Monday Musings: Turnabout is fair play

Last Friday’s match was an interesting game, of sorts.

The game was our second against the Pints this season.  We opened Summer 2008 against them about a month ago, and in that one the Pints scored three unanswered goals in the third period to overcome a 4-2 deficit and win the game.  And, if you pay any attention to this blog, you’d also know there was some bad blood that came out of that game as well.

So, our rematch against the Pints had a bit of a compelling backstory to it.  It was the late game and I think both teams came out a little sluggish.  However, other than some silent treatment, the game was quite cleanly played by both teams, and this time it was our turn to score three unanswered goals in the third period to win the game.  Somehow, we just came alive in the third.  Personally, my game between the first two periods and the third period was like night and day.  My legs (what little I have) showed up, and I was skating much better in the final period.  Perhaps this happened to our entire team, because we blew open a fairly evenly matched game.  In fact, to that point, the Pints carried much of play.  Our goalie played an amazing game – he stopped all kinds of chances and left nary a rebound.

Now, I don’t want to use turn this blog into my complaint box about referees (I’ve done a lot of that lately), but I have to comment on our “Too Many Men” penalty in that game.  We were the away team, meaning we were wearing our away jerseys which are black with white shoulders.  One of the Pints players was wearing a  jersey different than that of his team.  While the Pints were wearing yellow, he was wearing a white jersey with black shoulders.  His jersey was more like ours than it was like the Pints’.

At just under six minutes left in the period, the referee stopped the play and did a count of our players on the ice, but he included the Pints player in the white and black as one of ours, and subsequently dinged us for having too many men on the ice.  We did protest but to no avail, and we served the penalty.  But, it just goes to show how the “nonenforced” jersey rule should really be heeded.  This misdirected call by the referee could have changed the game, simply because of confusion generated by team colors.

Leaving that aside, Jones3 hosted a team BBQ at his place the next day (Saturday).  He predicted we’d be 4-0 by the time the BBQ came around, and he was right.  Many thanks to him for his prognosticating, hosting and grilling - it was a great time.  I took a few pictures and will post them shortly. 

We have a bye this week, meaning no game for us this Friday, but we’ll still try to get together anyway.  A week later, we’ll have our first meeting with the Ice Dawgs, who knocked us out of the playoffs last season.  They’re even better than before so it’ll be another tough test.

Despite the fact that this league is much tougher than the last, and games are much more competitive, I’ve noticed how much more fun our team seems to be having this season.  We seem tighter knit as a group and more easy going.  We also are having a great time before, during, and after games.  I thought we clicked well before, but now it’s even better.  We’ve spent a lot of time together off the ice and I think it’s making it much more enjoyable for all.

We’re certainly lucky to have a group that gets along so well and I hope it continues. 

Singh10.