As we settle back into our daily lives after what was a cracking weekend I would like to quickly give a shout out to everyone who was involved in the Strasbourg Tournament that helped make it a part of my life I will never forget.
To Morgan, Stephane and the Gryphons of Strasbourg, we cannot thank you enough! To think this all started from a message for a Jersey is incredible. This year you once again welcomed us to your tournament and made it the best we have been to so far. Thanks to Nico and Francois for taking is to dinner, and making sure some of us made it home again! Thanks to the goalies and entire A & B teams for the fun and competitive games!!
To Dammarie, La Clusaz, Dijon, Viry & Geneva for the Big Black Bruises, the Mid Ice Pile Ups, the Excessive Drinking, the Obnoxious Chanting, the Hard Wins, the Crushing Defeats, the Champaign Showers, the Penalty Shoot-outs & the Locker Room Beers. The level of hockey played at this tournament drives us to improve ourselves year on year.
To everyone involved in the running of the administration, schedules, cleaning ice, serving food and especially pulling the beers!
To our Coach’s, Ger Duffy and Bill Reilly. It wasn’t easy to take away 28 players with huge Ego’s but you managed to keep us all together and achieve something truly incredible as a team. Bill we cannot thank you enough. Over the course of the weekend you have been thrown in the Crucible and emerged the far side as a Clover. Once you are in you can never leave!!
Gerry Duffy, you are the keystone of this organisation, the Don of this family.
To the Clovers Players that came to France this year, thank you for making it unforgettable. I am proud to play along side each and every one of you and I believe whole heartedly if it had been anyone else we could not have achieved what we did. There is no player without a team, and no team without players.
Ger Duffy would also like to say that he cannot find the words for how proud he is of everyone. We came off the ice in March and managed to retain a great number through the roller training sessions, though the positional play and when it came down to it we all dug deep and came home with more than he could dream of. He is still on a high and would like to thank everyone involved for such a great effort, and to say “Wait till ye see what I have planned NEXT!!”.
Last but by no means least, I would like to thank the ladies that joined us in the trip and all of our supporters and sponsors. It is inspiring to know our families and friends stand behind us and it drives us to continually improve. A special thanks to Joey Lavelle and the group that gave us a huge welcome home in to Dublin Airport on Monday.
Thank You All!
Aaron Collins #6
