Have you heard the crash of pucks and sticks? Have you seen players run from one side of the gym to the other? Yes, the new Hockey Intramural League season has begun at Nanmo! The Hockey Intramural League is a traditional competition held at Nanmo every year. Students from all grades can sign up to join a team. After many talented players graduated from the school in June, teachers and students didn’t know what to expect from the new season.
Before November, the teachers and students who were in charge of the hockey activities started to prepare for the new season. Mr. Sutherland and Mr. Dyck, who are the coaches of the school team, took charge of the organization. After one-month of signing up, more than 60 players joined the league. Just like last year, they were divided into four teams, led by seven different BC teachers. The four student-captains are Lionel Liang (Team 1), Frank Huang (Team 2), Kelvin Xu (Team 3) and Daniel Wang (Team 4).
After seeing the schedule and the players she had, Ms. Baynton, who teaches Physics 11, stated that they had to win the first game. Her players were also very excited to play the opening game. “It will be a new challenge for us,” said Frank Huang, the captain of Team 2, “but we still want to win the game, please trust us.” As one of the players who got second place last year, Frank wanted to make his team get better and further this season. To prepare for the match, he asked some of his teammates to train in the gym the day before the first game.
The first match of the league happened on November 14th between Team 1 and Team 2. Unfortunately, the Grade 10 students were away for military training that week, so both teams lost some of their players. Some of the players showed their worries because it would be more difficult to play for a longer time. “Of course, we need more space for every player to play,” said Mr. Dyck, “so we have changed our plan for this game to make it a 4 vs 4 players instead of 5 vs 5.”
The game started with drastic strives for the puck. It was a close game and both teams had the opportunity to win the match. A few minutes later, a sudden shot from Frank Huang broke the balance on the field, the score became 0:1. Since the difference wasn’t too great, the offence players of Team 1 started to fight back immediately. However, Brady Chen, who was the Player of the Game in the BCOS soccer tournament last year, saved more than 10 shots from Team 1, and the confidence of Team 1 players was seriously hit. What’s even worse is that Frank Huang got another opportunity to shoot in the centre, the score changed into 0:2. James Yang in Team 1 got a high-stick penalty, but Lionel Liang finally scored a goal a few minutes later, and the match ended with a score of 1:2.
“The players in Team 1 were aggressive enough,” said Ms. Baynton, “thankfully, we won the match and it is an unforgettable experience because it’s my first time coaching a hockey team!” Jane Zhang from Team 1 also shared her opinion: “It’s not that bad for us to lose, it meant that we need to practice more. Our offence players’ actions can be more flexible when the puck is passed to them; I believe it will contribute to our victory next time.”
The season has just begun, and we are all expecting the following games to be more exciting and satisfying!
by Lionel Liang 11A