Oakville Minor Lacrosse Association

Get Game synopsis and up to the minute analysis of the Hawks progress in achieving game and practice targets, established by the Team Bench Staff. Games will be analyzed in terms of attack, defence, passing, receiving, loose ball retrieval and other fundamentals that the boys are being taught in practices. This information will be coming directly from the Strategists behind the bench, and should help players and parents understand how the team is coming together as a singularly focused unit, and highlight areas that still require work.

There will be no players singled out in these updates (unless it's something positive), but the intent is to help players focus on areas for improvement, and to get some positive feedback on areas where they are doing well. Hopefully it will also give some insight to parents on the Coach's focus on practice drills, and why they are necessary.

    Robbie Watkins led the Hawks with a hat-trick last night, but the Hawks fell just short of upsetting the highly-ranked Orangeville Northmen (#3) in their last regular season game, 6-5.  Trent Gilbert added a beautiful goal, and Jack Natyshak added the other.  Loose ball leaders on the night were Jake, Seth and Robbie, but a good effort was made by all.

    The Hawks have been very good as of late, with a record of 3-3 over their last six.  Two of those three losses were 1 goal losses (which we believe we should have won, or at least tied both) to very highly ranked teams (#3 and #4 in the province), while the other loss was against Whitby, #1 in the province.

    Another great effort in the heat!  Neither the Bulldogs nor the heat wave slowed down the Hawks last night.  Our conditioning, short-shifts, and a full bench (thanks to Sam for filling in again!) made it a lot easier to manage the tough conditions. The win guarantees the Hawks a winning Zone 10 regular season, with the team record going to 6-4-1, with one game remaining next week vs. Orangeville.

    Their play has come a long way the last few weeks.  After playing against some of the top teams in the province, the boys seem to have learned how the game needs to be played to win.  Team passing and playmaking (simply moving the ball up the floor!) has been much improved, as we all witnessed in the third period last night.  There were some great plays that did lead to goals, and many passing play attempts that were just missed or stopped by some good defense from the Bulldogs.  Team defense continues to improve every game, and less mistakes have been made leading to opportunities for the opposition. 

   Net loose ball leaders on the night were Jack and Carson, followed closely by Lukas, Robert, Justin, and Sam.  Goal scoring was spread around, with 2 goals each for Nicholas and Sam, while singles came from Seth, James, Jack and Brian.  Hunter led the passing game with 3 assists along with Sam's three.  Joseph and Lukas also added a pair of assists each, with other helpers coming from Jake, Carson, Seth, Jack, Brian and Nicholas.  Some of the nicest passing plays that unfortunately didn't result in goals came from Nathan, Robert, Trent and Carson, but they were still highlight plays of the game.  In net, both Nicholas H. and Dante were solid again.  Dante has posted a very impressive .850 save percentage over the last 4 games! 

    With one week left in the season, we want to continue our momentum going into the Provincials.  The hard work and focus they bring next week could help them to a 3-game winning streak heading to Whitby.  The Orangeville game next week will be a very good measure for us, as they are one of the favourites to win at the Provincials.  Let's show them (and the rest of the teams) that the Oakville Hawks should be considered a threat as well!

Coach Chris

    Great effort by the team this weekend.  They should walk away from it realizing that they will be a team not to be taken lightly at the Provincials in two weeks.  Let's try to end the regular season strong with our final games against Halton Hills and Orangeville.

    Peterborough:

        A heart-breaker!  However, it was a much better result than our previous meeting.  With a bit of a break within the last couple of minutes, the Hawks would have been playing on Sunday.  Even with the last second (11 seconds, actually) loss, the team played a very disciplined game for three periods (I actually think we won all three, but we just couldn't score that go ahead goal when we needed it!).  The game plan was carried out well by all, for all three periods and both Dante and Nicholas played very well in net.  Net loose ball leaders were Nicholas Howden, Seth and Joseph.  Defensively in the game, Hunter, Lukas, James, Justin, Nicholas, Trent and Carson defended our house extremely well.  Lukas, Joseph and Seth also had special jobs to do and they did them extremely well.  Great job!  Tyler led the way scoring 2 goals and adding an assist, along with Brian adding the other goal and a couple of helpers.  Hunter, Robert and Nicholas Hackl also recorded assists.

