This was a good game all around for our team, and a valuable win to counteract the effects of the two previous defeats. We had twelve skaters, 4 on D, plus Tommy. I'm not sure how many they had, roughly the same. We got the first couple goals, answered their first within a minute, followed by another in the second period. They scored off a powerplay to have it 4-2 going into the last, where we denied them any further score and skated it out comfortable winners. Nice way to return the favour they handed us last year in the elimination final.
Our team play was a big improvement from previous games, lots of support and a general focus on positioning. This lead to amongst other things, better protection of the blue lines, fewer off-sides and more breakouts. There were plenty of second and third efforts from our guys, quicker and more organised changes and a greater commitment from the first. If we can repeat this and grow comfortable doing it we will become a tough team to beat.
I thought that I played perhaps my best game of ice hockey yet. I gave a clear assist that wasn't recognised on the score sheet (although it was amongst my fellow players) so I'm not too worried about the boxcars. I am contributing to our offence and that is enough to know. The goal came off a direct pass from me, tape to tape to a moving centre. I was 'in camera shot' for another breakaway goal (I think the scorer skated end to end after collecting a random 'bank pass' from myself) and set up several offensive forays with some good passes.
It was probably the most 'passing game' I've ever played, even having a choice of targets on several occasions. This last, choice, arose directly from the more positionally aware play of the team generally and, when combined with my own heads-up play, allowed us to take advantage of the opposition to create dangerous situations.
There was some brutal play along the boards, including a full speed frontal collision with an opposing kamikaze winger. There was a moment of eye contact just beforehand, both of us were resolved. I spun off him and continued to chase the ricocheting puck, he went down in front of his own bench. No harm done and we did it again in the third period, and laughed about it in the car park afterwards. Sadly, I think he managed to trip me behind our net and then hook me on the box (!) as he tried to get his stick out from between my legs. That hurt, but only enough to motivate me - especially as the referees didn't call it. That's hockey!
I put quite a bit of effort into controlling our net front, and am beginning to function quite well with Bacon. I'm working out what degree of force is required. When defending the house I noticed that my head was on a swivel. I don't think anyone got by me all night. Holding the lane inside the dots against an outer skating forward and then transitioning to be able to race him and drive him into the corner certainly helps. Speaking of racing, my heart rate peaked on a race from far blue line to the boards to ensure an icing call, collapsing in exhaustion upon hearing the whistle and then racing for a change.
Plenty more highlights, such as successful pinches later in the game (and failed versions early), holding the blue lines, not passing off-side, several successful stick checks at speed (recall noticing that I had soft hands when doing so), using our net and the backboards to buy time, short shifting. Also, playing on the PK and having the puck deflect off my boot and over Tommy's glove. A great and fun game.
My fitness stats are starting to show an improvement from last year, my peak HR being 10 less than it has been previously for the same degree of oxygen consumption. A consequence of my pre-season running? Very heartening!
Next up, top of the table Generals, followed by two games against the sharks and their league leading scorer. We will need to bring our 'A' game with us!
Season: 0-0-0 -2 PIMS 0
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Showing posts with label Game Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Game Day. Show all posts
Saturday, 5 November 2016
Thursday, 3 November 2016
G2 Predators (6) d Knights (1)
We went down in an otherwise enjoyable game on Tuesday night. We had thirteen skaters and Tommy in goal. This is as big a roster as the Knights have had since I started playing. The Pred's had a similar number. We ran 4D and three forward lines. My D partner was Bacon. It was our second game, the Predators' fourth. It showed.
Despite the score I was fairly pleased with my efforts. Two goals against while I was on the ice. Both times I am satisfied that I was fulfilling my assignment (tracking back the passing option on the first, boxing a big winger out of the crease in the second) and the goal was not down to my error (my D partner fell over at the worst time thus allowing the puck carrier a slot shot on the first and, on the second, our defence got overloaded on the other side and they piled it in).
Highlights in my game were a rush/backcheck combination where I covered the rink to set up a chance and then chase down a breakaway to rob the puck back and send it forward, several board battles where I just tied it up against bigger opponents until help arrived, a perfect stick lift that prevented a high danger shot from a power forward who had knocked me down three times previously during the same play, recovery of the puck in the corner followed by a deft backwards pass to my open winger on the half board (who'd called for it), several times in the slot where I managed to tip or deflect the puck or stick and take the power out of shots. Got hooked in the final minutes but it wasn't called (hand is still sore).
I wasn't warned by the reff's for anything, didn't pass offside, no giveaways, and managed to see off several 3 on 1 rushes (and a 4 on 1!) just keeping a cool head, spot the worst danger, active stick. Also played on a couple PK's, the second goal of which was scored while I was on the ice was very late in the second of these. Played on the PP once also, but we were too chaotic to be threatening.
Not our best game, but could feel the elements coming together as the game went on.
For the night - 0-0-0, -2, 0 PIMS.
Next game, tonight against the Storm.
Despite the score I was fairly pleased with my efforts. Two goals against while I was on the ice. Both times I am satisfied that I was fulfilling my assignment (tracking back the passing option on the first, boxing a big winger out of the crease in the second) and the goal was not down to my error (my D partner fell over at the worst time thus allowing the puck carrier a slot shot on the first and, on the second, our defence got overloaded on the other side and they piled it in).
Highlights in my game were a rush/backcheck combination where I covered the rink to set up a chance and then chase down a breakaway to rob the puck back and send it forward, several board battles where I just tied it up against bigger opponents until help arrived, a perfect stick lift that prevented a high danger shot from a power forward who had knocked me down three times previously during the same play, recovery of the puck in the corner followed by a deft backwards pass to my open winger on the half board (who'd called for it), several times in the slot where I managed to tip or deflect the puck or stick and take the power out of shots. Got hooked in the final minutes but it wasn't called (hand is still sore).
I wasn't warned by the reff's for anything, didn't pass offside, no giveaways, and managed to see off several 3 on 1 rushes (and a 4 on 1!) just keeping a cool head, spot the worst danger, active stick. Also played on a couple PK's, the second goal of which was scored while I was on the ice was very late in the second of these. Played on the PP once also, but we were too chaotic to be threatening.
Not our best game, but could feel the elements coming together as the game went on.
For the night - 0-0-0, -2, 0 PIMS.
Next game, tonight against the Storm.
Tuesday, 1 November 2016
G1 - Kings (6) d Knights (3)
Last Thursday was our season opener in a late game against the Kings. We had ten skaters and Tommy in Goals. Five of our players were rookies. We played 4D and two lines. First period was tight, 2-1. Second Period we started to get the upper hand, 4-3. They skated it out and we had no answer in the last.
As a team we gelled fairly well. The new guys all pushed themselves hard and they can all play. We killed off seven minutes of penalties in the second period, including a shorthanded goal to counter their power play goal. That took a bit of effort and shows what we are capable of (albeit I didn't play much on the PK due Bacon staying out there almost the whole time.
My stats were 0-0-0, no penalty minutes, Minus 3. Didn't close the gap enough, which cost that first goal as my opponent shot from the middle of the circle. Tommy wasn't on his game, but no excuse on my part. Otherwise, was fairly happy with my game. I joined the rush once in the third, and even carried the puck into the Offensive zone a couple times.
Christian is now our coach. He seemed to pull the team along with him and spoke common sense. I like his style, especially the time he takes out to give a quick 'lesson' when a player comes back to the bench (if they need it). He didn't get too upset during the game and was smiling afterwards.
Not too bad an effort, but we will need to improve (especially positional play) if we want to get value for our efforts in future.
On Sunday I went to my first training for this season. A fairly basic repertoire, with stopping and stride technique, followed by a simple offensive system practice. Ended with 3 on 3 shinny - where I noticed that I certainly tie a man up and pressure the carrier BUT without other players doing that I take myself out of the play by doing so and they score a goal.
With schedule changes, we are playing 5 games in 10 nights, starting tonight. Will get pretty tiring.
On a final note, before our game against the Kings Christian 'awarded' the leadership group positions in the change room. No surprises that Jonesey was made Captain and Bacon an Alternate, but I WAS surprised when I was named the other Alternate! This is a bit of an honour, and almost a first for me (haven't had a formal leadership role on a team since an indoor cricket outfit when I was 20). I went and checked with the guy I thought would have got the gig as soon as possible, but he was keen for me to keep the role, so I have. I guess I'll have to learn the rules now!
As a team we gelled fairly well. The new guys all pushed themselves hard and they can all play. We killed off seven minutes of penalties in the second period, including a shorthanded goal to counter their power play goal. That took a bit of effort and shows what we are capable of (albeit I didn't play much on the PK due Bacon staying out there almost the whole time.
My stats were 0-0-0, no penalty minutes, Minus 3. Didn't close the gap enough, which cost that first goal as my opponent shot from the middle of the circle. Tommy wasn't on his game, but no excuse on my part. Otherwise, was fairly happy with my game. I joined the rush once in the third, and even carried the puck into the Offensive zone a couple times.
Christian is now our coach. He seemed to pull the team along with him and spoke common sense. I like his style, especially the time he takes out to give a quick 'lesson' when a player comes back to the bench (if they need it). He didn't get too upset during the game and was smiling afterwards.
Not too bad an effort, but we will need to improve (especially positional play) if we want to get value for our efforts in future.
On Sunday I went to my first training for this season. A fairly basic repertoire, with stopping and stride technique, followed by a simple offensive system practice. Ended with 3 on 3 shinny - where I noticed that I certainly tie a man up and pressure the carrier BUT without other players doing that I take myself out of the play by doing so and they score a goal.
With schedule changes, we are playing 5 games in 10 nights, starting tonight. Will get pretty tiring.
On a final note, before our game against the Kings Christian 'awarded' the leadership group positions in the change room. No surprises that Jonesey was made Captain and Bacon an Alternate, but I WAS surprised when I was named the other Alternate! This is a bit of an honour, and almost a first for me (haven't had a formal leadership role on a team since an indoor cricket outfit when I was 20). I went and checked with the guy I thought would have got the gig as soon as possible, but he was keen for me to keep the role, so I have. I guess I'll have to learn the rules now!
Friday, 23 September 2016
The season just gone
After a long hiatus I return! Since last posting I played out a whole season of inline hockey. It's only four weeks to my first game of the coming season on the ice. I have started up a 'crash course' of fitness and conditioning. Life is good.
My first season in Division 1 inline hockey at Gawler was played for the Rolling Dead. Fast, physical and competitive. Our leaky defence, amplified by poor offence (6th), subverted valiant goal tending (2nd) to ensure the Rolling Dead didn't make the playoffs. We ended up fifth on the ladder (six teams). I totally loved the jersey!
I made all twelve of our games. Each was an experience unto itself for me. Some games I shone on the face off, others I played an (almost) impassable defence, others I got good shots on goal and, in some, I scored. There were a number of highlights and a few lessons (some of which I detail below) but the overall experience was one of steady improvement and continuing enjoyment.
I didn't attend a single training session for the whole season, either with others or on my own. I didn't touch my skates except to play a game. I did no physical training or exercises at home. I did turn up for several games after a morning mixing concrete, chopping down trees, digging holes. All of this and a two hour drive each way to get to a game in the first place.
A few events stand out in memory:
Turning up for my first game to discover that I'd be on the rink for the full game (we only had three skaters). We played till it felt like we had nothing left and then we played some more, used a time out with ten minutes to go, conserved energy when we could, burnt it with gay abandon every shift. We ended up with a victory, my fitness tracker recorded the highest performance metrics I've yet produced and I got my first goal at this level (pass from Brad in the corner to me in slot). What a game!
In our third game we were soundly beaten 11-1. The junior star of the opposing team scored six goals and made a couple of assists, our goal keeping was the lowest I've ever had on a team, but I still greatly enjoyed the game. Mainly because I shut down their star for the second half by playing good solid defence (though he kept on scoring when our first line was on the floor). In other words, and in spite of the score line, I grew more confident in my defensive abilities after this game.
In Game 5 I blocked five shots and scored a nice goal on the rush off of a desperate and accurate pass from Jess.
In Game 11 I single handedly scored game tying goal after taking advantage of my own centre face off win, backing my skating to thread a gap in the defence and quick release a snap shot at speed. I also played out a couple of penalty kills, including the dying minutes (using my body and feet to good effect against bigger stronger players more than my stick).
In Game 12 I finally started to strip the puck from the opposition with more regularity (twice off of their best player) and deny them the slot when it counted. I was also skated around twice by a better skater in the zone (once leading direct to a goal). I then took part in a shift which was probably the strongest I've either witnessed or played in at my level, with Josh and Jess being the primary movers and me using every bit of my lungs and legs to give support as they tore off dangerous shot after dangerous shot and we controlled the puck for several minutes (and their goalie denied us each and every time we thought we'd scored (I hit the post twice)). Great play, no result, they scored shortly after we made a change. Sigh.
Lack of fitness work (ie neither training, nor High Intesity sessions as a substitute) or hockey training (neither team training sessions, nor private time with stick and/or puck to compensate) led to a decline in my capacity over the season, especially when combined with the 'external' factors of work around the house (lumber work, digging, concreting) and travel times (for example, arriving after a two hour drive to immediately get changed and play, no 'adjustment' time to compensate for the drive).
If I am content to continue to learn hockey sense from game to game, I can pick up that same game to a higher level by doing the following in future:
- sustained in-season strength and conditioning work, prioritising high intensity sessions (1 or 2 'tabata' runs or indoor cycle sessions per week), leg strength and agility (twice weekly) and skating/shooting/stick handling sessions (upto twice weekly). That's a fair bit to work into a busy life, but I'll try.
- getting to the game with time for my muscles and mind to recover from the drive before I have to focus on game.
As for my first Div 1 season, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, learned a lot about hockey and myself, and can't wait to repeat it next year.
Individual Stats: GP 12 G 3 A 2 T/P 5 PIMS 4
Rolling Dead Stats: W 5 L 7 T 0 GF 69 GA 71 SV% .805
My first season in Division 1 inline hockey at Gawler was played for the Rolling Dead. Fast, physical and competitive. Our leaky defence, amplified by poor offence (6th), subverted valiant goal tending (2nd) to ensure the Rolling Dead didn't make the playoffs. We ended up fifth on the ladder (six teams). I totally loved the jersey!
I made all twelve of our games. Each was an experience unto itself for me. Some games I shone on the face off, others I played an (almost) impassable defence, others I got good shots on goal and, in some, I scored. There were a number of highlights and a few lessons (some of which I detail below) but the overall experience was one of steady improvement and continuing enjoyment.
I didn't attend a single training session for the whole season, either with others or on my own. I didn't touch my skates except to play a game. I did no physical training or exercises at home. I did turn up for several games after a morning mixing concrete, chopping down trees, digging holes. All of this and a two hour drive each way to get to a game in the first place.
A few events stand out in memory:
Turning up for my first game to discover that I'd be on the rink for the full game (we only had three skaters). We played till it felt like we had nothing left and then we played some more, used a time out with ten minutes to go, conserved energy when we could, burnt it with gay abandon every shift. We ended up with a victory, my fitness tracker recorded the highest performance metrics I've yet produced and I got my first goal at this level (pass from Brad in the corner to me in slot). What a game!
