Chowder Cup Update
Whalers Battle it out in Beantown!
Day 1 at the prestigious Chowder Cup Tournament in Boston was a challenge to say the least for the Hampton Roads Whalers. Going into the summer showcase, Whalers GM/Head Coach Tom Winkler was anxious to see where his team would stand at this early juncture. "We have been skating and practicing for three weeks, we were looking for the opportunity to play top level competition," stated Coach Winkler. Wish Granted! In thier first game, the Whalers played the Canadian Future Pros, an at-large team that was composed of players from the BCHL (a league very similiar to the Tier 1 USHL), and the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). "The OHL produces a great number of NHL draft picks, the BCHL is a very talented league, this teams goalie, Troy Passingham, won the Memorial Cup with the Windsor Spitfires this spring. They also had a first round NHL draft pick, Kevin Hayes. Hayes was the 24th pick of the Chicago Black Hawks a month ago. They were loaded!" commented Winkler. There was no question the Whalers were a little nervous going into this one. What and how do you prepare a team for this? "I knew there was a paper intimidation factor working against us, no doubt, but what I told the guys was simple, what an opportunity this is, with all the talent the Future Pros team has, there are going to be a ton of people watching this game. If you go out with no fear and just compete and battle you will catch the eyes of the scouts watching, there is no pressure on us, just go play," stated Winkler. The message was received loud and clear, and the Whalers battled hard and did catch the eye of the scouts in attendance. "We were down 2-0 at the end of the first and I am trying to find a trainer and a recruiter hands me a business card and complements the team on how hard they were playing," stated Winkler. The Future Pros added 5 more goals in the second and sealed their victory, 7-0. "Not the result we wanted on the board, but seeing how these kids played with the heart and determination that they did was very impressive. It was a great experience for them to play against this level of talent," said Winkler.
The Whalers had an opportunity to pick up an exhibition game Thursday night against the Wildcat Elite program out of New Jersey. "Their bracket had a team drop out at the last minute,so we were able to pick another game, this weekend is all about the experience of playing high level talent. This was a tale of two games, the Whalers had a slow and sluggish start as they were down 6-0 at the end of the first period. "We were in quicksand for that period, we did not adjust to their speed and we turned the puck over way too much. We settled down at intermission and we played them 1-1 the rest of the way," stated Winkler. The final score was 7-1. This Wildcat team was not short on talent either, Thier roster was highlighted by NCAA Division 1 players from Union College, University of New Hampshire, Bowling Green University,and Princeton. Throw in five more players from the USHL and the BCHL and you have a deep group of talent. "Pretty impressive roster, no doubt," stated Winkler, but we played them tough in the second period."
In a tournament that has been full of learning curve experiences, Day two's game against the CJ Reps out of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) was no different. The Whalers squad learned what can happen if you are not prepared to play at the opening face-off. "At this tournament, you cannot take ten minutes to get into the game. We were not ready to compete and they exposed us. We gave up two early goals and they just rolled us from there," stated GM/Head Coach Tom Winkler. The final score was 12-1 in favor of the CJ Reps.