    Whitby

        The game plan from Friday was followed and it started out well, and we were able to beat Whitby in the first period.  Then, the strong Whitby team took over in the second and the Hawks lost their defensive focus a bit.  Lesson learned, we hope.   Net loose ball leaders were Brian, James, Nicholas Howden and Robert.  Brian scored both goals, with assists coming from Lukas (2),Justin and Nicholas Howden.

    Caledon

        The boys really wanted to go home with a win, and they made sure they did!  They dominated the game from beginning to end, while continuing to play the defensive game that brought them some earlier success in the tournament.  Dante earned a shutout in net while contributing 2 assists to the cause as well!  Jack scored 3 goals and assisted on another.  Loose ball leaders for the game were Nicholas Howden (again......who was finally rewarded with a much deserved goal and assist), Seth, Tyler and Brian.  Jake and Brian added the other goals, with assists going to Seth, Joseph (2), Lukas, Robert, Nathan, Trent and Carson.

Coach Chris

That was quite a lacrosse game! A great effort combined with the skills (passing!) that we had worked on in practice all week led the team to one of the best games of the season. With some scoring practice lined up for the next few weeks, we will sure be looking forward to a rematch with Mimico in the Provincials. A huge improvement which most might not recognize, is the much improved support that was given to the ball carrier tonight. Whoever had the ball tonight,  seemed to have more options to pass than they had all year. For those that have seen the team play from game 1 vs. Mimico to today, they will certainly notice the team's increased emphasis and effort to team defence. 

Net loose ball leaders on the night were Hunter, Jack and Nicholas. Stats for courage, effort, smarts, and determination are hard to keep, but all the boys would be mentioned tonight as leaders if we did have them! Can't wait to see what they will do in Halton Hills.

The boys ran into a very good Orangeville team last night, which despite the loss, we are glad to report, did not result in riots in the streets of Oakville.

The boys came out a bit sluggish in the first period, likely due to the long drive.  However, they battled back and held their ground much better in the 2nd and even won the 3rd period on the scoreboard (officially a tie, but the disallowed goal was an error, according to the ref after the game).  Once again, the Hawks are showing that their team fitness level is allowing them to compete against anyone deep into the game.

One very encouraging improved stat from the game was the accuracy of our shots on goal, led by Jake with 4 of 4 on net, resulting in 2 goals.  Hopefully the stick tune-up has helped?  Unfortunately, this was one of our very few games in which we were outshot, but Dante came through with many saves to keep the game close.  Net loose-ball leaders on the night were Tyler, Lukas, Jack, Justin, Nathan and Dante. 

Let's enjoy a few days off and then come back with some energy next week to prepare for and compete with Mimico and Halton Hills.

Coach Chris

June 8th 2011 Oakville Hawks Tyke 1 versus Brampton Tyke in a hot and humid Memorial Arena. 

The boys continued their excellent play of late, dominating the opposition once again in many statistical areas, including effort!

May 29th 2011 

Coach's Corner

May 27th 2011

Below are some great quotes that resonate with me and I'd like to share with our boys:

·         “Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right.”

·         "Don't lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality.”

·         "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

Please have your Hawk read each quote aloud. Ask your Hawk what the quote means to them? You can post all or a portion of their responses on the "Players Speak" portion of our web site.

Player Challenge #2 Commencing May 30 – June 5 

Record the hours spent (outside of our regular practice time) passing and catching a lacrosse ball against a wall or with someone else. Players can post their results on the "Players Speak" portion of the web site. The highest hours posted will win a prize.

Our team is working hard in practice and looking better and better each week in our games. Here's to a great 2011 lacrosse season.

Go Hawks Go!

Coach Mike G.

May 18, 2011

Hawks 8 – Tomahawks 1

Last night, the Hawks played their best game of the year to date! There were many comments from the fans about how much improvement they have seen since the first game, and we couldn't agree more. The boys dominated the play in every area – loose balls, face-offs, shots, goaltending, and defensive coverage!

