Tournament Weekend

Wine Country Face-Off 2016

The Oakland Bears sent multiple teams to Wine Country this weekend to play in the 20th Annual Wine Country Face-Off Tournament hosted by the Santa Rosa Flyers organization. 

The Oakland Mite program continues to grow in both size and skill, as Mite Coordinator Eugene Murphy was able to field two teams to represent the Bears. The Mite 1 team was able to play a hard and "physical" weekend, leaving the tournament with an overall 3rd place ranking. Meanwhile, the Mite 2 team fought hard all weekend, able to secure two come from behind victories to lead them to a 5th place finish. 

The Squirt BB team competed hard and displayed their talent and hockey knowledge by playing against high level Squirt A competition all weekend. Their first matchup was against a strong Portland Winterhawks program on Friday morning. The Bears skated hard and played the game masterfully, but were not able to close the gap differential in time to beat the buzzer, losing 6-2. Their second game would come early the next morning, playing a strong Squirt A team from Santa Rosa. Again, the Bears players found themselves out-working the other team, but were unable to capitalize on their chances, eventually leading to another "good" loss, 5-3. They would bounce back in the afternoon against the California Heat and display a tremendous defensive game with limited scoring chances; however, what scoring chances they did get, they capitalized on and were able to defeat the team from SoCal, 2-1. With a chance to come out of the weekend 2-2, the Squirts jumped on the board seven seconds into the first period this morning over the Capital Thunder. The Squirts continued their impressive play both on defense and offense, enabling them to a well earned victory, 4-2, leaving Wine Country with an impressive showing. 

The Peewee B team arrived on Friday evening to play a very strong Valencia Peewee A team. While the score differential was not in the Bears' favor, 14-2, it was a good showing of dedication and sportsmanship that allowed the Peewee team to leave the ice with their heads up. They would follow up that game with a hard fought game against their "arch-enemies" from across the Bay, the San Francisco Sabercats on Saturday afternoon. A few bounces the wrong way, led to a loss against the Sabercats, 4-3, but it also left an impression on the kids as they really learned what it was like to play with a "chip on their shoulder." The Bears would need to bounce back quickly from their dramatic loss in order to take on the San Jose 14U girls team later that evening. The Peewee bench was loose and determined to make an impression on their fans and other teams watching. They jumped out to a 1-0 lead early in the first period and were able to hold off the barrage of shots from the Girls' as the first period expired. Late in the 2nd period, the Bears would double their score and it seemed like everything was coming together at the right time; however, the Girls' would sneak in a goal with 1:14 left in the second to get within a goal before the period came to an end. Back-and-forth action would ensue in the next period, but a big breakout pass, and some slick hands, led to another Bears' goal early in the third period. Holding onto the lead, the Bears' would successfully and systematically work the puck out of the defensive zone and into the offensive zone. Not to be underestimated, the SJ Girls were able to get within one goal with two minutes left to play in the game. To make things interesting, they pulled their goalie and were able to draw a penalty with less than 30 seconds left in the game. In the final seconds of the game, the crowd could be heard counting down the clock, and somewhere in everyone's mind, you could hear Al Michael's calling the 1980's Olympic game..."Do you believe in miracles?" While not to be confused with the Olympics, this game was definitely a big win for morale of the players and families. The Peewees will finish off their weekend against the host team, Santa Rosa later this afternoon. 

Scores and game results can be found on this site: Wine Country Face-Off 2016

California State Games

The Bantam A team was fortunate to see a little bit of sunshine this weekend as they traveled down the 101 (or 5) to Southern California to participate in the California State Games held in both Poway and Escondido, CA. 

Coming off a big tournament win in Lake Tahoe, the Bantam team was ready and eager to bring home another banner to hang in the rafters of Oakland Ice Center. They would face-off against the Northern Colorado Jr. Eagles out of Ft. Collins, CO on Friday evening. In what seemed to be a good matchup between the teams, the Eagles were able to jump the Bears early and secure a 3-0 victory. It was a well fought game, but the Bears would have to erase the "what if's" and bounce back to play a strong Jr. Ducks program the next day. Again, the Bears were able to play a good two-way hockey system, but were unable to capitalize on chances that they had, dropping the game 2-1. They'll finish their weekend with one final game this morning against the San Diego Select 14 team. 

Game scores and stats can be found here: California State Winter Games

Chicago Presidents Cup

Our Midget16AA team traveled to the MidWest to take on some great hockey competition from Michigan, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. 

The Bears flew in to Chicago on Friday morning and were able to do some sight seeing activities...in temperatures that they were not accustomed to. They played their first game yesterday afternoon and were able to take down the Naperville Sabres, 3-1. This morning, they got off to a rocky start and were unable to cut their deficits late in the game, dropping their game 5-0 against a strong Muskegon Chiefs team. They'll follow up later this evening against the Southpointe Rink Rats (PA) and tomorrow morning against the Affton Americans (MO).

Game scores and stats can be followed along here: Chicago Presidents Cup