CGM Photography

What a long weekend for the CMA U16 hockey team! Today was the fourth and final game for Culver Academy Eagles in their Christmas break Invitational Tournament. I feel sorry for all the teams having had to play four games in a weekend, but I feel especially bad for the Culver boys because Chirstmas vacation started for their classmates four days ago.

Culver Academy ended the weekend in the 3rd and 4th place brakets against the Mercer Chiefs who they played yesterday morning and lost to. Watching today’s game, I remembered how much fun these two teams were to watch against each other. Both teams played hard and showed great sportsmanship with very few fouls throughout the game. If I recall, Culver only had 2 or 3 penalities the entire game and there were times when the game would continue for 3-4 minutes without any whistle. It truly was fun to watch.

Having lost yesterday, Culver played well and dominated the entire game, bringing home a win. I’m proud of Culver, but the Chiefs still need to be recognized for their play. There are a few things about the Chiefs that I feel should be pointed out. First off, I believe that they were the smallest team to play in the tournament with only 12 kids. If you think about it, that is 216 minutes of hard, tournament play spread across 12 players. Secondly, due to concerns about the impending weather conditions, their goalie left last night or this morning and did not play in today’s game. Instead, their backup goalie played who did a great job. Don’t get me wrong, I am a Culver fan through and through. But, in today’s win, I don’t feel that it is appropriate to gloat. The Chiefs did a great job. I’ve posted my favorite photos here; there over 300 more at http://www.culverphotos.com/p912711270.