The 99 Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks are sponsoring a Spring 50/50 raffle and tickets are on sale right now! There will be three cash prizes of up to $700 each and tickets can be purchased from any 99 Jr. Jacks family thru May 31st.
Ticket prices are 1 for $5, 3 for $10, and 7 for $20.
The drawings will be held June 3rd and the winners will be contacted by phone.
Thanks for supporting your 99 Jr. Jacks!
2010 – The Year of the Jacks – Let’s Go Jacks!
Detroit, MI – Monday May 3rd – For Immediate Release
The transition from Squirt to Pee Wee hockey, especially with the introduction of body checking, can really, as the old saying goes, “separate the men from the boys”. Well, if this past weekend’s performance at the Showdown in Motown is any indication, the new 99 Jr. Jacks have passed the test and can be counted as young men with great character and courage. Displaying their trademark “never-say-die” attitude, the 99 Jr. Jacks reached the semi-finals of this annual event in the Detroit, marking the first time in the tournament’s history that a team outside of the Detroit Midwest Elite League teams made it to the semi-finals in the 99 birth year division.
The first two preliminary round games saw the 99 Jr. Jacks thoroughly dominate the Chicago Young Americans and the Pittsburgh Jr. Penguins by scores of 10-1 and 9-0 respectively. The 99 Jr. Jacks held a major territorial and shot advantage throughout both games and the outcomes were never in any doubt.
The final preliminary round game against Victory Honda (Detroit) is where the boys (ahem, Men!) showed their mettle. The game would prove to be the most physical game the 99 Jr. Jacks would see so far in their brief Pee Wee careers and despite some early adversity, they rose up to meet the challenge. The 99 Jr. Jacks fell behind early in this contest and were trailing by scores of 2-0 and 3-1 and were also being outhit and outhustled by Victory Honda throughout the first period. Facing a stand up or back down scenario, the 99 Jr. Jacks chose to stand up and so the comeback began as they tied the score at 3-3 behind some inspired play and some hard hitting of their own which put Victory Honda in the unfamiliar spot of being back on their heels and having difficulty with the 99 Jr. Jacks fore-check and also gaining entry into the Jacks zone. As play leveled-out, Victory Honda jumped ahead 4-3 only to have the 99 Jr. Jacks quickly tie the game back up. Victory scored another goal to make it 5-4 but the Jacks would not give up and quickly tied the game again at 5-5. After killing off two successive penalties, the 99 Jr. Jacks were able to get the go-ahead goal late in the third period and were also able to add an empty-netter to ice the game with a final score of 7-5.
The reward for the thrilling win was a date with Honeybaked (Detroit) in the semi-finals and this game would also prove to be a thriller as the 99 Jr. Jacks went toe to toe and slugged it out against the 13th ranked team in the USA and winners of the 2009 Showdown in Motown. Honeybaked came out strong early in the game and held the territorial and shot advantage through the first period but the 99 Jr. Jacks held them off the scoreboard and the game was tied 0-0 after one period. The Jacks got their bearings and it was the Jacks who scored first to make it 1-0 on a power play goal early in the second period. Honeybaked was able to tie the game off of a net-front scrum but it was the 99 Jr. Jacks who rebounded to take the lead again at 2-1 heading into the third period. Honeybaked, however, came out smoking in the third period and were able to tie the game, grab some momentum and eventually take the lead and the game after some unfortunate penalty calls against the 99 Jr. Jacks, who just couldn’t hold off Honeybaked’s sharp power play. In all, a great effort by the 99 Jr. Jacks in these unchartered waters.
“I told the guys in the room that I was very proud of them and that I could see them maturing before my eyes”, beamed Coach Bill Menges. “We’re coming back up to play in a few weeks to play Compuware, Belle Tire and Honeybaked so we’ll have some motivation now. I can’t wait for practice on Tuesday”.
Coach Rob Krueger added, “After the first period against Victory Honda, I knew we were going to win that game. The boys gathered themselves and really turned the tables, which is a good sign for next season when we’ll get a few more cracks at these teams.”
The 99 Jr. Jacks will continue to practice for the next few weeks before heading back to Detroit the weekend of May 22nd and 23rd to play against 7th ranked Belle Tire, 13th ranked Honeybaked and 15th ranked Compuware.
2010 – The Year of the Jacks!! – Let’s Go Jacks!!
