April 30, 2008

Goalie Blake Stabler to sign letter of intent

In case you didn't know, today Senior goaltender Blake Stabler is signing his letter of intent to play water polo at Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA. The Lakers already have one St. Louisan on the team, DeSmet grad Andrew Schonhoff. Congratulations to Blake and we wish him the best of luck in college.

Where are the other seniors going to college you ask? Here is what I know off the top of my head:
Kevin Arnold - St. Louis University
Jack Benage - Southern Methodist University
Dan Fernandez - Southern Methodist University
Michael Kubik - St. Louis University
Kevin Rejko - University of Missouri - Columbia

I don't know what their plans are, but SLU, Mizzou and SMU all have water polo clubs. I hope the boys continue to play the sport they love. I also Hope they come back and give back to the sport, thru either coaching or refereeing. You can bet I will be hounding Arnold and Kubik to ref next year!

Tonight v. DeSmet

Tonight it's CCP-DeSmet Part III. The game will start at 7:30 PM at MICDS. We will again be short Kevin Glauber who will be playing for the JV in the conference tournament. Kevin will be back on varsity for the district tournament.

We have seen DeSmet twice and have lost both times by scores of 9-6 and 5-4. Those numbers tell me two things:

  1. We have improved since the first meeting
  2. We lost, but we didn't lose by a significant margin

In fact, we were tied 6-6 going into the 4th quarter of the first matchup and we went to overtime in the second matchup. Even in those basic facts, it's easy to see that we can play with these guys and if we are firing on all cylinders, we can beat them. I expect it will an intense game and I think both teams will come out early with a lot of energy and aggressiveness. Let's do our best to pack the house with red shirts and cowbells! I'm waiting for the day when Bill Stabler and Kin Watkins show up to scorekeep with red face paint.

Starters:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage (c)
#3 Michael Kubik
#4 Jack Meara
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#6 Jake Entwistle
#8 Danny Faust

April 29, 2008

Chaminade 9 - Parkway South 0

The first shutout of the season! The Red Devils continued imposing their defensive will this season by shutting down the Parkway South Patriots. Despite early offensive woes, the Red Devils never relented on defense and frustrated the talented Patriots all night.

On the offensive end, the Boys in Red tallied the second lowest shooting percentage in a win, and the fourth lowest shooting percentage all season. As expected, South's Jim Bowers was a wall in the first half and kept Chaminade to only three first half goals. But, the Red Devils never relented and never got discouraged with themselves or each other. When things aren't going the way you want, you can choose to give up and bicker amongst yourselves or you can choose to persist. Our boys were persistent and I'm proud of them. Seniors Jack Benage (5 goals) and Michael Kubik (3 goals) led the team out of the slump by countering hard all the way to the goal and attacking the goal whenever the opportunity arose.

We have DeSmet up next, hopefully tonight's second half carries thru to the next game so we can get a jump on the Spartans early and never look back.

Goals: Benage - 5, Kubik - 3, Meara - 1
Assists: Stabler - 5, Kubik - 1, Meara - 1, Watkins - 1
Steals: Kubik - 7, Stabler - 6, Entwistle - 4, Benage - 3, Faust - 3, Watkins - 3, Arnold - 2, Meara - 2, Hoette - 1
Kickouts: Meara - 1
Saves: Stabler - 11

Player of the Game: Stabler - 11 saves, 5 assists, 6 steals and his first career shutout

Up Next: The semi-finals of the Suburban South Conference Tournament. 7:30 PM on Wednesday April 30th v. DeSmet at MICDS.

Tonight v. Parkway South

Tonight, the Red Devils begin the post-season against the Parkway South Patriots. This is the first round of the Suburban Central Conference Tournament. The game will be played at MICDS and will start at 7:30 PM. This is our second meeting with the Patriots this year. The Red Devils won the first matchup 9-3 in what was a closer game than the score shows.

South's Senior goalie Jim Bowers is one of the best in the area and we need to make sure we take premium shots. We need to make Jim move side to side and we need to fake in order to lock him down. Jim can be a game changer and if he is on, South will be difficult to beat.

Starters:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage
#3 Michael Kubik
#5 Kevin Arnold
#6 Jake Enwistle
#8 Danny Faust
#9 Peter Hoette

April 24, 2008

Conference Tournament schedule set

Chaminade's varsity and junior varsity are both ranked 3rd in the Suburban Central Conference. JV's first game will be against 2nd ranked DeSmet at 6:15PM on Wednesday May 7th at Ladue High School, giving the JV a full week and a half to prepare. This will be the 4th meeting against DeSmet's strong JV team. Even though our JV has been able to compete with the Spartans, DeSmet has won the previous 3 meetings. A win puts the JV in the finals of the conference tournament. A loss will give the JV an opportunity to play for 3rd place.

The varsity will meet 7th ranked Parkway South for the second time at 7:30PM on Tuesday April 29th at MICDS. The Red Devils won the first meeting 9-3 at Parkway South. A victory puts the Red Devils in the semi-finals against the winner of DeSmet and John Burroughs on Wednesday. A loss will lead to the consolation bracket (and it is very possible to lose to South). We have 3 days of practice to prepare for a tough game.

CCPWP Development Program rolls along

So far, the Development Program has been a great success! We have been getting strong numbers and we can tell this school has a bright water polo future. We would still like to have more participation! Even if you don't plan on playing for the team next spring, you can still come out and try the sport out. There is no pressure and practices are fun.

Sessions continue today at 3:15PM and will occur every Thursday through May 15th, which will be the 6th and final session. We hope to see you there!

April 21, 2008

Chaminade 13 - John Burroughs 3

Senior Night was a roaring success. The Red Devil seniors came out strong and the rest of the team followed up by dismantling the Bombers 13-3. The effort was there from start to finish and but for a Dan Fernandez kickout, a last second bomb and a backhand, the boys would have had a shutout. In one of my proudest moments as a coach, I overhead the Burroughs players talking after the game and one of them said "I like playing that team." The Red Devils played a hard clean game and didn't showboat or embarrass anyone. We won the right way and I'm proud.

Goals: Fernandez - 3, Kubik - 3, Duncan - 2, Arnold - 1, Entwistle - 1, Meara - 1, Rejko - 1, Stabler - 1
Assists: Benage - 4, Glauber - 2, Watkins - 2, Duncan - 1, Hoette - 1, Stabler - 2
Steals: Stabler - 6, Entwistle - 4, Benage - 3, Kubik - 3, Schwartz - 2, Watkins - 2, Faust - 1, Hoette - 1, Meara - 1
Kickouts: Fernadez - 1

Player of the Game: Rejko - best 5M shot of the year in the seniors' last home game

Up Next: The Conference Tournament. I will post when I know our ranking.

Tonight v. John Burroughs

Tonight at 7:00 PM at Chaminade, the Red Devils varsity will close out the regular season against John Burroughs. The JV will play SLUH's JV tonight at 6:00 PM at Chaminade and will have one more regular season game against DeSmet's JV on Tuesday at MICDS.