In our third game we were soundly beaten 11-1. The junior star of the opposing team scored six goals and made a couple of assists, our goal keeping was the lowest I've ever had on a team, but I still greatly enjoyed the game. Mainly because I shut down their star for the second half by playing good solid defence (though he kept on scoring when our first line was on the floor). In other words, and in spite of the score line, I grew more confident in my defensive abilities after this game.
In Game 5 I blocked five shots and scored a nice goal on the rush off of a desperate and accurate pass from Jess.
In Game 11 I single handedly scored game tying goal after taking advantage of my own centre face off win, backing my skating to thread a gap in the defence and quick release a snap shot at speed. I also played out a couple of penalty kills, including the dying minutes (using my body and feet to good effect against bigger stronger players more than my stick).
In Game 12 I finally started to strip the puck from the opposition with more regularity (twice off of their best player) and deny them the slot when it counted. I was also skated around twice by a better skater in the zone (once leading direct to a goal). I then took part in a shift which was probably the strongest I've either witnessed or played in at my level, with Josh and Jess being the primary movers and me using every bit of my lungs and legs to give support as they tore off dangerous shot after dangerous shot and we controlled the puck for several minutes (and their goalie denied us each and every time we thought we'd scored (I hit the post twice)). Great play, no result, they scored shortly after we made a change. Sigh.
Lack of fitness work (ie neither training, nor High Intesity sessions as a substitute) or hockey training (neither team training sessions, nor private time with stick and/or puck to compensate) led to a decline in my capacity over the season, especially when combined with the 'external' factors of work around the house (lumber work, digging, concreting) and travel times (for example, arriving after a two hour drive to immediately get changed and play, no 'adjustment' time to compensate for the drive).
If I am content to continue to learn hockey sense from game to game, I can pick up that same game to a higher level by doing the following in future:
- sustained in-season strength and conditioning work, prioritising high intensity sessions (1 or 2 'tabata' runs or indoor cycle sessions per week), leg strength and agility (twice weekly) and skating/shooting/stick handling sessions (upto twice weekly). That's a fair bit to work into a busy life, but I'll try.
- getting to the game with time for my muscles and mind to recover from the drive before I have to focus on game.
As for my first Div 1 season, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, learned a lot about hockey and myself, and can't wait to repeat it next year.
Individual Stats: GP 12 G 3 A 2 T/P 5 PIMS 4
Rolling Dead Stats: W 5 L 7 T 0 GF 69 GA 71 SV% .805
Monday, 9 May 2016
Inline Update
I typed this on March 15 but for some reason never posted it (the pre-paid mobile internet didn't work out to be any quicker than dial-up used to be, perhaps).
I have been out of contact for the past month due the fact that I moved house twice in that time and only in the last day or so finally established a (mobile prepaid) internet connection. I am now living in a cottage in the country about 150 kms north of Adelaide and waiting until May 7th (when we are scheduled to be connected to regular internet service).
Mar 12 - Mavericks 5 d Snipers 4 1-1-2 +1 GRAND FINAL
Awards: Grand Final Medal, Season Highest Scorer and Most Valued Player trophies.
We played a poor first half and went into half time down 0-2. The score had declined to 0-3 before Matt put one in for us through sheer determination. They then scored to make it 1-4 and things looked grim but we found our mojo and took the lead in the final two minutes, killing off the remaining time to come out winners. I scored the game tying goal off a pass from Natasha, and then myself provided the helper for Merrilyn's game winner. A great way to end off this season and my time in Div II (have been promoted to Division I for next season).
It was a big evening for me. Standing for the national anthem before the game was a buzz, moment of reflection and ambition. This was book ended after the game when I went up to receive my trophies. Receiving the applause of my sweaty peers meant more to me than the more abstract awards I've won previously in life.
Mar 5 - Mavericks 2 d Bumpers 0 1-1-2 +2 SEMI FINAL
Possibly our best game for the season. Short shifts, good talking, accurate passing, physically determined, desperate. My favorite play was the one that led to our second goal. It was within two minutes of the end of the game when Craig got behind us on a rush, I set off in hot pursuit. I had been about to end a tiring shift and so this was a major effort. It didn't take me more than a step or two as I crossed the half way line that I realised I wouldn't catch him. This didn't slow me down or stop me, however, and I was close enough to him when he took his shot to clip his stick with mine, resulting in a total miss on his part. I was able to wheel and retrieve the puck much quicker than he was and I was shortly on my own one man mission up the board, cross through the centre, deke around their last defender before faking and pulling a shot so that Matt the Goalie committed himself. Then taking stock of where the gaps were and picking one and shooting for it (between his right arm and leg) and getting it. I sort of raised my stick but skated off for a quick breather before being sent back out by Brenton to see out the game. Very spent the next day with a lot of upper body muscular soreness due several strength battles with Craig and Dallas.
Feb 27 - Mavericks 6 d Bumpers 2, 4-1-5 +4
Feb 20 - Mavericks 3 d Shufflers 1, 1-2-3 +3 PIMS 2
Feb 13 - Snipers 4 d Mavericks 3, 0-0-0 +/-0 PIMS 2
Regular season Stats - GP 10 G 22 A 13 Pts 35 +27 7/3/0 PIMS 10
Playoff Stats GP 2 G 2 A 2 Pts 4 +3 2/0/0
I have been out of contact for the past month due the fact that I moved house twice in that time and only in the last day or so finally established a (mobile prepaid) internet connection. I am now living in a cottage in the country about 150 kms north of Adelaide and waiting until May 7th (when we are scheduled to be connected to regular internet service).
Mar 12 - Mavericks 5 d Snipers 4 1-1-2 +1 GRAND FINAL
Awards: Grand Final Medal, Season Highest Scorer and Most Valued Player trophies.
We played a poor first half and went into half time down 0-2. The score had declined to 0-3 before Matt put one in for us through sheer determination. They then scored to make it 1-4 and things looked grim but we found our mojo and took the lead in the final two minutes, killing off the remaining time to come out winners. I scored the game tying goal off a pass from Natasha, and then myself provided the helper for Merrilyn's game winner. A great way to end off this season and my time in Div II (have been promoted to Division I for next season).
It was a big evening for me. Standing for the national anthem before the game was a buzz, moment of reflection and ambition. This was book ended after the game when I went up to receive my trophies. Receiving the applause of my sweaty peers meant more to me than the more abstract awards I've won previously in life.
Mar 5 - Mavericks 2 d Bumpers 0 1-1-2 +2 SEMI FINAL
Possibly our best game for the season. Short shifts, good talking, accurate passing, physically determined, desperate. My favorite play was the one that led to our second goal. It was within two minutes of the end of the game when Craig got behind us on a rush, I set off in hot pursuit. I had been about to end a tiring shift and so this was a major effort. It didn't take me more than a step or two as I crossed the half way line that I realised I wouldn't catch him. This didn't slow me down or stop me, however, and I was close enough to him when he took his shot to clip his stick with mine, resulting in a total miss on his part. I was able to wheel and retrieve the puck much quicker than he was and I was shortly on my own one man mission up the board, cross through the centre, deke around their last defender before faking and pulling a shot so that Matt the Goalie committed himself. Then taking stock of where the gaps were and picking one and shooting for it (between his right arm and leg) and getting it. I sort of raised my stick but skated off for a quick breather before being sent back out by Brenton to see out the game. Very spent the next day with a lot of upper body muscular soreness due several strength battles with Craig and Dallas.
Feb 27 - Mavericks 6 d Bumpers 2, 4-1-5 +4
Feb 20 - Mavericks 3 d Shufflers 1, 1-2-3 +3 PIMS 2
Feb 13 - Snipers 4 d Mavericks 3, 0-0-0 +/-0 PIMS 2
Regular season Stats - GP 10 G 22 A 13 Pts 35 +27 7/3/0 PIMS 10
Playoff Stats GP 2 G 2 A 2 Pts 4 +3 2/0/0
Saturday, 13 February 2016
Game Day - Bumpers (4) d Mavericks (3) SO
Regular season Inline hockey returned to Gawler on Saturday Night. We lost our Division II game against the Bumpers in a clean close-fought game that ended up in a them taking the shootout victory with a solitary goal by the adult rookie, Dallas, in his first game with the team. With him on board they had five skaters, the same as us. They had Matt the Goalie, we had Josh. Neither team had a bench manager.
The game was important to both teams in terms of position on the ladder. The Division is very competitive this year, three teams with one point between them (we were in first position coming out of the summer break, on goal difference) and only four games before finals and any of the four teams can beat any other on a good day. The points were important.
I was on the first shift. It was controlled and fluid. Their 'new' guy game out after I had changed out, scored a goal shortly afterwards. He has quite a shot and this was effectively his way of announcing that fact. From that moment on the game was one of continuous catch-up and them never surrendering their lead. At least, that's the way I recall events (the official game sheet, however, tells another tale).
Our first shift was good, strong skating, recovery from defence, passing to advantage and shots on goal. Shouldn't have been too self congratulatory as they scored their first goal on the next shift. Dallas, the new guy who'd been on our team in the Viking Cup, scored it from just over half way. He was skating strong and showed his good shot at that time, putting the rest of us who weren't already on notice that this was a good (ie. Div I) player.
Ten minutes later we equalised with a deft shot by myself from the mid slot, off of a pass from Merrilyn in the left corner. Between her and me were all three Bumpers. What was cool was that she deliberately held the puck despite being charged so as to have a good look and find her moment for a pass to myself. When it came it was a brilliant saucer pass, landing right on my blade allowing for what was effectively a one timer snapshot.
The game was 1-1 as we went into half time. This turned out to be an extra long break due to Josh having trouble with his goalie gear (in the end he swapped out of the ones he had on originally to some that allowed him some flexibility of movement). Although it was nice to have a long break and come back in virtually a rested state for the second half, it was disturbing to think that the opposition was also getting this benefit. I think this worked to our disadvantage as our basic fitness and conditioning was superior to the Bumpers and we would have therefore had a bit more of an edge in the final minutes if half time was shorter. Be that as it may, such is life.
I was on for their second goal, scored in the third minute by another shot from close to the centre line. This time it was by Mel. I was close to the flight of the puck and could have made an attempt to block it away if I had chosen. Instead, I decided to leave it to the goalie and it fluttered through. Nice shot, but what interests me now is that I (1) had time to consider options even as the puck was in the air, and (2) I chose to take the 'passive' approach and step back out of the puck's path to allow Josh a clearer view of it. In respect of (1), this is good as long as I don't intellectualise on the rink. In respect of (2), perhaps with the benefit of hindsight I can now say that I should have tried to block it. Recent defelcted goals seem to have shaken my confidence, if only to the extent that I now leave the long shots to the goalie to deal with.
I wasn't on the rink for our answering goal, a pass from Merrilyn to Matt in front of goal and he slamming it home. 2-2. Nor was I on for their next score, ten minutes. later. I wasn't even watching at the time but noticed that all their players were crowding our net. I gather he jammed it home from close in, an unusual goal for Craig.
They were in front 3-2 as the final minutes ticked away and the game grew desparate. I was on the rink for the final minute, had tried to rush the goal off an offensive face off, failed, found ourselves pushed back in our own end, me in the back left corner looking to get the puck forward for a final attack, notice Merrilyn coming out of the gate and springing up the right boards, wait, pass it in a long cross rink stretch pass that went tape to tape and allowed her to swoop in and score. Very neat pass.
3 all. Overtime. We ran with myself, Matt and Merrilyn and failed to score. On their side, Dallas scored the opener and then Mel and Craig failed to follow up. Their win and no points to us.
No penalties in the game despite the teams and the intensity, though I think we all came close at some time.
Besides the tight passing that led to our goals, I most recall the physical nature of the game, an almost goal when I got outfoxed by Matt the Goalie, and the fact that we kept hitting Matt's body and pads when we shot at goal (need to find the corners more often).
In terms of physicality, two incidents typify its level. On the first, I and Dallas battle on the boards behind our goal. He pins me, prevents me clearing it, tries to push it clockwise. I try and dig it out from under him and start trying to kick the puck out from him despite the pin. He ties this up by getting his foot under mine between kicks and levering it upwards. So we are pinned to uselessness against the boards and no one else can get the puck from between three of our four skates. So, and unusually, the ref blow his whistle to restart the game at a faceoff. Excellent battle.
The second example of the physicality occured AFTER we'd scored our final goal, off of a final attack by us that resulted in four bodies down in front of their goal, and everyone still pushing, shoving, slashing, except for me who is stretch right out to tie up their third player's stick as she tried to plunder the scrum. Pretty funny to see everyone down, even if Brenton had been a bit stunned after being knocked down.
The goal I shoulda got but didn't was when I went behind their goal, tried the wrap around, ended up with the puck loose behind the goalie, my stick mere inches from it, and him grabbing and immobilising it in a manner so as the ref couldn't see it. I was tempted to kick the puck in out of frustration but didn't. Good sly goal tending.
The other thing Matt the Goalie did really well was position his body and cover with his pads. The only goals we got were from elevated shots, we just didn't do them often enough. And when we did we tended to shoot at the goalie rather than the gaps. The official record says that they outshot us 21-19 but I'd say their victory was due to his goal keeping. Well done Matt.
Next game, Snipers.
GP 7 G 17 A 10 Pts 27 +20 5/2/0 PIMs 6
Inline 5
The game was important to both teams in terms of position on the ladder. The Division is very competitive this year, three teams with one point between them (we were in first position coming out of the summer break, on goal difference) and only four games before finals and any of the four teams can beat any other on a good day. The points were important.
I was on the first shift. It was controlled and fluid. Their 'new' guy game out after I had changed out, scored a goal shortly afterwards. He has quite a shot and this was effectively his way of announcing that fact. From that moment on the game was one of continuous catch-up and them never surrendering their lead. At least, that's the way I recall events (the official game sheet, however, tells another tale).
Our first shift was good, strong skating, recovery from defence, passing to advantage and shots on goal. Shouldn't have been too self congratulatory as they scored their first goal on the next shift. Dallas, the new guy who'd been on our team in the Viking Cup, scored it from just over half way. He was skating strong and showed his good shot at that time, putting the rest of us who weren't already on notice that this was a good (ie. Div I) player.
Ten minutes later we equalised with a deft shot by myself from the mid slot, off of a pass from Merrilyn in the left corner. Between her and me were all three Bumpers. What was cool was that she deliberately held the puck despite being charged so as to have a good look and find her moment for a pass to myself. When it came it was a brilliant saucer pass, landing right on my blade allowing for what was effectively a one timer snapshot.
The game was 1-1 as we went into half time. This turned out to be an extra long break due to Josh having trouble with his goalie gear (in the end he swapped out of the ones he had on originally to some that allowed him some flexibility of movement). Although it was nice to have a long break and come back in virtually a rested state for the second half, it was disturbing to think that the opposition was also getting this benefit. I think this worked to our disadvantage as our basic fitness and conditioning was superior to the Bumpers and we would have therefore had a bit more of an edge in the final minutes if half time was shorter. Be that as it may, such is life.
