I've had a bit of a hiatus on this blog since that first round asthma attack. I have, however, kept up with my hockey commitments during the period. No particular reason for the hiatus, except for maybe a busy life. Made it to all games, two of three Viking training sessions and been to see the Pee Wee Penguins continue in their winning ways (will post separately on training and pee wee sessions). This post will bring us up to date with Wheelers news.
The Wheelers have rolled twice since our earlier victory over the Shufflers. On the first occasion, we played the Rockers. I got to the rink, looking forward to the game and in particular the chance to play against Greg (plays for the Sharks on the ice). When I arrived, he greeted me with the sad news that he'd been promoted to Div I for the following day and therefore wouldn't be playing this Div II game. He seemed genuinely disappointed. Jana, however, was filling in for him (she's another Shark, began 'learn to skate' classes the same day I did so we see each other as peers) after having played in the earlier Bumpers game (where she'd scored her first ever goal and was still buzzing).
We had our full roster of skaters initially, though Natasha had to leave before the game to get to another engagement after the whole proceedings were delayed by a fire drill. We had Krystal's brother Josh in his first ever game. He can skate okay and has the typical young man's hard shot, so once he gets a feel for the game he'll slot in nicely. Mike the Goalie was away so Matt filled in. Reminded me of old times. Besides Jana, the Rockers had Jai filling in for their regular goalie, and they were boosted with the addition of Mal to their lineup during the week. He and Jana joined Felicia, Ashley and Pauline to make a pretty gutsy set of players with some good skills.
I can't recall much of the game now, beyond a few impressionist moments. I scored an unassisted goal towards the end of the first half, tying the score 2-2. I came down the right boards at speed, cut across behind a retreating defender, swooped towards and past the crease on an angle, held my backhand shot until the absolute last moment and put it around behind Jai into the net. In the second half we took two penalties after Brenton had put one in. Neither was questioned by my usually questioning team mates so there was no controversy about them. They didn't score on the powerplays, but did put the final two goals in to take out the game. The GWG occurred in the last three minutes, Jana got behind our players as they pressed forward and no one could catch her as I watched from the bench. Most memorable impression is that Pauline is becoming a good 'par player', enjoyed her physical game and compete level. And Ashley is a skilled defender.
GP 2 G 1 A 1 +/-0 1/1/0
Last week we played the Bumpers in what promised to be another tight clash. Their team has had a few changes, Jana is on their roster, they've lost Mal and Matt, Matt the Goalie was filling in in net, Carol was playing with them as a reserve. They can all skate, and Craig provided a league leading shooter with which to capitalise. They are the team to beat this season and we knew we'd have a battle on our hands even though they only had five skaters.
We had a full foster of skaters, and Mike returned in the net. We juggled our lines a bit after they got off to a 4-0 lead by half time. We settled at the end with Me, Krystal and Natasha on a line and I think that worked pretty well. The score line would back this up as we'd scored two goals with a minute to go, when I put put a pass in from behind the line to Krystal in the slot (having waited for her to get space while protecting the puck from an aggressive defender) and she thumped it in. We'd been on the attack for the previous five minutes, so it was a shame that it took over half of the time remaining for the ref's to drop the puck again. We were on the attack when the siren sounded.
Good game all round, except that Craig tore a hamstring early in the piece (he'll be out for weeks, I'd imagine). He was writhing in pain for half a minute before the referees blew the whistle, we were on a 3 on 2 attack, we backed right off the pressure while waiting to hear the whistle, even starting to pass the puck to goalie to stop the play so that Craig could be dealt with. We should have took advantage of the situation and gone for goal perhaps? Hell, it's C Grade!
I was on for even goals, won all (?) of quite a few face offs, made some good breakouts on the rush, swept behind our net for the first time ever as a reset tactic. The game was very physical with a lot of tight coverage occurring (good to play against Jana with her ice background as defence). Also some tight passing on their part.
GP 2 G 1 A 1 +/-0 1/2/0
After three games, we've got four players on three points. Excellent!
Inline 31 & 32
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