Young Canadians '06

Posted By: Graciano Da Ponte on Monday Dec 01, 2008

The Young Canadians stopped their losing skid at 4 games when they finally earned their first league victory. The 3-1 win was a first in more ways than one. Besides being their first win, it was also the first time they scored more than one goal in a game and also, it was Coach Graciano Da Ponte’s first victory as team goalie. With regular keeper, Chris “Pashqual” D’Ascanio unable to attend, Da Ponte stepped in and did an admirable job in allowing only one goal.

The kids seemed genuinely excited about playing in front of their coach. “When I walked into the dressing room, I saw coach with his pads on. I asked him if he was playing and he said ‘yes’. I was shocked! I didn’t realize someone that old could still play ball hockey,” said Daniel “2 Jobs” Ascenzi. Dorayd Bulis was also surprised to see his coach suiting up. He said, “coach looked like he was struggling to bend over and tie his shoes and strap on his pads. I was a little worried but he assured us that he’s done this before.”

One player who was worried about the change in goal was “C’Mon Darren“ Gerrard. “Last week I made fun of Coach’s pants and I was worried he might bench me today. He claims they’re his ‘hockey pants’ but I’m not sure I believe him.” Instead, Gerrard, captain Brian Da Ponte & veteran Marco “Senior” Ariganello were asked to play defense for the whole game by themselves, due to a lack of defensemen. Ariganello relished his role by scoring two goals and assisting on another. All three players consistently took longer shifts, in order to provide one of them some time to rest.

Despite his somewhat questionable conditioning, Da Ponte played an almost perfect game. The only goal against came with 6:24 left in the 2nd half, just as the Ice Holes’ power play had ended. Coach’s younger brother, Captain Brian “Da Bridge” Da Ponte, had just stepped onto the floor, after serving 2:00 minutes for a body contact penalty. Unfortunately, he could not get into the play fast enough to prevent Ryan Lumsden from sneaking in behind the defenders and scoring, to break the shutout. With the Ice Holes pressing, Da Ponte continually shut the door, putting an exclamation point on the night with a lightning fast glove save as time expired.

After the game, everyone was beaming with confidence over the win. Coach Da Ponte tempered their enthusiasm with some perspective. “They were all happy about the win, as they should be. But I was a little upset to hear some players joking about me playing full-time. This team has a great young goalie, someone, who I have complete confidence in. He has proven, in my eyes, that he can play men’s league hockey. The same can’t be said about others on this team.” Da Ponte laid out the facts. “I faced 10 shots in this game. That’s the least amount of shots we’ve allowed all season. Chris regularly faces twice as many shots. If the team played this way every game, we could easily be 3-2, instead of 1-4. I challenged them to play at this level every game, regardless of who’s in net.”

The Young Canadians will now try to build on this win next week against the Red Devils on Sunday, December 7 at 11:00 pm. Unfortunately, Coach Da Ponte will not be in attendance as he will be on the ice at 9:15 pm. Hoping to make his return to the team & debut in men’s league is Ben “Little Giant” Peluso. After his ice hockey team disbanded, a chance meeting with Andrew “Junior” Ariganello at the Woodbridge No Frills, put him back in contact with the team he excelled with in the summer. With Peluso back in the fold, the team’s defense is instantly upgraded. Now if only Frank “The Tank” Distasi could start showing up more regularly, coach Da Ponte would feel a lot more comfortable with his defense.

Posted By: Graciano Da Ponte on Wednesday Nov 26, 2008

The Young Canadians continued their frustrating season with another nail-biting loss. Coming of a 7-1 thumping at the hands of the Nordiques last Saturday, Coach Da Ponte was hoping to see his team pick themselves up & shake-off that ugly outing, and that’s exactly what they did in the first half. After being assessed two ridiculous penalties, the YC were able to kill the 5-on-3 power play and turn the momentum in their favor. The YC thought they had taken the lead soon after the penalty kill, only to have the goal waved off. The ball clearly went in but the referee decided to keep the game tied at 0-0. Even the Whalers’ played thought it was a goal, as they were walking towards centre.

Shortly after, the YC did eventually score the first goal, as newcomer Neto Cepeda beat goalie Ken Rickard with a 5-hole shot. With the amount of traffic in front of Rickard, he had no chance to see the ball coming. The YC were rewarded for their hard work & tenacity. The players were running down their opponents and causing turnovers. At half time, Coach Da Ponte had to leave the game, to attend his own ice hockey game. As frustrating as this was, he left the game comfortable in the knowledge that his team had a 1-0 lead and were playing very well. Unfortunately, he found out the result just before stepping onto the ice.

