ugh.

we did it again. the blue bombers ended a great spring 2007 season with a tough 5-2 loss in the first round of the playoffs against the gulls.

just like last year — except we did not have to go to the hospital after the game.

the gulls are a tough team. less tough this season, but still formidable.

before the game, i had two pieces of coaching for the team… the first was that we were shooting on a goalie that had not played with the gulls all season. i like that, most of the time, because it means that communication is not at its zenith. the second was that we needed to play OUR game and let them react to us and not the other way around. often, when you play teams that have been together for a while, part of their strength comes from making YOU react to what they are doing…

well…

we did not get enough shots.

we totally played in reactive mode chasing them all over the place.

you cannot win that way.

personally… i was ecstatic that alison came out to the game! it was great to see her on the boards and it was an amazing help to me personally. i had a few chances… the best being a race/break in the offensive zone that i took from right to left. i saw five hole — about 4-6 inches — and went for it. i hit just above the point i was shooting for and it bounced back to me where i tried to slam it… but the five hole was gone. i coulda/shoulda/woulda have continued to my left and gone backhand… my other great chance was on a loose puck in the low slot that i tried to slam home into a mostly empty net. unfortunately, the puck was on edge and i ended up putting it over the boards behind the net…

on to the summer season…

in our last game of the regular season, the blue bombers took down our doppelgangers the (red) bombers by a score of 5-4.

sounds a lot closer than it was — for most of the game.

we had a 4-0 lead through 1/3 of the third period and then things went a bit awry… we gave up a few funky goals and had some defensive lapses. we came out with the win, though.

personally, i scored on a wrister that hit the goalie’s shoulder and bounced into the net behind him.

peter was great in net — it was really cool of him to fill in for dom…

bob had some key defensive plays in third — cleanly tracking down to breakaways.

on to the playoffs… next friday… against the gulls.

alison and i certainly love going to the bridge cafe! as i have mentioned before, we take everyone we can think of there for dinner…

this time? we got taken!

the corporate real estate folks at alison’s law firm had an “outing” on monday. (for the record, alison is not in the corporate real estate practice.) they started with a walking tour of the area near the brooklyn bridge IN brooklyn and then proceeded over the bridge to manhattan. i did not go on the tour, but alison thought it was pretty dang cool. caissons and contruction, oh my! they even took the “secret staircase” down from the bridge…

the group then headed over the bridge cafe. when alison mentioned how close her husband was to the restaurant — i got an invite! woo!

there were about two dozen folks from the firm there — mostly summer associates with a few partners and real estate associates mixed in. we sat with the smallest group — three summers (one from cordoza, one from buffalo and one from columbia) and a partner. really nice folks! one of the things that struck me was how young they were. although alison passed the bar last year, she had been working for several years as a scientist and a scientific adviser before practicing. in other words, she is 6-7 years older than the average associate who went to law school after undergrad. the other thing that struck me was how willing they were to soak in her experience (and some of mine!) — they asked a lot of good questions.

the food was off a abbreviated bridge cafe menu. everyone was started with a mixed greens and roquefort/walnut salad with a vinaigrette. shockingly (ha!), i had the diver scallops (with the andouille sausage and grits preparation). alison’s fave dish — the lamb — was not on the menu so she went with the massive ribeye — 2/3 of which is still sitting in our fridge.

there were both a red and white wine served, but i did not get a good look at the labels. the red was distinctively not californian, a bit dry, but still with subtle fruit flavours. we did not try the white…

“thank you” to the firm for taking us!

in our first season without danny, we, um… really missed his goal scoring.

we finished with a pitiful 33 goals for in 17 games.  ugh.

on the bright side, adam (our goalie) is DA MAN finishing with a 4.19 GAA (adjusted for the forfeit game).  that may sound like a lot, but a) he kept us closer than we often deserved to be and b) the best team’s GAA was 3. 41.  D5, traditionally, has a lot of goal scoring… 

our final record:  5-12-0-0  (wins-losses-ties-overtime losses) netting us 10 points on the season.

the top team (hudson hawks) finished 13-3-0-1 for 27 points.

beyond the loss of danny, we certainly suffered from losing a few folks in-season (kyle, bobby, etc…) and were often crushed by the small rosters we were bringing to the games.

homer’s is combining with the blue bombers (as usual) to play D6 for the 4-on-4 session in the summer…

back in the fall!

overtime losses are a killer.

after an entire adrenaline filled game and a lot of good back and forth, the blue bombers lost in a shootout to CanAm this week.

final score:  5-4

i think we were a tad complacent for some of the game — mostly because we already know who we are playing in the playoffs (and we have known for several weeks…) and folks are “trying” different things in their respective games.  if we play like we did against CanAm in  the playoffs, we are going to get killed…

well…  notsomuch “dispatched” as “beat”, but i’ll take what i can get.

this was a re-scheduled game.  and we played on a wednesday night at 1130pm.  we did get 8 guys out there…  including the return of, newly married, rich…

we played tight and “found” a way to win.

homer’s on the winning trail…  3-2

a revitalized homer’s — buoyed by some strongly worded emails by several team members — showed up to PLAY on sunday against KPMG.

i brought in a good friend to the team (and a member of the blue bombers) — jamie — who had just played a 400pm game. his vision and patience really helped the guys and helped me reset the tone for the squad. jamie did take a bad hit that jerked his knee and ankle around, but he continued to play…

we went with two centers — myself and jamie — and had one short of my “perfect roster number” (13)…

the best part was…  we were down 3-0 about halfway through the game.  and then lightning struck as we scored 3 goals in 43 seconds to tie it up…   nice!

homer’s takes it down: 4-3

the streak continues!

this week, the blue bombers took down the avengers by a score of 6-3.

it is always great to play against the avengers — with peter in goal for them and zach (a homer’s hero) lining up on the other side of the ice.

personally…  i scored what could only be termed as a “STUPID GOOD GOAL”.  from behind the offensive goal line, near the corner boards, i put it off peter’s skate and in the net.  i felt very “chris drury”.  ahem.

yes. forfeits.

1130pm games are always tough. we play on sundays. it’s not the easiest thing in the world.

then again, we have 22 people on the roster who have all paid a nice chunk of change to play…

where they were on sunday…? no clue. because only john, brian, fordo, adam and myself showed up.

having only 4 skaters and a goalie is an automatic forfeit which gets recorded as an 8-0 loss.

we ended up scrimmaging with the hudson hawks for the 90 minutes of ice that we had. pretty cool to “practice”, but we were all dog tired by 100am…

we got killed.

not a lot to say other than…

we got killed.

SI usually has a strong roster and this game was no exception.  what KILLS me more than the loss is having a lackluster showing from our roster for a 400pm game.

final…  SI 9 — HH 1