I was on for their second goal, scored in the third minute by another shot from close to the centre line. This time it was by Mel. I was close to the flight of the puck and could have made an attempt to block it away if I had chosen. Instead, I decided to leave it to the goalie and it fluttered through. Nice shot, but what interests me now is that I (1) had time to consider options even as the puck was in the air, and (2) I chose to take the 'passive' approach and step back out of the puck's path to allow Josh a clearer view of it. In respect of (1), this is good as long as I don't intellectualise on the rink. In respect of (2), perhaps with the benefit of hindsight I can now say that I should have tried to block it. Recent defelcted goals seem to have shaken my confidence, if only to the extent that I now leave the long shots to the goalie to deal with.
I wasn't on the rink for our answering goal, a pass from Merrilyn to Matt in front of goal and he slamming it home. 2-2. Nor was I on for their next score, ten minutes. later. I wasn't even watching at the time but noticed that all their players were crowding our net. I gather he jammed it home from close in, an unusual goal for Craig.
They were in front 3-2 as the final minutes ticked away and the game grew desparate. I was on the rink for the final minute, had tried to rush the goal off an offensive face off, failed, found ourselves pushed back in our own end, me in the back left corner looking to get the puck forward for a final attack, notice Merrilyn coming out of the gate and springing up the right boards, wait, pass it in a long cross rink stretch pass that went tape to tape and allowed her to swoop in and score. Very neat pass.
3 all. Overtime. We ran with myself, Matt and Merrilyn and failed to score. On their side, Dallas scored the opener and then Mel and Craig failed to follow up. Their win and no points to us.
No penalties in the game despite the teams and the intensity, though I think we all came close at some time.
Besides the tight passing that led to our goals, I most recall the physical nature of the game, an almost goal when I got outfoxed by Matt the Goalie, and the fact that we kept hitting Matt's body and pads when we shot at goal (need to find the corners more often).
In terms of physicality, two incidents typify its level. On the first, I and Dallas battle on the boards behind our goal. He pins me, prevents me clearing it, tries to push it clockwise. I try and dig it out from under him and start trying to kick the puck out from him despite the pin. He ties this up by getting his foot under mine between kicks and levering it upwards. So we are pinned to uselessness against the boards and no one else can get the puck from between three of our four skates. So, and unusually, the ref blow his whistle to restart the game at a faceoff. Excellent battle.
The second example of the physicality occured AFTER we'd scored our final goal, off of a final attack by us that resulted in four bodies down in front of their goal, and everyone still pushing, shoving, slashing, except for me who is stretch right out to tie up their third player's stick as she tried to plunder the scrum. Pretty funny to see everyone down, even if Brenton had been a bit stunned after being knocked down.
The goal I shoulda got but didn't was when I went behind their goal, tried the wrap around, ended up with the puck loose behind the goalie, my stick mere inches from it, and him grabbing and immobilising it in a manner so as the ref couldn't see it. I was tempted to kick the puck in out of frustration but didn't. Good sly goal tending.
The other thing Matt the Goalie did really well was position his body and cover with his pads. The only goals we got were from elevated shots, we just didn't do them often enough. And when we did we tended to shoot at the goalie rather than the gaps. The official record says that they outshot us 21-19 but I'd say their victory was due to his goal keeping. Well done Matt.
Next game, Snipers.
GP 7 G 17 A 10 Pts 27 +20 5/2/0 PIMs 6
Inline 5
Tuesday, 2 February 2016
Game Day - Storm (1) d Knights (0) in Elimination Final
On Sunday the Knights played in our first Summer Season post season game, an elimination final against the Storm. The winner continues into the semi final playoffs against top of table Blades. The losers hang up their skates till next season. We had won both regular season encounters, the first in a shootout and the second 3-1. They had been close games. For this game we had ten skaters and Tommy in goal. Justine ran our bench with Nick assisting. They had three staff, thirteen skaters and Peterson between the pipes.
Only one goal was scored the whole game, theirs in the later part of the second period. For the rest of the game it seemed a see-saw battle, with them working their way into the combat zone in front of our net with sustained pressure, and us with our lightening strikes and quick waves of attack. I didn't see their goal, having just left the ice before the play which it resulted from, but gather it was a coast to coast skate by their lanky forward, with Tommy being left to fend for himself. If so, Tsk Tsk Tsk to us, for this is the kind of play that should not happen at this end of the season. In a strange way, it's only fair that our season ended as a result.
Tommy was brilliant in goals and kept us in the game to the final siren. He couldn't have done anything more. He made some brilliant saves, sometimes ending up sprawled on the ice over the puck to kill a scrum that had gone crazy, sometimes making himself huge as he advanced towards a rushing forward, sometimes swatting the puck surely away from the kill zone. Brave man, hats off.
I very nearly was the cause of the scoreline blowing out on at least two occasions. Once in the first period when I failed to clear it from a scrum, ultimately leading to me being at one of the posts with Tommy flat across the line and a pile of bodies in front of him, the puck standing tantalisingly on its edge for a what seemed like several seconds in the few inches behind his back and out of my reach also (the ref blew his whistle to end the play, having lost sight of the puck).
The second near-screwup occurred in the second period and began as a one on one that I felt quite comfortable with, despite the high speed. I was skating backwards and controlling the gap as I tracked the forward to the point where I would arrest him properly when one of my skates bit into the ice and I went arse down backwards. I swung my stick towards the puck as soon as I felt what was happening, allowed the momentum of my swung stick to carry me around to end up outstretched and face down towards my own goal. The forward got by me, but I tangled him just sufficiently to enable our furiously backchecking centre to apply further pressure from behind and ultimately frustrate the shot. Scary moment!
To counter these scary moments, there were a number of memorable plays with which I was involved. As has been the case for recent game reports, I'll rehash them below in impressionist form.
In the first period I had my best shot at goal. It began with me holding the blue line during one of our counterattacks after the siege of the first ten minutes. I pinched down slightly to secure possession of the puck on the half board before firing it back in. I did this twice on the play. The third time I had to race for the puck, arriving at it at the same time as my opponent. Our sticks combined to knock it into clean ice. By the time we took the necessary paces to its location (still on the blue line) other players were arriving. I managed to swipe my stick first, keeping the puck in the zone and bouncing it high off of someone elses blade. No one is sure where the puck is for a split second, I spin around on the spot looking. Sight it as it drops down onto the ice a few feet away. Swing the stick, connecting with the puck as it touches the ice. Whip it in to goal. Hard and powerful and unexpected shot. Goalie's glove save spoils it and silences the crowd. Great shot though!
The second period was a more even affair, more controlled in our defence and a bit more sustained pressure up forward. I think we hit the pipes once. We also started taking penalties, but they weren't too good at holding it in the zone if we could push towards the blue (they were strong down low, though) so we killed them all off mainly by icing the puck with a moderately strong forecheck (it's fun to be patrolling the blue on the penalty kill). Several times during the period I gathered the loose puck in our zone and skated it behind our net before passing it up the boards.
As you'd expect, the third period started out quite ferociously as we tried to claw back their one goal lead. It didn't ease up until the final siren, though by then exhaustion and fatigue were taking their toll on tired legs and decision making faculties alike. Early in the piece I had engaged with a forward around the halfboard, drawing a cluster of players into our vicinity. The puck vanished amongst us all briefly. Their forwards outnumbered us and were almost frantic in their intensity, so I just started swinging my stick in wide sweeping motions around the puck, clearing the ice of the sticks of both friend and foe until our centre could grab it and take it out of harms way.
Perhaps the other memorable moments of the third entailed tying up forwards in front of or behind our net. In front, I 'boxed them out' if they were close in, tied up sticks or bodies if they were higher up. I chased to the corners as required, sometimes gaining the puck clean and only once allowing a shot that I didn't manage to then block with skate or shoulder. The hairiest few seconds involved arriving late in the corner against a rampaging wide skating winger, chasing him back and keeping the inside position even though always behind, pursuing him behind goal and forcing him wide as he tried to wrap around, repeating the whole thing immediately the other way, and a final third time before we were both taken out by another player.
I still felt like I was going strong, and my decisions were good and quick, but many of the other skaters were beginning to cluster, hesitate and excessively stickhandle. It was a bit frustrating but also a simple fact. Their extra line of forwards certainly paid off in those final minutes! Disappointing after the final siren, but pride in Tommy and the team for having put up a good game. the handshakes were genuine and smiles were warm.
The referees took the unusual step of congratulating the teams for playing an intense and heavy game, but all in a very good spirit. One can't ask for more than that in a final.
Except for a win!!!
Ice 5
Only one goal was scored the whole game, theirs in the later part of the second period. For the rest of the game it seemed a see-saw battle, with them working their way into the combat zone in front of our net with sustained pressure, and us with our lightening strikes and quick waves of attack. I didn't see their goal, having just left the ice before the play which it resulted from, but gather it was a coast to coast skate by their lanky forward, with Tommy being left to fend for himself. If so, Tsk Tsk Tsk to us, for this is the kind of play that should not happen at this end of the season. In a strange way, it's only fair that our season ended as a result.
Tommy was brilliant in goals and kept us in the game to the final siren. He couldn't have done anything more. He made some brilliant saves, sometimes ending up sprawled on the ice over the puck to kill a scrum that had gone crazy, sometimes making himself huge as he advanced towards a rushing forward, sometimes swatting the puck surely away from the kill zone. Brave man, hats off.
I very nearly was the cause of the scoreline blowing out on at least two occasions. Once in the first period when I failed to clear it from a scrum, ultimately leading to me being at one of the posts with Tommy flat across the line and a pile of bodies in front of him, the puck standing tantalisingly on its edge for a what seemed like several seconds in the few inches behind his back and out of my reach also (the ref blew his whistle to end the play, having lost sight of the puck).
The second near-screwup occurred in the second period and began as a one on one that I felt quite comfortable with, despite the high speed. I was skating backwards and controlling the gap as I tracked the forward to the point where I would arrest him properly when one of my skates bit into the ice and I went arse down backwards. I swung my stick towards the puck as soon as I felt what was happening, allowed the momentum of my swung stick to carry me around to end up outstretched and face down towards my own goal. The forward got by me, but I tangled him just sufficiently to enable our furiously backchecking centre to apply further pressure from behind and ultimately frustrate the shot. Scary moment!
To counter these scary moments, there were a number of memorable plays with which I was involved. As has been the case for recent game reports, I'll rehash them below in impressionist form.
In the first period I had my best shot at goal. It began with me holding the blue line during one of our counterattacks after the siege of the first ten minutes. I pinched down slightly to secure possession of the puck on the half board before firing it back in. I did this twice on the play. The third time I had to race for the puck, arriving at it at the same time as my opponent. Our sticks combined to knock it into clean ice. By the time we took the necessary paces to its location (still on the blue line) other players were arriving. I managed to swipe my stick first, keeping the puck in the zone and bouncing it high off of someone elses blade. No one is sure where the puck is for a split second, I spin around on the spot looking. Sight it as it drops down onto the ice a few feet away. Swing the stick, connecting with the puck as it touches the ice. Whip it in to goal. Hard and powerful and unexpected shot. Goalie's glove save spoils it and silences the crowd. Great shot though!
The second period was a more even affair, more controlled in our defence and a bit more sustained pressure up forward. I think we hit the pipes once. We also started taking penalties, but they weren't too good at holding it in the zone if we could push towards the blue (they were strong down low, though) so we killed them all off mainly by icing the puck with a moderately strong forecheck (it's fun to be patrolling the blue on the penalty kill). Several times during the period I gathered the loose puck in our zone and skated it behind our net before passing it up the boards.
As you'd expect, the third period started out quite ferociously as we tried to claw back their one goal lead. It didn't ease up until the final siren, though by then exhaustion and fatigue were taking their toll on tired legs and decision making faculties alike. Early in the piece I had engaged with a forward around the halfboard, drawing a cluster of players into our vicinity. The puck vanished amongst us all briefly. Their forwards outnumbered us and were almost frantic in their intensity, so I just started swinging my stick in wide sweeping motions around the puck, clearing the ice of the sticks of both friend and foe until our centre could grab it and take it out of harms way.
Perhaps the other memorable moments of the third entailed tying up forwards in front of or behind our net. In front, I 'boxed them out' if they were close in, tied up sticks or bodies if they were higher up. I chased to the corners as required, sometimes gaining the puck clean and only once allowing a shot that I didn't manage to then block with skate or shoulder. The hairiest few seconds involved arriving late in the corner against a rampaging wide skating winger, chasing him back and keeping the inside position even though always behind, pursuing him behind goal and forcing him wide as he tried to wrap around, repeating the whole thing immediately the other way, and a final third time before we were both taken out by another player.
I still felt like I was going strong, and my decisions were good and quick, but many of the other skaters were beginning to cluster, hesitate and excessively stickhandle. It was a bit frustrating but also a simple fact. Their extra line of forwards certainly paid off in those final minutes! Disappointing after the final siren, but pride in Tommy and the team for having put up a good game. the handshakes were genuine and smiles were warm.
The referees took the unusual step of congratulating the teams for playing an intense and heavy game, but all in a very good spirit. One can't ask for more than that in a final.
Except for a win!!!
Ice 5
Friday, 29 January 2016
Game Day - Rangers (5) d Knights (2)
After competing in two morning games of inline hockey at Gawler as part of the Vikings Cup tournament I made my way back to the Ice Arena to play in the Knights' final game of the regular season. We were taking on our old enemies, the Rangers, and the game would determine who had to play the elimination game against the Storm the following week before the playoffs proper commence.
We had ten skaters and Tommy in goal. This is almost as good as it gets for us, still being a player down from when Bacon and then Matt were taken from us. The Rangers iced twelve skaters plus their goalie. We had Justine managing the bench. She was assisted by Nick on the gate. The Rangers had three coaching staff.
I should have written this up shortly after the game as life has been busy since (will be a common 'problem' in coming weeks, alas) and the details blur very quickly. Therefore, as has become my practice on this blog, I will be more impressionistic than narrative in my style in what follows.
The Rangers scored against us pretty early, in my first shift. It was one on one as their forward crossed the blue near the boards, I was coming back from a more central position and should have had him covered but I lacked the urgency a D needs in moments like this and he got clear beneath me and took his shot. I put the goal down to my failure to engage properly, and the fact that I did so due the fact that my body hadn't yet awoken to the fact that I was playing my third hockey game of the day.
I'm not sure of the details of the play that led to their second goal, but do know that I was battling in front of our crease to keep our goalie clear. I think I achieved this aim, but took a couple stick blows to the helmet while doing it. My only real surprise was that, while the ref's saw the goal clear, they didn't see me getting hit around the head twice. Sigh.
We scored shortly after I hopped off the ice late in the first period.
I was on for their third goal, relatively early in the second period. Again, the shot came in from the outside and again I was holding up my man from crowding the crease. I was doing what I needed to do and didn't feel too guilty about it afterwards (same as the second goal).
About midway through the second period our young centre got deliberately boarded at full speed pretty well right in front of our bench. It was a mean and dirty hit and quite upsetting to see. Our centre played out the rest of the period on the wing and then didn't return to the game due back pain. The opposition guy copped a minor penalty for the hit. Unsurprisingly, the game acquired an edge from this moment on.
