Piranhas (1-1) vs. Chaos

I got to the rink a few minutes later than I wanted, but I wasn't rushed at all. I've discovered when I can sit in the locker room for a few minutes before I take the ice, I feel calmer. Today, though, the high school game before us ran late. It was exciting to watch them play. There were some really solid contact, and some great skill out there. What really was neat was that there wasn't a seat anywhere to be found. We joked that everyone was here for our game.

By the time we took the ice, everyone was gone. I felt really good in warm ups. I got a good skate in, a few decent shots. I was more concerned with the Chaos. They had been undefeated to this point, and beat the Mastadons, who recently beat us. I couldn't see a whole lot of new skill on the team. I knew they were a very chippy team too, so I tried to pick out players I remember for such behavior.

From the first shift, my line was clicking. We spent probably the entire 75 seconds in their zone, cycling the puck, getting decent shots off, and battling in front of the net. What I like about my line mates is that they're both very confident players, and work very well together. They're also incredibly skilled and can turn up something from no where. This shift, I focused on taking my position in front of the net. Watching the two wingers skate on the outside as I stay in front with my stick on the ice. Sure enough I get two good shoves in my lower back. It was the goalie using his blocker on me. I know that when they're doing that to me, that I'm doing my job. I continued to do this all night, but eventually it was the defensemen who started to move me. It amazes me how much stick work they get away with regularly. Anyway, our first shift really set the tone for the rest of the Piranha team. all three forwards had shots and stuff attempts. I think we even scored on it, and I may have gotten an assist, but I'm not sure.

Very quickly the rest of the team started to remember who this team was and how they played. I think it resulted in a lot of heads up play, and looking for passes. Everyone was looking for passes, and trying to keep possession in the first. I would continue to try and set up my line mates, and keep with the mentality of keeping the puck. I caught a great pass from the other wall and brought the puck into the zone. I had no one defenseman in front of his goalie, but no pressure. I took the nicest snap shot I've ever had in a game, and I put it exactly where I wanted - right through the defenseman's legs, almost at the goalie's five hole. I was hoping to use the guy as a screen, but I hit the inside of the goalies pad, and he was able to freeze it.

At the end of the first I was real pleased with how I started off, and then I started to trail off a little bit. In one of my early second period shifts, I was on a 2 on 1 with my center. He made a move, forcing the goalie to dive for it, but instead it came over towards me. I have half of the net. All I have to do is put it in. The goalie dove back towards the post to make the save, and I pulled my shot. As a result, I put it right into his chest. He froze it and I was furious with myself. The entire team couldn't believe I missed that. I was furious myself, but wouldn't dwindle on it. I played a fairly flawless game so far for me. One of my next shifts, I had gotten the puck in the slot on a one on one with the defender and goalie. I was able to half way beat the defender so that he was just a random obstacle. I got a great shot off, got the rebound, shot again, and by the time I could get the rebound again, I was on the goal line. I saw a white jersey coming down the slot with some great speed, so I tried to just get it past the goalie who was just up and down in my direction. I got it past him, and into the slot. The center was able to put it home. The defensemen was pissed that he totally blew coverage of two players, and launched the puck down the ice. He instantly got a penalty for it. I did get an assist on this play.

I did a lot more grinding after this, and some penalty killing, and I did a fairly decent job in all areas of my game. We would score on that power play from before, and just outwork the Chaos. We had a 4-1 lead going into the third. Then our team just got a little lackadaisical  We weren't moving our feet. Despite telling everyone to keep working and digging hard, it just didn't sink into them. It was getting a bit chippy too. I tried to pick up my own intensity. I started hitting players every chance I could. I had two in one shift behind the net in their zone, and the Chaos didn't like it. I would later get another solid hit on a defenseman during the fore check. I didn't get away from him fast enough though, and he speared me in the back of the calf. Perhaps my favorite contact was during the race for a lose puck. There was a missed pass and the puck went into their zone deep. I was a stride or two away from the Chaos defenseman, and gaining on him. I started yelling to him, "I'm going to hit you! I'm going to hit you!" with no intention of hitting him. I was just trying to pressure him to make a bad pass. But he pulled up and turned into me. At that point, I had no choice but to make contact with him. He showed the patience, and kept the puck in close to his body, but he turned to make an outlet pass. I did feel bad about that one.

There was another play where I got a really bad cross check from behind into the corner. It should have been a penalty but was not called. I ignored it, but a few seconds later, going for the puck next to the boards, the same guy was coming at me and I hesitated. The guy scared me, and I hated that. I do not play well when I get intimidated.

I was on the ice for the last minute with one goal, and felt really good that I was out there. I moved my feet the whole time, and was careful not to get out of position, and just not give up chances. With about nine seconds left, the Chaos defenseman got the puck along the wall, right at the blue line. I tied him up so he couldn't move the puck. I tried to swat the puck just a few feet to my left, so it'd be out of the zone. I know i made contact with the puck, but I had no idea where it was. So I started to lean on that player to pin him along the boards. He leaned to reach for the puck and fell, and the puck went out of the zone. That is how the game ended.

