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Oh my goodness, does it feel good to win handily! Coach Steph came into the locker room after the game and said, “That’s the game I’ve been waiting two years for the Black Ice to have! You dominated a team that you were better than, you didn’t let up, and you played to your potential.” (Okay, I’m paraphrasing there, but that was the general sentiment.)

The final score was 5-1. Amy had one pretty goal and one FUNKY goal. The funky one was the best - she, WES, and Lib were down digging in front of the net. She tried to take a shot from the left low slot, but it kind of bounced around. She managed to grab it back while she was even lower and then just flung it up on an incredibly sharp angle towards the net. (She reported to me later that she was trying to find Lib in front of the net on that one.) The puck came off her stick, and whizzed past the goalie’s left ear - note that she was shooting from the goalie’s right side - and CLANK it hit the top corner of the post and went in. No one was quite sure how it had actually gone in given her angle, but hey! It was a goal and we weren’t going to say no.

Her second goal was pretty - I missed most of the setup and the shot as I was trying to do a line change. But I was on the ice when it went in, so I’m counting it as a +1. The other goal I was on the ice for was a really beautiful shot by Bruiser. There was a face-off at center ice. Bruiser drew the puck back to STP, who passed it forward over the blue line right to Bruiser. She took 2 steps with the puck and let it loose - it caught the goalie unaware and snuck in on her right side (note: Bruiser shot from her left). Great shot - and my defensive partner got the assist!

Other goals were scored by MichW and Scooter (I think… correct me anyone if I’m wrong. Amy thinks MichW got both of them and I think Scooter got both of them. So I’m splitting the difference.)

The utter heartbreak of the night: Denise got a breakout up the right side of the ice. She blew into the zone, wound up, and let loose. The puck hit metal someplace, and we all thought it went in - on the bench AND on the ice. (Seriously - I SWEAR it went in!) After the shot, Denise went ass over teakettle, TLee came flying in and collapsed (in joy?) in a heap on the left boards, somehow Jonesy also ended up on the ground, and the LisaT and BlueLine Nancy were celebrating. All of a sudden, everyone realized that the whistle hadn’t blown yet, that the Ice Devils had the puck, and that there were two of them almost at the blue line. LisaT hauled ass (yes, that’s the theme of this particular play) and managed to break up the fast break as the buzzer blew.

Things  I noticed that weren’t directly related to the scoring:

• Lib was playing left wing and she was right where I wanted to pass on the breakout almost every time. The one time she wasn’t open I realized, “Huh, look at all those Ice Devils surrounding Lib. Maybe I should pass to her. WAIT. NO. Bad idea! She’s got all of them tangled up, so I’m going to hit WES on the other side of the ice!” But the work she did tonight on the breakout was stunning.
• LisaO played D again, and I like having her back there! She’s a very good defensive center (in that I like having her as a center when I’m on D in our defensive zone) and she’s made the transition these past two games to playing in the back really easily.
• Denise is a completely different player this year. It’s really great to see.
• Lynn pulled some saves from thin air tonight - because she wasn’t getting a lot of help from yours truly! She didn’t see a lot of action, but when she did she was really solid back in net.
• When we get on the ice and the countdown to the game starts immediately (we get 3 minutes) I need to have stretched in the locker room so I can get my stick on the puck and feel it. Yikes. I stunk for the first 1.5 periods tonight re: puck-handling. Yuck.
• Apparently I am capable of being a brick wall. Evidence: Ice Devils winger is taking the puck out of our zone into neutral ice. I stepped up, put my stick on the puck, and managed to become a wall that she ran into and fell down at the feet of. Seriously - I have no idea how it happened (nor do I know how I wasn’t called for tripping - part of my “wallness” was my stick getting in her way as well). She was ticked nothing was called, but as I yelled to her, “I played the puck!”

Fun times! I like to win.

my god i love this dog.

Cougars vs. Black Ice

The second game of the Black Ice season found them matched up against a new team in the league, the Cougars. The game started with the Cougars trying to prove they belonged in the league. They came out blazing about the ice in their yellow jersies. The Black Icers were caught gliding a little and trying to find their way. About 2 minutes to go in the first period the puck decided to be slick and squirted through on Lynn.

As the second period began, we turned it on. We came out determined not to be melted. We got our legs and our swerve back. Making some great offensive thrusts into the zone. Bruiser, Scooter and Denise got their line flying up and down the ice, creating rushes and making great defensive recovery runs. Sue Jones, Tracey Lee and Teen were awesome at keeping the puck in the zone. They got some nice shots on net with Tracey Lee on the door step pounding on the goalie - alas no goal. Amy, Libby and WES kept the energy of the other two lines with them and flew around the ice. They were finding break out opportunities but were thwarted by some outstanding saves by the Cougar goalie. Finally, we broke through with a break into the left corner. Libby had the puck against the side boards. WES brought the D in low behind the net and Amy lazily snuck in at the high slot. Libby heard her sneaking in and slid a pass over. The puck skipped over a defenders stick and on to Amy’s new stick where it was quickly redirected into the back of the net.

