PhilDernerJr
2008-08-28, 08:14 AM
If I may brag a little...
Last Spring I started playing pickup hockey games at a nearby rink after a hiatus. For the summer, I joined my friends' team for an indoor roller league out in Bethpage in a short 6-game season, plus playoffs.
Last night, my team won the Championship. We played the only team that we never played before, who came into the playoffs with the same record (5-0-1, the last one for an OT loss) and almost identical goals for (GF) and goals against (GA).
We had a tendency to get tired or lazy as our games progressed, getting an early lead and letting the other team creep up when we got comfortable. But it was the opposite here. After the first period, we were down 3-1, and both teams were scoreless after the second. We scored 3 unanswered goals in the third, and with a few seconds left, yours truly (aka, me) scored the empty net clincher for a 5-3 win.
Otherwise, I didn't play as well as I usually might. The refs were coming down hard on us for playing too physical early in the game, so I backed off and ended up on my butt a lot, holding back when digging in the corners and getting together with the other team for open-ice "accidental collissions".
Getting that last goal was a great feeling, not only because I got it myself, but because there were only 30 seconds left and we knew we had clinched it. My team really did come through for ourselves when we needed it. Now, my team's name will hang on the banners.
My final stats among the total 9 games we played we 12 goals (two hat tricks), 10 assists and 12 penalty minutes.
It was a really fun time and it was a great way to start getting back into hockey. I'm very happy that I got involved in it again.
Fall league starts in a couple weeks. I'll be hitting the weights harder and sprinting like a lunatic in my off-time.
Last Spring I started playing pickup hockey games at a nearby rink after a hiatus. For the summer, I joined my friends' team for an indoor roller league out in Bethpage in a short 6-game season, plus playoffs.
Last night, my team won the Championship. We played the only team that we never played before, who came into the playoffs with the same record (5-0-1, the last one for an OT loss) and almost identical goals for (GF) and goals against (GA).
We had a tendency to get tired or lazy as our games progressed, getting an early lead and letting the other team creep up when we got comfortable. But it was the opposite here. After the first period, we were down 3-1, and both teams were scoreless after the second. We scored 3 unanswered goals in the third, and with a few seconds left, yours truly (aka, me) scored the empty net clincher for a 5-3 win.
Otherwise, I didn't play as well as I usually might. The refs were coming down hard on us for playing too physical early in the game, so I backed off and ended up on my butt a lot, holding back when digging in the corners and getting together with the other team for open-ice "accidental collissions".
Getting that last goal was a great feeling, not only because I got it myself, but because there were only 30 seconds left and we knew we had clinched it. My team really did come through for ourselves when we needed it. Now, my team's name will hang on the banners.
My final stats among the total 9 games we played we 12 goals (two hat tricks), 10 assists and 12 penalty minutes.
It was a really fun time and it was a great way to start getting back into hockey. I'm very happy that I got involved in it again.
Fall league starts in a couple weeks. I'll be hitting the weights harder and sprinting like a lunatic in my off-time.