All's well that ends well?

I don't watch soap operas because I don't like "drama". I want to go out on the ice, play my game with my team, and concentrate on only that. Last night our instructional league team played in the semi-final against one of the two teams that's become a rival of sorts. There was a bit of drama surrounding the game because this is the team that has a lot of women on it, and our team contains a player who was originally put on their team, but caused such an obnoxious ruckus that he was moved to... you guessed it.... our team. I found it very ironic that he had a huge problem with playing with women and asked to be moved- and was moved to a team with not only a female goalie, but that female goalie is an integral part of the core of the team. I've since become acquainted with the rink staff member who put him on our team, and yes, she did that on purpose.

That's fine and makes for a great story. Except for the fact that she was the one who took the call and had to listen to the verbal spewage from this guy, so she had a bone to pick with him. She waited all season and decided that our playoff game would be the perfect time to dress and play on the "womens" team so she could teach him a lesson. I didn't feel it was fair to use our playoff game as a place to settle personal vendettas, but being the "fly under the radar" kind of person I am, I didn't say anything about it- at least not to anyone official. I bitched about it with some of the team-mates, who also felt it was unfair. I even asked her point blank what we had ever done to her, and she said not to worry, she wasn't going to be a "force" she was just out for a little revenge on this one guy. Whatever. I'm not in high school anymore so I let it go.

And she was right- she wasn't a force. And the other team had a very short bench so I suppose the case could be made that an extra player wasn't tipping the balance all that much. But just the fact that it went on at all irked me.

Bottom line though? We won. We played through a ridiculous third period with something like 9 straight minutes of short handed time due to a ref who called every slight and imagined infraction of ours against "the ladies", while letting similar fouls go on their end. We battled through the bullshit and came out on the other side with a win, and that's all that counts.

We're going to the championship game next week, against our other rivals, the team who beat us in OT last time. This season's incarnation of that team has slightly less ringers on it, but it's no less of a challenge. And it's one I'm up for. I'm out for revenge. I want to sit in the locker room next week with a bunch of happy team-mates and a can of shitty beer in my hand.

Bring it on.