Pardon the interruption

The Puck Hogs main site was down for a couple of days while our website host (HomeTeamsOnline.com) was having server problems.  That, combined with my laziness, accounts for the lack of updates there and on here.  I generally post on the blog after I’ve updated the team site, but since I couldn’t do the latter, I didn’t get to the former.

In any case, the website is back up and running.   I’ve updated our team stats from our last two games, but will probably get back to updating the game stories after our game tonight.

Two weeks ago, we played Norcal Crossover A.  It was a tight game and one that you would expect from two teams so close in the standings.  We were one point up on them in the standings at that point, sitting in third place, but by the end of it, we won in the shootout and increased our cushion to two points.

On this blog, I think I’ve referred to our team philosophy when it comes to shootouts (except that I can’t find where!).  While most other teams put out the same three best goal scorers, on our team everyone gets a shot in the shootout.  We go down the list by roster number as the season progresses.   I don’t believe this has hurt us at all, and in fact, it has worked well.  Many times, we’ve seen guys who you wouldn’t expect to score get the goal when it’s their turn to shoot, and many times guys who you would expect to score who don’t. 

As captain, I’m supposed to designate our shooters each time.  I’ve been going down the roster by player number to assign our shooters.  But, I decided that I wouldn’t shoot until everyone else has had a chance (I just feel weird about calling my own number to shoot).  As of our game against Norcal, we had gone through our entire roster and I was the only one who hadn’t shot yet.  So, I shot first, and wouldn’t you know, I scored with what some members of my team called a “pimp shot” (a play on “pimp slap”).   It’s basically my only move.  It felt nice to be able to contribute to the team on the ice for a change.  I give credit to our goalie though, who held off all the other NCA shooters so that my goal would be the winner.  He’s actually played very well in the shootout, but perhaps that’s because we’ve had a bunch lately and so he’s getting some good practice!

Thanks, Jake. 

We took both our games last week in our league’s weekend doubleheader, defeating the Misfits and Yo MaMa in tight games (most of our games are close ones no matter who we play).  The wins, combined with the two Flappy Walkingsticks losses that weekend, put us one point back of them and their second place spot in the standings.  With one game left in the regular season, could the Puck Hogs grab second place from the Frickasseed WhoopingCranes? 

We find out tonight.  It can only happen if they lose their game in regulation against Norcal Crossover A, and then if we beat the first place and rarely defeated Pints tonight.  We have a little history with the Pints (and more specifically, an issue with a player on the Pints), but I’m looking forward to a clean game of hockey.  I hope they are as well.

There will be some scoreboard watching tonight (just like in the NHL these days), as it’s not just our position in the standings (and thereby our seeding for the playoffs) that could change, but also the teams in spots sixth to eight, who currently are the Ice Dawgs, the Yo MaMa, and the Pirates respectively.  Sixth and eighth place are separated by only two points.  Depending on how things go in the league overall tonight, we could face any one of them in the first round of the playoffs next week.

It’s certainly going to be an interesting night of hockey.

Singh10.

An open letter to the Puck Hogs

A few days after our double OT shootout loss in the Silver B Championship final, I wrote the following e-mail to my team. With the Summer 2008 chapter now closed, a new season begins this Friday when we kick off Winter 2008/09.

Puck Hogs,

I didn’t want to let last season officially go without giving a few closing comments.

First, congratulations on a great third season as a team. It’s makes you pause when you think we’ve been a team for only three seasons. As several of you said in the locker room, this has been the best season of hockey I’ve ever had. I’ve never had more fun on – and off – the ice as I did this summer. Despite the final outcome, I consider this season a success that goes beyond what can be measured in goals, wins or trophies. I hope you all feel the same way. If you don’t, it’s not too late for you to get traded.

…Sure, winning the trophy would have been nice icing on the cake, but without the icing, it was still awesome cake. We have nothing to be ashamed of in our loss on Friday. We went to the absolute limit and we could have just as easily won a game that really did come down to Al Pacino’s “game of inches”. It was a rollercoaster of a game, but we battled and I believe we left what we could on the ice. We can’t ask anything more of ourselves. We’ll return next season knowing how close we came this time. Kudos to the Dirty Dozen on scraping through.