We'd been playing with four D and two lines prior to Baden's injury. From towards the end of the second period (when it became obvious he couldn't continue to play at all) we started playing with 3D. They scored two more goals before the end of the game, we scored one. I was on the ice for our goal (though uninvolved in any real fashion) but not theirs.
In the last period I played probably my best hockey, keeping the puck in their zone on a number of occasions by multiple interceptions, soccer skills, etc, clearing it from ours, taking them on along the boards and tying them up to the point of uselessness in front of goal. I also managed to pick up a two minute penalty for hooking with about twenty seconds to go (a nice way to end the season, in the penalty box!).
Perhaps the strongest memories were three different forwards of theirs getting upset at me for totally being concentrated on them when they were in the slot and not even caring where the puck was or what the play was doing. I've never before had any forward take exception to the fact that I do this, let alone voice it to me. All three took a moment out from our struggle to tell me where the play was, or where the puck was, and asked/told me to direct my attention there.
Two of the three I didn't even deign to reply except to give them a bit of a shove. My favorite personal memory was having the forward who'd put the illegal hit on our player look me in my eyes as I stood right up against and staring at him ask me, "What are you looking at?"
"You. You're special."
"The puck's over there," using his eyes to glance over my shoulder.
No reply. Shove.
"The play's over there!" Frustrated.
Shove. Stick lift.
The play moved on and we cleared it from our zone. The forward used this as his opportunity to back away from me and skate off.
"We'll be keeping a special eye out for you in future!" I skated off for the end of my shift. Indeed.
The other two gave me a big grin and congratulated me on an 'excellent game' during the handshake. The dirty player, on the other hand, didn't meet my eyes for the remainder of the game after our goalfront encounter (including when I was controlling the gap on him resulting in a successful poke check) and looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there by the time I shook his hand (I wonder what others of the Knights had said to him by that point, I said nothing and was deadpan in expression).
GP 16 G 2 A 3 Pts 5 10/4/1/1 PIMs 14
Ice 4
We had ten skaters and Tommy in goal. This is almost as good as it gets for us, still being a player down from when Bacon and then Matt were taken from us. The Rangers iced twelve skaters plus their goalie. We had Justine managing the bench. She was assisted by Nick on the gate. The Rangers had three coaching staff.
I should have written this up shortly after the game as life has been busy since (will be a common 'problem' in coming weeks, alas) and the details blur very quickly. Therefore, as has become my practice on this blog, I will be more impressionistic than narrative in my style in what follows.
The Rangers scored against us pretty early, in my first shift. It was one on one as their forward crossed the blue near the boards, I was coming back from a more central position and should have had him covered but I lacked the urgency a D needs in moments like this and he got clear beneath me and took his shot. I put the goal down to my failure to engage properly, and the fact that I did so due the fact that my body hadn't yet awoken to the fact that I was playing my third hockey game of the day.
I'm not sure of the details of the play that led to their second goal, but do know that I was battling in front of our crease to keep our goalie clear. I think I achieved this aim, but took a couple stick blows to the helmet while doing it. My only real surprise was that, while the ref's saw the goal clear, they didn't see me getting hit around the head twice. Sigh.
We scored shortly after I hopped off the ice late in the first period.
I was on for their third goal, relatively early in the second period. Again, the shot came in from the outside and again I was holding up my man from crowding the crease. I was doing what I needed to do and didn't feel too guilty about it afterwards (same as the second goal).
About midway through the second period our young centre got deliberately boarded at full speed pretty well right in front of our bench. It was a mean and dirty hit and quite upsetting to see. Our centre played out the rest of the period on the wing and then didn't return to the game due back pain. The opposition guy copped a minor penalty for the hit. Unsurprisingly, the game acquired an edge from this moment on.
We'd been playing with four D and two lines prior to Baden's injury. From towards the end of the second period (when it became obvious he couldn't continue to play at all) we started playing with 3D. They scored two more goals before the end of the game, we scored one. I was on the ice for our goal (though uninvolved in any real fashion) but not theirs.
In the last period I played probably my best hockey, keeping the puck in their zone on a number of occasions by multiple interceptions, soccer skills, etc, clearing it from ours, taking them on along the boards and tying them up to the point of uselessness in front of goal. I also managed to pick up a two minute penalty for hooking with about twenty seconds to go (a nice way to end the season, in the penalty box!).
Perhaps the strongest memories were three different forwards of theirs getting upset at me for totally being concentrated on them when they were in the slot and not even caring where the puck was or what the play was doing. I've never before had any forward take exception to the fact that I do this, let alone voice it to me. All three took a moment out from our struggle to tell me where the play was, or where the puck was, and asked/told me to direct my attention there.
Two of the three I didn't even deign to reply except to give them a bit of a shove. My favorite personal memory was having the forward who'd put the illegal hit on our player look me in my eyes as I stood right up against and staring at him ask me, "What are you looking at?"
"You. You're special."
"The puck's over there," using his eyes to glance over my shoulder.
No reply. Shove.
"The play's over there!" Frustrated.
Shove. Stick lift.
The play moved on and we cleared it from our zone. The forward used this as his opportunity to back away from me and skate off.
"We'll be keeping a special eye out for you in future!" I skated off for the end of my shift. Indeed.
The other two gave me a big grin and congratulated me on an 'excellent game' during the handshake. The dirty player, on the other hand, didn't meet my eyes for the remainder of the game after our goalfront encounter (including when I was controlling the gap on him resulting in a successful poke check) and looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there by the time I shook his hand (I wonder what others of the Knights had said to him by that point, I said nothing and was deadpan in expression).
GP 16 G 2 A 3 Pts 5 10/4/1/1 PIMs 14
Ice 4
Tuesday, 26 January 2016
Game Day - Viking Cup Games 3 and 4
On Sunday morning I headed out to Gawler for the second half of the Viking Cup's round robin schedule. The early game was against the Shufflers and at midday we would take on the Rockers. At the end of that match the three teams would be seeded for their finals appearances, an elimination game between positions two and three, followed by a grand final between the winner of that game and the team that had come first during the round robin games.
I knew that I could not be in Gawler for the afternoon finals as I had to be back at the Ice Arena for the Knights final game of the regular season against the Rangers. So, the best I could do for my team was try and help them get first position on the ladder to maximise their chance for a later victory.
We opened the tally with a 4-0 win against the Shufflers. Good team effort on our part, especially as we had only five skaters (2 of whom were rookies, one of whom has a shoulder injury). I got an assist for our second goal in the first period, but much of my game was defensive in nature as I fed the forwards and kept it in the zone. I made it a point to cover the danger players of the Shufflers as they could each outskate all the others on our team. It was a totally fun game, no penalties or bad blood on anyone's part.
The second Wheelers game of the day at Gawler resulted in a 1-1 draw against the Rockers. If our team was about passing and positioning, the Rockers were mainly about strength and cunning. It was a very close fought game, 0-0 at the end of the first half and both teams tiring a bit. Each team scored in the final five minutes. We unfortunately were penalised for too many skaters on the rink with twenty seconds to go, however they only got one face off before the siren went so it wasn't too bad. Again, I spent much of my time picking up their loose skater through the game.
My greatest failing in both games was my passing, very often putting it straight into an opposing player rather than the intended target (though a surprising number did find the right person). I will have to be a little more conservative with my passing game, holding the puck and playing for position more than I did, when the regular season returns.
For me, it was a case of pack up my gear and hop in the car and drive back to Adelaide for the Knights game in the afternoon.
For the Wheelers, it was an elimination game against the Shufflers. Shufflers won that game, went on to lose against the Rockers in the Cup game. Sigh.
Inline 4
I knew that I could not be in Gawler for the afternoon finals as I had to be back at the Ice Arena for the Knights final game of the regular season against the Rangers. So, the best I could do for my team was try and help them get first position on the ladder to maximise their chance for a later victory.
We opened the tally with a 4-0 win against the Shufflers. Good team effort on our part, especially as we had only five skaters (2 of whom were rookies, one of whom has a shoulder injury). I got an assist for our second goal in the first period, but much of my game was defensive in nature as I fed the forwards and kept it in the zone. I made it a point to cover the danger players of the Shufflers as they could each outskate all the others on our team. It was a totally fun game, no penalties or bad blood on anyone's part.
The second Wheelers game of the day at Gawler resulted in a 1-1 draw against the Rockers. If our team was about passing and positioning, the Rockers were mainly about strength and cunning. It was a very close fought game, 0-0 at the end of the first half and both teams tiring a bit. Each team scored in the final five minutes. We unfortunately were penalised for too many skaters on the rink with twenty seconds to go, however they only got one face off before the siren went so it wasn't too bad. Again, I spent much of my time picking up their loose skater through the game.
My greatest failing in both games was my passing, very often putting it straight into an opposing player rather than the intended target (though a surprising number did find the right person). I will have to be a little more conservative with my passing game, holding the puck and playing for position more than I did, when the regular season returns.
For me, it was a case of pack up my gear and hop in the car and drive back to Adelaide for the Knights game in the afternoon.
For the Wheelers, it was an elimination game against the Shufflers. Shufflers won that game, went on to lose against the Rockers in the Cup game. Sigh.
Inline 4
Saturday, 23 January 2016
Game Day - Viking Cup Games 1 and 2
I am enrolled for my first tournament, the Viking Cup. I am in the Second/Social Division, composed of three teams in total. We have six skaters and Matt the Goalie. The other teams are similarly composed. Most of the players are from Div 2 in the regular competition, though we have three rookies on our team who are all trying it out (all can play). The usual combinations have been mixed up for the occasion. On my team, only Nat and I are used to playing together. Our team is the Wheelers.
Games comprise two twelve minute halves, with a minute for half time and two minutes between games. There are two Junior divisions and two senior Divisions., each team plays two games today and two tomorrow, followed by finals in the afternoon (I'll have to miss the finals if the Wheelers make it, being required on the ice for the Knights clash against the Rangers).
Today we played the Shufflers first. It ended up 2-2 draw. I tied it up in the ninth minute of the second half with a ridiculous shot from the right boards only a foot or two above the redline. This was my only score for the day. I was a bit rusty overall, dropping the puck off my stick a couple of times most noticeably. Had a good battle with Darryl, a dual citizen from Blackwood, through the game (he plays with the Shufflers in the regular competition and have had a good tussle with him there also). We played most of our minutes with each other on the rink.
Our second game was five hours later against the Rockers. This was a harsher affair. We lost 1-2. Dallas scored his second goal of the tournament for us. I pushed myself harder in this game, and my energetics were still picking up by game end (peak HR of 193 was reached in the last shift and EPOC maxed out after the game was over). The Rockers have a greater emphasis on strength than the Shufflers (who were more about skill - we are about speed and position) and it was definitely a more physical game. Both teams were blocking a significant significant number of shots.
Most memorable moments for the day included my goal against the Shufflers and the general challenge of that game, wrestling Craig to the floor mid-rink as we twisted against each other's sticks, being beaten by him shortly after in a race to the boards and subsequent battle for body position, successfully blocking a shot by glancing it off my upper elbow guard (lower left bicep) and not even feeling it.
A fun day, with two more games scheduled for tomorrow morning before I hop into the car and drive an hour to the Ice Arena for the important last game of the season.
Inline 2
Games comprise two twelve minute halves, with a minute for half time and two minutes between games. There are two Junior divisions and two senior Divisions., each team plays two games today and two tomorrow, followed by finals in the afternoon (I'll have to miss the finals if the Wheelers make it, being required on the ice for the Knights clash against the Rangers).
Today we played the Shufflers first. It ended up 2-2 draw. I tied it up in the ninth minute of the second half with a ridiculous shot from the right boards only a foot or two above the redline. This was my only score for the day. I was a bit rusty overall, dropping the puck off my stick a couple of times most noticeably. Had a good battle with Darryl, a dual citizen from Blackwood, through the game (he plays with the Shufflers in the regular competition and have had a good tussle with him there also). We played most of our minutes with each other on the rink.
Our second game was five hours later against the Rockers. This was a harsher affair. We lost 1-2. Dallas scored his second goal of the tournament for us. I pushed myself harder in this game, and my energetics were still picking up by game end (peak HR of 193 was reached in the last shift and EPOC maxed out after the game was over). The Rockers have a greater emphasis on strength than the Shufflers (who were more about skill - we are about speed and position) and it was definitely a more physical game. Both teams were blocking a significant significant number of shots.
Most memorable moments for the day included my goal against the Shufflers and the general challenge of that game, wrestling Craig to the floor mid-rink as we twisted against each other's sticks, being beaten by him shortly after in a race to the boards and subsequent battle for body position, successfully blocking a shot by glancing it off my upper elbow guard (lower left bicep) and not even feeling it.
A fun day, with two more games scheduled for tomorrow morning before I hop into the car and drive an hour to the Ice Arena for the important last game of the season.
Inline 2
Game Day - Knights (2) d Flyers (1)
On Sunday night we played the Flyers for the second time this season. The Flyers are defending a premiership. We haven't beaten them in three seasons. They'd beaten us by five goals when we met before xmas. They had lost a couple of games recently and, for the first time since round two, been knocked out of first spot on the ladder (by the Blades, after their victory over us the night before). Therefore, we knew they'd be keener even than usual for a win.
Against this, we knew that if we are to avoid a playoff elimination game we had to win this one. Anything less would leave our playoff chances subject to the results of other games. So we also had a pretty good 'meta-reason' to win the game. The fact that we had ten skaters against their seven wasn't going to be as decisive as it ordinarily would have been as we were playing within twenty four hours of our shootout defeat to the Blades. Both teams are known as fairly aggressive. It was going to be a tough game.
We ran with four defencemen for the first two periods, switcing it up in the final period to only three on the rotation. I was on the ice for their goal, and for both of ours had only literally just stepped off the ice at the end of a shift as they went in.
From memory, they had us under severe attack in the first period, outshooting us about 10 to 2. In a sense we were lucky to be tied at 1-1, and owed the game at this stage to Tommy the Goalie (do teams owe every game they win to their goalie?). He was definitely on fire, stopping everything they could throw at him except a hard shot from the inside of the offensive dot which deflected just enough of the shaft of my stick go over the top of Tommy's glove and into the back of the net. I felt slightly responsible but those are the risks of getting in the way.
We went up by a goal in the second period, which was much more even in terms of shots than the first had been. The game was being fought out significantly in the neutral zone and I was getting an edge on their lesser players around our goalfront, especially as some of their fancier skaters realised that I didn't need to be as good a skater as they were to screw up their plans. Similarly, their larger more bullish players were beginning to understand that I was still willing to take them on and was willing to work hard to put myself into a position of advantage to do so.
Probably the most heart stopping moment I had on the bench was when one of their larger wingers found himself on a breakaway 1 on 0 against our goalie, and blew the shot. Go Tommy! Ealier in the period the same winger had started tapping my stick to irritate me, but I had tapped him back and we had just got to the point where a ref was skating over in case he had to get between us when I skated off with a small moral victory under my belt. I'm not great fan of bullyish intimidation, so I enjoyed this fellow fluffing his shot later.
