dirtystylus

A Tale of Two Games

The Sled Dogs just completed a back-to-back series against the Tigers, and the games couldn’t have been any more different. The Jan. 12th game was a 7-5 barnburner where we were up 5-1 early in the second, only to start a parade to the penalty box that saw the game tied early in the third. A late goal and an empty-netter let us escape with a 7-5 win, but it was a lesson learned in closing out a game. I tallied a goal (a one-timer from the slot from a nice pass by Bryan coming down the left side) and an assist on one of Tom’s goals where I carried the puck wide on the left side, curled around the back of the net, and sent it in front where Tom hammered it home. We had just missed earlier in the game in almost the exact same situation, so it was nice to connect. Alex centered our line and whenever the three of us were out there with Bryan on D we were flying on the ice and the passing was connecting. Hopefully I’ll end up on a line with them again this season.

The most recent game was a 1-0 game that brought me back the the NHL in the mid-90s. All defense, with a few sparks of offense. The odd-man rushes were at a minimum, so we got the feeling whichever team scored first would take it. Fortunately for us Harry tallied one in the second period, and our goalkeeper Nigel kept the scoreboard clean the rest of the way. I went down hard in the first, so my right hip was bothering me most of the game, but I did have some good shifts with the scramble of players that we had on the forward lines.

During both games I played on right wing, where I’m not usually comfortable, but I think I played ok. I may be getting more used to the speed of games, since I felt like I had enough time to keep my head up and make the right pass, instead of concentrating so hard on not losing the puck and making blind passes. We’ll see how that holds up in the upcoming games.

I’ll be heading up to my parents’ place this weekend and hopefully I’ll get some time on the rink just to work on my shot, which is the weakest part of my game.

Tally it up

Scrimmaged with some of my team and some D7 players on Wednesday. That was a lot of fun – up and down the ice, playing with guys who could skate and stickhandle pretty well. I managed to eke out a goal and an assist, but I missed two clear chances on net.

Last night was my first game in a long while, and I was still recovering from being sick most of Friday. Most of us finally got our jerseys, so we look more like a real team rather than a collection of ringers. I now wear number 30 (the Sled Dogs have a D7 team as well, so the numbers are scattered through the divisions). Added bonus: my name is actually spelled correctly on my jersey.

We played the Hotshots, who are currently atop the D8 league standings. I guess everyone was feeling a lot of New Year cheer, because it was probably the chippiest game I’ve every played in. Bryan got tossed midway through the 2nd period (in his defense he was just retaliating after being hacked and slashed the entire first period). Darrell got his skates spat upon by a charming gentleman after a little bit of yapping back-and-forth. I think we were on the penalty kill three times during the game. Still, it was 1-1 at the end and after a scoreless overtime Andy won it for us in the shootout.

No points for me (I had a clean breakaway chance in the third that the goalie stopped) but I did rack up quite a few other stats: I took a puck off my inside thigh (where there’s minimal padding) while stepping in front of a shot. My right ankle got crunched when someone sat on it in a scrum. I caught the follow-through on a guy’s clearing attempt right on the cage (the world on mute for about 2 seconds). And, finally, a bruised knee after I swiped a puck off a guy’s stick and then fell awkwardly to the ice. Thankfully we won, otherwise getting up this morning would’ve been a lot harder.

Sled Dogs 3, Hotshots 4 (OT)

Tough loss two weekends ago to the Hotshots. We were down 3-1 and tied it up, only to lose in OT. We face the Rockets this weekend, which should be a nice way to get back in sync.

I have to work on faceoffs if I’m going to continue playing center – I think I won only two draws cleanly against the Hotshots. Luckily one of those faceoff wins went right to Bryan on D, who scored one of his two goals by rushing the puck in himself.

The Lost Art of the Backhand

Saturday was all about hockey, hockey, and more hockey. Jordan goes out of town for Caroline’s bridal shower, and look what happens. First Evan dropped by for a Stanley-cup series between the Kings and Rangers on NHL 08, before heading out to attend a baby shower somewhere in the bowels of Brooklyn. Then, much later on (11:30 pm start times are killer) the Sled Dogs notched a 6-0 win over the Rockets. I picked up my first two goals of the season, along with two assists. I was on LW this time, skating with Harry on RW and a rotation of centers (we had 4 instead of the usual 3). Joseph had been giving me advice over the phone during the last month, telling me to go to the backhand more often, since goalies at all levels have trouble reading it, and it paid off with my first-ever goal. We were up 1-0 when Kris (who was one of my classmates at the Wednesday instructional) made a nice hold at left point and sent it back down to the corner, where I made one move to get around a defenseman before throwing it to the net on the backhand. I actually thought that the goalie had stopped it and the ref’s whistle was just for a faceoff, so I was already skating off for a shift change when harry looked at me and said, “Hey – that actually went in!”.
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Sled Dogs 3, Tigers 1

We won our second game in a row, a 3-1 tilt against the Tigers (to whom we lost in our opener). Thanks to Jordan and Evan for coming out to watch the graceful ballet of D8 hockey. I’m trying to get Evan back into hockey, hopefully it’ll take and we can wreak havoc next season. I didn’t get on the scoreboard, but my line had some decent opportunities. I was back on RW for the game, essentially switching places with Harry who moved to center. Not too many highlights – I had a few rushes down the wing where I centered the puck, but there was no finish at the end. My best play was probably the neutral zone pass I made to send Stiff (our 1st line center) in on a clean breakaway that their goalie stopped.
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