“I was disappointed to see my wife give me the thumbs down sign as I was about to skate onto the ice. Then she held up 2 fingers from one hand & 1 finger from the other. I realized they lost 2-1. I was really curious to know what happened. Apparently, both goals were scored by the same player, in the same fashion. He was left unguarded at the side of the net, and had two easy tap-ins. From what I’ve been told, the problem was a lack of communication and a serious lack of back-checking. If that happens in the next game, they’re gonna get an earful, but it won’t be coming from the bench.”

Indeed, Coach Da Ponte will trade-in his whistle for goalie equipment on Saturday. He will be filling in for Chris D’Ascanio against the 2nd place Ice Holes, this Saturday, November 29th @ 5:00 pm (Rinx). This will mark the first time ever that Da Ponte will share the floor with his team during a game. Winning this game would mean a lot to him.

Posted By: Graciano Da Ponte on Wednesday Nov 19, 2008

The Young Canadians are still looking for their first victory of the season after losing big to the Nordiques. The YC allowed a goal less than one minute into the game but rebounded to tie the game on a nice shot from Andrew Ariganello. Unfortunately, the game wouldn’t stay tied for long as Marco Dicesare scored five minutes later. Overall, the YC played an excellent first half. But disappointment followed in the 2nd half as they seemed to give up playing once the score got away from them. When the dust settled, the Nordiques had scored 5 unanswered goals in the 2nd half to win 7-1.

The second half was a pitiful example of how to play ball hockey. The players looked disoriented half the time and were reluctant to play defense. Goalie Chris “Pashqual” D’Ascanio, who admittedly didn’t have a good game, was very disturbed by the team’s lack of backchecking. “On a couple of their late goals, the forwards just stopped moving! The defensemen were left to handle the odd man rush all by themselves. I know I didn’t have a great game, but I didn’t give up either,” said D’Ascanio.

Coach Da Ponte wasn’t too happy with how easily his defensemen were beat either. “I felt that they were caught going for the ball too often. Instead of reaching for the ball and allowing the Nordiques’ players to easily go around them, they should’ve stood them up at the blueline. I understand that they are young and still adapting to the level of play, but some of these things are basic plays. The fact that one of the 4 defensemen was a forward didn’t help us either.” Indeed, new YC recruit, Neto Capoce, who played his first game for the YC, was asked to play defense because captain Brian “Da Bridge” Da Ponte & veteran Frank “The Tank” Distasi couldn’t attend.

The Young Canadians will hope that game #4 against the Whalers, this Sunday, November 23rd at 10:00 pm will result in their first win of the season. Currently, the YC sit in last place with the worst GF/GA % of 0.188. But they are hoping to get a boost from returning defenseman, Eric “Fanshawe” Slawson, who is in town on a break from college. Hopefully, Slawson can provide a much needed spark to the YC offense.

Posted By: Graciano Da Ponte on Wednesday Nov 12, 2008

The Young Canadians were looking for their 1st victory in men’s league on Sunday, but came up short, losing 2-1 to the Galdiators. Things looked good early on as the Gladiators only had 6 players. Coach Da Ponte told his players that this was their opportunity to get the first win of the season. Alas, it was not meant to be. Even though the YC played much better than in the first game, they couldn’t take advantage of the Gladiators’ poor attendance.

As was the case in game #1, the YC showed no urgency in the first half. Instead of running the opposition into the ground, the YC players were content to play individually and cough up the ball like it was in style. The lone bright spot was goalie Chris “Pashqual” D’Ascanio, who rebounded from a poor showing in game #1 to stop 5 of 6 shots in the half. His 2nd half play was even better, as he kept the team close until a giveaway late in the game led to the game-winning goal.

The YC’s lack of offense could be attributed to two things: a) shots on net; b) a frustrating habit of trying to stickhandle one-on-one. After instructing his players many times on how to get by a defender, coach Da Ponte almost had a meltdown when several players continually tried to stickhandle their way through the defender. “I’ve run out of breath telling them how easy it is to get by the other player. We are a team with young legs, which means we should be able to outrun our opponents. If you come up one-on-one with a back-peddling player, don’t try to deke him. Instead, chip the ball by him, and run around him to reach the ball first. Considering our opposition, we should beat them to the bal 90% of the time.”

