Minnesota Hockey’s Select 15 Summer Camp ended Thursday with the six teams playing their final games. For those who are counting wins and losses; the Red team beat the Lt Blues 8-0 in the fifth place game, the Grey and Royals tied 3-3 in the third place game, and the White team beat the Gold 5-0 in the championship game. Now the 100 or so kids have a drive home and a wait for the posting of the 20 or so kids that will travel on to New York as part of Minnesota Hockey’s 2013 Select 15 team.
If there was a “rink rat” championship game, Thursday morning’s Select 15 championship game would certainly qualify. The selection pressure was off. After the final round of games played Wednesday, the evaluators huddled Wednesday night and came up with a final list, but the announcement will not be till Friday.
All three Thursday games were loosely coached and refereed; after an intense six days, the players had fun in today’s games.
So nobody was upset when a quick referee whistle prevented an embarrassing own goal on delayed penalty by one of the teams in one of the games. The ref just blew the whistle before the puck hit the net, lined the players up and as sort of a concession, lined the teams up in neutral ice. The players were just playing for fun and wondering if they made the final 20 or so player roster.