Both teams were physically tiring by the end of the second period, though you could guarantee we'd all come out strong after a couple minutes rest and it would boil down to a battle of wills in the final few minutes. Which is the way it turned out to be.
The game's pace picked up again in the third period, with strong forays being made by both sides and good goal keeping at both ends. Penalties began to flow, but they tended to be matching and thus there was no outsized disparity such as the last period had seen (when we had killed off about at minute at 5 on 3, and then the remainder of the regular powerplay).
Entering the final minutes I was pretty convinced that, as tired as we all were, they would be battling the effects of fatigue on their decision making abilities as well as, in their less conditioned players at least, the effects of 'jelly legs' due having only seven skaters. Against this, they were a more well drilled unit, with back passing forwards, late trailing snipers, set plays at face offs and a history of winning, so we battened down the hatches and put in our hardest minutes of the game.
For me, this was perhaps typified best in the following three incidents. In the first, I blocked a shot by closing the space on the same forward who had deflected one into the net in the first period, in an almost identical situation (I'd also blocked a low shot in the second, with the front of my boot (which stung a little for awhile)).
The second incident occured as they came in on one of several forays on our right wing resulting in our centre battling with theirs on the boards. Their winger was waiting several feet away to take the plunder. I knew he was a slick skater and had a good snapshot, so proceeded to involve myself with him to the point that, as soon as the puck was in our reach, he was on the ice. He started to complain aloud to me, so I told him to 'stop your whining' as I skated off after the puck to clear it.
The third was on the opposite boards, when I was first to the puck and consequently became involved in a board tussle. I did my best just to hold the puck in, push it forward. He, on the other hand, was trying to strip it and concentrating more on me than the puck. As a consequence, the butt end of his stick ended up in my sternum with some force just as the whistle stopped play for a roughing penalty against my opponent.
I saw out the game on the ice, almost in a penalty killing role as they pulled their goalie with a half minute to go (we'd kept the puck in their end for at least a couple minutes before that).
It was a sweet victory indeed.
Our team game was more measured than it has been before, more deliberate passes finding their target, more holding onto the puck to make smarter decisions, a greater willingess to carry it if opportunity presented, less undisciplined play, smoother line changes, greater support, better breakouts (even I carried it behind our goal at least three times, on one of those occasions even doing a reverse of direction to shake the forechecking forward). I think our coach would be reasonably proud.
I was pretty happy with my game. I lost my edges a lost less than the night before, got several shots off (including a couple that ended in the goalie's glove), did some nice breakout passes, managed to contain their best forward and disarmed the others, stood protectively over our goalie on a number of plays. I was surprised to see at the end of the game that my average heart rate and VO2 were both significantly less than the night before, the effort had seemed just as intense.
There's a lesson in that, what with a heavy hockey weekend coming up (four short inline games at the Viking Cup, followed by the final game of regular season on the ice, when we play the Rangers in a game of importance to both teams as we head into playoffs).
GP 15 G 2 A 3 Pts 5 +6 10/3/3/1 PIMs 12
Ice 3
Against this, we knew that if we are to avoid a playoff elimination game we had to win this one. Anything less would leave our playoff chances subject to the results of other games. So we also had a pretty good 'meta-reason' to win the game. The fact that we had ten skaters against their seven wasn't going to be as decisive as it ordinarily would have been as we were playing within twenty four hours of our shootout defeat to the Blades. Both teams are known as fairly aggressive. It was going to be a tough game.
We ran with four defencemen for the first two periods, switcing it up in the final period to only three on the rotation. I was on the ice for their goal, and for both of ours had only literally just stepped off the ice at the end of a shift as they went in.
From memory, they had us under severe attack in the first period, outshooting us about 10 to 2. In a sense we were lucky to be tied at 1-1, and owed the game at this stage to Tommy the Goalie (do teams owe every game they win to their goalie?). He was definitely on fire, stopping everything they could throw at him except a hard shot from the inside of the offensive dot which deflected just enough of the shaft of my stick go over the top of Tommy's glove and into the back of the net. I felt slightly responsible but those are the risks of getting in the way.
We went up by a goal in the second period, which was much more even in terms of shots than the first had been. The game was being fought out significantly in the neutral zone and I was getting an edge on their lesser players around our goalfront, especially as some of their fancier skaters realised that I didn't need to be as good a skater as they were to screw up their plans. Similarly, their larger more bullish players were beginning to understand that I was still willing to take them on and was willing to work hard to put myself into a position of advantage to do so.
Probably the most heart stopping moment I had on the bench was when one of their larger wingers found himself on a breakaway 1 on 0 against our goalie, and blew the shot. Go Tommy! Ealier in the period the same winger had started tapping my stick to irritate me, but I had tapped him back and we had just got to the point where a ref was skating over in case he had to get between us when I skated off with a small moral victory under my belt. I'm not great fan of bullyish intimidation, so I enjoyed this fellow fluffing his shot later.
Both teams were physically tiring by the end of the second period, though you could guarantee we'd all come out strong after a couple minutes rest and it would boil down to a battle of wills in the final few minutes. Which is the way it turned out to be.
The game's pace picked up again in the third period, with strong forays being made by both sides and good goal keeping at both ends. Penalties began to flow, but they tended to be matching and thus there was no outsized disparity such as the last period had seen (when we had killed off about at minute at 5 on 3, and then the remainder of the regular powerplay).
Entering the final minutes I was pretty convinced that, as tired as we all were, they would be battling the effects of fatigue on their decision making abilities as well as, in their less conditioned players at least, the effects of 'jelly legs' due having only seven skaters. Against this, they were a more well drilled unit, with back passing forwards, late trailing snipers, set plays at face offs and a history of winning, so we battened down the hatches and put in our hardest minutes of the game.
For me, this was perhaps typified best in the following three incidents. In the first, I blocked a shot by closing the space on the same forward who had deflected one into the net in the first period, in an almost identical situation (I'd also blocked a low shot in the second, with the front of my boot (which stung a little for awhile)).
The second incident occured as they came in on one of several forays on our right wing resulting in our centre battling with theirs on the boards. Their winger was waiting several feet away to take the plunder. I knew he was a slick skater and had a good snapshot, so proceeded to involve myself with him to the point that, as soon as the puck was in our reach, he was on the ice. He started to complain aloud to me, so I told him to 'stop your whining' as I skated off after the puck to clear it.
The third was on the opposite boards, when I was first to the puck and consequently became involved in a board tussle. I did my best just to hold the puck in, push it forward. He, on the other hand, was trying to strip it and concentrating more on me than the puck. As a consequence, the butt end of his stick ended up in my sternum with some force just as the whistle stopped play for a roughing penalty against my opponent.
I saw out the game on the ice, almost in a penalty killing role as they pulled their goalie with a half minute to go (we'd kept the puck in their end for at least a couple minutes before that).
It was a sweet victory indeed.
Our team game was more measured than it has been before, more deliberate passes finding their target, more holding onto the puck to make smarter decisions, a greater willingess to carry it if opportunity presented, less undisciplined play, smoother line changes, greater support, better breakouts (even I carried it behind our goal at least three times, on one of those occasions even doing a reverse of direction to shake the forechecking forward). I think our coach would be reasonably proud.
I was pretty happy with my game. I lost my edges a lost less than the night before, got several shots off (including a couple that ended in the goalie's glove), did some nice breakout passes, managed to contain their best forward and disarmed the others, stood protectively over our goalie on a number of plays. I was surprised to see at the end of the game that my average heart rate and VO2 were both significantly less than the night before, the effort had seemed just as intense.
There's a lesson in that, what with a heavy hockey weekend coming up (four short inline games at the Viking Cup, followed by the final game of regular season on the ice, when we play the Rangers in a game of importance to both teams as we head into playoffs).
GP 15 G 2 A 3 Pts 5 +6 10/3/3/1 PIMs 12
Ice 3
Sunday, 17 January 2016
Game Day - Blades (5) d Knights (4) SO
We lost last night's game in a shootout, having first surrendered a first period lead of 2-0 and then, in the third, struggling to score an equaliser to even get to a shootout. In that sense, it was a disappointing outing. Part of the disappointment arises from the fact that I was involved with three of their goals, albeit being on the ice for all of ours also. On the other hand, I/we can play better than we did and as a result I am pretty certain that we can beat this team should we meet them in the playoffs.
We had nine skaters again, same as the Blades.
My takeaway lessons from the game mainly centre around the goals that we allowed when I was on the ice. For the first, I was backing in and keeping their guy on the outside. I could maybe have closed the gap on him a little but was playing conservative. I'd only picked him up late (as he entered the zone) due fact my partner further up had been caught flat footed and I was picking up the pieces. The shot went in from above the hashmarks, probably just above the dot. I don't think that any real blame attaches to me for this one.
The second goal was one where I had inside position between winger and goal, had kept him from screening our goalie, had my stick under his as the pass came in from the corner, and yet still totally failed to disrupt the subsequent shot. A sticklift or a good shove would have been all it took to neutralise the eventual scorer.
The third was one that was fairly regretable. I'd pulled up at our post as our centre carried the puck behind the goal. Somehow he lost his footing and went down, to be pounced on by a pursuing forward. I dropped back and was shouting at our guy to 'get up', trying to step over him to get back in front of the net as the forward steamed off. I was still emerging from behind the net when the pass came in to the open winger in front of the open goal (Tommy was covering the shot). It was especially painful to watch from my position because I knew exactly where I would have been if not snarled up behind the net.
Lest it seem like it was all doom and gloom, it wasn't. I blocked a couple shots solidly, helped kill off their one power play, tied up a forward in front of our net several times, carried and reset several times, played ping pong on the blue line at least once, took several shots of which two ended up in the mitt and, most gratifyingly, seemed to get a lot of passes onto a friendly stick (generally board passes, though not always). I iced it once on a long pass that sailed past a dreaming forward who wasn't watching the play (frustrating).
Conditioning held up again; peak HR of 195 (avg 170), EPOC of 109 ml/kg, VO2 of 38 ml/kg/min. What will be really interesting is whether I can replicate this again tomorrow, and at the same time play smarter deep in our own zone, in what is arguably the most important game of our season.
GP 14 G 2 A 3 Pts 5 +7 9/3/1/1 PIMs 12
Ice - 2
We had nine skaters again, same as the Blades.
My takeaway lessons from the game mainly centre around the goals that we allowed when I was on the ice. For the first, I was backing in and keeping their guy on the outside. I could maybe have closed the gap on him a little but was playing conservative. I'd only picked him up late (as he entered the zone) due fact my partner further up had been caught flat footed and I was picking up the pieces. The shot went in from above the hashmarks, probably just above the dot. I don't think that any real blame attaches to me for this one.
The second goal was one where I had inside position between winger and goal, had kept him from screening our goalie, had my stick under his as the pass came in from the corner, and yet still totally failed to disrupt the subsequent shot. A sticklift or a good shove would have been all it took to neutralise the eventual scorer.
The third was one that was fairly regretable. I'd pulled up at our post as our centre carried the puck behind the goal. Somehow he lost his footing and went down, to be pounced on by a pursuing forward. I dropped back and was shouting at our guy to 'get up', trying to step over him to get back in front of the net as the forward steamed off. I was still emerging from behind the net when the pass came in to the open winger in front of the open goal (Tommy was covering the shot). It was especially painful to watch from my position because I knew exactly where I would have been if not snarled up behind the net.
Lest it seem like it was all doom and gloom, it wasn't. I blocked a couple shots solidly, helped kill off their one power play, tied up a forward in front of our net several times, carried and reset several times, played ping pong on the blue line at least once, took several shots of which two ended up in the mitt and, most gratifyingly, seemed to get a lot of passes onto a friendly stick (generally board passes, though not always). I iced it once on a long pass that sailed past a dreaming forward who wasn't watching the play (frustrating).
Conditioning held up again; peak HR of 195 (avg 170), EPOC of 109 ml/kg, VO2 of 38 ml/kg/min. What will be really interesting is whether I can replicate this again tomorrow, and at the same time play smarter deep in our own zone, in what is arguably the most important game of our season.
GP 14 G 2 A 3 Pts 5 +7 9/3/1/1 PIMs 12
Ice - 2
Saturday, 16 January 2016
Game Day - Knights (3) d Predators (2)
A good win to the Knights on our return to the ice from mid-season xmas break. Also, to break in our brand new jerseys, complete with names on the backs of them (this is a sought after milestone in its own right to me, having my own named jersey). We had nine skaters. This was a couple more than I'd expected and very welcome as the Pred's had eleven. We had Tommy in goal.
I played my usual role in defence though, being the only regular defender present had to play a more conservative game than perhaps I normally would have. Even so, I was directly tied up in the (non) plays which resulted in both of their goals early in the second period. On the first, I was backing up from their carrying forward and as I crossed the blue line I dropped my guard on him due the fact that my rookie partner made a play onto him and I therefore started looking for another assignment so that we weren't both tied up on the one player. The attacker utilised the momentary confusion created to put on the breaks, creating more space to take an unexpected shot that sailed through.
Their second goal was put through not long afterwards. Again, confusion between me and the rookie. This time, I was on the bench and watching the play deep in our zone when the D who was coming off came in exhausted from the forward lines, totally outside my field of vision, and several valuable seconds were therefore wasted before I was able to skate into our zone and the action. By the time I got there they'd released a shot and scored again.
We put in our first goal late in the second period. I wasn't closely watching the play, having just passed it up ice to get us into our zone. I had just stepped off the ice to the bench when our score went in. We went in at the second intermission 2-1 down, but fairly confident due the fact that we had put more shots on goal than they had and seemed to be skating stronger (despite having fewer skaters).
The third period was hard hockey. We scored early in the period to tie it up at 2-2 and then it was a game of punch and counter punch until we put another in with about two minutes to go. Almost immediately afterwards Stewey took a boarding penalty and we had to play out the entirety of the closing minutes in our own zone a man down against six skaters (they'd pulled their goalie). There were about six faceoffs in that small amount of time and it was a blessed relief when the final siren went.
I took a hooking penalty early in the third, playing catch up to one of their fast skaters who almost had a breakaway. I managed to impede him by grabbing his stick with mine and keeping it elevated as we raced for the puck and had no complaints about the penalty when the whistle went. Importantly for me, they didn't score on the powerplay. Mine was only one of three which we took in the final period. Not something we wish to repeat in the next few games against more disciplined forward units.
The Preds didn't feature a strong forecheck and thus on occasion allowed me time to hold the puck for a stretch pass to the forward blue line or carry it up past the centreline before passing it on.
The defence game
Early in the first period I had a crunching collision with one of their rushing wingers shortly after he'd crossed the blue. Not quite sure now how it came about but I do recall being faced with a choice and choosing not to surrender the ice as I saw him barreling into the same ice I was heading to. So, we both landed heavily on the ice (I was up and off pretty quickly, I gathered that he felt he'd been blitzed and was hence a bit delayed).
Later in the period I spent an entire shift holding the blue line, sprinting to cover both sides and the centre, finding time to pinch forward and take one of our team's only two shots for the period (they got off seven) and, on the one occasion I let the puck cross back into the neutral zone, I still managed to collect it and hold it until everyone was back on side before passing it forward again. Quite a shift.
