After losing their first five games this season, and nine of their first 11, Corey and the Capitals finished strong. Sparked by winning two of three in the New Year's Tournament, the Capitals won 10 of their last 15 games to finish the regular season 12-13 overall (8-11 league) and are entering the postseason as the No. 2 seed. The four Gilbert teams will play a round-robin tournament the first week in April, with the top two teams meeting in the championship on Saturday, April 10. The winner advances to the all-Polar Ice tournament.
As the team has improved this year, so did Corey and his defense. Before Christmas, he was 2-7 with a goals-against average of 7.25 and save percentage of .676. Since then, he has gone 10-6 with 4.25 and .727 save percentage. Take out one bad game down the stretch -- a 12-4 loss to the Lightning -- and Corey's second-half numbers improve to 3.73 and .755 ... pretty impressive!
Corey also skated out one game last month, and had fun playing defense. He even got to play forward for a little bit late in the game. The highlights so far this year definitely were the first victory (the day of Corey's birthday party!), the New Year's Tournament, a trip to Prescott Valley, and seeing all the players making vast improvements and having fun!
Here's hoping the Capitals can keep their momentum going for a long postseason run!P.S. Thanks to Amy Gloyd for these great photos of Corey from throughout the year! I took the top one from my phone (in case you couldn't tell).
