Hockey Blog week 15: 3 little words...
Tonight I moved to RW and played with Paul, who is a better center than me, and we tend to blend well as my physical play compliments his finesse game. And what a game we had. Between he and I we had 11 shots on goal (he 6 me 5) and seriously, most of them should have gone in but their goalie was in THE ZONE in the biggest way. For my part, I played a tough physical game and my forechecking made a big difference in much of the game by not allowing clean clearing opportunities and forcing turnovers. I also cleaned the clocks of a couple of unfortunate souls, but in the process took a stick to the throat on my very first shift after launching a pretty solid one timer. He didn't mean too, he was just a bad skater and he freaked, but there was no penalty called and it still hurts to swallow. No biggie. I did, later in the game get assessed my first ever double minor. I was going for the puck along with a player on the other side and he lifted my stick off the ice, but he kept pulling my stick up until his stick was over his head. Mine was hooked to his and as I tried to skate off of him, my stick hit him in the neck. He got pissed and started barking at me and I barked right back. We both got roughing minors and we were still jawing at each other on the way to the box so we each got a unsportsman like conduct penalty to boot. He then started yelling at the ref (dumb ass) and got ejected. Strangely, they didn't assess another penalty to him, but just threw him out of the game, so we never got a power play out of it. Anyway, things are quiet after 2 periods, we're up 1-0. The amount of offensive pressure my line was putting up was ridiculous though, we only had the puck out of our offensive zone once during the first two periods it was insane. So our LW on my line gets a penalty and I'm playing PK. I go forechecking after a dump in and the goalie miss plays the puck by shooting it almost right into me. I bat the puck down and send it into the corner. My center is already there and I skate to the high slot. He sends a PERFECT pass to the slot and I one timed it (which REALLY caught the goaie off guard) instead of catching and wristing and I get: thats right. A
SHORT HANDED GOAL.
Boo-fucking-YAH!
Second shorty of the season for me and my 10th goal. The sucky thnig though was on my next shift we allowed a goal as none of our D-men were on my side of the ice and I was left alone trying to cover two players. The goalie made the first save but no one was there to clear the rebound, god knows why and its 2-1. So I'm even after that but still have the go ahead goal. The second line added their second goal of the night late in the third period and the games ends 3-1. I tell ya though, some of their guys are poor sports. They didn't appreciate my physical play, though some on their team actually complimented it. Go figure. The truth is, I play HARD, and I guess I'm sort of becoming a typical power forward type player. Hard forechecking, decent speed going forward, and I'm starting to develop a MEAN slap shot. I'm still a pass first sort of guy, but I'm starting to take more shots. Still, 3 of my passes led to break aways tonight that were all stuffed. DAMMIT! Still, I'm going to request that I remain at RW the remainder of the season on Paul's line unless we need me at center for a particular game. My replacement at center, Steve, is more than adequate, and while he's not as good at creating as I am, he is a better skater so he gets some chances for his line. The funny thing is, I mentioned off hand last week that I'm kind of like a fellow country man of mine, Owen Nolan, because we're both Irish, but really, its not a bad description of the type of player I'm becoming. Obviously no where near as good, but within my skill group, I'm clearly becoming that guy.
So here are the stats:
GAME: G A P PIM +/- PPG PPA F/O (won/taken) SOG
------1 0 1 -4-even- 0 -- -0/0 -------------5
Season: G A P PIM +/- PPG PPA F/O (won/taken) SOG
--------10 7 17 10 +13 --1 --2 48/70 ------------47
I also have 2 SHG (we don't count those in our league for some reason) and behold, 4 game winning goals this year. Wow! I'm leading the team in that catagory now and if they counted it in the league, I might be leading the league in that catagory. I'm not the league point leader but I'm nearish to the top. I did notice something though, they only counted 1 of my assists last week, they didn't count the one that went on the breakaway my RW last week scored on. What a bunch of crap! I passed it off the boards, practically tape to tape, hitting her in stride and they didn't count it. BULLSHIT (t turns out they shorted Chuck on assists too, saying he has 4 on the year when I think he really has 8 because I don't lead the team in that catagory)! Oh well, I doubt I'll win MVP of our league anyway (there is a guy with 14 goals and 13 assists) but damn! Anyway, hockey is stupidly fun and now I don't get to play in my league for 2 weeks as we're on mid winter break. So I need to up my practise time, maybe this emans I'll have a good game next time out. Oh and we now stand alone in second place as we're now 9-6. Apparently its also the best record our team has ever had. Must be because I'm on it ;)
SHORT HANDED GOAL.
Boo-fucking-YAH!
Second shorty of the season for me and my 10th goal. The sucky thnig though was on my next shift we allowed a goal as none of our D-men were on my side of the ice and I was left alone trying to cover two players. The goalie made the first save but no one was there to clear the rebound, god knows why and its 2-1. So I'm even after that but still have the go ahead goal. The second line added their second goal of the night late in the third period and the games ends 3-1. I tell ya though, some of their guys are poor sports. They didn't appreciate my physical play, though some on their team actually complimented it. Go figure. The truth is, I play HARD, and I guess I'm sort of becoming a typical power forward type player. Hard forechecking, decent speed going forward, and I'm starting to develop a MEAN slap shot. I'm still a pass first sort of guy, but I'm starting to take more shots. Still, 3 of my passes led to break aways tonight that were all stuffed. DAMMIT! Still, I'm going to request that I remain at RW the remainder of the season on Paul's line unless we need me at center for a particular game. My replacement at center, Steve, is more than adequate, and while he's not as good at creating as I am, he is a better skater so he gets some chances for his line. The funny thing is, I mentioned off hand last week that I'm kind of like a fellow country man of mine, Owen Nolan, because we're both Irish, but really, its not a bad description of the type of player I'm becoming. Obviously no where near as good, but within my skill group, I'm clearly becoming that guy.
So here are the stats:
GAME: G A P PIM +/- PPG PPA F/O (won/taken) SOG
------1 0 1 -4-even- 0 -- -0/0 -------------5
Season: G A P PIM +/- PPG PPA F/O (won/taken) SOG
--------10 7 17 10 +13 --1 --2 48/70 ------------47
I also have 2 SHG (we don't count those in our league for some reason) and behold, 4 game winning goals this year. Wow! I'm leading the team in that catagory now and if they counted it in the league, I might be leading the league in that catagory. I'm not the league point leader but I'm nearish to the top. I did notice something though, they only counted 1 of my assists last week, they didn't count the one that went on the breakaway my RW last week scored on. What a bunch of crap! I passed it off the boards, practically tape to tape, hitting her in stride and they didn't count it. BULLSHIT (t turns out they shorted Chuck on assists too, saying he has 4 on the year when I think he really has 8 because I don't lead the team in that catagory)! Oh well, I doubt I'll win MVP of our league anyway (there is a guy with 14 goals and 13 assists) but damn! Anyway, hockey is stupidly fun and now I don't get to play in my league for 2 weeks as we're on mid winter break. So I need to up my practise time, maybe this emans I'll have a good game next time out. Oh and we now stand alone in second place as we're now 9-6. Apparently its also the best record our team has ever had. Must be because I'm on it ;)