Another Season in the Books

The 2007-08 Northwood Hockey season is over. Saturday was nerve racking to say the least. I had 3 games in 3 hours and 2 of them had to have a winner, ties were not an option. With the tight games we had all year and nearly 25% of our games ending in ties, I was dreading the possibility of 2 overtime games and the lack of time to fit everything. I picked up 5 minutes from the group ahead of us who saw the trophies and offered to clear out quick. I let the teams and refs know to be ready to go early.
The first game was just a filler as the bottom 2 teams were getting in their last game and no hardware was on the line. They had tied each other Friday which resulted in a 3-way tie for the last spot to play for a trophy, bring on the calculator. They tied again and I thought, here we go. Game 2 was for our Best of the Rest and the last place team in the regular season faced the first place team. It ended 2-1, the winner had 5 minutes to celebrate and take pictures on ice.
Next up was the Championship game. After their last game in the round robin they were scuffuling in the hallways following a 2-1 battle. It was to be another close one. This one ended 3-1 and they had 15 minutes for celebrating and pictures. After it was all over they were in each other's dressing rooms sharing the huge cake that one team had brought and the pizza the others had bought.
A lot of parents came by and thanked me for the work this season and although I had headache it felt pretty good. Good that its all over for another year and good that some people appreciate what it takes to put it all together. In some ways I miss it already, but I'll enjoy my time until next September when it starts all over again.