I read “Bantams, Bulldogs make finals” (Nov. 30), and wish to add that there was bit more to what the Craig Cougar Bantams did, causing their multiple (17 not 15) penalties.
I am glad to see your one coach has somewhat of a grasp on the majority of his players’ attitudes, their dangerous actions on the ice, their obnoxious behavior toward the referees and bad treatment of our ice rink penalty box and glass, which resulted in added penalty minutes for each occurrence.

And yes, my son played against your Craig Cougars. This game was really bad. There were four Craig players in the penalty box at once. This is unheard of, at least to me, and I have attended my children’s hockey games for many years.

Another one of your players received a “Game Misconduct,” and your team captain also spent his fair share of penalty box minutes, as well. He is supposed to be your team’s “good example” on conduct and sportsmanship.
Hockey is a lot of fun, most of the time. This time, it was dangerous.

Our team also had “turkey legs” and was frustrated by the encouragement of the “go get them and hurt them” attitude of the other side. e believe in “it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, it is how you play the game” philosophy, so we continued to play hockey despite that. Our team called it quits when it became apparent injury was the real game out there. This trophy simply was not worth the risk.

In the end, your Craig players thought it was really cool to take home the trophy; they were vocally jubilant about it in the lobby.

We Vail Bantam B parents and coaches thought it was it was really cool to walk away with only a couple of bruised/broken ribs and no paralyzed players.

Good luck with your team in the future. If they had played hockey and not war, they would have been a good, challenging opponent, and we would have enjoyed the game.

Marty Lich

Gypsum