Alan#35

...continued.

With that epic win (Refer to "story of my life"), we've catapulted in to the finals. Oh snap! Regardless of what team we face, we get two kicks at the can, and they only get one (Double elimination format). This is great! If we lose the first one, we can evaluate our mistakes and try again.

So two teams play for the privelage to face us. Who would it be? The Badgers, aptly named, or the Penguins, a great all around team as well, without so much of the rough stuff. Even though it was a 10:30pm game, I had to know who we'd be facing, so on a Sunday night, I dragged my arse out of my condo and watched.

Lots of goals on both ends, not too dirty of a game...wait a minute! They're not that dirty of a team...geez maybe we're the bad guys after all...

Well the Badgers were triumphant, and so we prepare.

Against my wishes and advice, my captain lodged a complaint against the "rough" team, so the commissioner decided to come watch. Oh dear.

It was a fairly good game to start. We came out hard, and actually got the first goal. Cha-ching! Hey, maybe we actually can win this! Nah, did I mention this was the story of my life? That never happens for me.

Well, we stopped doing all the little things that worked for us in the first game. We allowed the breakout pass, the cross-ice pass, we didn't pressure them, and we allowed them to walk around in our own zone...well, skate around. But after quite a few good scoring opportunities on their part, I was shutting the door quite well, and we were still up 1-0. I managed quite a few one-timer saves, some screened point shot saves, and some slot saves, all good signs. I even got a "Tim Thomas" comment from the ref. He must be a Bruins fan...damn! That's a bad omen!

Everything changed about half-way through the first. Guy gets the puck down low, completely un-attended, walks out to the face off dot, then skates in on me, all unscathed. Where's my defense??? Oh, here comes the center, I'll just go down in the butterfly, this guy looks like he can't shoot anyways. Woops, looks like I'm the worse out of the two, shot goes in, along the ice, glove side. Didn't flare out the pad.

That's ok, I'll keep this 1-1 and head in to the second, and give a motivating speech or something to the bench. Things are looking good, with quite a few more saves, but with 5 minutes left, gasp! A turnover at our own blue line...by the last man back! Ok, here comes the player, from the boards at the blue, he's staying to the side instead of cutting to the middle, good news. But this guy's a lot better than that last guy who scored on me, bad news! Gets to the face off dot, starts to cut in. Should I go "vertical horizontal" up against the post? Nah, he won't shoot, he's going to try to deke around me. He got near the crease, just outside of poke check range. I started to move with him, post and in. CURSES! I've learned a lesson I won't soons forget.

And I got the opportunity to show that, as I made saves on two identical shots to start the second (They weren't breakaways this time, which is good, but the two shots came from that close in, which is bad!). Ok, I'm feeling good again. Confidence high. Making lots of saves, but we're not getting any chances ourselves. Where's my team? That's ok, I feel like I'm a wall, even after two goals.

9 minutes in to the second, loose puck in the mid slot, screened shot, glove side and in. Dern. 3-1, 20 minutes left. We've done it before, can we do it again?

With very little pressure by my team, the Badgers backed off a bit. They were tired from the hard game the previous night, and the game they lost to us two nights prior. We should have some jump in our step. Perfect time for a time-out. But nope, no one called a time-out. Weird. We're still not pressuring them, even though they look like they're done playing us. We exchange chances now, and then the backbreaker. At 12 minutes left, a shot from the blue line. My d-man was back, which is good, but he was trying unsuccessfully to block the shot. I didn't see the release, blocker side up high. Damn, I still should've had that one though. I blame myself.

Well, I felt I still played a good game, even though I let in 4, and that last one I shoud've had, I made a ton of saves, a ton! Best workout of the season probably.

The weirdest thing, they weren't even that rough. We could've had them, had we just had a little edge, but before the game, a poorly timed speech from the captain of "The commish is out tonight guys, keep it really clean". Mis-interpreted as "Play soft".

Oh well, next game!! We can do this! I'm going to pick this team up and carry them to the finish line, if it's the last thing I ever do!!!!