Tonight's game against Burroughs will be the seniors last home game, so please come out early and support them on Senior Night. We'll see you tonight as we try and kick off a new winning streak (that hopefully won't end until next year).

Starters for varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage (c)
#3 Michael Kubik
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#6 Jake Entwistle
#7 Kevin Rejko
#11 Dan Fernandez

DeSmet 5 - Chaminade 4 (OT)

This one is on me. There are two major mistakes I made in this game and, either through inexperience, stubbornness or stupidity, I couldn't realize what was going on. The most obvious mistake was the last play of the game. After the opposing team scores a goal (such as DeSmet did with 4 seconds remaining in overtime) you can call a timeout and then you are allowed to set up in the offensive side of half. Even though I have known this rule since I was a kid, it somehow slipped my mind in this instance and we settled for a half court shot...albeit a really good half-court shot by Jake Entwistle.

The second mistake is less obvious. We went into the 4th quarter leading 4-2 and we had DeSmet on their heels. We had our foot on their throats...and we let up. And I could tell we were letting up. I could see that we were playing not to lose, rather than playing to win. That, as you know, is a dangerous game to play. I had a timeout in hand and should have used it to wake the boys up to what was going on...but I guess I was playing not to lose as well. I figured our defense was playing so well that a timeout would only give their best players a rest and the longer play went on, the better our advantage would be. I was wrong, and the more tentative we played on our offensive end, the more aggressive they became.

The two lessons learned from this game are:

  1. Our defense is nearly impossible to score upon if all 7 guys in the water are focused and working hard. If one guys lets up, the machine breaks down and a good team will take advantage of the break down. You can't relax against a good team or you get two back-door goals scored against you.
  2. Against teams that hold and grab your legs or your suit, you cannot rely on the referees to call a foul. DeSmet likes to run plays that cause chaos so the referees can't see that a lot of the defenders are getting held. It's illegal, but a cheap way to get a goal if 11 seconds are left in overtime. My message to our players is this: you know you are going to get held, so you need to make sure you don't get held. Especially on those chaos plays, we need to have our hips up and keep our distance from their players. If you do get grabbed, don't sink and pray for a call, get your hips up and start swimming and kicking as hard as you can.

I say this a lot to the boys, there is a fine line between being aggressive and being dirty. There is a difference between kicking someone and someone getting kicked. When my suit would be held in college, I would get my hips up and flutter kick so hard and fast that either the guy holding me would let go or he was about to get a concussion. I would never aim for a defender or try to harm him, but I was determined to swim away from him and if he wanted to ride along he was risking getting hurt.

Overall, it was one of our best performances. Our game plan worked for the first 3 quarters and we were in control. We were very efficient in our shooting (4 for 10) and rarely rushed or forced a shot. But, I think we still have a lot of room for improvement. I want us to play a full game of defense, not just 90% of a game. I want us to finish teams off, too often we let teams back in the game. I want us to finish our drives, we do many great things on the offensive end but never get a quality shot off. I want us to know our roles, who should be guarding the back line and who should be guarding up top. I want us to have different offensive plays and different defensive schemes so we aren't so predictable.

One more conference game and then we are in the post season. We will get another chance at DeSmet in the conference tournament, so we need to be ready. I am looking forward to practice this week.

Goals: Kubik - 3, Benage - 1
Assists: Benage -1, Meara - 1, Stabler - 1, Watkins - 1
Steals: Entwistle - 6, Stabler - 6, Duncan - 4, Benage - 3, Kubik - 2, Meara - 2, Hoette - 1, Watkins - 1
Kickouts: NONE!
Saves: Stabler - 11

Player of the Game: Entwistle - 6 steals, fantastic 2M defense and did not take a sub once

Up Next: Monday April 21st v. John Burroughs at Chaminade. JV plays SLUH's JV at 6:00 PM and the varsity game against JBS will start afterwards at 7:00 PM.

Chaminade 10 - Clayton 5

In beating the Clayton Greyhounds 10-5, the Chaminade Red Devils learned a thing or two:

  1. Paul Orland and Alex Phillips ARE good. They combined for 4 of the 5 goals and were very explosive to the ball and shot with aggressiveness. When you are playing defense against good players, you need to have your hips up and need to always know what he is doing and where the ball is. It takes a lot of effort to guard guys like that effectively.
  2. Meara is not an impenetrable goaltender.
  3. We CAN score on 5M's!
  4. We CAN score 6-on-5!
  5. We CAN score off wet shots!

In my favorite moment of the afternoon, Chris Duncan took a pass from Chris Watkins and with a man on his back, rifled a tee shot for a goal. He set it up perfectly by getting his hips out of the water, taking his time, and putting some velocity on the ball. Too often when the CCP boys take wet shots, they try to rush the shot, they pick up the ball on top and want to bring their arm back for the shot. Chris did none of those things, and the result was a goal, good job Dunc!

Goals: Benage - 3, Duncan - 2, Kubik - 2, Arnold - 1, Fernandez - 1, Hoette - 1
Assists: Stabler - 2, Watkins - 2, Benage - 1, Fernandez - 1, Hoette - 1, Kubik - 1
Steals: Stabler - 4, Meara - 3, Arnold - 1, Duncan - 1, Entwistle -1, Kubik - 1
Kickouts: NONE!
Saves: Stabler - 11, Meara - 3

Player of the Game: Duncan - 2 goals, 1 steal and the best wet shot I have seen all year.

April 18, 2008

Today v. Clayton

Today the Chaminade Red Devils take on Clayton Greyhounds at Clayton High School. The JV game starts at 4:00 PM and the varsity game will follow at about 5:00 PM. We will have a full squad as the band event that would have absented Dan Fernandez and Kevin Rejko was cancelled.

I don't know anything about Clayton except what I read on the statistics page on STLToday.com. What you see is Alex Phillips and Paul Orland lead the ENTIRE CITY in goals and points, and by a decent margin. They are the only two in the area with 60 goals at this point and have combined for 130 total. As a contrast, Chaminade has scored 136 goals in TOTAL. To be honest, I don't think I have even seen Alex or Paul play and I don't think I know what they look like. But, it's obvious that they know how to score goals, so Jake Entwistle and Danny Faust should have their hands full today.

Starters for varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage (c)
#3 Michael Kubik
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#6 Jake Entwistle
#8 Danny Faust
#12 Chris Watkins

April 17, 2008

CCPWP Development Program continues today

The second session of the Chaminade Water Polo Development Program begins today at 3:15 PM. Coach Stream will again be running the show, but he will have some additional help from a few of the varsity players. Again, no experience is necessary! If you are in grades 6-10 at Chaminade, all you need to do is bring a swimsuit and show up to the pool! There is no sign-up required.

It should be a fun afternoon.

