The 99 Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks have announced their tryout schedule for the upcoming 2010/2011 season. Tryout cost is $60 and is open to any and all 1999 birth year players interested in AAA hockey.
Monday, March 22nd – 7pm @Iceland – Strongsville, OH
Tuesday, March 23rd – 7pm @Gilmour Academy – Gates Mills, OH
Thursday, March 25th – 7pm @Gilmour Academy – Gates Mills, OH
Friday, March 26th – 6pm @Iceland – Strongsville, OH
Please note there will be a parent meeting on Monday, March 22nd after the tryout session.
The 99 Jr. Jacks have also announced a series of pre-tryout skates to be held on the following dates:
Monday, March 8th – 7pm @Iceland – Strongsville, OH
Thursday, March 11th – 6:40pm @Gilmour Academy – Gates Mills, OH
Monday, March 15th – 7pm @Iceland – Strongsville, OH
Thursday, March 18th – 6:40pm @Gilmour Academy – Gates Mills, OH
These skates designed to provide an opportunity to tune up for tryouts and familiarize the players with the various drills and systems used by the 99 Jr. Jacks. Cost is $15 per player per session.
Posted by Deb | News | Thursday 25 February 2010 12:11 pm
Cleveland, OH – February 25, 2010 – For Immediate Release
The 99 Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks have announced today that Bill Menges will return as Head Coach for the 2010-2011 season as part of a multi-year contract extension. Contract terms and financial details were not made available as per team policy but it is clear that Coach Menges will be on hand to guide the boys through these upcoming critical and formative hockey years.
99 Jr. Jacks General Manager Tim Kucharski made the announcement at team headquarters this morning and was very pleased to get a deal done prior to tryouts. “We’re very happy to have Bill locked up for the foreseeable future. He is a great coach and the only coach we want to guide these young men through these next several years”, commented Kucharski.
In a related development, it was learned that Menges will coach only the ’99 Jr. Jacks starting next season. He has been Head Coach for the 1997 Jr. Jacks but will relinquish that role to focus solely on the 99’s.
“I am very excited about this team and our prospects in the next several years and am I’m looking forward to tryouts, our spring season and obviously next season,” stated Menges. “We should be able to build off of our success this season and be a very hard team to play against next year.”
Posted by Deb | Tournaments | Friday 19 February 2010 1:05 pm
Mission Possible!
99 Jr. Jacks Make Strong Showing at Team Illinois Goldenstick Tournament
Chicago, IL – Monday February 15th – For Immediate Release
Heading in to the Team Illinois Goldenstick Tournament this past weekend in Chicago, the 99 Jr. Jacks knew they had their work cut out for them as they would face some tough competition in this their last tournament of the season. However, what seemed like a mission “impossible” turned into a mission “possible” as the boy’s confidence and trust in themselves and each other grew with each game.
In Game One, they exacted some revenge on the Chicago Fury pounding out a 5-2 victory. The 99 Jr. Jacks had lost an earlier season matchup with the Fury 4-1. In Game Two, they faced the 10th ranked St. Louis Jr. Blues and hung right with them until the very end before losing 4-2. The 99 Jr. Jacks had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 during the contest and the game was tied 2-2 until late in the third period before a St. Louis power play goal proved to be the difference.
The 99 Jr. Jacks came back the next morning and faced a tough Milwaukee Admirals team ranked just a few spots behind the boys at 27th. The 99 Jr. Jacks took an early 2-0 lead before surrendering the momentum to the Admirals who would score 4 straight goals to go up 4-2 and hang on despite a 99 Jr. Jacks comeback to win 4-3. The difference-maker was the 99 Jr. Jacks tough luck on the power play.
This 1-2 record in divisional play set up a quarterfinal contest with the Madison, WI Capitals whom the 99 Jr. Jacks had defeated earlier this season at the RBK Little Caesars Tournament in Detroit. The Capitals surged out of the gate and controlled play for the first half of the first period taking a 2-0 lead on the 99 Jr. Jacks. In a familiar script, though, the never-say-die 99 Jr. Jacks would rise up and prove their mettle once again as Madison would not score again the rest of the way and watched the 99 Jr. Jacks tie the score at 2-2 late in the second period. Both teams traded numerous scoring chances in the third period and the 99 Jr. Jacks killed off a late penalty before getting a power play of their own that would carry over into the overtime period. Ironically, this game was played in the same Buffalo Grove Twin Rinks arena where the 99 Jr. Jacks suffered an earlier overtime and shootout loss at the Nike Bauer Invitational back in November. This game was to be different. The 99 Jr. Jacks exercised some demons as they “capitalized” on their power play and won an exciting game 3-2 to advance to the semifinals.
