Week 17: Mark It Zero vs. The Green Hornets
We bludgeoned the Green Hornets the last time we played them. They fought back a lil but it was too late to make a large dent in our lead. So I brought the boys some Hoegaarden for this one expecting sweet victory.
VS THE GREEN HORNETS
We definitely took this team too lightly. We were playing our typical passive 1st period as we soon found ourselves down 0-2. This Ned kid just worked our D-man (to remain anonymous) and had a nice individual effort, deking around Justin. While bewildered, I felt like the team had a confidence (overconfidence?) that we’d battle back. Don’t even worry about it. It’s early.
The second period arrived, and the Hornets added 2 more. It was clear that whatever we were doing wasn’t quite working. Ryan hopped on to our line and shit got real, quickly. Derek did a good job of drawing a couple of penalties in this game, and we went on the power play. Ryan threaded a pass to me on the right side (Steve and I must’ve switched) and I buried one over the goalie’s right shoulder. 4-1 Hornets.
The same shift, I had the puck on the left wing and looked for someone to sneak in the back door to the right post. Ryan was equal to the task, and I fired a pass through the middle. He got a great initial shot off, then after a Miller rebound, Ryan put it away. 4-2 Hornets.
Justin doesn’t put Ryan, Miller, and I on a line together simply because the balance of the lines would be off. The first shift together yielded 2 goals, though, and although it made sense to keep the lines balanced, all three of us were enjoying the difference. Justin came to the bench at the 2nd intermission to give us a piece of his mind, and afterwards, it was hard to tell one guy on the other line to double-shift so we could restore the starting lines. So what did we do? We kept playing together YAYAHHH!
The game stayed 4-2 until the middle of the third period. After waiting at the blueline for my teammates to get back onside, I handed it over to Derek, who proceeded to take it in and put it away top-left corner. A nice shot. 4-3 Hornets.
With time winding down (within 2:00) we needed a goal - soon. Going into their zone, I had one guy to beat. Considering the circumstances, I quickly shot it through him and the goaltender let out a high bouncing rebound to his left side. I followed the puck as it bounced to the end boards, and backhanded a blind pass back to the net. The goaltender had been far out after my shot and rebound chances, so my original intention was to send a pass off his pads and into the net on his way back to the crease. What ended up happening was the second possibility - the puck finding Miller all alone with the goalie scrambling back to the crease and an entire net to shoot at. BOOM - Tied at 4.
The overtime session must’ve been about 5:00 long, and it felt like running time. After one or two shifts, the period was almost over. If nobody scores, it’s a tie in the regular season. We had already clinched first place by picking up one point after the regulation tie, but obviously we wanted to win this one and complete the comeback. Both teams committed overtime penalties (what is with these refs?) but theirs came with :45 left to play. What happened next was a scramble in front of the net, and Todd put the game winner through at the :33 mark sending us off the ice victorious.
After this game, I don’t know whether to feel upset at how soft we played in the beginning, or proud of our character and how composed we were most of the game. We did have to kill like 2 of Derek’s penalties, as well as 2 others (Juke, Andy), so it’s remarkable we kept them off the scoreboard after their 4th goal at the beginning of the 2nd period.
CLOSE CALLS
Plenty of close calls once Miller, Ryan, and I were a unit. I think we averaged about 4 chances a shift. It’s disappointing to know we didn’t convert on some. I remember a rebound that the goalie popped in the air towards the left post that I almost batted in, I passed a gift across to Miller that he didn’t convert, and he reciprocated by doing the same to me. I was amazed he fit the pass through at the last minute and picked my stick up.
Final 5-4 (OT)
1st place is ours.