April 16, 2008

Chaminade 6 - MICDS 1

In one of the best played games to date, the Red Devils beat the MICDS Rams by playing flawless defense. As expected, the Rams played great defense as well and goals were hard to come by for both teams. The Rams came at Chaminade with a lot of aggressiveness and speed, running picks to get open. The Red Devils communicated on defense and were able to switch to make sure the Rams couldn't get any ball side drives. As Senior Blake Stabler said as the game ended: "We played awesome."

Offensively, we executed very well up until the point where we shot the ball. We drove hard, made great picks, made some good passes, protected open water, expended a ton of energy getting in position to score...and didn't finish. Scoring under pressure is a necessary skill that we need to develop in order to succeed this year. We'll be taking lots of wet shots and lay-outs in the coming weeks.

Goals: Arnold -2, Benage - 1, Entwistle - 1, Fernandez - 1, Kubik - 1
Assists: Kubik - 3, Fernandez - 1, Stabler - 1, Watkins - 1
Steals: Entwistle - 9, Stabler - 6, Arnold - 3, Watkins -3, Faust - 2, Fernandez -2, Meara - 2, Benage - 1, Kubik -1
Kickouts: Kubik - 1, Meara - 1, Stabler - 1
Saves: Stabler - 6

Player of the Game: Entwistle - 1 goal on 4 shots and 9 steals.

Up Next: Friday April 18th v. Clayton @ Clayton. The JV game starts at 4:00 PM. The varsity game will follow at about 5:00 PM.

Additional JV Game Scheduled

Next Monday April 21st, the JV will play against SLUH's JV before Chaminade's varsity plays John Burroughs. Burroughs is playing a varsity-only schedule this year due to dwindling numbers. JBS has a strong history of water polo, and we all hope that they come back strong next year. The JV game against SLUH's JV will start at 6:00 PM and the varsity game will remain at it's original time of 7:00 PM.

Tonight v. MICDS

Tonight the Chaminade Red Devils varsity squad will take on the MICDS Rams who are playing a varsity-only schedule this year. Coach Casey told me that they have really been hurt by the change of season, but he thinks they can come back strong next year and going forward. This matchup will be at 8:00 PM at Chaminade. Prior to the game, the JV faction of the CCP water polo program will encounter the Longhorns of Parkway West at 7:00 PM.

I played for both Coach Casey's when I was a kid and have coached against them in club play, but never in high school. I'm nervous and excited as these were the two people who first taught me how to play water polo. They also have taught nearly everyone on our team how to play water polo as well. And as you all know, Dan Casey started our program here. So basically, we are all very grateful for Don and Dan Casey and how they have enriched our lives with this sport...but let's drop the hammer on them tonight.

The coaching staff poses two major problems for the Red Devils:

  1. They have coached every single player on this team. They know our boys in the same way I know the South and SLUH boys. I bet they know more about our boys than I do.
  2. They know how to coach defense. No offense to any other program, but the Casey's and Baud at SLUH are about the only coaches who know how to coach really good defense in this city.

So what does that mean for us? We need to execute. We need to be patient. We need to protect the ball. We need to communicate. If any of those four "needs" breaks down, we might find ourselves on the losing side of this battle.

Starters for varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage (c)
#3 Michael Kubik
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#6 Jake Entwistle
#8 Danny Faust
#12 Chris Watkins

I'm excited for the Parkway West game. West's varsity coach Charlie Cutelli and I have become good friends as he has been coaching Jungle Cats with me for the last couple years. We are the same age and he lives a block away. He is a good coach and very passionate about the sport. Jungle Cats was started when we were sophomores and Charlie and I were among the first in the program. When we were in high school, Charlie's Parkway South team lost one game in two years and that was to my SLUH team our junior year (with SLUH's JV coach John Penilla and Conner Keefe's older brother Ryan as our captains). He has two state titles, so I don't have much sympathy for him when his Longhorns struggle!

See you tonight.

April 15, 2008

Marquette 6 - Chaminade 4

Marquette brought their defensive "A" game to the second Chaminade-Marquette matchup of the year, this time for 3rd place in the DeSmet Invite. Marquette played smothering press-no-foul defense on the permieter and forced MANY bad passes from the Boys in Red. If we did get passes off, goals were still hard to come by, and I partially blame myself for not substituting more often, not changing strategies when the game plan didn't work and not encouraging patience enough. Marquette's goalie played well and we made him look like an Olympian with 18 shots and only 4 goals. We refused to take the highest percentage shots (near-side low) and our refusal to fake has finally caught up with us and burned us when we needed goals. But, the story of the game is not entirely how our offense played (because again, even though we made bad decisions with the ball, our accuracy was off and if the goals just won't go in, it cannot be forced) but also how the defense played.

Junior Jake Entwistle did a magnificent job against Marquette's big 2M Tim Meyers. Tim only scored one goal all game and it was on a backhand with Jake resting on the bench. The rest of the Red Devils, though, just played OK defensively, which is enough to get by against weaker teams but gets you beat by a good team (and Marquette is a GOOD team). Our defensive woes were entirley comprised of Chaminade defenders having their hips down, not playing in the passing lanes and fouling on the perimeter. By relaxing and playing lazy defense against a good shooting team, you give up high quality shots and do not get as many steals, which results in goals against and a low amount of counter-attack opportunities.

For those of you wondering, "hips up" means getting your suit on the surface of the water. This position is ideal for a few reasons:

  • If you are facing the man you are covering, he has nothing to grab onto except your hands, which are easier to wrestle free.
  • If your man somehow gets a hold of your suit or leg, everything is close to the surface for the referee to see.
  • If you do get beat, or are even with your man, being high in the water allows you to knock down his shooting arm or foul if necessary. If your hips are down he can overpower you.
  • If your man drives or you need to help on a drive, it is easier to change directions if your body is on the surface of the water (less resistance)
  • In the same vein, if there is a turnover, you can get started quickly to offense because you are already in the ideal swimming position, with your legs behind you instead of underneath you.

Congrats to Marquette for winning third place and playing one of the better defensive games anyone has played against us. Maybe Coach Emde is taping our practices!

Things that went right:

  • 2M defense
  • 6-on-5 (3 for 6 is pretty good)
  • Having high expectations of each other (the boys screaming at each other, although not ideal, shows that they care and have passion...it's better than being indifferent, and it makes them want to work hard in practice to get better)

Things that went not so right:

  • Defending the perimeter, fouling too much on the perimeter
  • Shot selection and patience on offense (I cannot remember an instance where we took a foul in the hole and looked for a cross-goal pass)
  • Screaming at each other (passion is good, rage is not)
Goals: Benage - 2, Kubik - 1
Assists: Duncan - 1, Hoette - 1, Kubik -1, Meara - 1
Steals: Entwistle - 3, Benage - 2, Kubik - 2, Meara - 2, Arnold - 1, Faust - 1, Watkins - 1, Stabler -1
Kickouts: Benage - 1, Hoette - 1, Meara - 1
Saves: Stabler - 8

Player of the Game: Entwistle - 3 steals and fantastic defense throughout the tournament. If we had a team MVP for the tournament, he would have my vote. Now if we could only get him to go on the offensive end of the pool...

