Verdict: Tournaments rule

I honestly thought I'd be coming here and posting at least once a day during the tournament, because I was so excited about it. But I was way busier than I expected and just came home and fell into bed each night. (By "busier" I mean "drunker".) So here's the wrap-up.

Day 1 - Friday night, game-time 7:40
I didn't have to work during the day, but GoalieHusband did, and we cut it pretty close, racing out the door as soon as he got home. Route 80 decided to throw us a curveball with two lanes closed for construction and consequently I got to the rink about 10 minutes before game time. NOT my usual pre-game routine! I was buzzing on adrenaline though and so were the rest of the girls, most of whom hadn't skated since the end of our season a few weeks ago.

I'll spare you the gruesome details and just say we lost 5-0 to a squad that was about half D players and half C players. Due to all kinds of politics and stupidity I don't want to get into, (women's hockey = drama) the visiting teams all expected that we were going to stack our roster, so they stacked theirs. I have no idea how many shots I faced but it was a lot. I was a little hung up on the 5 goals against afterwards but honestly it could have been a lot worse. Unfortunately we lost one of our players to a shoulder injury, and she had to sit out the rest of the tournament. She wasn't the only one to have to stand by and watch either, as it turned out.

The atmosphere in the locker room afterwards wasn't bad though, we were just happy to be playing together and having a good time with the tournament ahead of us. I inadvertently provided comic relief for the night though; I left a souvenir behind for the head coach. I'd stuffed all my clothes into a cubby above the bench after I got out of the shower and though I thought I'd grabbed them all and put them into my bag, apparently I left my underwear behind. An unsuspecting coach just saw that there was something there, and picked them up, and went WHOA! and held them out in front of him with his fingers, and handed them off to one of the girls to return to me. GoalieHusband got a kick out of this story and had a grand time teasing Coach about playing with my panties. At least they were just plain black and not "fun panties"...

Day 2 - Saturday, game-time 1:30pm
Saturday morning I was at the rink, Dunkin coffee in hand, by 11 to man the raffle/t-shirt table for an hour. Selling stuff is not my strong suit. Luckily the other woman at the table had no qualms about yelling out to people and guilting them into buying raffle tickets. (We did have some kick-ass prizes, including a Ryan Miller signed jersey). This was when the whirlwind really began. The lobby of the rink was insanely busy, as usual for a weekend day, and time just flew and before I knew it, it was time to head to the locker room again and hit the ice.

We were out-manned (womanned?) once again and lost this one 3-0. The locker room wasn't quite as peppy after this game, as we'd lost another player, this time to a call I still can't quite get my head around. It was initially going to be an interference minor- we think. When the player asked why the ref sent her to the box he said "I don't know yet". Great officiating. Why the delay? The player she'd hit was on the ice moaning and saying over and over "she hit me really hard!" I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound cold and unfeeling, but if you're hurt, you're not going to spend more time complaining about the hit than actually telling the people trying to help you what it is that hurts. She eventually got up and was escorted off the ice, and because she was injured apparently the rule is that whatever the call was going to be, it was now a game misconduct. And, according to USA Hockey that means our player had to sit out the next game as well. As you can imagine this didn't sit well with her, or with many of us.

Though the incident cast a pall over the game, that afternoon is when the party really started. As hosts, we had planned to have a BBQ for all participating teams, but that wasn't scheduled to start until 6. That didn't deter us from getting the party started a little early out in the parking lot on an absolutely gorgeous day. As the afternoon/evening/night wore on, players from other teams would wander out after their games and partake in our offerings and hang around and socialize. I even chatted with some of the girls from the game the night before, and they gave me what might be the best compliment I've ever had: they said that once they were in the locker room after the game they were saying I had been a brick wall and they should have had 10 goals instead of 5. I wasn't sure how to take a compliment like that so I just thanked them.

It was at the tail end of the BBQ that the idea that was responsible for our great play the next day was spawned: the "fun panties" theme. Yes, our esteemed Captain sent out a text to everyone saying that we all had to wear "fun panties" to our game the next day. I was surprised to see that everyone complied quite enthusiastically, but apparently this team has "themes" quite regularly. Ah yes, the difference between men's and women's hockey....

Day 3 - Sunday morning, game-time 10:00
Arriving at the rink with Dunks' in hand was a bit more difficult that morning, as the crazy day of hockey and craziness and standing in the parking lot drinking for 7 hours caught up with me. But I was there, with my fun panties on. And each girl who came in showed off her contribution to the theme, to much hooting and hollering and applause. The girl with the skull and crossbones on the front and the word "SCURVY" on the back won best panties in an impromptu unanimous vote.

Oh yeah, there was a game too. We faced yet another stacked team but guess what? We hung right in there with them and played an awesome game. After three hard fought periods we were tied 2-2 (and you should have heard the eruption of cheering and screaming when we scored that first goal, our first goal after 7 periods of hockey). Unfortunately the rules didn't call for OT in preliminary games, so we had to settle for the tie.

And although GoalieHusband and I went to a diner for breakfast afterward with a friend who came to watch the game, I desperately didn't want it to end and we headed back to the rink after stuffing our very hungry faces. We stuck around for the raffle (I won a Lundqvist signed picture, SA-WEET!) and then for the championship game. We had quite the little cheering section going, too. One of the teams had left a bad taste in our mouths with their 12 yr old looking ringer, so we were very vocally supporting the other team. Probably not the most sportsmanlike thing to do, as hosts of the tournament, but what the hell, we were tired, and full of beer. (Notice a theme here?)

Once it was all over, GoalieHusband and I came back home, showered, and passed out. And I felt like a zombie all the next day, but in a good way. I had a fantastic time with some really good people, and can't wait to head up to Ithaca in a few weeks for the next one. "Cats on 3! ONE - TWO - THREE - CATS!!!"