Qubs Loose 4 of 4 playing up in AA Division Friday afternoon the Qub's played game one against the AA Santa Clara Blackhawks. The Blackhawks came out strong with fast skating, aggressive back checking and some of the best team play the Qubs have faced all year. The game started out bad for the Qubs with the Blackhawks taking advantage of a lucky bounce and intercepting the puck at the blue line, moving in and scoring at 2:46 of the first period. Ten seconds later the Blackhawks again took the puck from the Qubs defender and scored a second goal. The Qubs settled down and played better hockey for the remainder of the period. The Blackhawks played an aggressive style of hockey earning 8 minutes in penalties for tripping, slashing and hooking. The Qubs were unable to score on the power play opportunities. The second period the Blackhawks again showed their strength out shooting the Qubs 8 to 4, goal tender Kano Cook, kept the Qubs in the game until late in the second period when the Blackhawks scored their third goal. With 2:07 left in the second period Zach Feldman took the puck from a Backhawk defender and scored a unassisted goal. The Blackhawks again out skated the Qubs in period 3 adding a 4th goal for a final of 4 to 1. Game 2 against the Colorado Hockey Club ended in a 4 to 0 shut out of the Qubs by Colorado. The A Qub's skated with AA Colorado matching their shot total with 22 shots on goal, but many of the Qubs shots were easy for the Colorado goal tender Dalton Behem to handle. By contrast the Colorado shots were often the results of quick break outs and great passing in front of Qub Goal tender Kanoa Cook. The Qubs could not move the puck as a team and the passing was weak, including the inability to score on a 5 on 3 power play in the second period. In Game 3 against the Las Vegas Outaws, who were the eventual winners of the tournament, period one was a wild back and forth affair, that had both teams scoring two goals in the first period, with Austin Nichols and Drake DeBerry scoring for the Qubs in a game that as for defense, looked more like a "Squirt B" game (for both teams) than a AA tournament game. The Qubs were skating with the Outlaws and getting good shots on goal. Period two the Outlaws showed better discipline in controlling the puck and were rewarded with 4 unanswered goals. In period 3 the Qubs out shot the Outlaws 11 to 2 but were unable to score on Outlaw goal tender Max Sass. The game ended with an Outlaw 6 to 2 win, even though the Qubs outshot the Outlaws 25 to 20. Game 4 against the Atlanta Fire looked more promising when the Qubs came out skating, two minutes, five seconds into the game Garret Turner scored from in front of the net on a great pass from Jared Lawrence. The lead was short lived when 22 seconds later the Fire scored to tie it up at one one. For the remainder of the first period the Qubs skated with the Fire in a back and forth game. Period two after several defensive breakdowns by the Qubs, the Fire scored their second, third and fourth goals in the first four minutes of the period. From that point, the Qubs could not get anything going, with 16 minutes in penalties on the Qubs, the Fire scored two more goals for a 6 to 2 victory, ending up out shooting the Qubs 28 to 14. Although the Qubs lost 4 of 4 they showed great courage, determination, hustle, pride and skills in playing in this AA tournament against teams that were obviously much more experienced than the Qub boys, including two teams that had also competed nationally and in Canada in AAA. No game was a blow out, the Qub players never quit and the club enjoyed this opportunity to compete at this higher level as it helped the players, coaches and the Qub Squirt A hockey club better understand areas to improve on to be able to play at this level. Details on the games are below..... |