Up Next: Wednesday April 16th v. MICDS @ Chaminade. The JV plays against Parkway West at 7:00 PM and the varsity takes on MICDS at 8:00 PM.

Chaminade 15 - Oakville 3

...redemption was had! The story of this game was opposite of the Ladue game. The starters struggled early, ending the first quarter tied with Oakville 3-3. The intensity picked up in the second quarter as 4 Red Devil goals went unanswered by the Tigers. The reserves came in the second half and redeemed the previous nights defensive woes by shutting out Oakville the rest of the way. Jake Entwistle and Chris Duncan led the defensive charge and wouldn't let Oakville's top scorer Tom Diekemper build on his two first quarter goals.

Everyone got in the water in this one and played up to the Chaminade standard of excellence. Sophomore Jake Schott and Freshman Aaron Gremp recorded the first of what will be many varsity goals. Sophomore Chris Lauber played brilliantly, allowing zero goals and making great passes in what is the longest pool he will ever play in.

Goals: Kubik - 4, Hoette - 3, Meara - 3, Fernandez - 2, Benage - 1, Gremp - 1, Schott - 1
Assists: Watkins - 3, Entwistle - 2, Meara - 2, Duncan - 1, Kubik - 1, Rejko - 1, Schott -1, Stabler - 1
Steals: Hoette - 4, Watkins - 4, Duncan - 3, Benage - 2, Kubik - 2, Meara -2, Stabler - 2, Entwistle -1, Fernandez - 1, Lauber - 1, Gremp - 1
Kickouts: Fernandez - 1
Saves: Stabler - 4, Lauber - 1

Player of the Game: Hoette - 3 goals on 6 shots, 4 steals and a never-seen-before offensive aggressiveness that I hope he brings to every game going forward.

April 14, 2008

Chaminade 12 - Ladue 8

In their second meeting with Ladue this season, the Chamimade Red Devils took care of business by netting 12 goals, all from starters Arnold, Benage, Kubik and Meara. The story from this game was the dominance by these four and the other top players whenever they touched the water. Scoring came at will and the defense was smothering. The reserves, on the other hand, did not display the same determination on the defensive end and let Ladue back into the game multiple times. Since the score was 1-0, Ladue was never within 1 goal of the Red Devils, but the lead was only two at multiple times during the game (2-0, 3-1, 4-2, 9-7). This demonstrates both the Rams refusal to quit and the Red Devils refusal to play defense for 28 minutes. 7 of the Rams 8 goals came from their big 2M's Zach Varwig (5) and Hayden Yancey (2). The reserves did get their chance at redemption though...

Goals: Kubik - 5, Arnold - 3, Benage - 3, Meara - 1
Assists: Benage - 5, Entwistle - 1, Kubik - 1
Steals: Benage - 5, Entwistle - 3, Kubik - 3, Arnold - 2, Watkins - 2, Duncan - 1, Glauber - 1, Meara - 1
Kickouts: Entwistle - 1
Saves: Stabler - 10, Lauber - 3

Player of the Game: Benage - 3 goals on 4 shots, 5 assists and 5 steals

SLUH 8 - Chaminade 4

Chaminade again played top-ranked SLUH very tough for most of the game. We doubled our previous offensive output from the last meeting, mostly through aggressive drives and sharp shooting. What was lacking was the defensive discipline and refusal to learn from mistakes, combined with an absence of the mental toughness needed to protect open water and fight for position and for 50-50 balls.

SLUH's Junior Will Page netted 4 goals, most of which came from leaving for offense early and beating the Chaminade defenders down the pool. I didn't keep track, but at least 3 of SLUH's goals would have been prevented by not watching offense and going early to defense at the first sign of trouble. Their anticipation of turnovers was fantastic and ours was lousy, on both ends of the pool.

Another SLUH goal came from our 2M guard swimming around the 2M on the front side instead of goal-side, leaving the SLUH 2M (John Heafner I believe) plenty of open water. There was another instance where John Heafner again overpowered his defender whose hips were down. And for the first time this season, we lost the kickout battle and SLUH made us pay with 2 man-advantage goals.

Should we meet SLUH again, our boys need to be prepared to play defense for 28 minutes. The SLUH boys work constantly for position, are relentless and always take advantage of mistakes. I still believe we are the only team with the defensive capability to beat SLUH this year, but it takes an enormous amount of focus and awareness and will require the same relentlessness and determination that SLUH brings to every game.

Goals: Kubik - 3, Meara -1
Assists: Benage - 1, Hoette - 1
Steals: Meara - 2, Benage - 1, Entwistle -1, Fernandez - 1, Kubik - 1, Stabler - 1
Kickouts: Arnold - 1, Faust - 1, Meara -1
Saves: Stabler - 13
Player of the Game: Kubik - 3 goals and 1 steal

April 11, 2008

Today v. SLUH, Tonight v. Ladue

Today we have two games out at the Rec-Plex for the round robin stage or the DeSmet Invite.

The first game is at 5:25 PM against top-ranked SLUH. Our first meeting was a defensive battle that I thought would have been closer had there been no shallow end. Now we get the chance to prove my theory correct. We match up with SLUH very well because we have the defenders in quantity and quality to match up with their high-powered scorers Tim Dale, John Heafner and Will Page. They are smart, aggressive and good shooters. If we keep them in front of us and don't foul, we will have success at shutting them down. On our offensive end, we have been struggling since the Marquette game to get into a rhythm. Forcing passes, forcing shots and being impatient are the symptoms of our illness. The cure is patience and staying high in the water when we are pressured and when we are passing.

The second game of the day will be against Ladue at 9:35 PM. I'm worried about this game because a) it's the second game and we might be tired and out of focus by game time and b) Ladue started to figure out how to attack us at the end of our first meeting. Zach Varwig and Hayden Yancy are still very dangerous 2M's and if we don't take them seriously, we could find ourselves down early.

Starters against SLUH:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage (c)
#3 Michael Kubik
#4 Jack Meara
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#8 Danny Faust
#9 Peter Hoette

April 10, 2008

Chaminade 7 - Lindbergh 4

The most telling stat from this game was 7 goals on 30 shots. THIRTY SHOTS! And not too many were high percentage either. Shooting thru traffic, shooting with a man hanging on your arm and taking backhands when you aren't directly in front of the goal at 3M (the only time I won't get mad at a backhand) are the definitions of bad shots. The Boys in Red again played stifling defense against the Flyers of Lindbergh, but the story of the game was 5 minutes of good offense to start the 3rd quarter (including two goals in 30 seconds) and 23 minutes of pretty crummy offense.