I was described as 'tenacious' as I returned to the bench at the end of a shift late in the second period. I had spent the whole shift covering the D zone, alternating between racing to the corners and holding station in front of the creaset, blocking shooting lanes from the point, directing traffic as last man back while holding up the tide by controlling the gap. I thought being a 'Tenacious D' is a great thing and did my best to keep it going for the rest of the game. We outshot them10-7 this period, which perhaps gave rise to a certain confidence even though we were down 2-1 at the end of it.
The final period was great fun, especially once the game had been tied and the pressure increased with every minute. Their senior players pushed forward, exerting their size and strength. I had one such try to dominate the netfront while his comrade fought for, and eventually won, possession of the puck in the corner. I quickly assessed my opponent as not being easily susceptable to simply being shoved out of the danger zone, saved my ferocity until it came time to prevent him screening our goalie or otherwise interfering with our defence. I totally tied him up for the important five or so seconds, leaving him unexpectedly impotent after he'd thought he'd have it all over me.
The other key play I recall in the third (besides blocking a shot with my armoured thigh) involved losing my footing in the slot during the final desperate half minute, pulling the puck in with my stick as I got to my knees, sensing three opponents swooping on me from different directions while my team mates scambled back towards me and, while still on my knees, protecting the puck, deking it (!) around an opponent's questing blade, and then tapping it with a deft backhand slowly into the corner to use up a few more valuable seconds.
We outshot them 10-6 in the the third period, 22-20 for the game. Considering we were down two of our regular defenders for the evening, everyone rose to the occasion. We will have to step it up another notch in the coming weeks, the teams we face play a harder game than that which we've faced recently.
I played my most consistent game to date on the ice, keeping up a high energy level for the entire game. My increased general level of fitness, specifically combined with my training program over the previous two weeks, allowed for a much improved return to the ice than last year's effort coming out of the mid season break. Perhaps most hearteningly, I wasn't the only one who showed signs of having made some effort towards play off fitness.
GP 13 G 2 A 3 Pts 5 +6 9/3/1 12 PIMs
Ice 1
I played my usual role in defence though, being the only regular defender present had to play a more conservative game than perhaps I normally would have. Even so, I was directly tied up in the (non) plays which resulted in both of their goals early in the second period. On the first, I was backing up from their carrying forward and as I crossed the blue line I dropped my guard on him due the fact that my rookie partner made a play onto him and I therefore started looking for another assignment so that we weren't both tied up on the one player. The attacker utilised the momentary confusion created to put on the breaks, creating more space to take an unexpected shot that sailed through.
Their second goal was put through not long afterwards. Again, confusion between me and the rookie. This time, I was on the bench and watching the play deep in our zone when the D who was coming off came in exhausted from the forward lines, totally outside my field of vision, and several valuable seconds were therefore wasted before I was able to skate into our zone and the action. By the time I got there they'd released a shot and scored again.
We put in our first goal late in the second period. I wasn't closely watching the play, having just passed it up ice to get us into our zone. I had just stepped off the ice to the bench when our score went in. We went in at the second intermission 2-1 down, but fairly confident due the fact that we had put more shots on goal than they had and seemed to be skating stronger (despite having fewer skaters).
The third period was hard hockey. We scored early in the period to tie it up at 2-2 and then it was a game of punch and counter punch until we put another in with about two minutes to go. Almost immediately afterwards Stewey took a boarding penalty and we had to play out the entirety of the closing minutes in our own zone a man down against six skaters (they'd pulled their goalie). There were about six faceoffs in that small amount of time and it was a blessed relief when the final siren went.
I took a hooking penalty early in the third, playing catch up to one of their fast skaters who almost had a breakaway. I managed to impede him by grabbing his stick with mine and keeping it elevated as we raced for the puck and had no complaints about the penalty when the whistle went. Importantly for me, they didn't score on the powerplay. Mine was only one of three which we took in the final period. Not something we wish to repeat in the next few games against more disciplined forward units.
The Preds didn't feature a strong forecheck and thus on occasion allowed me time to hold the puck for a stretch pass to the forward blue line or carry it up past the centreline before passing it on.
The defence game
Early in the first period I had a crunching collision with one of their rushing wingers shortly after he'd crossed the blue. Not quite sure now how it came about but I do recall being faced with a choice and choosing not to surrender the ice as I saw him barreling into the same ice I was heading to. So, we both landed heavily on the ice (I was up and off pretty quickly, I gathered that he felt he'd been blitzed and was hence a bit delayed).
Later in the period I spent an entire shift holding the blue line, sprinting to cover both sides and the centre, finding time to pinch forward and take one of our team's only two shots for the period (they got off seven) and, on the one occasion I let the puck cross back into the neutral zone, I still managed to collect it and hold it until everyone was back on side before passing it forward again. Quite a shift.
I was described as 'tenacious' as I returned to the bench at the end of a shift late in the second period. I had spent the whole shift covering the D zone, alternating between racing to the corners and holding station in front of the creaset, blocking shooting lanes from the point, directing traffic as last man back while holding up the tide by controlling the gap. I thought being a 'Tenacious D' is a great thing and did my best to keep it going for the rest of the game. We outshot them10-7 this period, which perhaps gave rise to a certain confidence even though we were down 2-1 at the end of it.
The final period was great fun, especially once the game had been tied and the pressure increased with every minute. Their senior players pushed forward, exerting their size and strength. I had one such try to dominate the netfront while his comrade fought for, and eventually won, possession of the puck in the corner. I quickly assessed my opponent as not being easily susceptable to simply being shoved out of the danger zone, saved my ferocity until it came time to prevent him screening our goalie or otherwise interfering with our defence. I totally tied him up for the important five or so seconds, leaving him unexpectedly impotent after he'd thought he'd have it all over me.
The other key play I recall in the third (besides blocking a shot with my armoured thigh) involved losing my footing in the slot during the final desperate half minute, pulling the puck in with my stick as I got to my knees, sensing three opponents swooping on me from different directions while my team mates scambled back towards me and, while still on my knees, protecting the puck, deking it (!) around an opponent's questing blade, and then tapping it with a deft backhand slowly into the corner to use up a few more valuable seconds.
We outshot them 10-6 in the the third period, 22-20 for the game. Considering we were down two of our regular defenders for the evening, everyone rose to the occasion. We will have to step it up another notch in the coming weeks, the teams we face play a harder game than that which we've faced recently.
I played my most consistent game to date on the ice, keeping up a high energy level for the entire game. My increased general level of fitness, specifically combined with my training program over the previous two weeks, allowed for a much improved return to the ice than last year's effort coming out of the mid season break. Perhaps most hearteningly, I wasn't the only one who showed signs of having made some effort towards play off fitness.
GP 13 G 2 A 3 Pts 5 +6 9/3/1 12 PIMs
Ice 1
Saturday, 7 November 2015
Game Day - Mavericks (8) d Bumpers (6)
We played an excellent game of inline hockey against the Bumpers in Gawler on Saturday night. We had five skaters, they had four. They had Matt the Goalie, we had Josh in his first ever time in goalie gear. Considering that the Bumpers have the strongest shot in the Division and we had a totally newb goalie I would consider it a fairly even match, despite the difference in number of skaters. Although the closeness of the match up is reflected in the final scoreline it didn't seem so for much of the game. But, indeed, that's one of the things that made it 'excellent'. Sport is a funny thing!
We scored the first goal about 10 seconds (!) in, with me skating out of the circle with the puck and Matt getting to the corner post in time for my quick pass before putting it into the empty net. I think we caught them on the hop! Not to be outdone, Craig answered back a minute later. Within two minutes, Natasha and I almost repeated the first play of the game, this time with me slotting the puck from a neat pass by Tash. Still hanging in there, the Mel skated the Bumper's second goal in two minutes after that. This was the last time they weren't behind us after Merrilyn and I combined for her to put in our third goal.
Craig was getting a bit feisty, none of his shots were getting through, and subsequently took a roughing penalty. First play off the faceoff resulted in a power play goal. Craig hadn't been back on for a whole shift after that when he took another penalty for tripping Natasha (the 'victim' of the earlier roughing call). They saw their way through that penalty and the half time siren went shortly afterwards. We were 4-2 up.
In the first five minutes of the second half we put on two more goals, 6-2. Craig kept their hopes up a minute later, but Merrilyn shortly afterwards put through what turned out to be the game winning goal when she slotted one on a joint assist from Brenton and myself, 7-3. We were feeling pretty confident at this point, further enforced by another tripping penalty being called on them a minute later.
We didn't score and the powerplay and the game then took a rapid turn as they turned up the intensity and started finding the net. Craig scored at the six minute mark and then again with only two minutes on the clock. We still had a two goal buffer. They called a time out and were able to keep their strongest line out for another shift. This strategy was rewarded with another goal with one minute left on the clock. One goal difference. One minute to go.
I grabbed the puck with aggressive wing play off the centre face off and swooped straight past them all for a one man rush. I could see a gap between the goalie and the left post and snapped a shot off at full speed. It went straight to the back of the net and I looped back to the centre dot with I'd imagine a lot of confident pride in my stance. I'd known that puck was going in from the moment I'd picked it up on my stick. Weird.
So. It was a fun and close game. We outshot them 32-16. Each side hit the pipes square on at least once. We blocked a lot of their shots before they got through to Josh, who was finding the goalie role quite a challenge. As I said to him though, he saved enough shots to win us the game. Which is all that really matters when it comes down to it.
I had another five point night against decent opposition. Alltogether, we have collected 35 individual points in the two games we've played while scoring 18 goals. That's quite amazing. We are quite a force when firing on all cylinders!
I think this procession will come to a crashing halt at some point soon, so I might as well enjoy it while I can! Which is at least until tonight when we take on the Snipers. We'll be short Matt and thus have only four skaters. The last time we met the Snipers they had six skaters. That would be pretty difficult.
GP 2 G 5 A 5 Pts 10 +8 PIMS 2 2/0/0
Inline 58
We scored the first goal about 10 seconds (!) in, with me skating out of the circle with the puck and Matt getting to the corner post in time for my quick pass before putting it into the empty net. I think we caught them on the hop! Not to be outdone, Craig answered back a minute later. Within two minutes, Natasha and I almost repeated the first play of the game, this time with me slotting the puck from a neat pass by Tash. Still hanging in there, the Mel skated the Bumper's second goal in two minutes after that. This was the last time they weren't behind us after Merrilyn and I combined for her to put in our third goal.
Craig was getting a bit feisty, none of his shots were getting through, and subsequently took a roughing penalty. First play off the faceoff resulted in a power play goal. Craig hadn't been back on for a whole shift after that when he took another penalty for tripping Natasha (the 'victim' of the earlier roughing call). They saw their way through that penalty and the half time siren went shortly afterwards. We were 4-2 up.
In the first five minutes of the second half we put on two more goals, 6-2. Craig kept their hopes up a minute later, but Merrilyn shortly afterwards put through what turned out to be the game winning goal when she slotted one on a joint assist from Brenton and myself, 7-3. We were feeling pretty confident at this point, further enforced by another tripping penalty being called on them a minute later.
We didn't score and the powerplay and the game then took a rapid turn as they turned up the intensity and started finding the net. Craig scored at the six minute mark and then again with only two minutes on the clock. We still had a two goal buffer. They called a time out and were able to keep their strongest line out for another shift. This strategy was rewarded with another goal with one minute left on the clock. One goal difference. One minute to go.
I grabbed the puck with aggressive wing play off the centre face off and swooped straight past them all for a one man rush. I could see a gap between the goalie and the left post and snapped a shot off at full speed. It went straight to the back of the net and I looped back to the centre dot with I'd imagine a lot of confident pride in my stance. I'd known that puck was going in from the moment I'd picked it up on my stick. Weird.
So. It was a fun and close game. We outshot them 32-16. Each side hit the pipes square on at least once. We blocked a lot of their shots before they got through to Josh, who was finding the goalie role quite a challenge. As I said to him though, he saved enough shots to win us the game. Which is all that really matters when it comes down to it.
I had another five point night against decent opposition. Alltogether, we have collected 35 individual points in the two games we've played while scoring 18 goals. That's quite amazing. We are quite a force when firing on all cylinders!
I think this procession will come to a crashing halt at some point soon, so I might as well enjoy it while I can! Which is at least until tonight when we take on the Snipers. We'll be short Matt and thus have only four skaters. The last time we met the Snipers they had six skaters. That would be pretty difficult.
GP 2 G 5 A 5 Pts 10 +8 PIMS 2 2/0/0
Inline 58
Sunday, 1 November 2015
Game Day - Flyers (7) d Knights (2)
The Knights got trounced in our most recent Sunday night game against the Flyers. We had nine skaters, they had ten. We had Tommy in goal and they had Matt. Justine managed our bench. The Flyers seized second spot on the ladder from us as mid season approaches, we dropped down to fourth.
The first box score event in the game was an interference penalty against myself. This was the second game in a row I've been penalised. Hopefully I won't make a habit of it, as this one resulted in their first goal on the subsequent power play. I had taken Justine's edict to 'keep our house clean' quite literally had been quite savage in my netfront push and shove. Sadly, I also 'tended the garden' (was pushing a player out of the high slot away from the play) and my opponent ended up on his arse after losing his balance. Fair call. And this player didn't try and crowd our goalie for the rest of the night when I was on the ice, so who knows if it was worth the goal?
In any event, I think I stirred up the guy I'd been pushing around because he got pinged for tripping on the very next shift after their goal. My impression at the time was that he was trying to do to one of our guys what I'd been doing to him earlier (using body press to ease him out of the way) and somehow lost control of his stick. Gave me a nice warm feeling!
Be that as it may, they scored on the resultant power play and we were behind 1-0. We responded with a goal fairly shortly afterwards on a play after we had managed to keep it in the zone after a bit of a battle in centre ice. The Flyers closed out the period with a further goal and went into the break 2-1 up.
The second period was a bit of a disaster for us, with them scoring two goals in the first minute. The first came from a play that started at the centre face off and into our zone in my corner. I was too slow getting to it with a weak stick as one of their guns stormed in and proceeded to carry it around towards the back of our net. I was in pursuit, sorting trajectories in my mind and thus missed my opportunity to cut him off (which I probably could have done if I hadn't hesitated). Thus he emerged around the other end with my close behind. He spread a bit wider as I drew up covering the post. End result, he had a passing lane open up to open player in slot who in turn had an open goal as Tommy scrambled back from covering the wrap around attempt. Their fourth goal came less than a minute later, this time from a defensive zone faceoff in which their centre seized the puck and stormed the goal with a simple tap in to take them to 4-1.
Justine called a time out and told us to get into gear and inject a bit of passion into our play. As speeches go it was pretty good and you could see the difference on the next faceoff, with our guys now looking like we wanted to win the race and get the puck. Sadly, our renewed effort didn't prevent them scoring twice more in the period (albeit, we scored once on a coast to coast soire by Cam who somehow turned their whole team into pylons and their goalie into a straw man). There were also a couple of penalties.