The third period went much the same as the second. However we just couldn’t solve that goalie. We owned the better of the play thanks to some strong defending by the Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam line and the Bruiser Blue pant line of Megan and STP, who kept the opposing team at bay. Unfortunately, we got caught a bit on a line change where possession changed quickly in the neutral zone. We almost had it covered but alas, those damn yellow jersies found a seam and knocked one home. A flurry at the end was unable to net a tying goal for the Black Icers and we found ourselves on the back end of a 2-1 loss.

Black Ice will be back on the ice Sunday, 9/30 at 7:50 p.m. See you there!

Argh. That, in one word, sums up the end result of tonight’s game.

Well, that and a 1-2 score - all of which I was technically on the ice for. The first goal against I was right there - yeah, I’ll take that -1, but on the other goal against and the goal for I’d just come on the ice, so they kind of cancel each other out.

So what to say about the game tonight?

• Amy scored our goal and had two more wicked awesome shots that most other goalies in our league would have let in. Too bad their goalie was on fire tonight!
• Some winger on their team can check. Hard. (Note: this is a non-checking league.) She nailed my defensive partner and me on different plays. We’re going to compare bruises on our ribs as soon as they start showing. Ouch.
• My confidence increases pretty much every game. My skating is stronger, I rush into the offensive zone when I can, my passes are better now than ever (although some of them are still incredibly bone-headed), and I’m less pooped after every game. Biking to work every day has helped my legs get stronger too. Love it.
• All three of our offensive lines generated lots of shots on net. @*$#@ goalie for the Eagles, stopping almost everything!

We’re 1-1 in the SSWHL right now - even on goals for and against (2-2). Next week we play the Ice Devils D; I don’t remember them from last year. The first week they played the RI Panthers and won 2-1, last week they beat the Bulldogs 3-0. Looks like it could be a tough game, but I think we’re ready!

Well it was only a scrimmage, but we played really well tonight and walked away with 4-2 in favor of us on the scoreboard.

We had 10 skaters and a goalie - me, Amy, Lib, LisaO, LisaT, and STP from the Black Ice, Arlene and Wendy from the Black Ice subs list, Chris and Wendall (in goal) from the Storm Chasers, and Lib’s summer teammate Karen.

Let me start off by saying that Wendall isn’t normally a goalie - although she’s AWESOME back there. I do like to play in front of her - this is the second or third time I’ve done so. Her team has a full-time goalie; she subs when other folks need her. The Panther’s goalie is a woman most of us know, and she didn’t have quite the game I was expecting her to have as she normally plays at a level higher than us.

The Panthers scored in the first period on a shot that our goalie admits she should have had (she was right - it was a wimpy little shot…) They also scored in the third period on a really pretty wrist shot by one of their better players. No shame in letting that one in! LisaT, my linemate for the night, and I weren’t on-ice for either of those scores.

Amy scored twice - short-handed! - in the second period. Her first goal was an attempted backhand that didn’t quite get off the ground. Fortunately it went in anyway. About 20 seconds later she came back into the zone on the penalty kill and snapped it through the goalie’s five-hole. Wooot! Someone has her mojo back and her initials are ABB! I wasn’t on the ice for either of those goals. Later in that period, LisaO scored a truly beautiful wrister from the high slot. I was on-ice for that one.

The last score of the period (and for us, of the scrimmage) I got an assist! We were on offense; our wingers were changing lines and the puck was loose behind the net. Normally I’d play it safe and hang back by the blue line. LisaT and I had talked before the scrimmage, though, and had promised that we’d each take at least one big rush to the net during the game. This was my chance - I hauled ass down the left side of the ice hard towards their right D, who was lollygagging towards the puck behind the net. I skated past her, took the puck off her stick, skated behind the net and passed it up to LisaT at the right point (Amy was on the bench at the time and told me later that she commented, “Of COURSE the D would pass the puck up to the point!”) LisaT took a shot, which someone - Wendy or LisaO - tipped in. If I’d not charged the puck, they’d have taken it up and out of the zone. So I was a play-maker for this one and got the assist.

The rest of the scrimmage was interesting - the ref called a ton of penalties. At one point we were on a 5 on 3; didn’t score (argh!) but we played it well nonetheless. They were tough on that one. I felt pretty good from halfway through the first period; I made a bunch of boneheaded moves at the beginning of the game (letting pucks out of the zone, making wimpy bad passes, etc.) but managed to get myself into it a few minutes in. I find that as I play longer I play more physical. But as Karen said, “Hey, that’s was a good defender HAS to do!” Nothing I do is mean or chippy or (usually) penalty-worthy, but I know I annoy the living daylights out of the other team’s offense. Watch me burst with pride at that…

Several of their players were quite good; two in particular were really good. What was good to see was the fact that their top skater happened to also a.) skate with her head down some and b.) be incredibly easy to push to the outside when she was rushing the net. I like getting to know the ice better, and being able to see more things on-ice. It feels good to feel myself getting to be a smarter and stronger player.

The day itself stunk but apparently when my day stinks my game is good. I’m trying to figure out how to have a crappy day tomorrow so I can play well tomorrow night. (Just kidding!)

Stats for me this evening: +2/-0 for a +2 overall. Fun stuff.