Ah, Yes, About That Hockey Game

If you glance at the right sidebar, you will see our hockey scores for the winter season. I usually post the most recent game for a few days, win or lose, no matter how I play - which is usually crappy.

On Sunday night, we played a "cross-over" game against the Bruins "B" team. The league has three leagues, an "A" for expert players, a "B" for intermediate players, and a "C" for schleps like myself. The good news is that the cross-over games don't count toward our league record. The bad news it that these guys skated obscenely fast.

Unfortunately, we were playing against this team without four of our better players. Randal was home with explosive diarrhea, John K. was also sick, and Andy and Ron couldn't make it. We were left with the option of playing nine skaters: three defensemen, and two offensive lines. Not good.

Strangely enough, we actually played up to them for most of the game. Their largest lead was two goals, and most of our scoring was due to hard work and hustle. We were exhausted, but we played very hard. Alas, it was not enough, because we lost the game by a score of 7-6. And now, a few highlights:

• We could have tied the game late in the third period if some jackass - who doesn't need to be named here - put his one-timer past the goaltender. Sorry, Vinnie. It was a great pass that I should have scored on.
• Mike D. And Jon M. were terrific on the first line, accounting for most of our offense. Hat tip to Mike for not getting thrown out of the game for fighting - a rarity this season.
• Badger played very well, but still finds it necessary to charge out of the net to play a loose puck. He knows that gives me hives, but he does it anyway.
• If someone knows who was playing in Fish's jersey, could you let me know? We gotta sign that guy up! Fish led a few offensive rushed from the defense, poke-checked more pucks than you can shake a stick at, and didn't give me grief when I missed the one-timer.

Finally, I want to thank Vincent Antonelli for giving me his brand new, $200 ice skates! Yeah, that's right; he gave them to me. His reasoning? "They're cursed." Luckily, they fit me perfectly, and skate like a dream. I'm just hoping that the "curse" didn't transfer to me - especially after that one-timer thing.