It was also nice to see that we had a very balanced offensive attack, with all three lines getting many scoring opportunities. Better yet, all three lines have improved defensively, particularly with positioning. The improved positioning led our team to not miss nearly as many checks and not allowing the opposition to penetrate our house for good scoring opportunities. Even when the Tomahawks did get into a good shooting position, they were forced to rush their shots, and then our goaltending came through with a number of big saves.

The boys worked hard last week to continue to improve their fitness level, and it is certainly starting to pay off. If we continue to work hard at this over the next couple of months, it will be a difficult task for any team to keep up with us by the end of this season. Good work Hawks!

Passing also continues to improve, but we still need to work on this skill and the team play needs to have continued success. It was very encouraging to see passes being attempted last night, even if some of them were not completed. We will be working on encouraging everyone to make more passes, as well as improving our offensive movement to create more passing opportunities. Passing is a skill that the boys can work on at any time, even this long weekend! To that end, enjoy the long weekend (and all your steaks and burgers!) and we will see everyone next week.

May 11, 2011

It's pretty early in the season, but the coaching staff is really happy with the effort we've seen from the boys so far. We could use a little more focus some times, but they're 8 and I wouldn't expect anything else. The boys look like there having fun and at the same time taking in what we are teaching them. I can see improvement from our first practice up until now. We have a lot of new faces on the team so it will take them a while to learn to play as a team. With the boys getting more comfortable with each other day by day, the coaching staff sees a very positive and competitive season ahead.

We're going to be placed in the A/B division in Zone 10 this year. This is a very competitive division as we now play the best teams in our age group. That is why the coaching staff is going to focus heavily on fitness this year. If we're going to be competitive in that division we will need everyone to work and play hard every practice and game. The boys are reacting quite well to that, which is a step in the right direction.

The coaching staff has set some mid-season goals which are as follows,
-Stick skills, throwing and catching on the fly efficiently
- Changing on the fly effectively
- Defending our net ( Dante's house )
-Winning more face-offs than we lose
-Loose balls win games, get them!

Once the boys have reached these goals we will present them with more challenging drills and plays. I would expect them to meet our new goals before provincials. As they progress with their skills we will in turn increase the tempo of our practices and games and run more complex drills and plays for them to learn. Our basic team goal is to play as a team, win and lose as a team, play hard as a team and have fun as a team. As long as they play hard and give it their all, I couldn't care less if we win our lose. They will learn more working as a team than what they will learn with any win or loss we incur.

The coaching staff has decided that a HEALTHY snack and drink is the best thing for the boys after the game. I got a lot of feedback from my trainer and assistant coaches as to why it is important for the boys, but anyway if we asked the boys what they wanted, we all know the answer. So lets try and make it healthy by bringing fruit or low fat cereal bars, lets try water or flavoured water instead of juice. All of us will only have to do snack once maybe twice this year. Give the website a visit and it will have all of the info for you guys.

The coaching staff is also going to put together a father son and mom game(if they want), we are going to book the outdoor box, located at Winston Churchill and Royal Windsor drive, we were thinking of a Sunday afternoon when the weather gets a little nicer. BBQ's are welcome, we will work out all of the details.

I would like to stress how important it is that you let us know about absences and if your going to be late. We only have an hour for practice so I would like the warming up to be done before and after our allotted floor time. If your going to be away give me a call on my cell phone, I can always be reached at any time. If you are away and you give me notice I can call up alternate players to fill those holes in our practice so we don't have odd numbered lines to run.

Due to some absences for our upcoming tournament, you will see some new faces coming to practices and to games. We will need to get these players ready for the tournament and future games where we will be missing players. They will be coming to both games and practices, lines will have to be altered and we will have to play with the lines that will be together in the tournament for a few weeks before the tournament, so we don't get hammered.

Please, if you have any questions or concerns, my door is always open and my phone is always on.

So that is my update for now, go Hawks go, Caledon Bandits beware.....

Oh yeah one more thing - thank you Peggy Jackman. Thank you for running our very successful fundraiser this year. Everything ran perfectly.

Coach Mike