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Heat midget team burned by discipline

Lack of discipline for Heat prevented better results in Barn Burner tournament
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Discipline prevented the Penticton Heat from taking third place in their home tournament May 14.

The Heat midget team settled for a 3-3 draw with Delta in their Barn Burner tournament at Memorial Arena. Heat coach Cliff Shortreed said had his team been more disciplined they could have won.

“When you’re playing short handed in any capacity, it can be difficult to compete,” he said. “You can dig yourself a hole as we did earlier in the tournament and in some of our games.”

The Heat opened Friday with a 10-5 loss to Kelowna, then defeated New Westminster 2-1. In their first match to Delta, they lost 8-5 on May 13 and thumped New Westminster in a rematch, 10-0. On Sunday morning they defeated Mission 9-3 to face Delta again for third.

Shortreed said his players learned the importance of discipline, especially reacting to officials handing out bad penalties. They learned that voicing their displeasure doesn’t help.

“I have never seen a referee in lacrosse or hockey or any other sports change their mind after they make a call,” said Shortreed, whose team experienced some frustrations.

Shortreed liked that the players listened to the message he and his other coaches gave them. Another area that impressed the coach was the willingness of some players to play out of position. One was Aiden Canada, who typically likes to play high and shoot from the high slot. Instead, he played low and did well. Shortreed also praised his captain, Rhys MacDonald. MacDonald shared the ball and played strong defensively and offensively. He led the tournament with 13 goals and 18 points in six games. Carson Shortreed put up four goals and six points in four games.

This weekend the Heat travel to Richmond for a tournament.