Don't get me wrong, I still believe offense is something you cannot force and if the shots don't go in, then they just don't go in. But it is something entirley different to take shots with a guy hanging on your arm or shooting when the goalie and other defenders have locked on to you. The manner in which we played offense was troubling in that EVERYTHING was forced. Forced shots, forced passes and widespread impatience. We were very low in the water and whether we were passing or shooting, we always had our chins in the water and never created separation from the Flyer defenders as we attempted our passes/shots.

The good news is

  1. Most of our offense woes are an easy fix. The boys just need to decide that they are going to play at a higher level. If they get their shoulders out of the water everytime they come in contact with the ball, eveything gets easier. Protecting the ball, passing and shooting all become very simple when you get out of the water.
  2. We still play great defense when we want to. If everyone is focused, communicating and aware of what is going on, then we are REALLY HARD to score upon.

Goals: Faust - 2, Kubik - 2, Meara - 2, Arnold - 1

Assists: Faust - 2, Stabler - 2, Arnold - 1, Kubik - 1, Meara -1

Steals: Kubik - 4, Meara - 4, Benage - 2, Entwistle - 2, Hoette - 2, Arnold - 1

Kickouts: Stabler - 1

Saves: Stabler - 12

Player of the Game: Faust - 2 goals on 2 shots, 2 assists and the usual defensive excellence

Up Next: Two games on Friday April 11th. 5:25 PM v. SLUH @ Rec-Plex and 9:35 PM v. Ladue @ Rec-Plex. This is still the round robin stage of the DeSmet Invite

CCPWP Development Program starts today!

Today at 3:15 PM, Coach Stream will be running the Chaminade Water Polo Development Program. It is open to any Chaminade student in grades 6-10. No experience is required, and all ability levels are encouraged to come, even if you have never played before! It is a water sport that can be tiring, so being able to swim is recommended for playing (although shallow end goalie's can stand on the bottom!).

We will not have sign-ups, so just show up! You can come and just try the sport for one day or you can come to all the sessions. There is no obligation, we just want you to try the sport we love!

If you have any questions, just show up at 3:15 PM today...or grab a water polo player in the halls, they know all about it.

Tonight v. Lindbergh

Tonight the Chaminade Red Devils will take on the Lindbergh Flyers in the round robin stage of the DeSmet Invite. It is a varsity-only tournament, so there is only one Chaminade game at 7:00 PM at Lindbergh High School. We will have all of our varsity players dressed as well as 4 JV players. I asked Junior Andrew Spilling, Sophomores Jake Schott and Chris Lauber and Freshman Aaron Gremp to dress for these games in order to help keep our top players rested for later in the tournament. But, the top players won't rest until we take care of business.

What I knew of Lindbergh graduated last year, so I'm in the dark as to who their top guys are. I do know, however, how they play. Coach Lombardo always has a lot of good swimmers who play good defense. Offensively, they always have a good 2M who is the focus, so we need to identify him quickly and get Fausty, Entwistle and Dunc on the case.

This is going to be a TOUGH tournament. Our bracket is especially hard with Lindbergh, SLUH, Oakville and Ladue. We need to come out to each game focused because teams play differently in the all deep pools, and we need to be able to adapt. See you tonight.

Starters for Varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage (c)
#3 Michael Kubik
#4 Jack Meara
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#8 Danny Faust
#9 Peter Hoette

April 9, 2008

Additional JV Games

Coach Stream and I have scheduled a JV game with Parkway West to be played on April 16th at 7:00 PM before the varsity plays MICDS. Unfortunately, MICDS had to do a varsity-only schedule this year due to dwindling numbers. Hopefully Coach Casey can get the numbers for next year and this will only be a one year aberration.

John Burroughs is also playing a varsity-only schedule and we are working on adding a JV game before our matchup with JBS on April 21st. Stay tuned.

April 8, 2008

Chaminade 8 - Parkway North 4

If you look up the definition of "Tale of Two Halves", you will see a box score of this game. The Red Devils played one of their best halves of the year in the first half of this matchup, entering the second half up 6-0. North's big 2M Ross Knight was neutralized by the tremendous play of our 2M guards Faust, Entwistle and Duncan and our offense was patient, taking only premium shots.

The wheels fell off in the second half as Chaminade relaxed, abandoned the defensive game plan and forced shots from the perimeter. In the 3rd quarter, the Vikings of Parkway North scored three goals from the left wing that had been vacated by a Red Devil defender trying to steal a hole pass. Our boys know, as do our parents, that making mistake is okay, but it's repeating that mistake which frustrates your coach.

Things that went right:

  • 2M defense
  • Everything in the first half

Things that went not so right:

  • Playing too low in the water, especially in the second half
  • Offensive patience in the second half, including shot selection
  • Leaving the wing on defense...in the second half

Goals: Kubik - 4, Benage - 2, Duncan - 1, Meara - 1

Assists: Stabler - 2, Arnold - 1, Benage - 1, Glauber - 1, Kubik - 1, Meara - 1

Steals: Meara - 3, Stabler - 2, Benage - 1, Entwistle - 1, Faust - 1, Fernandez - 1, Hoette - 1, Kubik - 1

Kickouts: NONE!

Saves: Stabler - 13

Player of the Game: 3-way tie between Danny Faust, Jake Entwistle and Chris Duncan for their stellar 2M defense.

Up Next: The Round Robin stage of the DeSmet Invite at 7:00 PM on Thursday April 10th v. Lindbergh @ Lindbergh. This is a varsity only tournament.

Tonight v. Parkway North

Tonight, the Red Devils of Chamiande will battle with the Parkway North Vikings, one of the four remaining teams with 2 losses or less (Chaminade being one of the four). The JV game will start at 7:00 PM and the varsity game will follow at approximately 8:00 PM. We will have all hands on deck as Sophomore Kevin Glauber is returning to the varsity lineup tonight.

I don't know much about North except for the 2 kids who played for me and what I have heard from other people. I became familiar with Sophomore Marty Ruzicka two summers ago at Jungle Cats and he is a smart player. What he lacks in stature he makes up for in awareness and aggressiveness. On Jungle Cats, he is one of the best 2M guards his age, but I'm not sure how the North coach is using him. Jack Buelter is a sophomore or freshman (I can't remember!) who played for me this winter. Jack was one of my favorites because, like all of our Chaminade boys, he was so coachable. He was a kid that you could tell: "Jack, run thru that brick wall" and he would do it until you asked him to stop. Kevin Arnold is that way too, except only the exact opposite. Kevin tells me to run thru a brick wall.

As far as hearsay, apparently North has a good goalie and a big 2M. The big 2M we can handle (as shown by Fausty's performance against Marquette), but the the good goalie is of some concern as our shot selection and accuracy hasn't been too great of late. But, as long as we take care of business on the defensive end, offense will take care of itself. I've said it before, you can't force offense because it's something you can't control. What you can control is your effort on the defensive end, which is our strength.

This will be a good game. North has some pretty good bleachers, so please come out and support the Boys in Red. We need more cowbell. See you there.

