On Saturday night we played the Bumpers in a top of table inline clash to mark the halfway point of the regular season. A win would put us within a game of top spot. We had a full line up of six skaters, with Andrew filling in goal. They had five regular skaters (effectively their full roster) and Matt the Goalie. The Wheeler's rostered goalie, Mike, turned up for a while in his civilian clothes which was pretty cool considering he confirmed that his wrist had been cracked in round 4 (?) and the jury was still out on tendon damage.
I finished a short second shift by scoring the game's opening goal at the four minute mark. It seemed to me that we were a bit scrambly in defence, but had always covered their plays - perhaps due our basic skills and doggedness, perhaps due luck. I can't recall much about it except that I thought at the time that Merrilyn passed it to me in the slot from about midway after she'd battled out of defence, and I got it in on a bit of a rush at the net. Crystal was officially credited with the assist.
I went straight off after the goal, and watched the next shift produce Josh's first ever goal (again, off a pass from Crystal) less than two minutes later. Seven minutes after that, Jana scored the Bumpers' first goal singlehanded (I watched her stickhandle into the centre and past our defence from the bench, picking it before she'd passed half way). Less than a minute later, Brenton and I combined from a backhand pass from me and a hard shot by him and Josh battling for the rebound and sneaking it in for his second goal. 3-1 at half time.
The first shift in the second half ended after two and a half minutes with Craig sending a slapshot from half way in the general direction of the goal and hoping his wingers would be there for any rebound, only to see it sail through just under the crossbar in the corner. Craig was more surprised than I was (I had again been in position and had the foresight to have been able to try and block the shot had I not chosen to stay with the player and leave the puck to the goalie). Josh was keen to reinstate our buffer goal, and I was on with him and Natasha when they combined after a pass by me to give Josh his hat trick and us our 4-2 game winning score.
I noticed early in the game that Mel wasn't totally on her game for the Bumpers (she later confirmed to me that she hadn't eaten or drunk sufficient through the day), Craig appeared to be a bit out of sorts with his energy, leaving Jana the only one on their team in full form. That is perhaps to unfairly discount the Juniors, Ashley and Laura (Ashley probably the best skater on the rink, Laura the most ferocious in her attack on the puck (as befits her years)). Ironically, Craig was the only one on their team that we could generally outskate, so it was quite a physically strong game amongst the rest of us. Albeit, no penalties and a lot of puck protection so it was clean if fairly hard fought for C grade hockey.
Our best player was Merrilyn, despite the fact that she was the only one on our team who didn't score a point on the night. Her defensive value is immense, causing turn overs by her quick poke check, or preventing the rush by her ability to tie things up on the board, not to mention her ability to consistently win these battles outright against two opponents through sheer determination, use of her feet and ability to twist and turn, and her general refusal to play it the opponent's way. It was due in no small measure to her efforts that we limited them to only three shots compared to our nine in the first half. The second half was even on the shot clock (eleven shots each) but the damage had been done by then.
I got about three good shots off at goal that were stopped, one noteable one just caught under the goalie's pad. I didn't miss any open goal shots this game. I managed to deflect several shots at goal off my stick, and didn't get deked around in the centre of the rink. I was on for three of our goals and Craig's slapshot for them. I won around half (?) of my faceoffs, and chased down most of theirs before it could be cleanly received (or crowding the receiving player immediately thus preventing several shots in our zone). Our team is talking more each week, getting more and more passes out of pressure situations, continues to play an aggressive defence (keep it in their zone). I found myself several times using my body to seize control of a loose puck, and reaching wide with the puck to keep it away from harrassing opponents. Loved it!
Half way through the season, we are one game behind the Bumpers and one ahead of the Rockers. The poor Shufflers remain winless at the bottom of the table.
In the next game, I was 'door opener' for the Rockers in their 2-1 win against the hapless Shufflers. Merrilyn was filling in on the Rockers and I had the pleasure of watching her and Pauline combine to play good strong hockey. It was nice to start my coaching career with a win, also!
GP 6 G 5 A 6 Pts 11 +7 4/2/0
Inline 40
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