Recap + New Season

Hey all,

Its been sometime since this blog has been written upon, and there is definitely a lot to talk about.

C Division Playoffs

It seems as though the last post addressed our first *real* loss of last season, game 1 of the C Division championships. This loss was only a slight deterrant to us, and as some called it a 'set play' so as to allow us to take home the championship, on home ice, in game three.

But before that could happen, the Preds headed out to the Niagara peninsula, for the second game of the series, on Thrashers home ice. The Preds started it off with a bang, getting some quick goals, and after some back and forth, ended up winning the game 5-1. This was a big win for the Preds, as they were riding not only a 1-game win-streak into the finals, but also the momentum and a high, as they proved they weren't to be taken lightly.

Game three took place back on Benson Drive in Burlington, the Wave Sports Centre. Home of 8 regular season victories, 1 playoff win, and hoping to soon be a third. This was the most stressful, back-and-forth games the Preds had played so far in the C-Division. Although the score resulted in a 6-3 win for the Preds, the Thrashers definitely should have tallied up a few more goals. Stepping the tenacity up one more notch, the Thrashers were constantly after the Preds, but the Preds kept coming on strong. With some key saves, and some clutch shooting, the boys from B-town ended up coming through with a solid 6-3 lead, taking the C-Division in style.

A few shout-outs for the season need to be made:

Sharpshooter - Tyler Komdeur (17 goals)
Playmaker - Kyle Vanderveen (18 assists)
Enforcer - Justin Buist + Mike Krikke (18 PIM)
Overall Line (F) - Jon K + Mark F + Darren S (80 pts - 37 goals, 43 assists)
Overall Line (D) - Ben A + Calvin K (21 pts - 4 goals, 17 assists)
Top Goalie - Mitch Muis (1.5 GAA, 3 Shutouts)
Top Sponsor - Rob Wildeboer (Martinrea International Inc.)

The Tourney

Coming into the Tournament, the Preds, seeded 6th had just won the C-Division Championship, and were feeling more confident than ever. We were set to play in the C-Division in the tournament, comprised of mostly B-Division teams, and a few other teams who just formed for the tourney. We were put in a pool with the Hamilton Oilers, Orangeville Flyers and Fergus Warriors, a well-balanced pool. Coming into the to.

Our first game took place on Friday night, where were paired up with the Hamilton Oilers, a reputable B-Division team. The game was our toughest game we played all year, back and forth - with the score tied up 2-2 going into the third. The Oilers got a lucky bounce, and pulled ahead 3-2, and with our goalie pulled, they ended up netting their fourth of the game to take a 4-2 victory over us. Although we lost, we were please with our showing, and were looking forward to having similarly close match ups in the next season as we moved up to B.

Saturday morning brought a 9:20 game to us, in the form of the Fergus Warriors. Our offense this game was firing, but the back-check and defensive components were relatively non-existant. Scoring a tournament-leading 10 goals in our favour, we conceded a total of 5 also. Our first win of the tournament this season, 10-5, was a good way to kick off the day.

Our second game, and the last of the division at 3:10, was more of a 'friendly' game than anything. With the Oilers going undefeated in our pool, and the semi-finals being removed from the tournament this year, they had already clinched the single position in our pool just minutes before our game kicked off. We ran a much tighter ship this match, only letting 1 goal slip by, and scoring a total of 6, to provide a final score over the Orangeville Flyers of 6-1.

The tournament was one of the major highlights of our season, alongside winning the C-Division. We were definitely taught that we needed to step up our game to compete in the B-Division next year, and we're definitely looking forward to it!

Team Changes + Introductions

With the season ending, a few changes have been made. Dennis Muis + Jordan Hart are leaving the Preds. In their place, will be Mark Komdeur (taking the forward spot left by Jordan) and Dave Kok (taking the defensive position left by Dennis).

Mark Komdeur is a long-time hockey champ. Father of the leading goal-scorer in the C-Division, Tyler Komdeur and one of the biggest defensmen the Preds have, Calvin Komdeur, obviously hockey is in his blood. He played last season as a 'sub' for the Preds, playing over half of the season, we saw him pretty much as a full-timer. He racked up 26 points last season as a sub, so we're definitely looking to see that number increase this season with the full-time spot under his belt.

