Overtime

We won.

The first round of the playoffs are over, and they ended in a rather stunning fashion.

It might have been one of the best games played in that rink all summer.  It was a tight, hard fought contest from start to finish.  About thirty seconds, maybe a little more than that, forty five maybe, we scored the first goal.  Four minutes later they scored on a breakaway that I thought that I had, but it just skipped off my glove into the net.  They scored the second goal on a tipped shot, through a screen from the point on the right wing boards.  We tied it up a few minutes later, only to have the lead slip away again when they broke in on a two on one and scored on a bang-bang play, high on the stick side...  I know that it doesn't sound good at this point, but not to worry.  The first ended 3-2 for the bad guys.

We managed to tie the game on a brilliant singular effort that may have easily been one of the nicest goals that I witnessed all summer.  Jake, one of our centers, cut across the bottom of the right wing circle, turned two defense men inside out, and then leaning forward, shot across his body and over the shoulder of the opposing goaltender.  

The game ended tied 3-3, bring us to overtime.  Now, there is nothing better than sudden death, win or go home overtime.  While we were waiting for the overtime period to begin, I kept reminding the guys to stay loose, stay relaxed.  

Thirty seconds in to the overtime the game ended on an absolutely filthy wrap around goal.  Jubilation ensued.

So that's it, we won, and now we are in the finals, and will be playing my least favorite team, the Jailhouse.  The whinny little fuckers with their D1 players...  It will be a very difficult team to beat, but their goaltender and defense can be victimized if we pressure them as we should and isolate their key player.

So, Friday night, at 8 p.m. in Orleans, at the Charles Moore Arena, we'll be playing our second championship game of the year, as we we in the winter league championship game also.  We've been there, and yeah, it's just another men's league game, but for us, it does mean something, this is why you play organized sports, for the bragging rights, because that's all you'll come out of the season with.  That, and the camaraderie of your teammates, that bond, those friendships.  That's what getting this far, battling through the season, through single elimination playoff game that winds up in overtime, and coming out on top wins you, friendships that are unbreakable, almost like family...