Starters for Varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage (c)
#3 Michael Kubik
#4 Jack Meara
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#8 Danny Faust
#9 Peter Hoette

Chaminade 10 - Lafayette 3

The Red Devils extended their winning streak to 7 games by beating the Lafayette Lancers for the second time in five days. The boys in red come out very flat in the first half and, up until the last minute of the half, were only up 3-1. Admittedly, Chaminade had made the long trek out to Lafayette for four games this weekend and their lack of intensity, although disappointing, was not surprising. I live in the city and making the +40 minute trek was quite taxing even for me. We need to recharge quickly because we have a tough Parkway North team up next.

Things that went right:

  • Second half intensity
  • Second half commitment to defense

Things that went not so right:

  • The first half
  • Communication, especially on defense.

Goals: Arnold - 3, Benage - 2, Meara - 2, Entwistle - 1, Fernandez - 1, Kubik - 1

Assists: Stabler - 3, Kubik - 2, Arnold - 1, Benage - 1, Faust - 1, Hoette - 1, Meara - 1

Steals: Kubik - 6, Benage - 3, Hoette - 2, Stabler - 2, Meara - 1, Watkins - 1

Kickouts: Kubik - 1

Saves: Stabler - 8

Player of the Game: Arnold - 3 goals on 6 shots, 1 assist and sparked our 4th quarter intensity with two quick effort-filled goals

Up Next: Tuesday, April 8th v. Parkway North @ Parkway North. JV at 7:00 PM, Varsity at 8:00PM.

April 7, 2008

Today v. Lafayette

I feel like I have been here before. Is this Groundhog Day? Do we keep repeating the same day and the same game over and over again?

Luckily, the answer is no. We do, however, have to go out to Lafayette one more time this season. In a rematch from 3 days ago, the JV will start at 4:15 PM and the Varsity will start afterwards at about 5:15 PM. We can all drive blind-folded out there by now.

Starters for Varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage (c)
#3 Michael Kubik
#4 Jack Meara
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#8 Danny Faust
#9 Peter Hoette

April 6, 2008

Chaminade 9 - Marquette 5

In the most enjoyable and entertaining game to date, the Chaminade Red Devils won the Rockwood Invite by defeating the Marquette Mustangs. I thanked Marquette's head coach Gregg Emde twice for such a clean and well-played game. For the first time in the tournament, there weren't any "extra-curricular" activities coming from the opposition. The game was a hard-fought, aggressive game, but played fair and clean. I can't say this enough: grabbing, holding and kicking are NOT "part of the game". This game was proof-positive that two teams can compete on a level playing field, play aggressive, not play dirty and enjoy the game more because of it. Playing dirty takes all the fun out of the game for both you and your opponent. I must again commend Gregg and all the Marquette players and we look forward to playing them again.

We knew going in that Marquette was a very explosive offensive team with sharp-shooting, speedy perimeter players and a big dominating 2M. The game plan was to have Junior Danny Faust shadow the big 2M (Tim Meyers) all game and have Senior Jack Benage and Junior Jake Entwistle guard Marquette's Chris Frimel and Kyle Catani, the aforementioned speedy sharp-shooters. As it happened, those three scored all of the Mustang goals, but not in the quantity they are used to. By leaving early for defense and slowing down the Marquette counter-attack, not to mention the fantastic goaltending by Senior Blake Stabler, the Red Devils were able to hold the explosive Marquette offense to their lowest goal output of the season.

On the offensive end, the Red Devils displayed the patience I have been desiring this entire season. Patience and creativity are staples of good offense, and finally we had the patience to match our creativity. Protecting the ball, making the easy pass and not forcing passes resulted in better shot selection and on a couple occasions we dumped the ball because the shot clock ran down. To the average spectator, running down the shot clock may seem like a bad thing, but I believe offense is something you cannot force and if a high-quality premium shot is not available, then we should protect the ball, dump it in the corner and go back to defense.

Things that went right:

  • DEFENSE!
  • Offensive patience
  • Shot selection (except maybe a backhand from outside the goal mouth by someone who will not be named)

Things that went not so right:

  • Communication - it was better, but not where it needs to be in order to beat SLUH or DeSmet

Goals: Kubik - 4, Benage - 2, Entwistle - 1, Meara - 1, Watkins - 1

Assists: Kubik - 3, Arnold - 2, Stabler - 2, Meara - 1

Steals: Faust - 4, Stabler - 3, Hoette - 2, Kubik - 2, Watkins - 2, Benage - 1, Entwistle - 1, Meara - 1

Kickouts: Watkins - 1

Saves: Stabler - 14

Player of the Game: Faust - 4 steals and tremendous defense on 2M Tim Meyers. Danny swam around when Tim was inside 5M and played behind and didn't foul when Tim was outside 5M. The biggest guy in the pool and most dangerous goal scorer was held to one goal by Danny's efforts.

Up Next: Monday, April 7th v. Lafayette @ Lafayette. JV at 4:15 PM, Varsity at 5:15 PM.

Chaminade 8 - Kirkwood 5

The Red Devils continued their winning ways in their second matchup with the Kirkwood Pioneers. Chaminade came out with 2 early goals from Junior Jack Meara on great cross-goal passes, but the Pioneers battled with tenacious driving in the half court to cut down the Chamainde lead and only trail 3-2 going into the 2nd quarter. The 2nd quarter was a hard-fought defensive battle with CCP knotting a 6-on-5 goal for the second consecutive game giving the Red Devils a 4-2 lead going into the second half.

The second half was more of the same as every time Kirkwood would fight to get one goal, Chaminade would counter with two. Only a late 4th quarter goal from the Pioneers differentiated the first half from the second.

Kirkwood is a talented team that Chaminade can shut down due to our tremendous half court defense, led by 2M guards Danny Faust, Jake Entwistle and Chris Duncan. Our boys would constantly swim around the Pioneers big hole-man Brian McVey and thus he couldn't keep his position. On a rare occasion that we had to play behind him, our perimeter guys would crash from the top and steal the hole pass. For this reason, teams that run their offense primarily through their big hole men don't give the Red Devils much trouble.

Things that went right:

  • 2M Defense
  • Offensive creativity - looking weak side and swimming to open water when offense breaks down

Things that went not so right:

  • Communication - these boys talk so much in practice, why don't they talk during games?!?!
  • Defensive awareness - goes hand-in-hand with communicating...if you get beat, you need to call for help, and if you are guarding wing, you need to be looking to help if the point gets beat
Goals: Kubik - 5, Meara - 2, Duncan - 1

Assists: Meara - 2, Arnold - 1, Faust - 1, Hoette - 1, Stabler - 1, Watkins - 1

Steals: Meara - 3, Stabler - 3, Faust - 2, Arnold - 1, Duncan - 1, Kubik - 1

Kickouts: Entwistle - 1, Fernandez - 1, Watkins - 1

Saves: Stabler - 12

Player of the Game: Meara - 2 goals on 4 shots, 2 assists, 3 steals and forgetting his cold-shooting of late and coming out strong with two quick goals to set the tone

April 5, 2008

Today v. Kirkwood

It's Chaminade-Kirkwood Part II this morning at 11:00 AM out at Lafayette. The JV game starts at 10:00 AM. We are still in the round robin phase of the Rockwood Invite and a win against Kirkwood would put us in the finals later today, most likely against Marquette. We will again be short Kevin Rejko, Jack Benage and JV loaner Kevin Glauber.

