Piranhas vs. Arsenal

I didn't get anything resembling a warm up. It was my own fault. I spent a lot of time at home stretching before coming to the rink.

The first few shifts of the game, my line did really well. We got the puck deep, and kept possession. I was playing with two players I normally never get to play with, and one was usually a d-man. I had a really good jump to my game early on. Our team would dump the puck in for a change, and their defense man would slowly go back to get it. I'd bet him to the puck and gain possession, but before I could get a handle, I'd stumble  and not much would happen. This continued, and it forced the goalie to make some bad decisions that lead to scoring chances. Early on, I noticed I was able to control a few faceoffs. In a draw in our own end, I was able to have my wingers line up in the slot, and I shot right as the puck was dropped.  The goalie was beatable.

At the end of the first we were down 4-1. In the second we really started to click. There was a good 90 seconds where our team was able to cycle the puck, and get scoring chances. It was exhausting for both sides. We were able to get a goal after I won a faceoff to the winger in the middle. He shot, I tapped at it to put it in but it got deflected somehow and went in from the rebound from my shot. The official gave me credit for the goal, but I think it was the winger. That same shift, he and I had a 2 on 2. I acted like I was going to pass to him, but used the defense man as a screen, and silently slid the puck through his legs, and the goalie barely saw it and it went in. Two goals in one shift. I'm really liking that play where I have the option to pass and I do the no look shot.

I had a battle in the corner in the offensive zone, where as I was falling to the ice, I saw a forward in blue right in front of the goalie. I made a very lucky pass and got it to him, but he fanned on the shot. I also had a couple of good passes to my defense man in the offensive zone, but not many solid outlet passes. Defensively, I didn't do much, but I didn't make mistakes. Overall, one of the better games I've played this season. The team played very well, but we lost 5-3. We didn't get enough quality shots in my opinion.