Wayzata Cinema & Skates

S & Jack watched Miracle while blading across Lake Minnetonka at Wayzata's Cinema & Skates (limited capacity) event.

Distant Cousins

A rare all-cousin sighting in 2020-21.  Big Al rented a movie theatre for a socially distanced birthday party. Fun getting the crew together. This whole thing has been SO long.

Comeback Kids

E's squad had what will likely be one of their most memorable wins of the youth careers in their opening game of the STMA Shootout vs. Eden Prairie, a team with a few of Evie's AAU teammates.

Wayzata was down 5 with just a minute to play, and then... well, just watch the tape!

4A Bloomington Classic

Sawyer's squad rolled over the competition in Bloomington 103-22 over three games in Bloomington as a tune-up to the following week's State tournament.

There are three teams that could threaten this crew (Lakeville North, Lakeville South and Farview) in pursuit of a "3-peat". It will be fun to see the girls pushed... and how they respond.

No action shots from the Bloomington event.  L was on camera duty and took just one in-game photo that she thought was "hysterical" of me and my twin. 

6A & 4A Blaine Invitationals

Hoops, hoops and more hoops.

E & S and their teams both battled in Blaine, a rare occurrence of having both in the same school district... but, thanks to COVID, games were still observed from cars for at least one parent.  

E came away with a silver, S with another gold.

6A Delano Invatational

E & company took home their second 6A gold playing up at Delano, though playing a team in the championship with only 5 healthy players grooved a smoother path to this one.

4A Cake Eater Classic

Sawyer's WGBA hoops team took their first loss since she started three years ago to a same grade team when they ran into a hot Farview team in the Edina Classic in the first round.  

It was so good for the team to experience, and so funny to see the post-game reactions.  Three in tears, three fuming mad, and three that I'm not sure knew they'd lost.  

Their poor opponents in the next few rounds though... the crew rallied back and took home the consolation prize.  

Xmas with the Maxwells

With the current and projected COVID situation in the US, it seemed less and likely by the day that our Maxwell Christmas was going to be able to happen with the full crew, i.e. Ashley and Matt, closer to 12/25/2020 than 12/25/2021... so, we said to heck with it and went virtual.

E&S were spoiled, as usual, and soft & furry seemed to be the theme this year with squishy All Birds, soft socks and tees and bathrobes that look and feel like freshly sheered wool from a sheep!

4A Apple Valley Classic with SRB

S and her 4-1 crew continued to roll, knocking out Eagan, Prior Lake and Shakopee en route to another 1st place finish and 12-0 record on the season.

The team continues to improve and is getting better spacing, transitioning more smoothly, sharing the ball more frequently, and playing actual TEAM defense on the ball.

Sawyer racked up assists all day, and worked the boards hard filling in for one of the team's posts who was out with a skiing injury.

6A Apple Valley Classic & EP Winter Shootout with EJB

E's 6-2 squad had their best tournament weekend of the year, taking down White Bear Lake and Shakopee before losing to Prior Lake in Saturday's AV Classic championship.  PL is the state's #2 "A-team", and our girls exchanged blows for a solid 8-10 minute stretch each half.  

On Sunday, the team opened with the state's #3 6A team, Mahtomedi, and kept the game within 2-points late into the second half before the wheels fell off a bit. 

So proud of the girls' continued improvements in confidence, grit, toughness and hoops IQ.  They're playing faster and smarter, and are starting to realize they belong at this level (now 9-6 on the season).  

E had one of her most aggressive offensive tournaments, knocked down several big threes, and score 16, her season high vs. Mahtomedi's tall tough, tough backcourt. Defensively she handled a "promotion" to a trapper position in our full court press and handled it beautifully.

(And from the looks of my red face in this picture, I had one of my most aggressive tournaments yelling, I mean encouraging, through my mask as well!)

Banning State Park

The fam' took advantage of the final teacher in-service day before the kids returned to in-person schooling and headed up north to Banning with G'pa Tom to check out the winter view of one of our favorite hikes discovered this summer. 

While we we ran out of steam and didn't make it to our destination, the Wolf Creek Falls, we discovered a few gems that weren't visible through the thick summer greenery (an old abandoned mill building and a stretch of rapids on the Kettle River).

Enginerd

With virtual school not exactly challenging S, she asked to sign-up for a virtual engineering class put on by one of her YouTube favorites, Mark Rober (a former NASA scientist). 

Each week Mark challenges the kids to apply the scientific process to prototype and then build an invention using the "basics" of mechanical, electrical and computer engineering.

Sawyer's first build was a mix & match candy vending machine... with a few kinks to work out! 

:-)

Pond Hockey

E, S & the Jungs getting a skate in...

4A Chaska Super Classic with SRB

Another title run for WGBA 4-1, and an impressive lopsided win over Chaska in the championship, one of the few teams that has challenged this group of girls in season's past.

Adding to the long list of COVID downers, part of the Return to Play protocol for youth sports is limited fan attendance. In smaller gyms, sometimes that means a lottery where only a few kids per team are allowed to bring a parent in the gym.  This means, a lot of Facebook Live streaming of games (and texted side bar commentary) from those lucky enough to be in the gym broadcasted to those hovering in their cars in the schools' parking lots.

6A Orono Spartan Classic with EJB

E's squad fought tooth and nail with a tough Roseville squad, before letting it slip away in the final minute.  Then, took out their frustration on Brainerd before losing to her AAU MN Stars buddy Payton's Lakeville North squad in a pretty bad beating in the consolation game. 

With the fan limit rules due to COVID, and with me tied up coaching, screenshots from grainy BallerTV broadcasts are as good is its going to get for action shots of Evie this season.

The Great Backyard

E & I trudged through our backyard's wetland snowfall to investigate the late night commotion we'd heard the prior evenings. Sure enough, we found deer tracks, deer droppings, rabbit tracks, evidence of a coyote slumber party full of their hair, and a pristine "snow angle" imprint of an owl pouncing on prey.

4A Coon Rapids Cardinal Classic with SRB

S & the gang steamrolled through Coon Rapids' annual tourney.  

Sawyer had a season high of 18-points in a 54-0 romping of Anoka in the championship, and had to have had double-digit steals and rebounds as well.  

6A Irondale Shootout with EJB

E'2 6-2 team returned to play, now in masks per COVID guidelines, with their first championship playing up at the A-level, knocking off Eastridge and Park Center (a longtime rival we've never beaten) in tight games along the way.

These were big wins in helping build confidence and swagger. Proud of the girls for digging deep and finding a way.

E's weekend highlight was hitting a three with seconds remaining to force overtime vs. Eastridge!  You can see the ball in flight in photo #1 above, and the team's reaction when it splashed in in the photo #2.