We defeated Kirkwood earlier in the season by playing suffocating passing lane defense. Their 2M's were frustrated and their perimeter players were forced into a lot of bad passes. I expect this to be another Battle Royale not unlike our previous two games in this tournament. I expect this will be a very tough test.

Starter for Varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Michael Kubik
#4 Jack Meara
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#8 Danny Faust
#9 Peter Hoette
#12 Chris Watkins

Chaminade 8 - Oakville 3

Deja vu. If you take the Lafayette game recap and substitute the word "Oakville" everywhere you see "Lafayette" and you would understand what happened in this game. Even the referees were exactly the same (not just in quality, but in name too). Again, we battled through some adversity and triumphed over a team that preferred to kick and grab rather than swim and play. Now that we know we can play a team like that and succeed, now we need to turn the corner and start playing our game, regardless of what the other team tries to do. It starts with playing higher in the water, which is something you will see me harp on the boys from this point forward.

The "Things" section is a repeat of the Lafayette game as well. We do a great job keeping our heads and not letting the referees or the other team get to us. There were signs of leaving the Spring Break rust behind us and we finally capitalized on a 6-on-5 chance.

Goals: Kubik - 4, Duncan - 2, Arnold - 1, Hoette - 1

Assists: Meara - 3, Hoette - 2, Stabler - 2, Faust - 1

Steals: Stabler - 5, Kubik -3, Arnold -1, Entwistle - 1, Hoette - 1, Schwartz - 1

Kickouts: Kubik - 2, Duncan - 1, Meara - 1

Saves: Stabler - 6

Player of the Game: Kubik - 4 goals on 8 shots, one of which was a 6-on-5 goal, 3 steals

April 4, 2008

Tonight v. Oakville

Tonight the Chaminade Red Devils will be playing Oakville in the Round Robin stage of the Rockwood Invite. The JV game starts at 6:15 PM followed by the Varsity game at 7:15 PM. We will be missing Kevin Rejko, Jack Benage and Kevin Glauber as he will again be playing for the JV team. Dan Fernandez might be late as he is flying in from the band trip this afternoon.

For the second game in a row, I have no clue about the team we are playing. I imagine it will be another physical game, so we will be preparing mentally to have our legs and suits pulled and not get calls from the refs.

Starters for Varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#3 Michael Kubik
#4 Jack Meara
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#6 Jake Entwistle
#8 Danny Faust
#9 Peter Hoette

Chaminade 10 - Lafayette 2

In the roughest game to date, the Red Devils showed mental toughness and tenacity in defeating the Lafayette Lancers 10-2. The referees did not call many ordinary fouls and missed (in my opinion) a lot of kickout calls. So by extension, Lafayette was allowed to play rough with our boys. The Lancers were a physical team that sometimes took the physical play too far. Some of it is the way they were coached, but the referees were in control of the game and they should have called more fouls when the game was getting chippy. But, I am proud to say that the boys didn't use the lack of fouls as an excuse or as a crutch. A tell-tale sign of the quality of the Red Devils' character is their refusal to give in to the dirtiness and retaliate. Even when Danny Faust's man tried to kick him in the face, Danny just kept playing. I am very proud of the way the Red Devils carried themselves yesterday.

A couple really cool things did happen in the game, though. Michael Kubik attempted a left-handed shot...although it hit the goalie in the chest, I still thought it was awesome. Danny Faust got a steal and subsequently drove with the ball to 7M with a man on his back, then kicked it out to the wing, continued his drive (with defender still in tow) got the ball back at 3M and scored. A give-and-go. It was a thing of beauty. Also, we have a new season high in steals: 29!

Kevin Arnold drew a kickout because he got kicked intentionally in the chest. Intentional you say? Isn't that a brutality? No says the referee, if he had been kicked in the face then that would have been a brutality. Um, what? So we aren't punishing people on intent, just on result? So why is attempted murder illegal? According to Mr. Referee, if you didn't kill the guy, then you didn't commit a crime.

That pretty much goes against everything I believe in.

Things that went right:

  • Not retaliating to dirty play
  • Not disrespecting the referees (that's my job)
  • Playing water polo the right way

Things that went not so right:

  • Offensive execution - the machine breaks down to easily and we start randomly swimming. It's like the inmates are running the asylum sometimes.
  • Shot selection
  • 6-on-5

Goals: Arnold - 3, Kubik - 3, Benage - 2, Entwistle - 1,Hoette - 1

Assists: Kubik - 4, Entwistle - 2, Meara - 2, Benage - 1, Watkins - 1

Steals: Kubik - 9, Stabler - 6, Hoette - 3, Meara - 3, Arnold - 2, Entwistle - 2, Benage - 1, Duncan - 1, Faust - 1, Watkins -1

Kickouts: None!

Saves: Stabler - 1

Player of the Game: Kubik - 3 goals on 6 shots, 4 assists and 9 steals tying for the highest individual steal total, tying Blake Stabler's effort v. Kirkwood

April 3, 2008

Today v. Lafayette

This afternoon the Chaminade Red Devils take on the Lafayette Lancers at Lafayette in the Round Robin stage of the Rockwood Invite. This is a Varsity and JV tournament rolled into one, so for the round robin games the JV game will start an hour before the varsity game. Today, the JV game starts at 4:15 PM followed by the Varsity game at 5:15 PM. Tournament rules are a little different in that coaches only have 1 timeout and round robin games can end in a tie. Elimination games on Saturday afternoon can go to shootouts.

We will be short super Seniors Dan Fernandez and Kevin Rejko as they are on a band trip this weekend. Kevin will be gone all weekend, but Dan expects to be back by the Oakville game tomorrow. Sophomore Kevin Glauber will be playing for the JV team for this tournament. Coach Stream and I talked about it, then Kevin and I talked about it and we let Kevin decide if he wanted to play varsity or JV for the tournament. I think he chose to play JV for a couple reasons:

  1. JV will be missing some players for the band trip, so they could use an extra body
  2. Kevin gets about 7 minutes/game at the varsity level, which is not anything to sneeze at, but he will likely get 25-28 minutes/game if he plays JV. For a developing sophomore, he will benefit more from playing four JV games in three days, then he would playing at the varsity level for this tournament. Next week, if Kevin chooses, he can come back to varsity.
I don't know anything about this Lafayette team. Traditionally they have a lot of good swimmers fed from the Rockwood Swim Club. Since we don't know what to expect, we will have to think defense first until we get a feel for what they are trying to do to us. See you out there.

