Game Day - Wheelers (4) tie Rockers (4)

Last night we played a tight draw with the Rockers in our regular season inline game at Gawler.  Both teams played their regular line ups, no reserves required.  There were no penalties taken.  The Wheelers remain a game and a half clear on the top of the table.  Alex leads the Division's scoring table with 12 goals and four assists over five games (he's played four of them).  Next week we play the Shufflers in the late game (8:45pm start) for a top of table clash marking the season's midpoint.

First Half

The first period was pretty tight.  We won opening face off.  The following play was full of passing triangles, resulting in a good shot on goal that rebounded into the corner.  Their counterattack was a similarly good two pass play and required a save from Matt the Goalie to keep it out.  Each side had showed its teeth in the opening minute.  I assisted Alex to open the scoring in the last play of our shift.  It was about the third attacking play our line had made, each of them marked by controlled passing and a shot on goal.  I seemed to be more the playmaker than shooter, but that suited me fine.  Our line went in on the goal, and from then on there was an element of chaos in the game as the on-floor composition of our team kept changing.  A couple shifts later, Brenton was open in the top of the slot and slammed a goal in for 2-0.

Not to be deterred, our opponents answered with two goals of their own in the next eight minutes, one being a 'soft' goal (Merrilyn and I shrugged our shoulders to each other as we returned to the face off, there wasn't much that could be said when the puck gods had spoken, that kind of goal) and the other one where we were simply outworked on the neutral boards, resulting in an overload in front of our net.  It was therefore with some relief that in the half's closing minute I witnessed Alex get open in front of their net and deliberate over his shot as he skated across the goal mouth, before putting the puck home in the top corner.  The siren rang shortly after, and we had a 3-2 lead.

Half time was mainly one of quiet determination on our bench.  There was no sign of either panic or exuberance, nor did any of us feel the need to comment on our play or make any exhortations about what we needed to do/not do.  Instead, a fairly focused recuperation period, all of us taking a drink whilst concentrating on regaining composure and that sense of 'teamness' when you're all together and you all know what needs doing.

Second Half

The second half was an interesting one.  The opening shift culminated in a physical struggle for position in the slot in front of our goal, upping the emotional level as everyone responded in the push and shove.  This resulted in a pileup in front of our goal, with sticks, boots and hands flailing at floor level.  I kept my feet and my eyes on the puck the whole time, was about to pluck it from the scrum when a little space opened around it, saw a gloved hand cup itself over the puck and push it into space a foot or so closer to the goal, in the path of an opponent's stick that flicked it into the net.  Before the whistle blew I was pointing at where the hand had held the puck (it was one of their player's who'd gloved it).  I think a couple of my fellows remonstrated briefly with the referee.  I later gathered that even the offending player had told the ref at this point that she had held the puck.  Sadly for us, the ref maintained that he hadn't seen it and the goal counted.  We took the opportunity to change lines.

What impressed me most about the whole incident was our team's response.  The attitude on the bench was one of 'well, let's get on with it',  "Let's get it back, Wheelers!".  And, in half a minute, we did!  Matt hit it out from the backlines, Merrilyn and Alex made a couple considered lateral passes to each other after winning it off the backboards while Matt skated up into the slot for the final pass from the boards to score a goal.  If there was any sour taste left from their previous score, it was well and truly exorcised by the sense of vindication that came with the return of our one goal lead.  Give the Rockers their due, however, for a couple minutes later they again combined to out pass our defence while we perhaps foolishly conducted a shift change for a desperately tired skater and score the game equaliser.

The last ten minutes were a close fought battle, with us probably mounting more attacking moves than they did.  The last few seconds of the game were the most strange, with us having a final attack.  Merrilyn had the puck in the corner, the goalie had somehow found himself stranded between her and his net, I was coming down the centre with only an open net in front of me.  The pass came in across the crease, I reached for it and watched it go across the goal about three inches in front of my blade.  If I'd lunged I might have got it, if I'd dived I would have.  It was an open net.  We had time to smile about it and commence one further play before the siren went and this most excellent game was over.

My Game

Despite my failure to connect in the dying seconds I wasn't disappointed with my own game.  I'd won the opening face off, and three of the further six I'd taken (getting down much lower, watching the puck from the ref's hand to the floor, adjusting what I want to do to account for the opposition and thus winning a couple on guile over strength).  I didn't get totally blown, and my strained abductor muscle showed the benefit of my 'rehab' this past week. in that it didn't give any grief and was able to be well stretched after being warmed up during the first shift.  I think I had about four shots on goal (2 wristshots and 2 crossing forehand (?) snaps), and missed at least twice when had snaps from a middling distance against an open half of net.  I was definitely more playmaking than shooting during this game.

Probably the dumbest thing I did was a soft lateral pass across the high slot in front of our goal when I didn't know where all their players were and there was a chance one of them would pick up a dangerous shot opportunity late in the second half.  I knew my mistake as soon as I'd done it and followed the puck across towards Merrilyn, supporting her in controlling the puck and moving it back into safety.

Technically, I was happy, having put in play various things that have been taught.  This included heel to heel for both puck protection on the board and threat of wrap around, good acceleration in the late game in the race for the puck, a poke check or two, keeping my feet, chipping up the board, talking with my team mates, stop and turn moves, and even a couple wrist shots (sadly, against a well squared up goalie by time I released), and a couple occasions where I kept my composure to cross the goal front before releasing my shot after breaking out down the wing (I noticed Alex was doing this on occasion also) and reasonably good positional play ('twas not my player who set up or scored their goals when I was on the floor), keeping both play and player in view at all times.  I kept my feet moving.  My movements on and off the bench were tight and controlled.

GP 5 G 4 A 5 TP 9 +7 4/0/1