Tales from the beer league part 2

Last nights game was a 6-2 win for the good guys (us). Both benches were short but they were shorter. We had 11 and they had 9. Played center and its a good thing I've been hitting the gym cuz by the third we actually took the timeout before they did. The other center and I accounted for 5 of our goals, which sounds way cooler than I scored a goal. I do take credit for three of his though. In the second period three shifts in a row I'd get of the ice, he'd walk into the zone and out the puck would pop to him right in the slot and so he scored. My goal was neat, a broken 2-1 where there other D was just higher and so I split them. Our D man on the rush flipped the puck over the defenders stick between us but to get it to me he had to throw it at my skates. I angled it up off the blade to my stick and popped it right over the goalie who was going full Stauber when he saw where the pass was coming and charging me. Thankfully no collision and Kudos all around. The only other notable thing was there was one guy on the other team that late in the third (5-6 mins left) with us up 5-2 went after a puck covered by a goalie. The first time it was close to the whistle and our goalie looked at the ref and the ref shrugged as if to say "hey he was already poking before I blew my whistle". The second time though the ref told him to cut it out and the player said something. All the sudden the ref's giving him an unsportsmanlike, well grumpy says something else and now it's a 10 minute and he's gone. I don't think the guy was going to go rogue but the ref wasn't having it and honestly I kinda appreciated it even though if I was on that side I'd be kvetching. Still there was no bloodshed. We ended up scoring on the pp and at that it was a pass it around, but we actually did it so well that there was an absolutely empty net that we passed it into with the goalie down and out. In any case go us, fighting for first and a spot in a Toronto tourney where they will mop the floor with us.

Haven't posted an update in a bit, we lost a couple weeks back in a 3-2 affair against the first place team that we will meet in the playoffs. I did not play well in that one. On the ice for all three goals against. 1 was a 3-1 where I was damned if I did or didn't and they just executed. The other two however, one I still cant figure out. Goalie made the save, my partner dumped the forward in front and in that scuffle they hit the goalie. Ref blows the whistle and sure as **** the puck is sitting in the net off to the side. We think it just fell out of his pad and rolled in during the ruckus but none of us saw it. The other one was a heartbreaker though. 2-2 late in the third I angled the oncoming wing out to the dot, he throws a bad angle shot at the goalie, it hits him and is in front of him, he dives out to cover and ends up pushing the puck out instead. The winger cut around me and picked up the gift wrapped puck and slid it home. I know the goalie shoulda covered it but I should have ridden that winger all the way past the goal line instead of turning off him.

Last nights affair I was battling again, sometimes you just feel like JMFJ out there. We got up 1-0 in what was obviously a night where both teams were well matched. Fluky goal from the face off dot aided by a dman screen. Goalie didn't see it and it floated into the upper corner over his blocker shoulder. They pushed back hard on us and in the second they were rewarded when a pass through the slot to a cutting forward was coming in, I lifted the guys stick and then turned to go chase the puck into the corner. Only to watch it slide right off the post and in, our goalie having played the cutting winger and sliding to the other post. We both looked at each other like, "how the hell did that happen". In any case I spent the rest of the game getting outworked along the boards which was pissing me off. Part of it was I was playing my off wing side, but part of it was I just couldn't get good leverage on these guys and they were moving the puck pretty well so we couldn't tie up. Finally late in the third I did get some success taking pucks off guys by getting into them earlier. We sprung a 2-1 where our guys worked three passes back and forth in from the blue line and the goalie was toast. Thankfully they just put it into the net. The last 90 seconds where hairy as they hit back to back posts off a turnover in our D zone but we got out of it with the 2 points and locked in 2nd place to end the season. One more game before the playoffs which is another preview against the first place team next Monday.

So last night it was the playoff preview. Us vs the first place team, we are 14 deep which means 5 D, they are 9 deep which means 3 D, but they also only have all their good skaters so we know it's not in the bag at all. Game started out and you could tell it was going to be one of those nights. They were spacing out and making the puck work for them, concentrating on possessing the puck and with our extra guys we were happy chase them around instead of getting in lanes and making them skate. Predictably they were controlling the puck and our guys were getting frustrated which wasn't helping anything. They ended up catching us twice in our zone with back door passes where their D dropped into the play and I have no idea where our wingers were.

We got to the second and we finally penned them in for a couple of shifts and snuck a D down to give them a taste of their own back door medicine to bring it to 2-1. It didn't last long though as a few shifts later they won a draw clean in our zone and the point shot beat our goalie clean. He was just too deep in his net and when he went to butterfly he only pushed the puck into the corner of the net. That took the wind out of our sails and we went full idiot mode and gave up another the shift after I got off the ice. I came back on and our first line was out there and we got the puck in deep for a face off draw. I crept in on the strong side hoping for a clean win, it wasn't clean. Contested and our winger on the hash marks (I was in the middle of the ice) couldn't tap the puck back to me, nor could he tie up his man. Knowing I was in no mans land I started to try and get my legs moving to back out of the play and I caught a rut in the ice on my cross over and twisted up my knee. I did get up and get back into the play but I knew I'd done something and thankfully our guys cleared it back out so I could get to the bench. Sucked watching the second half of the game, but when I went out it was 4-1 and considering the final was 7-3 maybe we were better off without me since we finished 3-2. In any case I don't think I messed it up too bad but going to take it easy for a few days swimming and on the bike and we'll see how it feels Sunday. I really hope I don't have to put the brace back on it.

