On Sunday afternoon the Knights played their second game in four days, taking on the Sharks at the Adelaide Ice Arena. Both teams had eleven skaters. We had Tommy in goal. Neil coached from the bench for the first period before Justine arrived and took over.
We scored 2 goals in the first period and 2 more in the third. We outshot them in the first two periods, were equal in the third (I souvenired the game sheet). There was one penalty each way. No power play or shorthanded goals were scored. No complaints about the refereeing.
We ran with three D for the first two periods (Bacon, Mike and me) during which time Jonesy and Cam were 1C and 2C and we had three rotating pairs of wingers. It sounds complex but seemed to work reasonably well as it allowed Centres to change independently from the wingers as needs (and conditioning) dictated. As we haven't settled on fixed lines yet there was no real loss of cohesion, and by rotating pairs of wingers we still allowed these players (mainly rookies) to start establishing linemate chemistry never the less. Smart coaching, turning the absence of Baden into some sort advantage (as it allowed each pair to play with both centres).
In the third period Cam moved back to the defence and we ran with four D (giving all four of us a bit of a break in terms of the physical demands of playing either Centre or with only three D). Richard took the 2C job with Steward on one wing and the rotating pair of Griff and Ash on the other. Foxy and Kerri stayed with Jonesy on the first line. These changes took advantage of Cam's experience in return for giving him a 'rest' and allowed Richard a period at Centre. All good, it almost looks like a team structure is forming out of apparent chaos.
My Game
As always, my recollections are a mixture of impressions and lessons.
Lessons first; a need to keep my shifts shorter (especially early in the game) might come down to trusting my team mate's ability to come back out sooner rather than later; keeping my right hand lower on the stick for more stability, strength and better posture; taking the puck behind the net rather than effectively passing up possession out of the corner by sending it to where a winger should be but isn't; work out technique better for trying to move a giant off the puck; a quicker advance into the forecheck and, finally; more reactive defence of 'my' corner off of the crease.
I did reasonably well at keeping attacking puck carriers on the outside. On the three occasions they managed to get past, twice were behind the red line and the other almost so. On three occasions I can recall I took the second forward as they entered the zone, closing the gap and (perhaps) helping to force the offside by causing them to look at me instead of the puck carrier. Needless to say, continued improvement in both these disciplines can only help.
In the crease I managed my space fairly good, picking up loose defenders or late comers, kicking the puck out on one occasion, swatting it to the corner on another, tying up sticks generally.
The battle to keep the puck in the zone was one I generally won more than lost, though will have to get my mind to more quickly react and decide whether to pinch or not. Generally I seem to be able to get away with it, though once in the second when my edge caught as I tried to transition backwards led to a 3 on 1 against until I managed to get up and back. My first period highlight was a shot/pass in after defending the blue, which Kerri picked up and shot in. This was my first official point in ice hockey.
The third period was fairly tough. I took a shot from the corner on my knee armour early on, it really stung despite the kevlar. No bruise, however, and was mobile again within seconds. Their frustrations were beginning to show, resulting in their giant and one of our larger players starting to exchange words and bump chests. Jonesy separated them before it got worse (the irony) and I acted as shotgun and shooed away their only supporting player as the event dissipated. Never gotten close to getting 'involved' before, not sure what to make of it in retrospect.
Finally, my goal. We were comfortably up 3-0 with a few minutes to go when they called a time out. We took advantage of that to get our breath and remind ourselves to batten down defensively and try and get the shutout. We had been good for this as we entered the final minute. I was on our backboard, spotted a pass to a player about half way up the boards in the zone, followed the pass to offer support and cut out the centre from the play (really keen to keep it a shutout). Somehow I got the puck on my stick and pushed it up past their defender on the point, sprinted after it aware that I was now higher than all of our other players, just wanting to get it away from the zone.
The puck was now rolling at high speed down the rink near the boards. I set off in hot pursuit, the only real thought in mind was to prevent an icing and the puck returning to our end for a potential goal in the dying moments of the game.
I looked up as I passed the blue, could see no one in front (not even a goalie). Kept moving, gained control of the puck, took a moment to compose myself (don't fall over, don't miss the puck, don't miss the net) swooped around and tapped it in from about twenty feet. I didn't watch it cross the line, was already looking up and around to make sure I didn't collide with anyone. Grin, raise both hands and one leg in the air as I circle back to my team mates. They are rapt. How cool!
Was told later by a friendly shark that from their bench it had seemed like at one moment the puck was up the far end, then I was skating down the boards 'like the wind' with no-one close to me but several in pursuit. Nice. Got the puck to prove it :).
It only took 31 games.
Well, that about wraps a big game. I was on for three of our goals.
GP 4 G 1 A 1 Pts 2 +2 3/0/1
Ice 43
No comments:
Post a Comment