Dave Kok is moving over from the preds up north, more specifically the Brampton Predators. He's a big buddy of many current Preds, and when I say big I mean big. Sitting around 6'6" and pushing ... i don't know how much weight, but he's a big boy ... he'll be the biggest defensive lineman the Preds will have this season. Dave added 7 points to his career stats this past season, and a solid 30 PIM - looks like Buist + Krikke have some competition for their current enforcer title.

On a more managerial note, Thomas Wildeboer has stepped down as team rep for the Preds due to time issues, and has handed the reins over to Jon Kamstra and Mike Krikke. They will be doing all the mundane and time-consuming tasks to make this season flow as smoothly as possible.

Some Stats + Upcoming Season

Regular Season
Record: 17-1
GF - GA = Differential: 115 - 28 = 87
6.4 Goals per game.

Post-Season
Record: 4-1
GF - GA = Differential: 36 - 11 = 25
7.2 Goals per game.

With the upcoming season approaching, the Preds are looking forward to taking on some stiffer competition, as they move up to the B-South Division this year. They will be facing teams such as the Hamilton Oilers, Lincoln Lightning, and home-town rivals, the Burlington Canucks.

We just want to take this time and thank everyone who participated last season in making it such a great one. Thanks to all the dedicated people who came out and ran the time-box for us, whether it was at home or away games. Thanks to all the fans, for coming out and showing your support for us - sitting through those 1.5hr games and hearing us talk about the season all the time must have been quite the chore, we'll try and cut the latter to a minimum this year!

Looking forward to seeing you all next season!

On behalf of the Preds, thanks.

Mike Krikke
Co-Team Rep

Finals - Preds vs. Thrashers - Game 1

It's over, our technically undefeated streak is over, with a 3 -2 loss to the thrashers this week. They scored with 19 seconds left in the third to come out the victors in the first game of this series. We came out of the gate slow and sluggish which resulted with a 2-0 Thrashers lead giong into the third period. We fought our way back in the third with hard work and simple hockey scoring 2 goals and tieing the game but it didn't prove to be enough when the Thrashers scored in the final minute.
So what can be taken from this? We're not invincible and simple hockey is what we need to focus on. Back to the basics, like we realized in the third period, will put the pucks in the net. Also there needs to be a stronger emphasis on defense as well as coming firing out of the gate and keeping that up through the whole game.
Next week we hope to do just that and win one game at a time. The game is scheduled for Saturday night, 8:00 pm at Smithville Arena.

Also, we were informed this week that for the "Holy" Hockey Tournament in April we will be playing in the C division, if you have question or would like a schedule email burlingtonpredators@gmail.com

Playoff Series 1 -- Preds vs. Avalanche

Game 1 -- Preds 11, Avalanche 1

Last year we were sitting 9 points out of the final playoff spot in the B-South and this year we are in 1st spot by 11 points. Wanting to prove that we earned and deserved that 1st spot we came out strong and beat the Avs by a firm 10 goals. We had a full team out for what turned out to be a huge offensive game for all lines especially for Tyler who scored a hat trick. It was a good confidence booster for us after a few closer games near the end of the season (vs. Vipers -- 3-1 and the Thrashers -- 6-3).


Game 2 -- Preds 12, Avalanche 2

At home this week you would think the team would be at the arena on time before the game, but not. With 5 minutes remaining in the Moose game before ours we had less than 10 guys in the dressing room. Rob and Thomas did eventually show up with a great excuse as did Mark Faber which gave us 9 forwards and 4 defense (Ben and Adam were absent). Early in the game we found ourselves in a 2-2 deadlock so everyone buckled down and after thatwe ended up scoring 10 goals. We left the ice with our first series win, by a landslide and we hope to use this momentum against the Thashers which will hopefully make us the FIRST ever C division champion team!!

Thanks to the Avalanche for good season games which were always
clean with sportsmanship always shown. And a good first series. Thanks.

Steath @ Preds

We took to the ice tonight against the Smithville Stealth for the 3rd time this season. *Flashback to the first two outings vs the Stealth* We managed to get two wins, 11-0 and 9-1 respectively, yet we weren't expecting the same kind of outcome since it seems like almost every team is getting better as the year progresses.