After a poor first half, the YC once again turned on the afterburners in the second. The YC’s tying goal was the result of a simple dump-in. Andrew “AA” Ariganello got the ball in over the line quickly, then chased it into the corner. The resulting turnover led to a pass from Brian “Da Bridge” Da Ponte to newcomer Ralph Sabat, who scored after several shots on net. That goal was exactly the type of play Da Ponte has been preaching, keep it simple. Earlier in the game, Daniel “2 Jobs” Ascenzi had a glorious chance thwarted by defender Richard Wyatt. Gladiators’ goalie, Carlo Bernardo, made a save on Seymour Korman but was left out of position for the rebound. Ascenzi shot at the wide open cage, only to have Wyatt jump in front of the shot to make the save.

The YC were in good shape until a giveaway with 6:13 left in the game, led to the Gladiator’s winning goal. With the Gladiators buzzing around D’Ascanio, an “unamed” YC defender attempted to clear the ball up the middle. Unfortunately, the clearing attempt landed right on the stick of Jason Defreitas, whose shot hit a stick on the way past D’Ascanio.

Despite pulling the goal for an extra attacker, the YC could not climb back from the one-goal deficit. If these first 2 games have taught the young YC players anything, it’s that they can definitely compete at this level, but they have to work hard for it. The quest for the first victory continues on Saturday, November 15 @ 9:00 am (Rinx).

Posted By: Graciano Da Ponte on Wednesday Oct 29, 2008

The Young Canadians journey from minor ball hockey to men's league began on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008. With 9 players returning from the summer team & 6 new players joining for the winter league, the YC faced the Renegades and held their own despite losing 4-1. Whether it was nerves or anxiousness, the YC kids seemed a little overwhelmed in the early going, as the Renegades took a 4-0 lead before coach Da Ponte was forced to call a timeout.

Goalie Chris “Don’t Call Me Pashquale” D’Ascanio had a particularly rough start allowing all 4 goals on shots from various distances, including one from just inside centre. But he was by no means the only one to blame. The forwards were trying too many fancy plays & were slow to backcheck and the defensemen gave away too much time & space to the Renegades’ forwards. During the timeout, Da Ponte attempted to settle his young team. “I told them that the plays that worked in junior, aren’t gonna work in men’s league. They are now facing guys that have been playing for as long as they’ve been alive! They have to use their youth to their advantage. If we use our speed, we will tire the other team out. And for god’s sake, get some shots on net!!!”

Indeed, that was an early problem for the YC as they kept trying to make a fancy pass, but kept giving the ball away. It wasn’t until after the timeout that the team heeded coach Da Ponte’s advice. Andrew “Guitar Hero” Ariganello dumped the ball into the corner, retrieved it, passed it to Dorayd Bulis whose hard shot hit a defender on the way past goalie Chris Capitano. Bulis now has the honor of scoring the franchise’s 1st goal in men’s league. That goal seemed to raise the spirits of the players on the bench. From that point onward, the YC players realized that they could compete at this level as momentum swung in their favor.

At half time, D’Ascanio received words of advice from coach Da Ponte & veteran Frank “The Tank” Distasi, a former teammate of Da Ponte’s. He was instructed to come way out of his crease to cut down the angle, when he saw a Renegades’ player winding up for a shot. “Gratz (Da Ponte) had the same problem when he played with me. He would stop everything within 10 feet of the crease, but those long ones, watch out” said Distasi. With those adjustments, D’Ascanio pitched a shutout the rest of the way.

The other significant change Da Ponte made was to move Marco “The Uncle” Ariganello from defense to centre. The forward lines were unbalanced, with only one true centre, Marco’s nephew, Andrew. The decision to centre “The Uncle” between Daniel Ascenzi & Seymour Korman made a huge difference in the latter two player’s play. With Ariganello concentrating on the defensive aspect, Ascenzi & Korman were free to forecheck with their characteristic aggressiveness.

Making the sacrifice at forward were captain Brian “Da Bridge” Da Ponte & Darren “WordLife4Life” Gerrard. But by moving back, Da Ponte & Gerrard added some speed on defense that was missing in the 1st half. The 2nd half was all YC, as they poured 13 shots on Capitano, but were not able to finish with a goal. Marco Ariganello made an interesting observation after the game. “We are going to be a 2nd half team. As long as we can escape the 1st half even, we will take over the game with our young legs. A lot of these teams will have older players who don’t have the stamina to run all game. If today’s game is any indication, our success will come in the second half.”

Indeed, the “young” Young Canadians learned a valuable lesson in their first men’s league game. This is a different level of play. You have to leave your old habits behind. Keep the game simple & run, run, run. Coach Da Ponte has no doubt that once the players get their stamina back, the wins will come.

Information for the next game will be posted as soon as it’s made available.