It's Not Where You Finish, But How

This weekend was the Winter Carnival in McCall, so we had a lot of fans for both our Friday night and Saturday night games.  It was great.  Our challenge was to come out and play Junior Steelhead hockey, play a style of play that we dictate because when we play like that, no one can hang with us.  On Friday night, our lackluster play from the previous weekend continued.  We only won 4-3 and didn't do what we told ourselves we were going to do.  We didn't forecheck or play with much intensity at all.  On Saturday, our coach made it clear that he was not OK with just a mediocre effort.  He demanded that we play better, and I think we responded well.  5-0 was the final score, and our intensity was there.  I got in a fight again, which kind of kicked off a string of fights afterwards, but that is an area our team needs to improve in, so it was good to see some fire in our eyes.  On Sunday we won 7-3.  Since the showcase, we have yet to play to our full potential, which I think is natural for a team that has a big division lead and is on a 19 game win streak, but we need to dig deep and find a way to motivate ourselves to play our best every night, especially at this time of year.  Our coach keeps reiterating that he's coached many teams that have been first in the regular season standings at the end of the season, only to lose in the first round.  It's not where you finish, but how you finish.

My friend from Gonzaga surprised me by coming to watch the games with a few of her friends.  It was so awesome!  Here are some pictures from the weekend.

During Winter Carnival there are ice sculptures all over town that are entered in a contest, and this hockey player was right outside the rink.  

This was a bull riding competition in town...there were all sorts of interesting events going on all weekend.  I don't think I've ever seen so many people up in McCall before.