The Piranhas earned a victory, but almost lost here. Not one player on our team didn't receive some sort of contact or bump or shove. It felt good to get that victory. It is a reminder that we have to play the full game, because when we stood around, we gave up easy goals. Myself, I played a really solid game. Aside from the missed half goal, and the part where I pulled up to not get hit, I was really pleased with my game. The Piranhas beat the Chaos 4-3, and I had an assist.

Piranhas vs. Chaos

When I was told who I was playing with for the night, I was fairly excited. The left winger, I've played with a lot in the past and really like playing with. He's smart, and plays a defensively responsible game. If we end up on opposite sides, he's smart enough to recognize it and stay on the other side. The center is a very intense player who I haven't played much  with, but I have played against at a few scrimmages.

The first few shifts were mediocre. We weren't doing well, but we weren't doing bad. Then we had one solid shift where we generated a decent scoring chance. From then on, it snow balled. We really started to click.  I tried to really up the pressure on my fore check since I had the legs to do so. Their one d-man did not like that, and had some interesting words for me. After that, I had an extra gear, and played extremely well.  I was able to use my speed in lots of situations. Especially on the face offs. Multiple times I was able to beat the opposing winger to the puck off the drop, and pick the puck up and skate away with it. This lead to puck possession time for the Piranhas. At one point in the offensive zone, I picked up the puck off the draw, and no one was moving, and I've got a clear shot at the goalie. I back handed it without even looking, trying to catch the goalie off guard and I did. Unfortunately he made the save.

As the game went on, our line generated a ton of scoring chances. Our speed and patience would cause us to win battles to loose pucks, make crisp passes, generate traffic, and regain possession.  Our line had at least one goal, with the left winger having a really nice tip right in front of the net.

I had one play coming down the left wing, with two d-men in front of me. I watched the closer d-man try and stop and start to come towards me. I immediately cut to the middle and saw a shooting lane open from 30 feet out. I fired it and hit a post.

Then we had a small parade to the penalty box. It wasn't an easy kill for me as we were always scrambling. I tried to stay on the points, but there was just so much room to cover, and passing lanes open, that I was just scattered. Shortly after that, the play returned to even strength. But it was clear that the Chaos had the momentum. Trying to get something going, I somehow ended up below the goal line in the defensive zone. I lost the puck battle along the wall, but I saw who beat me, and it was the same guy who yelled at me earlier. I played that much harder because of it. I was able to tie up his stick, but then he broke away again. I instinctively gave him a one handed shove from behind. He fell and gave up possession. Once the piranhas got possession though, the whistle blew and I wasn't surprised that I was called for a penalty. In my defense, I did cause the Chaos to take at least 3 penalties. I got a cross check off the face off, a hook, and I believe an interference.  All of them (except the hook) were soft calls in my opinion, but the refs were calling everything.

I ended up back on the PK. We were in our box formation, and my other winger blocked a shot and it bounced right up the middle. I was alert, and jumped on it and had a clear break away. I had it from the red line in. That's a lot of time. I knew what I wanted to do. He was far out so I was going to fake left, and skate to the right and just skate around him for a poor angle shot. I totally dropped the puck and didn't even get a chance off.

I had a few more solid defensive plays where I disrupted the rush by back checking, or taking away lots of passing lanes. I had used my stick more than once. Towards the end, there was another penalty called on our team, and I'm killing again. I was able to pick the puck up in our zone, and I saw that the dmen were backing up. I turned on the jets and they just continued to move back and let me enter the zone. I couldn't understand why they would be so conservative when they were down 3-1 with 2:00 left in the third period. Then I saw - they pulled their goalie. I went around one of the dmen, and fired it at the empty net. I missed wide by about a foot or two.

The Piranhas would go on and win the game 4-1. I would have loved to bury my chances, but I didn't this game, and compared to recent games, I laughed these off. I enjoyed the game and the competition. There were lots of Chaos sticks flying everywhere, but it was expected. They use their sticks a lot more than most teams. Our line played very well and I felt great. I am very pleased with how I played, and how the team played as well.

3 on 3 Scrimmage - 2011-06-24

Another 3 on 3 scrimmage. I was foolish and stayed up really late after playing the night before. I didn't drink a lot of water, but I did eat well. I showed up, ready to go, and just felt tired and fatigued. Not having a regular sub really made me feel it.

I often forget how quickly players improve, and I've played with all of them before. Sure enough, they all seemed better than I last remembered them. Three other Piranhas were there, but two of them were playing goalie. Still, it is better than nothing. I'm getting concerned about their conditioning because as a team, we haven't played since March. I know many only play on one team.

While I jumped from side to side to keep everyone fresh, it was interesting to see how players work together. Two players were from the Mastodon, and worked incredibly well together. Well spaced out, good passes, patient. The other Piranha and I moved with each other well, but still struggled to make each other better. One player who I played with at this year's ironman tournament seemed to work well with me more than anyone else. I wonder if it is because were both inline hockey players before ice. Even though this was our second time playing together, we cycled well, we knew where to go for the pass, and in general read each other very well.

At the end of the night, I was tired. I still felt that I needed to get in better shape, so I skated around the rink hard for a few minutes. I focused on my crossovers and just bringing my legs back under my body so I could make longer strides.