Summer Season Game 5 - Net Envy

I left for vacation knowing that a pretty good goalie would be taking my spot on Tuesday night, and I was all worked up about my goals-against so far; in the 4 games I'd played, I'd let in 5, 5, 4, and 4. I was starting to get very distressed about letting in so many, especially since there seemed to be at least one cringe-worthy stinker in each game. So when I heard who my sub was going to be, I admit I sulked a bit.

I knew somehow that the score of that game would be 8-2. Call it goalie intuition, or just a lucky guess. But I fretted that my team would be relieved to know they didn't have to go into the game knowing they had to get at least 4 goals to break even, maybe more. I worried that they'd get a taste of some good goaltending from a guy who can actually play the puck (and does it extremely well). So when I got the text message late that night, that we'd won 8-2, I was very happy for my team, but I had a hard time knowing that the sub had let in half of my lowest amount that season.

I needn't have worried. (I know, that's obvious, but I was a little off emotionally). It turns out Super Sub faced probably 8-10 shots, and that made me feel a lot better. It also sounded like the guys (and gals) got back to the teamwork that made us successful in our first two games. And logically, I knew the sub was never going to take my place, but I had a little jealous monster in the back of my head stomping its foot and whining "but that's my net!!!".

Which brings me to one of my favorite quotes from Miracle. After an embarrassing loss to the Soviets in an exhibition game, by a score of I believe 10-2, Herb Brooks told starting goalie Jim Craig that the backup would be playing the next game. Jim Craig argued back and said "you can't do that. That's my net!" The venerable Herb Brooks looked at him and said... "They just scored 10 goals, Jimmy. It's anybody's net."