Burns from Canada, Nick Trusewicz from the Saints, Kel Boers who hadn’t played hockey for about 20 years, Chris Thompson from Bendigo, Joel Unruh – Derek Hales’ brother in law as well as securing our protected juniors Matt Skelt and Thomas Parton.
Due to injuries, Melbourne Ice commitments and player unavailability, several players got the opportunity to test themselves at a higher level than they were used to. This is a great thing within the club. No one is pigeon holed – everyone will get a chance if they deserve it.
I would also like to recognise the assistance provided to the club by the IHV Junior Committee with identifying junior level players and making them available to the club when our teams were short handed. We utilised 11 different players through the season in both the Premier A and Premier Reserve levels. While seven of these players were used in the Premier Reserve, of the four that played in Premier A, our own Blackhawk developed junior Ben Grant played five games and Former Jets junior Marcus Wong played in seven, Julius Vitikka played in three and Jack Konig played in one.
We also saw, for the first time in a long time, nearly full squads at practice. Another testament to the coaching staff that endeavoured to bring the players together as well as the attitude of the players that wanted to improve and do their best for the club.
Last Updated on Thursday, 24 December 2009 15:41
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Premier A - Coaches Report - 2009
Thursday, 26 November 2009 13:42
Tommy Powell
I am very proud to have the opportunity to be able to coach the Blackhawks Snr A club this year, I always wanted to do coaching, but to be able to coach the Blackhawks Snr A club was a dream come true, especially at a young age.
I am very proud of every player this year; the boys really stepped up, not only on the ice but off the ice too.
I hope with what they have learned they now know what it takes to win, and sometimes loosing (which is not fun) is the best way to learn those little things such as hard work, determination mentally preparing and doing everything you can to win.
Like Gretzky once said before he won the Stanley Cup, “I didn't know what it took until after we lost the Stanley Cup final, I walked past the Islanders change room expecting to see and hear players jumping off the walls in celebration, but instead I saw a bunch of guys way to tied, sore and with ice pack on, to even move and lift up the cup and from then on I knew what dedication it took to win".
I hope that we have realised something along these lines, watching them hoist the cup is one of the hardest things I have ever done.
I believe we have a great core in the Blackhawks system, with some great talent not only in Snr A but also in the B's, as we saw a few times this season, when a Reserve player was called up to the A's they looked quite comfortable on the forefront, obviously the guys knew how to play and had pretty good positioning, the speed took a couple shifts to get used too again for these players, but once comfortable with the speed these players could be used in most situations. Which is great news for Blackhawks, as I believe we have the best club and players involved.
I believe with the new rink opening, and hopefully we get the chance to play there, it will suit our style of hockey a lot more than the Olympic Arena, as with all the added space and time. A big ice pad and the Blackhawks put in the same sentence I believe will be deadly.
The players all season really seemed to gel, everybody got along which is great for a team, we never had any in club fighting or arguing which says a lot about the personality and the respect of the team and each other.
I am pleased overall with the attendance of practice, we didn't get everyone there to one full practice this year, but majority of the time 90% of players were there, it makes it difficult when players don't show up to learn systems and little plays, so hopefully next season this will be better.
The selection committee was great, and I think we choose the right players all season long.
My individual goals for players and team were mostly successful, as I wanted to finish the regular season in 1st place, which we did, then to have the best goalie, HPS, and MVP were as well accomplished, also to have players develop in the system, and want to strive for perfection and to be the best player they can be, the only thing which was not accomplished was the title.
Last Updated on Sunday, 27 December 2009 14:41
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