Had our "consolation game" last night, to see who was the best of the worst, turns out we were since the other team forfeited due to not having enough players. We had 11 and a goalie so we did some half ice, 4 on 4 scrimmage. Then worked on Power Plays, Shoot Outs and then just played around. Turns out the game after us also suffered the same fate, but one team was full, other team only had 4 or 5, so 4 of our guys stuck around to play a period.

We had our tradition end of season BBQ at my buddies house and one guy that hunts grilled up some venison burgers, they were bomb!

New season doesn't start until May 18, so I'll need to try to find some pick-up games or stick-times to attend to keep the rink-rust at bay.

I think I can get a few more seasons out of these Beedee

https://i.postimg.cc/prwSGPhB/20220428-181308.jpg

So we had a friendly with the first place team that we will meet in the playoffs last night. Last game of the season kinda deal. Playoffs on Monday. We had a pretty deep bench and they again were short on skaters but all their best ones. This time we learned from last times mistakes but they still controlled the puck for much of the game. The difference was while they were getting shots off passes, we were keeping those chances pretty far outside. Not to say our goalie wasn't phenomenal, but this time he had a chance to make the saves and he did. They did finally break through on a Powerplay goal in the third. We came back right on the next shift and with a nice rush from our D found a trailer who snuck it home 5 hole and the tie. The game stayed tight and there were some shenanigan's with the usual characters. Eventually the ref got tired of throwing us in the box and started tossing them into the box with about 4 mins to go. They took two interference penalties. The first ended with about a minute to go, I had 3 quick point shots in succession but although we got the rebounds we couldn't convert. Then for some inexplicable reason with 14 seconds one of their guys dropped one of our guys in their zone. I think he didn't think there was OT. They called it. So we finished out the 14 seconds and took the PP to OT. Our boys set it up and this time a pass into the bumper (first time that worked all season) created a rebound to the side and our guy jumped on it to seal the win.
We ended the season 4-4 against these guys so who knows how the playoffs will go. Best of three coming up.

I guess I should post the playoff results. We lost 2 games. The first one I wasn't there for due to allergies that were so bad I legit thought I was coming down with Covid. I might have had a cold on top of them or something. The boys lost a close one 2-0 giving up an empty netter to close it out. The second game I was back for and in general played well. We had a full bench with 6 D. We played it tight through one, ended up down 2-0 in the second but managed to come back to even and then get the go ahead 3-2 at the start of the third. Our top center was working a natural hat trick at this point and their guys were chirping even though there was a guy on their team we hadn't seen all season and he was dominant too. We spent the next few shifts just repelling rush after rush by him and predictably one of our guys took a penalty. My D partner and I went out for the ensuing PK and we were doing ok boxing it out and keeping their shots from the point but we couldn't clear the zone. Eventually they got a point shot where the rebound came to the uncovered back door and the guy put it home. In a fit of hubris my partner and I stayed out there and proceeded to give up a goal on the very next shift. It wasn't terrible play by us but we should have changed. That made it 4-3 and the clock started to work against us. One shift later and the next D pair made a terrible pass up the middle that was intercepted and the guy went bar down to put them to 5-3. We managed to get out there with about 2 minutes to go and I pulled us back to 5-4 on a point wrister with our center screening. I could see the goalie peak around him the wrong side just after I'd let fly and he never saw it. Gave me half the net to get it into. The next faceoff we almost got them again on the same play with a little pass back to me on the point and I let fly but this time I hit the outside of the goal. Was a shame, we ended up pulling the goalie and they got the en to win the championship with a 6-4 final. We were invited to Toronto to play in a tourney there but with all the covid rules the guys backed out. I'm not sure how many are or aren't vaxxed but enough of them were recent positives that the whole thing was more than our captain wanted to go through. Taking the summer off and will be back at it in the fall.

My new mitts arrived today, Warrior Alpha LX30's. (found brand new for a steal from a Warrior "plug" on eBay) Kind of a step backwards as far as the tier trim level from my Alpha FR PRO's, but really only the palms feel marginally less broken in than my FR's...and because they are brand new, lol. But I like the overall fit, a bit more snug in the fingers and back of the hand, then tapered at the cuff. IMHO, they tie-in beautifully with our sweaters.

https://i.imgur.com/CYVU7uE.jpg

Looking good beede!

Took a step back from playing current season but im ready for the next. My skating still sucks haven't had any ice time since my last game. Im really the only one holding myself back from being a better skater smh.

Getting a bit burned out of playing Rookie league random teams every season isnt as fun as having the same team. I just couldn't do the hours for Tin and my skating needs work.

Hope everyone is having a good season if you guys are playing!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xLAxKingsx

Looking good beede!

Took a step back from playing current season but im ready for the next. My skating still sucks haven't had any ice time since my last game. Im really the only one holding myself back from being a better skater smh.

Getting a bit burned out of playing Rookie league random teams every season isnt as fun as having the same team. I just couldn't do the hours for Tin and my skating needs work.

Hope everyone is having a good season if you guys are playing!

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Thanks for checking in! My offer still stands, if you ever want to get together for a Stick-Time to work on some stuff, let me know!

We have a game tonight against the last place team, whom hasn't won a game yet. Hopefully we win! We are in sole possession of 2nd place right now, because two teams are tied for first, haha. But our season has been fun so far, with a 9-5 win last week!