| Nordiques Capture Spring 2010 T6 Championship |
The Nordiques website is back! Here's a recap of what you missed...
The winter T5 season ended, but not with the bang players and fans were expecting.
Team leaders quickly convened, making radical decisions and historic changes before the spring season commenced. A personnel-laden roster was split into two squads, entering T5 and T6 teams for the first time in Nordiques history.
Several veteran and former championship winners formed the backbone of the T5 Nordiques team, and a handful of other veteran Nordiques, with championship rings of their own, formed the nucleus and carried the responsibility of building a new T6 team.
Long story short, the T6 Nordiques team completed the regular season with a 9-5 record, good for third place. We went on to defeat long-time and bitter rival Sting in the playoff round by a 3-2 score. We faced an undefeated Andersen Analytics team in the finals (18-0) and after dropping the first game of the best of three series, we put together two hard-fought victories to capture the Spring Championship. As you can imagine, too many highlights to capture in this missive but the team would like to recognize the efforts of several newcomers who stuck to the program even when we weren't playing well together as a team early-on. They continued to play Nordiques hockey, with grit and passion, and for fun. We all proved again that the fun doesn't come from the winning, but the winning comes from the fun!
Nordiques Spring 2010 Newcomers
Anit Arora F/D
Brian Fratturo *G*
Breck Masterson F
Tim Matijcio D
Mike Robinson F
Tyler Schinto F
Mike Schwartz F
*Went 7-1 in goal down the stretch and in the playoff/championship rounds.
Nordiques 2010 Spring Players also included:
Rich Gioia - Captain D
Rich Bruno - Alternate Captain D
Peter DiMartino - Alternate Captain F/D
Dave Brion F
Jim Cook F/D
James Delorey F
Doug Eng F/D
Eric Farrell F
Christina Lefebvre F
Steve Hepensteil F
Justin Matijcio F
Phill Rincand F
Andrew Vranos F
(Other goalies: Seaweed, Cat, Pete G)
It was a very memorable season for caption Rich Gioia and Asst Captains Peter DiMartino and Rich Bruno, having added several new players along the way and watching them come together as a team and play with a combination of skill, grit, and passion. "The team really gelled together in the second half, we won some big games and that propelled us into the playoffs. Skill and speed on offense, grit and strength and defense, and fabulous goal tending made us a very difficult team to face. We've never been prouder to wear the Nordiques sweater than we were this season. Thank you boys, we can't wait to take the ice with you again in the summer and winter seasons".
Torche Award
In keeping with Nordiques tradition, the Torche trophy was awarded after the final championship victory. Since 1975, the Quebec Nordiques awarded this very same MVP trophy to its top player. Our team acquired this beautiful piece of historic hardware in 2003 and it is now our Torche MVP trophy. The award can go to the most skilled, the most spirited, and/or the most passionate player. Someone who lifts the team to another level. He must be an emblem for what being a Nordiques player is all about. Which ever description the player fits, he needs to be a difference maker.
The prestigious honor was earned by Justin Matijcio (2010) and presented by former holder Peter DiMartino (2009) (see photo below). Peter explained that "despite the high caliber of players on the team this year, Justin proved to be a quiet leader, a tough-as-nails player, and just brought so much energy to our team that he clearly deserved the honor of the Torche. He proved himself to be a very tough competitor on both sides of the redline and raised the bar for everyone wearing the Nordiques jersey. It is an honor to take the ice with him".
Justin's name will be inscribed on this award along with so many other great Nordiques players from years past. Justin also will have the honor of presenting this award to the next Torche winner down the road.
T5Nordiques
The T5 team battled like true Nordiques all season and provided much inspiration to the T6 team. After starting the season 0-5, the T5 Nordiques won 7 out of their last 9 games. Finishing fourth, the Nordiques knocked off number 1 seed Puck Bandits and played #3 seed Pub Crawlers in the finals. The Nordiques dropped the third and deciding game in that series by 1 goal. Despite the immediate disappointment, we all agree that it was a fine ending given the start. We also agreed that we'd rather be runner-up Nordiques than any kind of Pub Crawler. Win or lose, we always respect the game, each other, and (most of) our opponents.
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