Thos absent from tonight's game were: Jordan and Dennis, who was too tired to play, so we had our 'more-regular-than-even-the-roster-player' sub Mark Komdeur dress for the game.

The break out wasn't extremely pretty in tonight's game, but the line of Kyle, Adam, and Tyler sure were at their offensive peak, feeding each other quick passes which in turn were converted to goals soon enough. That line alone had a total of 12 points, 5 of them goals. Kyle bagged a hat trick, Adam and Tyler each picked up a goal of their own.

The Preds started off scoring on a pass from Ian and Ben to J-Bust who slid the puck in the back of the net in attempts to impress a certain-someone in the crowd (who's been faithfully watching the Preds for the past few weeks).

Other goals were scored by: Mike Krikke, who scored on a snapshot from the point (which the goalie did get a piece of, but wasn't able to handle) - assists to Ian and Mark K. Rob Wildeboer also buried a puck, picking up a pass from from Jon, and proceded to deke out about 3 players only to finish with a goal. Dee picked up the final tally on the score sheet with the two Komdeur bros teaming up to notch a pair of assits.

Final Score: Preds 9 - Stealth 4

Mention should be made to Thomas who hurt his collar bone on his first or second shift of the game causing him to have to leave the game early in the first period, hopefully he'll be ready to dress for our next outing against the Vipers, in two weeks.

Take'r ease!

Avalanche Part 2 & 3

Jan 5th, 2008
The first game of the year, on the 5th, was located at the pred's lair, a.k.a. burlington wave sports complex. There were a few people missing: Rob, Thomas, Jordan and Adam; so we double shifted centers, who proved to have high endurance levels (which makes sense since they are the only two people [Kyle and Dee] on the team who run level 12+ on the infamous beep test).

It took a while to get the wheels going, which put us in the hole by one, but once we got in the groove there was no looking back. Once again Kyle was there to get the ball rolling scoring the first goals of the game which saw the puck go from Ian to J-bust to Kyle to the back of the net. The second goal was the result of a beautiful pass from Mark Faber out of the corner to give Jon all the time he wanted to slide the puck into the back of the net. The other center, Dee, picked up the third goal with assists from J-bust and Mike. Not to be outdone by his normal linemates, Mark scored to put the Preds up 5-1, helpers going to Kyle and Jon. To cap the game off the Sedin like duo of Mark Komdeur and Tyler Komdeur scored a goal, the pass from Mark K to Tyler and in. The other Komdeur (Calvin) was on the game sheet also, but for 2 penalties, one for highsticking and the other for roughing.

Mitch played a solid game, keeping the the Avalanche to only 1 goal. He played especially well through the first period and a half, giving the Preds a chance to come back and take the game 5-1.

Final Score: Preds 5 - Avalanche 1

Jan 12th, 2008
This past week marked the 3rd of a 3 week series, and the last time that we played the Ancaster Avalanche this year (unless we face them in the playoffs). This week we looked to capitalize on our mistakes from the previous week (letting in the first goal of the game and trailing).

The Preds blew the game open fairly quick and held on to the momentum, winning 10-1. I won't bore you with a long write up of who scored from who but i'll just run it off for all you pred-wannabes out there. Goals were scored by: J-bust (2), Dee (2), Kyle (2), Mark F, Adam(2), and Tyler. The assists went to: Rob, Mark K (2), Jon (2), 12??(Mark Faber I believe), Tyler (2), Adam (2), Mike, Kyle, and Thomas. One thing that once again needed be worked on was the breakout of our own zone, but I guess that is one of the things that makes us a genuine "C division" team.

The Preds were again an offensive force who moved the puck well around the defense in the offensive zone and would have seen a few more goals had it not been for the Avalanche goalie, Kevin Ludwig, robbing us huge a number of times. Although not tested often, when called upon Mitch stopped the puck, with only letting in one goal because of a defensive lapse. Mitch has played great this year in net for the offensively minded Preds.

Once again a big thanks to the plethora parents, girlfriends, family and others who show up loyally to the amazing "C division" hockey, weekly. It is greatly appreciated to see the weekly support.

Final Score: Preds 10 - Avalanche 1