SISEC in the News: Season End for SISEC Selects

Season End for SISEC Selects hockey club

By Ryan McLeod

April 4, 2012

The SISEC Selects came into the 2011-12 season looking to compete with the best in their league, and to the expectations of head coach Topher Plonka they did manage to keep up. But keeping up wasn’t good enough as they were eventually eliminated from the playoffs.


The season started well enough as they managed to pick up points in 16 of their first 21 games, but hit a rough patch from Dec 3 to Jan 7 going winless in ten straight games.


Finding consistency was something that always burdened the team and finding their identity wasn’t easy, but coach Plonka kept his teams sights on the future games and it came through in their high-tempo practices where he felt his team needed to work to gain their strength.


The difference between where these kids were at the beginning of the year and where they are now is night and day, said Plonka. “I take a few of them down to the gym and we work on bulking them up,” he said.


The work off the ice is just as important for the young high school kids who for the most part, have made great strides to becoming stronger and fitter. It’s something that Plonka notices as a huge improvement since seasons start.


Hard practices paid off during their drought and they finally broke from their slump. The Selects went on an amazing run, winning seven straight games and took away points in 12 of their next 15 games leading into playoffs.


But in the end, they lost out in the first round of the NAMHL playoffs and travelled to Penticton B.C. only to be eliminated in the shootout in their first match by the Okanagan Hockey Academy (OHA).
“(Penticton) was a tricky format, we work hard all year and we go all the way down there for basically a one game elimination,” said Plonka. “We ended up coming up against a hot goalie for OHA, but that’s hockey…that’s the way it goes sometimes,” he said.

OHA Black’s goalie was on fire, stopping everything that SISEC threw at him and kept the game tight, leading his team into the shootout. It was a position that SISEC did not want to be in and in the end, it came down to which goalie was hotter in the shootout.

While disappointment was inevitable for the boys who hoped to take home much more than a pat on the back, they managed to find fun in practice on March 29.
Plonka felt that with all that his team had been through, it was time to have some smiles and a few fun drills.


The players swapped right-handed sticks for left handed sticks (and vice versa), goalies dressed as players and players as goalies. There wasn’t a moment where someone wasn’t laughing or at the very least smiling. It was exactly what the doctor ordered for the boys before they headed off on April 3 for a relaxing and friendly week of hockey in Anaheim, California.


The games aren’t do or die, nor will the coaches be harping on the kids for goofing around. It is a chance for them to find peace with their season and heal any bumps and bruises that they have incurred over the course of the season. With 65 games and only 13 at home, the boys were well due for some rest.
“Hats off to these boys, going on the long ten hour bus rides and grinding it out, they did their best considering the circumstances,” said Plonka.


“During the season my practices are focused and prepared, we work hard and skate hard, but at this point its nice because we don’t have an opponent to train for so we have the time to have some fun,” he said.
“I think the boys deserve it, they have worked hard all year long and I know that its been a lot for some of them so its nice to be loosened up and enjoy seeing them have fun and smile on the ice.”


After the Selects return from California, it will be back to school and back to training as they get ready for their final tournament of the year in mid May.