Thursday, December 16, 2010

Goaldiggers playoff game - 2010-12-15

It had been like three weeks since the Goaldiggers’ last game. The league just had a crappy schedule. There was a lot of confusion about our tie for second place and who we’d be playing in the first round, but because of tie breakers, we finished a lot lower than 2nd.

I felt really confident with the game because they were a team I played before, and I had a lot of ice time recently. The first two shifts I felt a lot slower than I thought I’d be. Perhaps the skill level was higher than I had been used to over the past three weeks, but that is ok. I kept composure and played my best. The third or fourth shift, a rebound went in the corner and I was able to pick it up in the opponents zone. For some reason, I didn’t panic. I had confidence and examined my options. The center and d-man came to close in. I saw the point open. I turned, gave him a nice pass to walk into and he one timed it to make it 1-0. Up to this point, I really felt that the opponent had the upper hand.

The next couple of shifts, I still took my time and was patient. For the first four goals of the game, I was on the ice for all of them. The problem was, I felt like I had a part in the two opponent’s goals. The defensemen went up, and I stayed up high covering for him. Unfortunately, my skating is still not very strong, and I blew coverage twice because of it and it lead to goals.

At one point in the second, I was in the slot with a puck just drifting towards me. It was behind me, and I tried to cradle it and shoot, but my balance was bad and if I were to move my stick, I’d fall. It was a bad feeling. Those are the ones that drive me nuts.

In the third, again in the slot, the center threw me a pass from the corner and I was able to onetime it. It was a great shot, and I’m impressed I got as much power behind it as I did. I miss one timers a lot, so it felt good to connect. Anyway, it was blocked by a defenseman and didn’t make it to the net. Good chance, right idea.

With five or six minutes left, we were only up by one. Kind of concerning to me, but I knew that the team was a little rusty as we were clearly better than the other team. At some point the flood gates just opened and our team went on a tear, and it became 7-3. There was a two on one, the puck came over to me, I stopped the goalie went down and I lifted it over his shoulder to make it 8-3. My third goal for the Goaldiggers. Felt nice to have everyone congratulate me afterward.

One assist and one goal on the night.

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