A little before 7pm Tonight at the Gawler Rec Centre the Wheelers played the Shufflers in a tight 2-2 draw. At our last meeting Wheelers had won 3-2 with a final minute goal. This time, I scored the first goal, unassisted. Hammered away from in front of the goal and around to my left for three shots total, rebounding off the progressively less balanced goalie each time until my third short goes in on his open glove side. Moderately powerful wrist shot. They equalised a few minutes later. We went into half time tied at one.
The second half was just as tight. Again, we scored first from a scrum in the crease on the one powerplay of the game. Their goalie got very vocal that no penalty had been called for the fact that someone had been standing on his blocker (goalie stick) in what he thought was his crease. Seems that the referee couldn't see it, and our player (experienced player) maintains that the goalie was actually out of his crease by a couple of feet.
We held the lead till the final five minutes or so, when their skilled veteran received a pass back on the point (near the centre line, towards the boards) and had enough time to loop backwards and towards the centre, from where he launched a powerful shot that went through a group of three skaters and into the top corner of the net above the goalie's catcher. Potent shot. The final minute of the game was marked by about five shots from the slot in front of our goal (area directly in front of the goal, say 3m-6m distance), as their wing kept grabbing the rebound and passing to their centre for another shot and subsequent save/rebound by our goalie. It was only when our third skater dropped back and we played the game out with 3D and a final rush that I stopped fearing the loss. Good game.
I could have maybe prevented their second goal as I was coming back from the offensive zone at the time and actually thought of pinching down to interfere with Alan the Veteran as he carried the puck towards centre, but I went further out for some vague reason instead. The good thing was, I did think of the right action to take that could well have won us the game. The bad thing was, I didn't do it. Need to get more mentally flexible.
My goal was my strongest and most deliberate yet. I think I knew it at the time as I had a small private 'air punch' to celebrate in the crease (where I'd come to in case of another rebound). Probably made possible by the fact that I'd gone for a 'morning skate' and shot pucks down at the primary school earlier in the day - working on the very scenario that actually eventuated in the game. Good training routines.
I played on the 'first line' for much of my time, though scored the goal with the Pfeiffers. Our team is generally older, and we each have our own particular abilities. Mine is, I think positioning. Meryllyn's is her poke check. Dylan's, his skating and slapshot. Digger's, stick handling. Brendan, owning the corners. Mal, his stolid determination in attack. We all pass, talk and look. The 'first' line has probably the more agile and speedy skaters. Of course, we were also continuously mixing it up. Good group to play with.
I got a stick full in the face cage. If I'd been wearing a visor it would have struck between nose and mouth. Don't know who's stick it was, realise it was incidental and not deliberate, never-the-less wanted to slash at any opponent's stick held higher than waist high for a few minutes.
We remain at the top of the ladder, with Rockers three points below. We play them in the late game next week for the final fixture of the regular season. We'll be playing them again the following week in the Qualifying final. It's quite possible that we'll play them the following week in the grand final. It's almost like playoffs!
My season: 3-0-1 G3 A1 P4 +/- +4
Bruise update: almost no hinderance now, has lightened to a deep rich violet.
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