Starters for Varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage (c)
#3 Michael Kubik
#4 Jack Meara
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#9 Peter Hoette
#13 Chris Duncan

April 2, 2008

Chaminade 9 - Parkway South 3

The Red Devils have more wins than losses for the first time this season...a feat to be proud of! I'm going to sound like a broken record before too long because yet again our boys were tremendous on the defensive end and lacking on the offensive end. Chaminade held the Patriots to 3 goals and forced 23 turnovers, a season high. This was done through a press-no-foul defense on the perimeter and tenacious fronting of the 2M. In addition, the Red Devils recognized out of position Patriots and crashed the 2M on hole passes from the top when an opportunity arose.

On the offensive end, the Red Devils tied a season high in goals with 9, but shot less than 50% as Parkway South's Jim Bowers stopped 12 shots. Jim played very well, but our boys rushed a lot of shots, took too many outside shots and didn't force Jim to move across the goal-mouth with cross-goal passes. We still are working through the post-Spring Break rustiness, but at least the effort is there. The greatest thing we have going for us is our intensity level...we just need it to be more structured.

Things that went right:

  • 2M defense
  • Defensive awareness leading to a season high in steals
Things that went not so right:
  • Patience on Offense
  • 6-on-5 Offense (0 for 2)
Goals: Benage - 3, Arnold - 2, Kubik - 2, Faust - 1, Hoette - 1

Assists: Stabler - 4, Kubik - 2, Hoette - 1, Meara - 1, Watkins - 1

Steals: Stabler - 6, Duncan - 4, Kubik - 3, Arnold - 1, Fernandez - 2, Watkins - 2, Benage - 1, Entwistle -1, Faust - 1, Hoette -1

Kickouts: Kubik - 2, Duncan - 1

Saves: Stabler - 4

Player of the Game: Arnold - 2 goals on 3 shots, 2 steals and persistence on offense to recover two rebounds for goals

Up Next: Thursday April 3rd v. Lafayette @ Lafayette. JV at 4:15 PM, Varsity at 5:15 PM.

Summer Camps

Two different summer camps have come to my attention that I think might be worthwhile for some people.

University of Michigan Water Polo Camp: this camp is run by my former coach at Indiana Matt Anderson. With apologies to Don Casey, Charlie Busenhart and Paul Baudendistel, Matt is the best coach I have ever played for. He is the head coach of the Michigan women's team and has been a very successful boys coach as well. If you doubt his credentials, check out his bio on Michigan's website. I would highly recommend this camp, but travel is required obviously.

Elite Polo Camp: this is a camp run by guys with very good credentials, but whom I have never met so I can't personally recommend them. But, this camp is here in St. Louis and that is a big plus. Also, in St. Louis, just getting in the water makes you a better player, so there can be no harm in attending this camp (unless they teach bad habits, which I doubt).

These are just two of many camps across the nation and in town that you or your son can attend. My recomendation for this summer would be to play for a local club first and attend these camps only as a supplement to your development. These camps are short term and aren't subsititutes for routine practices and games that happen all summer long with St. Louis clubs.

Tonight v. Parkway South

Chaminade will be scrapping with the Parkway South Patriots tonight at Parkway South. The JV game starts at 7:00 PM followed by the Varsity game at about 8:00 PM. We will be short super Sophomore Kevin Glauber tonight as he is making up his Monday absence. As of writing, I am unaware of the status of Junior Jack Meara has he hurt his arm blocking a shot yesterday in practice. We all hope he is okay.

I am more familiar with these Patriots than any team in the area, besides maybe SLUH. I think nearly every South player played for me at Jungle Cats at some point in the last two years. Senior Jake Meyer is their best overall player who has skills on both the defensive and offensive end. What Jake lacks in stature, he makes up for in smarts. Like Ladue's Varwig, Jake travelled with us to California last summer and has a great deal of experience. Junior Patrick Maloney is South's best 2M player and is also their fastest swimmer. Entwistle, Faust and Duncan will again be called upon to shadow Patrick everywhere. In my opinion, Senior goalie Jim Bowers is one of the 5 best in the area, but South's weakness is their reliance on underclassmen that are talented but undersized and inexperienced. Our Red Devils are savvy veterans who can hopefully out-smart and out-work the younger and less aware Patriots. It should be a good one. See you tonight.

Starters for Varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage (c)
#3 Michael Kubik
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#8 Danny Faust
#9 Peter Hoette
#11 Dan Fernandez

April 1, 2008

Chaminade 9 - Ladue 1

The Red Devils got back to .500 by beating a very good Ladue team. The scoreboard didn't show it, but Ladue played tough and held Chaminade's offense in check. An injury to Ladue's senior goaltender gave CCP an opportunity to score some soft goals against an inexperienced sophomore. But, regardless of Ladue's goaltending situation, our boys clamped down on two of the best 2M's in the area (Zach Varwig and Hayden Yancey) and allowed only one Ladue goal off a perfect cross goal shot. So even with their #1 goalie, 2 goals would have secured a win.

Things that went right:

  • 2M Defense - Danny Faust, Jake Entwistle and Chris Duncan, with support from Jack Benage and Jack Meara, held the Ladue 2M tandem to zero goals. They rarely fouled outside 5, which forced Zach and Hayden to take shots under pressure, and when they did foul, they immediately got a hand up and in some cases, blocked a shot (Duncan!).
  • Movement on Offense - our set offense was quite rusty, but it wasn't due to lack of effort. The hardest thing to get high school players to do is to be aggressive on offense and make something happen when nothing is going on. We showed creativity and willingness to take risks with our drives and it paid off with high percentage shots and 5 man-advantages.
  • Goaltending - Blake played fantastic and clearly frustrated Ladue's shooters. In the second quarter, he cramped up and Jack Meara put on the red cap and made a great save. The passing by both was precise and they even hooked up in the 4th quarter as Meara beat his man down the middle and Blake hit him with a dry pass at the 5M line for a easy goal.

Things that went not so right:

  • Half-Court Offense Balance and Execution
  • 6-on-5 (Patience is a virtue!)
  • Winging Out Early on Counters
Goals: Kubik - 3, Arnold - 2, Benage - 2, Fernandez - 1, Meara - 1

Assists: Benage - 2, Duncan -1, Faust - 1, Fernandez - 1, Kubik - 1, Meara - 1

Steals: Stabler - 8, Entwistle - 2, Benage - 1, Kubik - 1, Schwartz - 1, Watkins - 1

Kickouts: Stabler - 1

Saves: Stabler - 11

Player of the Game: Stabler - 11 saves on 12 shots, 8 steals, 2 assists and 1 cramp recovery

Up Next: Wednesday April 2nd v. Parkway South @ Parkway South. JV at 7:00 PM, Varsity after JV at approximately 8:00 PM.