homer’s heroes took on the team from sports illustrated last night. it is always a ’surprise’ when we play them as it seems they have a bench that extends both deep and wide — walking into the rink, craig remembered two of the times we played them, one where we got crushed and the other where we crushed them (we put roughly the same team on the ice both times…)

the game was close this time around, though.

the final was 8-5 (with one empty netter).

the difference? two goals from SI inside the last two minutes of the second period, making it 6-4, after we had just tied it at 4. mentally, that was tough.

brian had a BOOMING slap shot goal from the mid point in the third to get us to 6-5.

personally…

i scored a sweet redirect from close in on the net. (brand new dad) fordo worked the puck out of the corner and swung it straight across the crease where i redirected it at full speed right under their goalie’s right pad.

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…

argh. taxes filed. i used to love tax time — i always recevied a huge refund. this year, though… double argh. based on the way that my taxes were done last year (um, thank you (?) hr block) and the huge refund i received, well… it comes back to haunt you. i must have done my taxes a dozen times this year trying to get it to work out in a different way. c’est la vie. i’m net up for the year — fed refund and i owe the state of ny. *phew* — i guess, i’m just glad it’s over…