My last post came after my last shutout out, so that's a gap of five games. Collectively, we went 2-1-2. (Jesus, I fucking hate ties, there is nothing worse than leaving points on the table.) The Dennis team is playing really well, and all the guys have been making it to our games lately, which has given us some much needed consistency in a league that is a step up from the OMHL in terms of speed and skill level.
Our best player has been playing like our best player, and the supporting cast around him has been equally good. Some of the goals that the guys have been scoring lately would be highlight reel goals in any league. In the games that we have won recently, our passing has been crisp and on target. There is something about a perfect pass that's like a work of art, and when our first line gets the passing going (without sacrificing open shots) it's a nearly impossible line to defend. Our second line on that DMHL team is a perfect second line, a grind it out, hustle the entire shift line. That line makes it hard on other teams to really get anything going, they forecheck hard, take away passing lanes, and backcheck equally hard...
Defensively we're solid, with one standout defenseman (I've said it a million times, and I'll probably say it a million more, I would take an entire team of guys just like D.O.), two very solid younger defenseman, and a slightly aging vet. The good thing about our D is that they've been playing together since the beginning of last spring, which means as a group, we've all been playing together since last spring. They know my tendencies, and I know theirs. It's just like consistency up front for the forwards (who I barely pay attention to), I mean goalies and there defense really are a unit, and it's important to know how we'll play off of each other.
We've won two out of our last three in Dennis, and the loss was an incredibly close game, which was lost on a fluke goal. We lost a faceoff in our zone on the left side, which was won on a clean draw back to the left wing, who had slid over behind the center, and managed to get a quick shot off, which I made the save on with my blocker... The puck, somehow, went straight up in the air and we all lost track of its location, and when it came back down, it hit me in the back and went it the net. It was a back breaker for us, and it really gave a lift to the other team.
In the first win of this five game stretch I got to stop a penalty shot. God, I love penalty shots. And I love stopping guys cold who get to take them. It ended up being an important save, as we won that game by the narrowest of margins, 2-1. It was a good game, and surprisingly not as chippy as I expected it to be since the last time that we played them there was a huge fight, I got run twice, and there was a ton of stick work going on throughout the game. Like I said, this most recent game against them was definitely on the tame side.
Our second win came against the team that also gave us our loss in this three game stretch. We had a short bench that night, and having played them all spring/summer/fall I was a little on the worried side about our chances. I played well, and the boys buried all of their chances. The second time around went a little differently, it was a back and forth game, we got up, they got up, we tied, and then the back breaker fluke goal. Can't win them all right?
Now, in Orleans, things are going a little differently... Two fucking horribly stupid ties. I HATE TIES.
AND
We lost our best player to a nasty foot injury, which occurred in the first tie when he took a shot off the laces on the top of his foot. From what I understand, was so swollen it looked like he had a baseball under the skin on that foot. Thankfully, nothing was broken, or even fractured. However, a particular revelation reared it's ugly head about Jake being out of the line up. We can't score without him. At all. From the point of his departure, which came in the first ten minutes of the first tie (in a game that we were winning 3-0 at the time of the injury) we have only managed two goals. TWO GOALS.
Things are not shaping up in Orleans like I thought that they would at the start of the season. We haven't had nearly enough consistency in our line up, and too many of the guys only skate once a week, making us, as a team, susceptible to running out of steam when we need it most, the last five minutes of any game. Also, in the game that we lost Jake, most of the remaining players were in their forties, while our oppositions core was somewhere in their mid to late twenties. They managed to tie the game with a minute and a half left.
And last nights game wasn't any better, as it was another game that ended in a tie with a team that didn't resemble the team that took the ice the week before (in terms of the players on the bench). And you could really see that last night, none of the passes were connecting, the guys looked a little confused out there actually, even running into each other. It didn't help that I played like a donkey myself. Somehow, it the first period, I managed to kick the puck into the net while I was making every attempt possible to get out of the way of it. As soon as it hit my skate I knew it was is... It's one of those deals where you just have to get up, take a drink of water, and act about as nonchalant as you can humanly manage to. I mean, shit, you don't what to ever let the other team see you get down, because if they do, if they pick up on it, you're dead. You might as well head right straight into the locker room. So I had a drink of water, squirted a little on my face, and tried, as manly as I could, to forget all about it. Overall though, it was a good game, and ended 2-2.
So there you go, all caught up, for the time being. Here are the numbers, 14-7-5, 2.38 GAA, 3 SO
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