the blue bombers are continuing their winning ways taking out the blizzard this week by a score of 4-1.

the blue bombers are in prime playoff position after taking out the hornets by a score of 8-3 on friday night…

we had a solid roster — bolstered by a visit from prodigal team member vince who gave us a nice preview of his impending return to the team in the fall after spending the last ~3 years in hawaii. vince even had the first goal of the night!

jamie continued his shooting rampage throughout the game — getting/taking chance after chance. on one of his goals, he ended up alone in the offensive zone, took a shot, grabbed the rebound, waited, waited, and shot again — scoring — before any of the hornets got back to defend. i was joking with one of the refs about that one… “shot, rebound, grabbed a sandwich, slept, went to work, called his family, shot, score…” ha!

dom was great in goal — albeit, relatively untested…

the hornets seem to let up late in the second period. demoralized? ahem. fred was his usual self — getting into dutch with the refs and generally playing the instigator role.

personally… i got a great pass from the corner from jeremy — total laser — and was able to zing it top right corner just from the top of the slot. in the waning minutes, i put out a pass from behind their net, through traffic, right onto karel’s stick and he, of course, put it home…

woo! blue bombers!!

a week after a tough loss to guapos, the BB pulled themselves up by their chin straps and took out the number one, UNDEFEATED team!

the blast are always tough — and always at the top of the division. more often than not, though, we have ended up in tight games with them. i truly believe that teams elevate their level of play when they play a “better” team.

i actually love playing the blast — they are a bunch of good guys.

our first goal was a bit painful… i was one-on-one with the forecheck and their D was trying desperately to get rid of the puck. i stood in front of his slapshot hoping to take it off the shins. unfortunately, it was a “riser” and i caught the shot squarely on my stomach — the part with no protection. ouch. adrenaline. i grabbed the puck from there… behind the net… to the half-wall… pass to bart on the point… shot… rebound is hanging on the post and scotty taps it in for the goal. adrenaline — off. ***OUCH*** i still have a nice sized red/purple welt on my stomach.

the game was pretty “even” — more neutral zone play than i would have expected.

going in to OT, i had a plan… the blast, you see, have a “coach” — andrea. they also had a full bench. a full bench that andrea stopped using at the beginning of the third period. i put out three different forward pairings in the beginning of OT — none of which were jamie/will. the blast countered with their best guys for the first half of the OT. as soon as their “star” guys got off the ice, i put jamie/will out there. they had possession in the offensive zone for nearly the entire time and SCORED with just over a minute left in OT. woo!!

4-3 blue bombers over the previously undefeated blast — in OT

it was almost a great comeback…

after being down 4-1 in the second period, the BB fought their way back only to fall short to los guapos by a score of 5-4.

i thought the team played quite well — especially since we did not have a goalie for half of the first period, caught a goalie from the locker room until near the end of the second (thank you, mike!) and dom got in net — cold — but played awesome. we had a pretty consistent forecheck, for the most part. i thought the team responded well to the idea of “everything moves forward” — which i harped on in between periods…

personally, i played my most physical game of the season. not in a penalty-ridden way… more being strong on the puck and playing a bit more of the body than i usually do. it felt good.

went out with carrie, john, mark, scotty and craig for a few pops at the half king after the game….

i think the “story” here is best told in bullet points…

• i played this game after the sabres/rangers game. pumped up or emotionally spent… i still don’t know.
• we lost 5-2. it really should have been 4-2. the last goal? my fault. defending a 2 on 1 in the waning seconds of the third after backchecking from a press in the offensive zone. i did not see the second guy and i worked the shooter to the outside. he did shoot. dom did make a nice kick save. but their second guy played clean-up with the rebound just as i got to him.
• the gulls goalie had a lot of equipment problems causing two major stoppages during the game — one of them late in the third after we had a bunch of momentum and had just gone on the PP.
• we played pretty solid against a team that has traditionally been very, very good.
• jamie can shoot.
• our bench was great for an 1130pm game — 9 up, 4 back.
• i felt pretty energized out there after having not played for two weeks…

let’s get this out of the way. the blue bombers took a rough loss by the score of 10-3.

i was really happy to see guy langlais back in the line up. guy is a great guy (pun intended) who i have played with and, mostly, against at chelsea piers. he has been out with a shoulder injury for a few months and he certainly showed that he is back in the swing based on his performance. his aggression on faceoffs and his movement in the offensive zone were great.

there were multiple problems on our bench. a lot of bickering.

there were problems on the ice. almost an entire team of folks that just did not look like they were ready to play hockey.

we are now in a solid sixth place (the last playoff spot) with fourteen points — four more than seventh and two points out of fifth. we are off until 2 june…

i believe!

the blue bombers are now 6-3-0-2 this season after taking out the marlins on friday night by a score of 4-2.

woo!

last night’s blue bombers game versus the ny lions ended as a loss.

but that certainly does not tell the whole story!

first of all, thank you to tim for coming out to the game. even if you were listening to the mets on the radio the entire time (i hear they won in the 14th!), it was GREAT to look to the mid-boards and see a friendly face slash green lantern.

the lions, no doubt, are a top team in d6 and have been for as long as i have been playing at chelsea piers. we always play them tight and tough and last night was no exception.

there was a bit of back and forth through the entire game. bunches of penalties — mostly on the lions — which, you would think, would generate good scoring chances for us. honestly? we played better five on five… go figure.

regulation ended all tied up. overtime ended all tied up. we lost in a shootout. so we stole one point on the night and it was a great effort — and teamwork — from all.

personally…?

i did pretty well. i felt like i had good legs and good sightlines the entire game. (except for the those last 2:30 where i was on the ice! *phew*)

i scored the second goal of the night with a massively screened wrist shot from the center of the blue line. i’m positive their goalie never even saw me take the shot and it hit right where i wanted it to — just under the top right corner of the net.

faceoffs were consistently good for me — as usual — and we caught a coupla chances off some of those draws. oddly… on a faceoff at center ice, the lions center was tossed from the circle. that HAS to be the first time i have ever seen that in d6. also, toward the end of the game i broke the lion’s centers’ stick in HALF on a faceoff.

the play that i loved the most, though, came with less than 20 seconds to go in the game. we are down a goal and we have our goalie pulled. we had a faceoff in their zone. i had three guys line up to the left of the circle to crash the net and two d behind me in case i decided to draw. i have seen this kind of faceoff MANY times while watching pro hockey and i don’t think i have ever seen it work. my eyes are glued to the ref’s hand as he gets ready to drop the puck. as soon as i see it drop, i pull my stick back just a wee bit and FIRE as it hits the ice. FIVE HOLE, BAYBEE! right through the legs of the goalie and IN THE NET! that is what sent us to overtime…