The semifinals would give the 99 Jr. Jacks another crack at the St. Louis Jr. Blues and the boys played at the same high level as usual and carried a 1-0 lead to the second period. Unfortunately, the momentum swung over to the Blues in the second period as they took a 3-1 lead after two periods. Two more St. Louis goals made it 5-1 but the 99 Jr. Jacks didn’t quit and scored the last goal to make the game 5-2. The St. Louis team was very impressive, but unfortunately, they lost to tournament host Team Illinois in the Championship Game 4-3 in overtime.
“All five games were very competitive and could have gone either way,” commented 99 Jr. Jacks Coach Bill Menges. “The boys don’t like to lose and they are hard on themselves but they need to realize they played some great hockey against some great teams. It is possible for us to compete against the top teams in the country. Heck, St. Louis already asked me if we can play several games against them next season. This is just the tip of the iceberg for the 99 Jr. Jacks.”
“If I had a choice to coach any team at any age level, it would be these guys,” added Assistant Coach Rob Krueger. “I am very proud of their play this weekend. Offense, defense, goaltending, everything – plus they never ever quit.”
By press time, the 99 Jr. Jacks will be heading up to St. Catherine’s, Ontario for a pair of games with both the St. Catherine’s Jr. Falcons and the Burlington Eagles. Sadly, this will mark the last weekend of regular season play. As usual, time has flown by but what a hockey and life experience this season has been. The development of this team is palpable and has us already looking forward to next season because the best is yet to come.
Posted by Deb | News | Monday 8 February 2010 12:39 pm
Monday February 8th – For Immediate Release
The 99 Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks will hold their annual parent meeting this weekend while attending the Team Illinois Goldenstick Tournament. Topics of discussion will be plans for the 2010/2011 season including scheduling, fundraising, tryouts, spring tournaments and team administration. Questions and other discussion points, as always, are welcomed and encouraged.
The meeting will be held at the Spring Hill Suites in Lincolnshire, IL, the team hotel, either on Saturday or Sunday evening depending upon tournament schedule.
Coach Menges will also be conducting player evaluations this weekend.
Best of luck to the 99 Jr. Jacks at the Team Illinois Goldenstick Tournament as the boys will face off against the Chicago Fury, the St. Louis Jr. Blues and the Milwaukee Jr. Admirals in preliminary round play.
Posted by Deb | Games | Tuesday 2 February 2010 8:42 am
Cleveland, OH – Sunday January 31st – For Immediate Release
The 99 Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks welcomed in the Chicago Young Americans for a Sunday morning contest at Gilmour Academy and shame on you for six weeks if you missed this one! This game turned into an old-fashioned, wide open, wild-west shootout showcasing fire-wagon hockey at it best. This was one of those games that whoever had the puck last might win.
The 99 Jr. Jacks jumped out to a 1-0 early lead but then the Young Americans surged back with two quick ones to take a 2-1 lead. The 99 Jr. Jacks tied it right back up but it was CYA who took a 3-2 after one period. The 99 Jr. Jacks took over a bit in the second period scoring four goals to CYA’s one to take a crazy 6-4 lead heading into the third period. The two teams traded early third period goals to make it 7-5 but the 99 Jr. Jacks were not out of the woods yet as the Young Americans kept pressing their attack and it paid off with a late goal to draw within one at 7-6 but that was all the closer they got as the 99 Jr. Jacks held on for a final score of 7-6. Luckily, there were only fifteen minutes in each period or the score could have been even higher the way these two squads were executing on offense.
With this win, the 99 Jr. Jacks completed the month of January with a 9-0 record posting the first undefeated month in team history. This nine game streak is also the longest in team history.
“We’ll take this win and run,” commented Coach Bill Menges. “Needless to say, our offense was really clicking but I think we got caught up in the end to end pace of the game which hurt us on the defensive end. The Young Americans are a tough team and we appreciate them taking time out to come in and play against us.”
The 99 Jr. Jacks are off this coming weekend and they’ll resume their normal practice schedule as they gear up for the Team Illinois tournament in Chicago February 12th through 14th.
