Well we played the #1 Team- Ontario..the home team...These guys spanked the Western Canada Team...the same team that spanked us on Monday. We went out there with nothing to lose. As expected, the Canadians jumped to a quick 2-0 lead in the first minutes of the game. We in the stands kinda held our collective breaths....hoping things would not go too bad, or that the boys wouldn't lose their cool. Then out of nowhere we watch as Derek sacrificed his body, enabling Dennis to skate ahead & find an open AJ......GGGGOOOOAAAALLLL. OMG we scored a goal against Ontario. To good to be true. We were hootin' & hollerin'. Defense was phenomenal, we were checking guys...not letting them pass & Pat was not letting anything by. (He faced 36 shots) We got a power play and before we realized Joe scored a goal on a pass from Elliot. At the end of the first period we were tied 2-2 with the #1 team in our division...tied!. Guys---these were not boys they were playing. None of them wore face cages...some even had receding hairlines....they were born with skates on their feet. Each play they made was a set up play...trouble is those pesky Saxons kept tying them up & they just couldn't get their shots to go in. As we got into the second period the boys started to drag a little & Ontario scored two more goals. As the clock started to tick down to less than two minutes, we started to think..."losing 4-2 against the #1 team is not so bad".....the boys got their second wind. Dustyn worked the puck in & passed to Tim for our 3rd goal with 1:26 seconds to go. The score was 4-3. Here we go again. Coach pulled the goalie just as he did in the last 3 games....and we were all holding our breaths as we thought we were headed for another 5-3 game. We couldn't have been more wrong. Immediately after the face off, Dennis passed a beauty to Shawn & tied the game!!!! Yes folks WE TIED with the best team!! 4-4. Game over. It truly was as good as a win. It was pandemonium!!
How good are they.....well lets see:
1. No other team has held them to 4 points. The West Canadians lost to them 7-4. That is also the smallest goal differential.
2. Patty came in to personally congratulate each boy --she was so happy since the Ontario Coach had been bragging/complaining earlier that his team was going into the playoffs undefeated! She was so glad the boys shut them up.
3. This Ontario team is not just a tournament team from Ontario....this is the ALL STARS from various tournament teams in Ontario. 

So that's it..our big highlight. The boys are really pumped & can't wait to take on Great Britain tomorrow morning. 

The boys new chant before the game....Ziggie Zoggy Ziggie Zoggy , OI, OI, OI - U.S.A.  It seems to work.

Good Night from Toronto, eh?...

Well Day 4 we found ourselves heading off this morning for Toronto &  road the subway to the Hockey Hall of Fame. It had a lot of memorabilia,  the first "real" Stanley Cup and a really nice tribute & section  dedicated to Wayne Gretzky. The boys seemed to like it --although I think we all had different expectations. We did get a picture of the  whole team in front of the Stanley Cup (replica).  
 
We later headed off for our 7:00 game against Great Britain. We were  in control and lead in the first period, but GB tied it up on a 2-man advantage power play in the second, and later scored an empty netter with a minute left in the game...5-3 was the final. Goals were scored by Shawn, Dustyn & Brandon, with Tim & Elliot getting assists. Tomorrow we face Germany at 2:00 and Ontario at 7:00. 
 
Later was the All Star "Ambassador Game" which was an East vs West. The East was Great Britain, Ontario & Germany. The West was Australia, West Canada & US. Representing the US were Joe, Dustyn, Brandon & AJ. The boys played together as line the entire game (as opposed to mixing up lines with other countries) & did well. The West  won...6-4. 
 
Tomorrow we will do nothing but rest up for the games ahead. This mom is getting a head start on the rest right now. 

Morning games are not the most successful, historically, for the Saxons.  But today's game, scheduled for 10:00AM got off to a great start....well it was actually before the game.  The boys got to meet Wayne Gretzky's dad.  He told them stories and posed for pictures.  They were really impressed.  Here's the picture:

Pam Wrote:

Day three---What a day. Here it is 10:15 pm...the sun set about a half hour ago...(that is weird) and it got to 24 degrees today. It was  beautiful... just a slight wind, clear skies. Really nice. 
 
The boys are still jet lagging...and it was evident this morning. It took too long for them to get their groove, and by then it was too late.  We lost a hard fought game tho against Australia 5-3. Brandon scored  the first on his infamous slap from the point. Tim scored a nice goal  on a great pass from (either Shawn or Dustyn) and Dennis scored a short  handed goal....again worth 2 in my book. Pat faced 38 shots...and unfortunately a few of the goals against were because we were in  penalty. I must say tho that the reffing thus far is the best we've seen in tourney play. The game truly could have gone either way...we just had a few misfires on some great plays. Tomorrow we face Great Britain. 
 
Before the game the boys (our boys recognized him & were the only ones around) were treated with a 20 minute session with Walter Gretzky...the Great One's dad. They were all so enthralled and listened so intensely  to every word out of his mouth. It was great! He is an awesome man and boy did he have some stories. He loves to tell stories. Patty came by & took a pix of the boys with him and said she'd post it on the TopCat  website, but haven't seen it yet. www.topcathockey.com.  Don't panic when you see the pix, the first one she took, not all of our boys were there......but eventually they were and I (hopefully) got a pix of the entire team with him. 
 
After the game we kinda made the boys go to Niagra Falls with us. They were hesitant... wanted to just hang out. But once we could get a couple of them to agree to go, of course they all wanted to. We told them this is a once in a lifetime opportunity (well Joe & Tim have been before) and when we got there, I think they all were just amazed at the site. We spent a couple of hours there, the boys pigged out on ice cream & we headed back. In our van--B&P, Shawn, Dennis & AJ were fast asleep before we made it to the highway. I think the same was true for Van 2--the Duncans. (It has been so great...we all have the same vans, diff colors) The Joneses didn't go cuz they will be going Mon & Tues, so  they went to the CN tower....as did the Raftery's (minus Shawn)....but they didn't' know each other went. 
 
So on to Day 4. We plan to do Hall of Fame tomorrow morning then come back & rest up before the game. 

More latter, eh?