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To the Editor:
Hockey players are like fierce cobras. They’re patient; they slither stealthily up to their target. And then — they pounce, firing the puck off the crossbar and so deep into the net you wouldn’t be surprised if it never came out.
Sadly it does, and it returns to that same spot many times in the next half an hour, that dark shameful pocket in the back of the net. Especially when you’re battling knights, as in the Saratoga Knights, I mean.
I like to think of our team as a giant cobra. Except, instead of scoring goals, our team is trying to capture a game.
To be a champion, you have to follow a few simple steps.
First, you have to find your kill.
Next, you have to wrap your long, scaly body around it and wrestle it to the ground. Finally, you sink your dagger like fangs into your prey, spraying venom into its limp body.
For the Guilderland-Mohonasen Dutch Warriors, we’ve made it past step one so far in our 2012-13 season. We have successfully played another team in hockey. Essentially, we’ve accomplished nothing.
When our town’s varsity hockey team is brought up in a conversation, it mostly ends with a negative comment. An example of one used often would be, “We suck” or, “We’ll never win a game” or, “Coming to a game would be like throwing four hours of my life in a trash can.”
When asked for an opinion on our team, people give these responses: “Losers,” “A pathetic excuse for a hockey team,” and. my personal favorite. “Guilderland has a hockey team?”
I try to be angry, I really do, but I can’t disagree with the commenters’ reactions. After all, our team is 0-10, counting our very recent loss, a 7-to-2 disappointment to LaSalle.
Slowly but surely, we are being cobra-ized by every opponent we face no matter their size or skill level. Some players think the life of our short-lived team is gradually being squeezed and it’s inevitable that “the cobra” will eat us, thus defeating our hopes and dreams of a victory for the umpteenth time this year.
Despite all this terrible truth, we continue to play our hearts out and leave everything out on the ice. I know we may doubt ourselves sometimes but on the inside we will always have confidence in our team and know that our patience will be rewarded.
With good advice from our responsible, wise coaches and a whole lot of sweaty conditioning, our team can make a difference. Even if it’s just for a single game.
We can prove to all the deserters out there that we can will ourselves to complete any goal. We will change the views of many, and they will join us in our road to glory. We will show the world that the impossible can be done, miracles can happen.
A little, inexperienced team can overcome a greatly more powerful one! Although we may have moments of recklessness, in the end we have fought like warriors.
With a large amount of faith, and a larger quantity of heart, I believe in the Guilderland/Mohon warriors and our courage to undertake anything.
Connor Phillips
Guilderland
Editor’s note: Connor Phillips, an eighth-grader at Farnsworth Middle School, plays on the varsity Guilderland-Mohonasen Dutch Warriors team. See story in Sports.