I also want to acknowledge all of our families, friends, and fans who supported us throughout the season. The support of significant others has been paramount to giving us a great season, and so please extend my thanks to your families and supporters. Their contributions to our team are definitely appreciated.

With the start of our Winter 2008/09 campaign, we’ll be losing two great teammates in Grady and Doug. Grady’s presence on this team will be the stuff of legend, and the locker room definitely will not be the same without him. In just his first season with the team, Doug made a huge impact on and off the ice, he’ll totally be missed. Both of them are always welcome back and I wish them the best of luck.

The departures of Grady and Doug left us short two players going into next season. We’ve signed two guys who I believe will fit in with our team well, and I’ll introduce them to the team shortly.

I feel privileged to be playing with all of you and am totally looking forward to the Winter Season, which I’m officially calling “Puck Hogs’ Revenge”!

See you all on the ice soon,

Singh10.

Wednesday Wusings: Spoke too soon?

It was bound to happen.

No sooner than when I said this:

There are two teams this season that have been fun to play against, in the sense that there was no animosity or particularly rough play.  The Ice Dawgs are one of those teams, and the Volcanoes, who we play this Friday for the last time this summer, are the other.

…that we then would have a game against the Volcanoes with a little chippy stuff in the last minute of the game (which seemed to take forever). 

I will say though, that it wasn’t so bad.  I think some frustrations boiled over a bit on the part of the Volcanoes, while we were desperate not to give up our delicate one goal lead in the game.  The Volcanoes played really well.  Despite being outshot by a large margine, their chances to score were very high quality, and our goalie had to make some amazing highlight reel saves (if we had highlights, or a reel) to keep the Volcanoes off the scoreboard.  It also didn’t help that several of my own teammates decided to mismatch their socks this week, in another apparent attempt to get in my head.  It must have worked this time, because I got no points this game. 

Good thing we only play 15 minute periods.  I was relieved that we got out of that game with the win, because I had a feeling that it was only a matter of time before the Volcanoes tied.  We really wanted this one, because the win would clinch us first place in the standings this season, with two games remaining.  A loss would have meant that we would have to play the Flustered Winterbreaks for first place, and obviously we wanted to avoid that. 

We’ve now locked up top spot for the second season in a row.  Whether we now win or lose our two remaining games, we can’t finish in any place less than first (sadly, we can’t finish any higher than first either). All that first place typically guarantees is the top seed in the playoffs which doesn’t always make things easy.  Last season, we were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs and took an early break from hockey while the third and fifth seeds battled it out for the championship. 

This season will be different.  The first seed team plays the first round against the sixth seed, and the winner of that game gets the “GO DIRECTLY TO FINALS” card, bypassing the second round of the three round tournament. 

None of this matters unless we win in the first round, which means we will need to defeat any one of the Volcanoes, Phantiaks or Ice Dawgs (depending on how the rest of the regular season pans out).  After just scraping by the Volcanoes last week, we know that the first round will be a battle.

Singh10.

Congrats to the Pints!

The Pints are the new Bronze League champions, as a result of their 5-4 win over the Ice Dawgs on Sunday night.  So, congratulations Pints! And, kudos to both teams for what was a great game to watch.

I was surprised with how many people came to watch the game, the stands were almost full and there was a buzz in the air.  It definitely made the game more fun.

With that game, the Winter 2007-2008 season is officially done.  I wish I could say the same about my offseason prep for next season (and I thought last offseason was tough).  I’ve been quite busy trying to organize our team for next season, but everytime I think I have everything set, something else comes up.   It’s taking a lot of mental energy, time, and a thick skin.  I don’t know about other captains, but I’m sure there are a few who can relate to what these few weeks are like.

As my dad said to me recently, “you need a new hobby.” He could very well be right, because it’s becoming harder to argue.

Singh10.