We started our finals campaign last night with an intense one goal win over the Bumpers.
The winner would go direct to the Grand Final on September
19. Whoever lost this game would have to win an elimination game on September 6 against the winner of the game which followed ours (between
the Rockers and Shufflers (Rockers won)) if they were to get there. The winner of this first round would also have home rink
advantage in the final (ie. able to change lines second at stoppages).
We had a full roster of Wheelers and Nicole between the pipes. The
Bumpers had four skaters, with Jana on IR due an upper body injury
(received last week while playing up in Div I) and Kylie off to see her
beloved Crows at Adelaide Oval. They had Ashley as a fourth skater and
Matt the Goalie in goals.
Our first line was composed of Crystal, Luke and Merrilyn. Brenton, Natasha and I formed the second line. The game featured frequent stoppages with few exceptionally long unbroken periods and practically no changes on the fly. The lines themselves seemed to work well and we were all able to keep up a complete effort till the final siren. The fact that the Bumpers only had four skaters and, due a major penalty, were then reduced to three with almost ten minutes to go (ie. no-one on the bench) certainly helped us on the night but I think that we would have coped just as well physically if they had had full lines (judging by the good condition we were still in at the end of the game).
The first couple shifts were pretty even. That changed on the third, when Mel put one in for them from fairly close (deflecting in off of one of our players), and a minute later when Craig was given too much time and space near the centre line on the left flank and set up a crunching wrist shot that found a clear lane past all three of our skaters as it dipped and curved into the top left hand corner of the net. A slashing penalty on Craig shortly afterwards didn't help our cause, and it took a single handed effort on Josh's part to score an unassisted goal and give us some hope as half time closed in.
We had three OZ faceoffs in the last thirty seconds of the first half. We won all three and all ended in smothered shots on net. I took the last face off, chipped it forward and burst past my opponent's sticks to rush the net with puck on stick, only to have Matt collapse himself onto the puck and hold it down until the half time siren whistled. We were down 1-2.
The second half was one of the hardest periods of hockey I've yet played. Josh opened the scoring off a pass from Merrilyn a couple minutes in to even the score, only to have Craig drop an impossible shot in from the corner a minute later. Two minutes later Josh put in another equaliser, this time off a pass by Crystal, and the score was 3-3. From our bench you could see them beginning to tire.
At this point the game got a bit stupid when a bit of verbal broke out on the rink. I'm not sure exactly who started it nor over what the initial dispute was, but it resulted in an 2 minute minor against the Bumpers. This was compounded shortly after by an initial refusal to leave the rink by the affected player, then by some bad mouthing of the referee, hurling of equipment and storming out of the barn. This last resulted in a five minute major being levied.
While the theatrics played themselves out near the other team's bench we clustered around our gate, resolved to remain focused, make the most of our advantage. Which we did with a power play goal a minute later (another score to Josh from a pass by Crystal).
At six minutes to go, the Bumpers called a time out to give their three skaters a chance to regather their breath. We used it to reaffirm our intention to keep talking, passing, short shifting and pressing our advantage.
In the next play, things were starting to get desperate for them, resulting in their bear of a player (Craig) yelling a warcry as he approached the puck on the boards near our bench. Not sure if his voice weapon was the culprit on its own or actual contact was made but Crystal went down and looked to be a bit in shock so I pulled her off on the fly and skated briefly with Merrilyn and Josh until the next whistle brought my own line mates out. Next play, Natasha is down the OZ and puts in the game winning goal.
The last couple minutes were crazy with the Bumpers running on pure adrenaline and desire and on the attack. This resulted in a single desperation goal from Mel, but there was nothing left in their tank during the final minute and we skated out winners 5-4.
My game was as good as its been in a puck possession sense, not surrendering any loose pucks without a massive struggle, pushing hard against their snipers in the neutral zone, kicking and scrapping on the boards to ensure forward motion, charging the net from the faceoff. In my shotblock attempts I managed to make at least two minor deflections that probably weren't noticed by anyone but were sufficient to tip the puck over the net. Had a couple comments made to me after the game about an apparent increase in my speed on the night (an artifact of skating practice at the Ice Arena the day before?).
Again, no points in a playoff game for me but, again, a valuable backup role and good last line player.
We go straight through to the Grand Final on September 19. The Bumpers will have to beat the Rockers in the Semifinal next week if we are to complete a best of three end of season series against them. We'll have to increase our intensity another notch if we wish to repeat this performance.
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