If you’re not aware, Squirtacular is a Squirt tournament which includes 72 teams from around the U.S. Held at the Super Rink in Blaine, which houses eight rinks! The glue that holds this tournament together is the hordes of players trading their team pin in the locker rooms, hallways and main areas of the arena. It’s a sight to behold. Hopefully you were lucky enough to land one of the elusive Moorhead Spud or New Gambler pins – a hot commodity indeed. I personally saw kids turning down cold hard cash in an effort to keep the treasured pins in their own portfolio. On to the games!

Lead by two goals from Chase, we were able to hold off Wayzata’s B1 team on Friday morning, 4-2. A familiar opponent was next up, Chaska Chan’s Gold team in which we have played in our district game in addition to scrimmaging with before the season got under way. While the game was close, the boys were able to win the game 3-1 and head into Saturday’s semi-final game. A team from Lincoln Nebraska was next up. In what some say was the most complete game of the year, seven different players were able to tally goals, leading to a final of 7-2. We would meet another team from Nebraska in the Bronze bracket championship, a crew from Omaha who was able to knock off a fellow Edina team in the other semi-final game. The boys caught a break early and woke the crowd up when Ryan was able to find the back of the net just a minute into the game. The next forty or so minutes were pretty intense, which saw Omaha sneak one in to tie the game, along side a lot of back and forth action. Despite multiple shots on goal in the final minutes of regulation, nobody was able to light the lamp. 3x3 overtime it was. Thankfully the nervousness in the crowd didn’t last long and Cole was able to find the back of the net just 30 seconds into the overtime session!

Another fun tournament weekend in the books. Always fun to bring home a trophy. The boys look to keep the momentum going with the remaining district games and our home Bob O’Connor Tournament in early February.

After some time of letting our time at Breezy Point sink in, we came away with two conclusions. First, the resort and ice arena are a well-oiled hockey tournament machine! From the breakfast buffet, to the game room, to the shuttles zooming back and forth down County Road 11, it’s clear this isn’t their first rodeo. The boys loved the set up at the arena. The lights, the intros, the music – wonderful experience. Being our only “out of town” tournament, I’d say the boys (and just as important, the parents) had a great weekend.

Secondly, it was a great learning experience for the team. Good fortune (and a lot of effort) sent us into the tournament weekend with a 9-0-1 record. In the second game of the tournament, the boys gave up a three goal lead heading into the third period. Ultimately losing to Champlin Park 5-3, what felt difficult at the time was likely a great learning experience for the team. Mainly, keep skating hard, keep out hustling your opponent and keep having fun.

The boys kicked off the 2019-2020 season at home at Braemar arena, after a snowy Thanksgiving week. Minnetonka Blue scored early in the game, which saw Edina fire 27 shots on goal versus 7 for the adversary. Chase tied the game up early in the third period, and Cole was able to net the game winner just a few minutes later. The following night we squared off against Richfield/Kennedy. It was our first nail-biter of the season, as the opponent was able to tie the game 2-2 with about three minutes left in the game. Chase was able to put us ahead with a mere 50 seconds left on the clock. Spirits were riding high into our first tournament of the year.

The Fire on Ice tournament in Wayzata included eight teams from around the Twin Cities. Our first game was early on Saturday morning against Delano, a team that had won their first three regular season games. It was a hard-fought back and forth game, that once again came down to the wire. I believe I overheard Hegel say, “This team is taking years off my life!” shortly after Jack scored the game winner with 30 seconds left on the clock.  We were back in action later in the day against Stillwater. We were up 2-1 in the second period, when a Stillwater player decided to cheap shot Will from behind into the boards. The boys rallied behind their teammate and ripped off six consecutive goals to sail into the championship game. Woodbury would be our opponent when the puck dropped on Sunday, just as the Vikings game was getting underway downtown. Corbin scored the first goal of the game, as well as the last, as the boys cruised to a 3-1 victory! Hats off to Wayzata for creating a fantastic looking trophy, and a bigger congrats to Edina B2 Black for taking home the hardware in their first tournament of the year. We will look to keep the good times rolling into the end of the year and the holiday season!

WAYZATA FIRE ON ICE -- December 6-8, 2019 -- https://www.wayzatahockey.org/page/show/1056141-squirt-b2

BREEZY POINT ICE FEST -- January 10-12, 2020  -- https://www.breezypointsports.com/sqb

SQUIRTACULAR -- January 23-26, 2020 -- https://www.youthhockeyhub.com/squirtaculartournament

Bracket https://cdn3.sportngin.com/attachments/document/6fc9-2070905/SQT_20_Bronze_B_1_9.3.pdf#_ga=2.77147861.1521386639.1578922335-429223819.1572971270

BOB O'CONNOR -- February 5-9, 2020 -- https://www.edinahockeyassociation.com/page/show/157756-o-connor-info

DISTRICT 6 PLAYOFF BRACKET -- March 6-8, 2020 -- https://cdn4.sportngin.com/attachments/document/4613-1811088/Squirt_B2_Bracket_revised.pdf#_ga=2.90396767.491377389.1578923941-2036021996.1548600780