Day 8 - Team Turns the Corner

The Jr. Sharks returned to the Aréna les 2 Glaces de Val Bélair for the next day's exhibition games and finally turned the corner with a 2-2 tie against the Colorado Avalanche, one of the favorites to win the International B Class.  Cameron Ward got the team on the scoreboard with his trademark snapshot from the blue line, and Matthew Durst knotted up the game by slapping at a loose puck in front of the crease.

Next up was the Cole Harbour Red Wings (Nova Scotia), a team which was participating in the International Pee-Wee BSR Tournament.  The Jr. Sharks opened the scoring by catching the Red Wings on a full line change with Joe DiGiulio's blast from the top of the right face off circle.  The team went up 2-0 when the puck slowly squirted loose into the offensive zone with a foot race won by Joe who teed off from nearly the same spot.  Joey Cassetti then made the score 3-1 when he sniped a wrist shot that found the five-hole.  Then, in the last seconds, with the score 3-2 and the Red Wings goalie pulled, Cameron Ward somehow strong-armed the puck out of the defensive zone while flat on his belly to Chase Edwards for the empty netter.

Day 7 - Hockey, Hockey & More Hockey

The day's first exhibition game at Aréna les 2 Glaces de Val Bélair (Ice Arena 2 of Val Bélair) proved to be entertaining as well as controversial.  The team appeared to have tied Chaudière-Ouest Husky (Quebec) 2-2, but the referees seemed to be the only ones who had not seen Kurt Bench's backhand flip from the top of the slot go in.  Special mention goes out to Benoit Fournier, a billet family "dad", who made an impassioned appeal in French (or he may have simply been calling the referees "homers").  The team came up shy with an empty netter that made the final Chaudière-Ouest Husky 4, San Jose Jr. Sharks 2.  Joey Cassetti scored the first goal with a nice move on the goalie with a defender on his back, and Chase Edwards tallied the second goal with a one-timer.  Both goals came on power plays courtesy of Jarrett Chen, who drew three penalties.

The second exhibition game versus the Finland Selects, a favorite to win the Elite Class, was an eye-opener.  There weren't too many positives as the Finland Selects annihilated the San Jose Jr. Sharks 13-0 with many describing the Finland Selects offense as being in "constant motion".

In the evening, the team played pond hockey.  Again, I'll let pictures do the blogging.

Day 6 (Valentine's Day) - Second Tournament Game

Game Day at Club de Patinage Artistique de Charlesbourg (Figure Skating Club of Charlesbourg), a community recreation center-like rink fifteen minutes from the Colisée Pepsi.  The team started out much more competitively against the Sherbrooke Harfangs 1 (Quebec) tying the score 1-1 on a wicked Cameron Ward snapshot from the point, then going up 2-1 on a beautiful Joey Cassetti deflection.  Unfortunately, the momentum and lead were short-lived as penalties began to take their toll.  Final score: Sherbrooke Harfangs 3, San Jose Jr. Sharks 2.  Though the team was disappointed at being bounced from the tournament, smiles quickly returned as hot dogs from the snack bar were devoured and talk turned to attending the evening's Quebec Remparts game.  In fact, any lingering thoughts of the team's loss were all but forgotten as Jacob Kim showed his bag of Valentine's Day chocolates that his mother Nikki had given him before leaving for San Jose that morning.

Day 5 - Jr. Sharks, aka "Black Ops", Go to Valcartier (the snow park)

I'll let the photos do the blogging.

End of Carnaval de Quebec.  Au revoir, Le Bonhomme! (Winter Carnival mascot)

Day 4 - First Tournament Game & Brunch with Billet Families

Game Day at the Colisée Pepsi.  Outside the arena, though the day had begun sunny, it was extremity-numbing cold (I would later learn that the day's high was a mere 3 degrees Fahrenheit).  Inside, any lingering physical discomfort had been quickly displaced by nervous anticipation.  The venue, with seating capacity for 15,176, is normally home for the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, but was now hosting the 53rd Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament 2012.  Though many of the seats were unfilled, the cheers and shouts from the players' "natural" and billet families were genuine and encouraging.  However, on this day, our heroes did not play up to expectations with Kharkov Druzhba 78 (Ukraine) defeating our San Jose Jr. Sharks 10-2.  The bright spot was two quality goals: a Daylon Mannon slapshot and a Matthew Durst deflection.

After the game, we all went to brunch where we got to meet the billet organizers and our billet families, if we hadn't already.  It is absolutely amazing the generosity of their time and passion for this sport that these people exhibit!  When the team discovered that it was a billet organizer's birthday, they eagerly sang the birthday song only to fall comically silent at his name, which was "Ketan".  It was also a sight to see Robert Savoie wolf down a slice of sugar pie a la mode, a common dessert found only in Quebec.

Day 3 - Second Exhibition and a day with the families

On Saturday, the players had an opportunity to sleep in until 9 or 9:30. After breakfast they headed out to the rink...Arpidrome de Charlesbourg for the second exhibition game. This game against a team from Pittsburg. The kids did a little better, but still lost 1-5. The sole goal was scored by Nico Rubino.

Many of the Billette families stayed to watch the game, screaming "Go Sharks" and other things in French. Billette brothers and sisters also cheered their adopted siblings on. It was really fun to have all that support in the audience.

The rest of the day, each player went back to the house and did a variety of activities. Some went back to the Colisee to pin trade, many played pond hockey at the local outdoor rink and others had an opportunity to spend time with their "real" parents and billete parents while walking around the Old City of Quebec and the Winter Carnival.

The only common activity that all the players did was obey their 9:30pm curfew in order tone ready for the first game in the Colisee...the first game of the tournament on Sunday!

Until next time...good night.