I was on ice for both of their goals, though didn't then and don't now think I could or should have done anything different myself. On the first, I was covering my man as the puck crossed the blue line along the opposite boards. Their forward put in a long range softish shot onto net (hoping for rebounds etc) and I watched it fly into the net from a distance as I applied the brakes to my own player. It was a catch Tommy would ordinarily have made.
Their fourth goal of the quarter was one where again I was pressing back against my own player as I applied the brakes weakside, saw out of the corner of my eye the puck carrier on opposite side sidle around Mike and drop it in with a soft poke.
I was on for our power play, involved a sequence where I was on point and retreived the puck six times in one shift, once passing it deep to the corner, once to the boards behind the net, and four times into the scrum on the catcher's mit. I pinched only the once, but did have to scramble once to keep it on the line as I got to my feet after a struggle on the board's, found time and space for the shot though!
We got called for a penalty just before the siren, went into the break shorthanded and 6-2 down. In the few seconds of power play that they had, I managed to get on the back of a breakaway and just clip the shooters stick as he swung. He was cursing under his breath at the shot went high and the siren went. I don't think he realised I was his undoing.
The third period was a little less dramatic in terms of the scoreboard (they scored once more with five minutes to go) but I worked my arse off. Highlights for myself included being on the penalty kill and mangling their powerplay effectively, getting involved in a scrap on the boards which resulted in me and my opponent on the ice but the puck leaving the zone, a couple of blocked shots and a nice play beginning with winning the race to seize the puck off the backboards, skating through a light stick, deking around the defender on the point and sprinting up the ice on my own to the halfboards at their end. By which time I realised that I was truly on my own out there with four opponents coming in from all directions, so I put a shot on net and into the goalie's glove. The siren went not long afterwards, we went down 7-2.
If you can't gather from the general tone of this post, I was pretty happy with my game despite going -3 for the night and the team being soundly beaten. I created no great disasters, learned from the failed race to and around the boards at the start of the second period (didn't lose any such battles in future, and tied up that particular forward from then on), created a few chances and made some good plays.
Fitness wise, I was not 100% as was still getting the aftereffects of the previous game, hayfever, etc but still put in a tough game without any real performance drop off in the third period.
Next game, November 12 against the Rangers.
GP 7 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 +1 4/2/1 PIMS 4
Ice 47
The first box score event in the game was an interference penalty against myself. This was the second game in a row I've been penalised. Hopefully I won't make a habit of it, as this one resulted in their first goal on the subsequent power play. I had taken Justine's edict to 'keep our house clean' quite literally had been quite savage in my netfront push and shove. Sadly, I also 'tended the garden' (was pushing a player out of the high slot away from the play) and my opponent ended up on his arse after losing his balance. Fair call. And this player didn't try and crowd our goalie for the rest of the night when I was on the ice, so who knows if it was worth the goal?
In any event, I think I stirred up the guy I'd been pushing around because he got pinged for tripping on the very next shift after their goal. My impression at the time was that he was trying to do to one of our guys what I'd been doing to him earlier (using body press to ease him out of the way) and somehow lost control of his stick. Gave me a nice warm feeling!
Be that as it may, they scored on the resultant power play and we were behind 1-0. We responded with a goal fairly shortly afterwards on a play after we had managed to keep it in the zone after a bit of a battle in centre ice. The Flyers closed out the period with a further goal and went into the break 2-1 up.
The second period was a bit of a disaster for us, with them scoring two goals in the first minute. The first came from a play that started at the centre face off and into our zone in my corner. I was too slow getting to it with a weak stick as one of their guns stormed in and proceeded to carry it around towards the back of our net. I was in pursuit, sorting trajectories in my mind and thus missed my opportunity to cut him off (which I probably could have done if I hadn't hesitated). Thus he emerged around the other end with my close behind. He spread a bit wider as I drew up covering the post. End result, he had a passing lane open up to open player in slot who in turn had an open goal as Tommy scrambled back from covering the wrap around attempt. Their fourth goal came less than a minute later, this time from a defensive zone faceoff in which their centre seized the puck and stormed the goal with a simple tap in to take them to 4-1.
Justine called a time out and told us to get into gear and inject a bit of passion into our play. As speeches go it was pretty good and you could see the difference on the next faceoff, with our guys now looking like we wanted to win the race and get the puck. Sadly, our renewed effort didn't prevent them scoring twice more in the period (albeit, we scored once on a coast to coast soire by Cam who somehow turned their whole team into pylons and their goalie into a straw man). There were also a couple of penalties.
I was on ice for both of their goals, though didn't then and don't now think I could or should have done anything different myself. On the first, I was covering my man as the puck crossed the blue line along the opposite boards. Their forward put in a long range softish shot onto net (hoping for rebounds etc) and I watched it fly into the net from a distance as I applied the brakes to my own player. It was a catch Tommy would ordinarily have made.
Their fourth goal of the quarter was one where again I was pressing back against my own player as I applied the brakes weakside, saw out of the corner of my eye the puck carrier on opposite side sidle around Mike and drop it in with a soft poke.
I was on for our power play, involved a sequence where I was on point and retreived the puck six times in one shift, once passing it deep to the corner, once to the boards behind the net, and four times into the scrum on the catcher's mit. I pinched only the once, but did have to scramble once to keep it on the line as I got to my feet after a struggle on the board's, found time and space for the shot though!
We got called for a penalty just before the siren, went into the break shorthanded and 6-2 down. In the few seconds of power play that they had, I managed to get on the back of a breakaway and just clip the shooters stick as he swung. He was cursing under his breath at the shot went high and the siren went. I don't think he realised I was his undoing.
The third period was a little less dramatic in terms of the scoreboard (they scored once more with five minutes to go) but I worked my arse off. Highlights for myself included being on the penalty kill and mangling their powerplay effectively, getting involved in a scrap on the boards which resulted in me and my opponent on the ice but the puck leaving the zone, a couple of blocked shots and a nice play beginning with winning the race to seize the puck off the backboards, skating through a light stick, deking around the defender on the point and sprinting up the ice on my own to the halfboards at their end. By which time I realised that I was truly on my own out there with four opponents coming in from all directions, so I put a shot on net and into the goalie's glove. The siren went not long afterwards, we went down 7-2.
If you can't gather from the general tone of this post, I was pretty happy with my game despite going -3 for the night and the team being soundly beaten. I created no great disasters, learned from the failed race to and around the boards at the start of the second period (didn't lose any such battles in future, and tied up that particular forward from then on), created a few chances and made some good plays.
Fitness wise, I was not 100% as was still getting the aftereffects of the previous game, hayfever, etc but still put in a tough game without any real performance drop off in the third period.
Next game, November 12 against the Rangers.
GP 7 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 +1 4/2/1 PIMS 4
Ice 47
Wednesday, 21 October 2015
Game Day - Blades (3) d Knights (2)
We suffered our first loss of the season last night at the Ice Arena in a top of table clash with one of the new teams, the Blades. We were down a number of players but managed to field nine skaters and Tommy in goal. I think that they had ten skaters, so no major disparity there.
Our main problem was on the blue line. We'd lost Bacon to the Kings, Mike was not available to play, Cam was there but still suffering the aftereffects of the illness that stopped him playing on Saturday and I was only functioning at about 80% (at best). Shifting Jonesy back to join Cam and I on the D was the best we could do, which let us run two lines up front. We ran with this until the back end of the third period when Stewart moved back for a couple shifts on D when Cam couldn't go out any more and I was badly suffering.
They scored early in the First Period, with a virtually unassisted goal to their fast skating, deking hard shooting star from the inside of the upper right circle. At the time it went in I was busy closing the gap to his double, coming in from the other side, coming to a defensive stop just above the crease and moving into his stick as the shot went through. They backed this up early in the Second Period to go to a 2-0 lead. We struck back, closing the game to one goal, before they slotted another shortly before the siren. 3-1 in the last break. The last period was a cracker. We again closed to within a goal early in the period and then it got down to trench warfare. They somehow held us out as our game broke down from the strain. The final siren saw them victorious 3-2.
This was the toughest assignment we've yet had. Our bench was probably the weakest it's been this season, the competition the strongest, but we all put in our absolute best and created a cracking game as a result. The game was played at high intensity and had a degree of ferociousness absent from previous contests. After the game we had nothing left, we'd left it all on the ice. You can't ask for more from a hockey team!
Our worst preventable failings came from our line changes and confusion on the bench. These were most evident in the third period when there were several occasions when we only had four on the ice when we were entitled to have five. There were other times when we were totally out of position at a face off. These failings flowed through to on-ice positioning, with several occasions when both wings were down low in the same defensive corner but the puck was over in the other and a breakout was potentially stalled before it had begun. We also gave away too many penalties (three) to comfortably manage with our short bench.
My own game was a strange hybrid of good and bad. Early, their gun skater was able to get around me on the backcheck, a failing I subsequently remedied by transitioning earlier on his approach thus enabling me to keep the inside track on him to our red line. He started treating me with a little more respect once I had this worked out.
Generally I managed to keep the slot clear of danger, either by shoving them out of position or by lifting their stick at awkward moments. On the blue line I managed to use my feet effectively both on the boards and in the centre. I was more willing to engage along the boards in our corners, prevented any clean take aways or unobstructed passes through the slot. My own passes were still more to position than to a player, and I still found myself clearing it through centre-ice (ironically, picking up our own centre and setting up a play that resulted in our first goal).
My major plus AND minus came about through conditioning and health respectively. I drove myself harder than in previous games, was able to pick up the slack created by Cam's illness through the first two periods as a result. Again, it was a game where I seemed to be 'everywhere', covering forwards on the breakout, my D partner, assiting in the rush, protecting the blue line and the crease. All on top of a short bench, so I was running at the outer end of my ability.
Alas, I was pushing it too hard. By the end of the second period, was feeling tightness in my breathing. After a brutal first shift in the third, this only got worse. I was considering benching myself, but riding the line and was able to get out for a strong second shift in our zone. This culminated in a physical battle which resulted in me being hooked and then myself being called for roughing on the same play (my first ever genuine penalty on the ice!).
During my penalty time, I vacated the bench to get some ventolin in to me, was able to skate out the game at reduced intensity. Not exactly an exercise induced asthma attack like the inline game in May this year, but a bit of a scare never the less. Cause: combination of not enough sleep, wrong diet, sudden and dramatic weather change and resultant very high pollen count, long periods of maximal effort during the first two periods. Solution: better preparation, better management of aerobic resources when at risk.
I was on the ice for one of ours and one of their goals. I incurred my first minor penalty on the ice. At the end of the game, quite a few lessons to learn. And an affirmation of the potential strength of this team, we all stepped up to the mark and played out of our skins to equal them with shots on, blocked shots, took hits, skated until we were totally exhausted at game end, still came out smiling, had the opposition's respect (I got the feeling that they were worried that we would take it despite our chaos and exhaustion, you could see it in their eyes). Our next clash will be an interesting affair.
GP 6 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 +4 4/1/1 PIMS 2
Ice 46
Our main problem was on the blue line. We'd lost Bacon to the Kings, Mike was not available to play, Cam was there but still suffering the aftereffects of the illness that stopped him playing on Saturday and I was only functioning at about 80% (at best). Shifting Jonesy back to join Cam and I on the D was the best we could do, which let us run two lines up front. We ran with this until the back end of the third period when Stewart moved back for a couple shifts on D when Cam couldn't go out any more and I was badly suffering.
They scored early in the First Period, with a virtually unassisted goal to their fast skating, deking hard shooting star from the inside of the upper right circle. At the time it went in I was busy closing the gap to his double, coming in from the other side, coming to a defensive stop just above the crease and moving into his stick as the shot went through. They backed this up early in the Second Period to go to a 2-0 lead. We struck back, closing the game to one goal, before they slotted another shortly before the siren. 3-1 in the last break. The last period was a cracker. We again closed to within a goal early in the period and then it got down to trench warfare. They somehow held us out as our game broke down from the strain. The final siren saw them victorious 3-2.
This was the toughest assignment we've yet had. Our bench was probably the weakest it's been this season, the competition the strongest, but we all put in our absolute best and created a cracking game as a result. The game was played at high intensity and had a degree of ferociousness absent from previous contests. After the game we had nothing left, we'd left it all on the ice. You can't ask for more from a hockey team!
Our worst preventable failings came from our line changes and confusion on the bench. These were most evident in the third period when there were several occasions when we only had four on the ice when we were entitled to have five. There were other times when we were totally out of position at a face off. These failings flowed through to on-ice positioning, with several occasions when both wings were down low in the same defensive corner but the puck was over in the other and a breakout was potentially stalled before it had begun. We also gave away too many penalties (three) to comfortably manage with our short bench.
My own game was a strange hybrid of good and bad. Early, their gun skater was able to get around me on the backcheck, a failing I subsequently remedied by transitioning earlier on his approach thus enabling me to keep the inside track on him to our red line. He started treating me with a little more respect once I had this worked out.
Generally I managed to keep the slot clear of danger, either by shoving them out of position or by lifting their stick at awkward moments. On the blue line I managed to use my feet effectively both on the boards and in the centre. I was more willing to engage along the boards in our corners, prevented any clean take aways or unobstructed passes through the slot. My own passes were still more to position than to a player, and I still found myself clearing it through centre-ice (ironically, picking up our own centre and setting up a play that resulted in our first goal).
My major plus AND minus came about through conditioning and health respectively. I drove myself harder than in previous games, was able to pick up the slack created by Cam's illness through the first two periods as a result. Again, it was a game where I seemed to be 'everywhere', covering forwards on the breakout, my D partner, assiting in the rush, protecting the blue line and the crease. All on top of a short bench, so I was running at the outer end of my ability.
Alas, I was pushing it too hard. By the end of the second period, was feeling tightness in my breathing. After a brutal first shift in the third, this only got worse. I was considering benching myself, but riding the line and was able to get out for a strong second shift in our zone. This culminated in a physical battle which resulted in me being hooked and then myself being called for roughing on the same play (my first ever genuine penalty on the ice!).
During my penalty time, I vacated the bench to get some ventolin in to me, was able to skate out the game at reduced intensity. Not exactly an exercise induced asthma attack like the inline game in May this year, but a bit of a scare never the less. Cause: combination of not enough sleep, wrong diet, sudden and dramatic weather change and resultant very high pollen count, long periods of maximal effort during the first two periods. Solution: better preparation, better management of aerobic resources when at risk.
I was on the ice for one of ours and one of their goals. I incurred my first minor penalty on the ice. At the end of the game, quite a few lessons to learn. And an affirmation of the potential strength of this team, we all stepped up to the mark and played out of our skins to equal them with shots on, blocked shots, took hits, skated until we were totally exhausted at game end, still came out smiling, had the opposition's respect (I got the feeling that they were worried that we would take it despite our chaos and exhaustion, you could see it in their eyes). Our next clash will be an interesting affair.
