There was an uncharacteristic pin-drop silence in our locker room after our game last Friday. What normally is a loud and boisterous room was dead quiet before we got back to our normal selves. I don’t think we took a lot of joy in what had just transpired on the ice.
Our game against Rough Riders A turned into a blowout very quickly. The Rough Riders, who have yet to win a game during the season, were rather short on their bench and it made for the perfect storm. We scored five goals in the first period and another six over the next two.
As I’ve indicated on this blog, I’m not supportive of blowing out other teams. When a game is out of reach, trying to run up the score is humiliating to the other team and I feel uncomfortable about putting the other players in that position. I know how frustrating it is when the other team decides to feast on yours for some points. I’ve been on the wrong side of those kinds of losses many times.
I also know that these things happen. I appreciate that regardless of the score, many players just want to play their game and not have to hold back, since they’ve paid for the game and have come to play. They are certainly entitled to this opinion, but I am cognizant of the fact that this is only recreation and some consideration of the other side should come into play.
During our game against the Rough Riders, I had emotionally checked out after the first period and was hoping that we wouldn’t score more than we were. It was obvious that many of my teammates genuinely felt the same way. There was no cheering from us after the first period, and many players were holding themselves back, by just floating shots to the net or circling the offensive zone to negate our own offensive rush. Many times there was really no option but to shoot, and we would end up scoring another goal.
The Rough Riders took the outcome with a lot of grace. They weren’t confrontational or antagonistic towards us, and they even complimented some of the plays that my teammates made. I certainly would have not dealt with that kind of loss as well as they did.
Looking at the scoresheet, I can understand why people would think that we were doing the very thing that I am critical of on this blog. Indeed, it wasn’t long after the game that the “hypocritical” label was thrown at me, and that is fair. While our game on Friday isn’t consistent with my opinions on the topic, I still believe that blowing out other teams is not appropriate and I regret that the outcome turned out the way it did.
Singh10.