GP 6 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 +4 4/1/1 PIMS 2
Ice 46
Sunday, 18 October 2015
Game Day - Knights (3) d Predators (1)
It was always gonna be a tough Saturday afternoon at the Ice Arena as we were up against the Predators. It got tougher with scratchings of Ash, Kerri and Cam. And a couple of those who did skate were not feeling too well but forced themselves along. Cam and Ash helped on the bench, which was great. Tommy was his usual solid self in goal. The Predators had ten skaters, have quite a solid core of big forwards with powerful shots. It was always gonna be a tough game.
First Period was tough. They opened the scoring with a rush down the left board and a shot from the inside of the circle. At the time I was backing towards the crease from the other side, covering a winger who'd joined the rush directly from the bench. At the time of the goal I was looking my man in the eye from about two feet. I played an indirect role in our equaliser shortly afterwards, keeping the puck in the zone with a sort-of-shot from the centre of the blue that got tangled with a body in front of net. While I returned to cover my board the puck went on a pinball path to eventually be slotted by Jonesy(?). 1-1 at the first break.
Second Period was tougher. Both teams played heavy in the neutral zone, penalties started to accumulate (we took one for the night - too many men on the ice, they had two by period end, roughing and butt ending). I started to find my game however, chasing to the backboards and cutting off the centring pass, covering my winger if he dropped too low, finding an outlet pass a couple times, losing my feet at least twice (and taking down at least one Predator each time I did so, except the time that I used my backward sliding feet to intercept the cross ice pass and deflect it into the corner instead of finding the pinching swooping centre in the slot). Generally though, our positioning fell away a bit his period. Neither team had scored again by the second buzzer, still 1-1.
Third Period was equally tough, but by this stage our conditioning was beginning to come up trumps. Only their best and brightest were keeping their speed up (they were always the ones who were a real threat), the rest of their team was fading. Our guys just kept going and concentrated on keeping it fairly tight. It was good to see.
I put in the game winning goal from the point on my second shift. It was one of my usual 'shots', a wrister along the ice with no set up except stepping into the shot. It went through under the goalie's pad right in the corner. It was about my fourth similar style shot from the blue line on the evening and not the strongest of them. Sweet! We backed up with another goal from our forwards and then battened down defensively for the final onslaught over the last five minutes. Somehow we kept them out.
Good win, 3-1.
The Predators had almost as many shots on goal as we did, though they blocked a few more than us. I pinched and got beat once early in the first, played more responsibly after that. I joined the rush on the PP once in the second, apart from that I stayed high in the O zone and tried my best to cover the blue. Generally I was successful. I tried to play stronger on my stick (wider grip) and, when I remembered, it allowed me to keep the puck against opposition a couple of times, take it away from them twice.
I got outskated for speed a couple of times but managed to drive them behind the goal line before they got away from me. I failed to release my lower hand when racing for the puck, will add a couple of paces when I can more consistently do this.
Keeping my eye on the body as I backed up meant that I generally was able to prevent them deking around, when combined with proper gap control. Managed several poke checks, made good use of the boards, put a couple of good passes up to my wingers, still need to work on our breakouts. Managed to surprise one of their guys when he'd taken the puck onto his blade and I proceeded to pass the puck anyway, forcing his stick with mine to get it where I wanted it to go. Good little trick, that!
I was on for all three of our goals as well as theirs. Apparently I was 'everywhere' according to more than one observer. Will have to watch this, ensure that wherever I might be on the ice, I'm where I need to be at the right moment!
GP 5 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 +4 4/0/1
Ice 45
Videos to come when I edit can find the time to post them up!
First Period was tough. They opened the scoring with a rush down the left board and a shot from the inside of the circle. At the time I was backing towards the crease from the other side, covering a winger who'd joined the rush directly from the bench. At the time of the goal I was looking my man in the eye from about two feet. I played an indirect role in our equaliser shortly afterwards, keeping the puck in the zone with a sort-of-shot from the centre of the blue that got tangled with a body in front of net. While I returned to cover my board the puck went on a pinball path to eventually be slotted by Jonesy(?). 1-1 at the first break.
Second Period was tougher. Both teams played heavy in the neutral zone, penalties started to accumulate (we took one for the night - too many men on the ice, they had two by period end, roughing and butt ending). I started to find my game however, chasing to the backboards and cutting off the centring pass, covering my winger if he dropped too low, finding an outlet pass a couple times, losing my feet at least twice (and taking down at least one Predator each time I did so, except the time that I used my backward sliding feet to intercept the cross ice pass and deflect it into the corner instead of finding the pinching swooping centre in the slot). Generally though, our positioning fell away a bit his period. Neither team had scored again by the second buzzer, still 1-1.
Third Period was equally tough, but by this stage our conditioning was beginning to come up trumps. Only their best and brightest were keeping their speed up (they were always the ones who were a real threat), the rest of their team was fading. Our guys just kept going and concentrated on keeping it fairly tight. It was good to see.
I put in the game winning goal from the point on my second shift. It was one of my usual 'shots', a wrister along the ice with no set up except stepping into the shot. It went through under the goalie's pad right in the corner. It was about my fourth similar style shot from the blue line on the evening and not the strongest of them. Sweet! We backed up with another goal from our forwards and then battened down defensively for the final onslaught over the last five minutes. Somehow we kept them out.
Good win, 3-1.
The Predators had almost as many shots on goal as we did, though they blocked a few more than us. I pinched and got beat once early in the first, played more responsibly after that. I joined the rush on the PP once in the second, apart from that I stayed high in the O zone and tried my best to cover the blue. Generally I was successful. I tried to play stronger on my stick (wider grip) and, when I remembered, it allowed me to keep the puck against opposition a couple of times, take it away from them twice.
I got outskated for speed a couple of times but managed to drive them behind the goal line before they got away from me. I failed to release my lower hand when racing for the puck, will add a couple of paces when I can more consistently do this.
Keeping my eye on the body as I backed up meant that I generally was able to prevent them deking around, when combined with proper gap control. Managed several poke checks, made good use of the boards, put a couple of good passes up to my wingers, still need to work on our breakouts. Managed to surprise one of their guys when he'd taken the puck onto his blade and I proceeded to pass the puck anyway, forcing his stick with mine to get it where I wanted it to go. Good little trick, that!
I was on for all three of our goals as well as theirs. Apparently I was 'everywhere' according to more than one observer. Will have to watch this, ensure that wherever I might be on the ice, I'm where I need to be at the right moment!
GP 5 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 +4 4/0/1
Ice 45
Videos to come when I edit can find the time to post them up!
Saturday, 17 October 2015
Pregame - Knights v Predators
There have been a couple of late scratchings for our game against the Predators later today. Kerri and Cam have both pulled out, leaving us with ten skaters (assuming everyone else makes it). That will be good for two forward lines with one extra winger, three on the D. Alternatively, two forward lines and four D. In the first instance, would expect Bacon, Mike and me on the back end, probably have Griff and Ash rotating shifts as second line wing with Jonesy as 2C. In the alternate, Jonesy joins us on the D and Richard slots in as 2C with Ash and Griff while Baden centres Foxy and Stewart on the first. Will be interesting to see how Justine plays it.
As for me, concentrate on stride recovery, stance and my grip on stick. Emphasis on defensive play (ie conservative with the pinching, control the gap, give them no spare time in the corner, short shifts).
As for me, concentrate on stride recovery, stance and my grip on stick. Emphasis on defensive play (ie conservative with the pinching, control the gap, give them no spare time in the corner, short shifts).
Wednesday, 14 October 2015
Game Day - Knights (4) d Sharks (0) - and I finally score!
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
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
Tuesday, 13 October 2015
Game Day - Mavericks (10) d Snipers (0)
The Mavericks began life as an inline hockey team on Saturday with a ten goal shutout against the Snipers, the other new team entrant in the Division. Very auspicious for us!
We were composed of three Pfeiffers, Matt and me on skates, and Matt the Goalie filled in the pipes due Josh's absence at a cricket game. The Snipers had five skaters (three Lukes, Bec and Mel) with Jess the rookie goalie.
The game narrative is fairly simple. The Snipers began strongly on the attack. Within five minutes we'd corrected this and I scored the first goal shortly afterwards off a pass by Brenton. Merrilyn and Natasha each slotted another before half time. There was one first half (minorly) controversial failed goal attempt by us when the puck ended beneath the goalie's pad and Tash wasn't able to shove it entirely over the line before the whistle sounded. 3-0 at half time.
We had had twelve official shots at goal in the first half to their two (!). As if this wasn't a wide enough disparity it fails to account for what was probably that many shots again that we'd taken but which missed the goal entirely. We were pretty happy with our efforts, agreed we only really needed to get more of our shots on net to allow the puck gods to reward us appropriately.
We seem to have inherited the old Wheelers' habit of playing a stronger second than first half and we managed to pile on seven more goals before the final siren ended the Snipers' misery. We also officially put eighteen shots on net, so our shooting accuracy improved after half time. As should be expected, this was reflected in the number of goals scored. I took the only penalty of the game, a minor for interference midway through the second half. We kept them scoreless albeit they got four shots on net.
A big debut win for the Mav's. Even more encouraging, all five skaters shared in the points and we all scored at least one goal. We recorded an impressive eighteen individual points (goals or assists) for our ten goals. Good teamwork!
The Mav's are already showing some of the good qualities of our Wheeler forebears, namely a strong second half, good passing game, good defensive coverage. What we seem to have added to the palate is a remergent Matt as playmaker in the forward zone, and a willingness to play forward in defence and deny unopposed rink space in the neutral zone to the other team. If we only do this against the Bumpers we may have found our antidote to Craig and his slapshot.
My game
During the warmup I finally managed to crack the art of lifting the puck when shooting at goal. It seemed every shot type I tried could be directed into the various quadrants of the net. This is the first time this skill has 'clicked' for me so it was a tremendous pleasure to be successfully aiming at the top corner and getting it in there! Sadly I wasn't able to do it much during the game and, even when I did, not with any real precision, but it is nice to know it's possible and I just need to keep working at it.
I was on our opening line up and had a major full frontal collision with Crystal behind their goal net. It was jarring in its effect on me but I managed to keep my feet and check that she had too before continuing to skate. I was a bit conservative for a minute or so after that while I got my breath back. She skated off for a quick change. I gather she was at least as stunned as I was. It was a good reminder that Inline hockey is a collision based sport!
I scored the opening goal, then two more in the second half. Both of those goals were off of assists by Matt, one such having been deliberately passed through the legs of the Sniper who stood between us! That was probably my favourite moment, closely followed by a double assisted goal where Brenton put it into the back of the net off a cross crease pass from myself after receipt of another pass from Matt in the corner to me in the slot. All one touch passes and shot, while moving. Very slick!
My penalty was probably fair enough, though I didn't think so at the time. I was called for interference after brushing off and down Dan Luke as he collided with me from behind. He ended up on the floor as I skated off with the puck. At the time I just thought that 'he hit me first,' which he had, but didn't account for the fact that his collision hadn't been deliberate and I had kept my feet, while I had meant to contact him and he didn't keep his feet. Live and learn.
Speaking of Dan, he'll be a great skater as he seems to have his brother's speed and agility. It won't take him long if he practices and the Snipers will have two of the best skater's in the division. Josh gave me the strange experience of someone turning inside me, taking the puck, and then accelerating away quicker than I could catch them. Not only this, but I caught him at least once using a toe drag to make a blind pass. A challenge for sure to keep him in his box in future games!
I was directly involved in five goals and had a hand in a sixth.
GP 1 G 3 A 2 Pts 5 +6 1/0/0
Inline 56
We were composed of three Pfeiffers, Matt and me on skates, and Matt the Goalie filled in the pipes due Josh's absence at a cricket game. The Snipers had five skaters (three Lukes, Bec and Mel) with Jess the rookie goalie.
The game narrative is fairly simple. The Snipers began strongly on the attack. Within five minutes we'd corrected this and I scored the first goal shortly afterwards off a pass by Brenton. Merrilyn and Natasha each slotted another before half time. There was one first half (minorly) controversial failed goal attempt by us when the puck ended beneath the goalie's pad and Tash wasn't able to shove it entirely over the line before the whistle sounded. 3-0 at half time.
We had had twelve official shots at goal in the first half to their two (!). As if this wasn't a wide enough disparity it fails to account for what was probably that many shots again that we'd taken but which missed the goal entirely. We were pretty happy with our efforts, agreed we only really needed to get more of our shots on net to allow the puck gods to reward us appropriately.
We seem to have inherited the old Wheelers' habit of playing a stronger second than first half and we managed to pile on seven more goals before the final siren ended the Snipers' misery. We also officially put eighteen shots on net, so our shooting accuracy improved after half time. As should be expected, this was reflected in the number of goals scored. I took the only penalty of the game, a minor for interference midway through the second half. We kept them scoreless albeit they got four shots on net.
A big debut win for the Mav's. Even more encouraging, all five skaters shared in the points and we all scored at least one goal. We recorded an impressive eighteen individual points (goals or assists) for our ten goals. Good teamwork!
The Mav's are already showing some of the good qualities of our Wheeler forebears, namely a strong second half, good passing game, good defensive coverage. What we seem to have added to the palate is a remergent Matt as playmaker in the forward zone, and a willingness to play forward in defence and deny unopposed rink space in the neutral zone to the other team. If we only do this against the Bumpers we may have found our antidote to Craig and his slapshot.
My game
During the warmup I finally managed to crack the art of lifting the puck when shooting at goal. It seemed every shot type I tried could be directed into the various quadrants of the net. This is the first time this skill has 'clicked' for me so it was a tremendous pleasure to be successfully aiming at the top corner and getting it in there! Sadly I wasn't able to do it much during the game and, even when I did, not with any real precision, but it is nice to know it's possible and I just need to keep working at it.
I was on our opening line up and had a major full frontal collision with Crystal behind their goal net. It was jarring in its effect on me but I managed to keep my feet and check that she had too before continuing to skate. I was a bit conservative for a minute or so after that while I got my breath back. She skated off for a quick change. I gather she was at least as stunned as I was. It was a good reminder that Inline hockey is a collision based sport!
I scored the opening goal, then two more in the second half. Both of those goals were off of assists by Matt, one such having been deliberately passed through the legs of the Sniper who stood between us! That was probably my favourite moment, closely followed by a double assisted goal where Brenton put it into the back of the net off a cross crease pass from myself after receipt of another pass from Matt in the corner to me in the slot. All one touch passes and shot, while moving. Very slick!
My penalty was probably fair enough, though I didn't think so at the time. I was called for interference after brushing off and down Dan Luke as he collided with me from behind. He ended up on the floor as I skated off with the puck. At the time I just thought that 'he hit me first,' which he had, but didn't account for the fact that his collision hadn't been deliberate and I had kept my feet, while I had meant to contact him and he didn't keep his feet. Live and learn.
Speaking of Dan, he'll be a great skater as he seems to have his brother's speed and agility. It won't take him long if he practices and the Snipers will have two of the best skater's in the division. Josh gave me the strange experience of someone turning inside me, taking the puck, and then accelerating away quicker than I could catch them. Not only this, but I caught him at least once using a toe drag to make a blind pass. A challenge for sure to keep him in his box in future games!
I was directly involved in five goals and had a hand in a sixth.
GP 1 G 3 A 2 Pts 5 +6 1/0/0
Inline 56
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