As much as I wanted revenge, we didn't get it, and last night was our last game for... well, we're not sure how long. I have no idea when the rink's summer season is starting (and therefore when it will end), but I'm guessing we'll probably end up with an extremely long layover like last year. My prediction: Hawks are back on the ice in November. But who knows, we'll see.
We played an awesome two periods last night. Trouble is, a game is three periods long. And we came out flat in the first and, once again, went down 4-0 in the first frame. I'm not at all happy about the goals, either. Only one I can truly say I wouldn't be overly upset with. The others... two were breakaways where I bit on a fake and they went around me and put it behind me. The third was an embarrassing bomb from outside the blueline right off an offsides faceoff. For some reason I thought it was going wide of the net. Nope. By the time I realized my perception was off there wasn't anything I could do. Ugh. But I got my act together and employed the "false badass" response and my confidence didn't suffer. (The "false badass" is when you feel like a little puny nothing but you force your body language to broadcast confidence. For me, it means staying aggressive, not being passive. It's amazing how much it can fool your mind when you act like you're really confident. It also doesn't let the opponent or your team know that anything is bothering you.)
I think I played really well for the next two periods- we all did. There was one more goal, in the second period, that came during a goalmouth scramble. Someone was on my stick and I saw the puck bounce out to an opponent a few feet from the crease, and as soon as I saw that I let go of my stick and just threw a desperation dive in that direction. My Hasek impression notwithstanding, I didn't quite make it. We managed to put the puck behind their goalie twice, and even kept it in their zone in the last 5 minutes or so despite being down a man. Which was kind of my fault.
This one annoying gnat of a player was buzzing around my crease quite a bit, and with 5 minutes left in the third, he got a little too close for comfort. As I came across the crease I kind of "oops, accidentally on purpose" hooked his ankle with my stick blade. He didn't like that too much and turned around and slashed me. Unfortunately that's all my defenseman saw, so he returned the favor. And, naturally, he's the one who got caught. Off he went for four minutes. He was fuming... and he didn't even know it was me who had started it. Oops. Fortunately we managed to keep it in their zone for most of the penalty kill (I told you we played well).
But my big finale for the season, and the reason I'll have to keep my head up next time we play these guys, came with 30 seconds left. I was set up on my left post watching the play in the corner, and followed it as it went behind the net. When I came across to the other side, this little gnat was right there, backing in towards me. I slammed into him, gave him a good shot to the back, but he didn't budge. So I decided to make my message a little clearer- slipped the stick between his legs and pulled up. Hard. Even then, he didn't move, except for a little bit of caving in, so I did it again. That's when he squeezed hold of my stick with his legs, and that's what the ref called. I don't know if it was goalie interference, or holding the stick, because all I heard was him screaming at the ref "She got me in the nuts!" as he was being ushered away. He looked right at me, so I yelled back at him to stay out of my fucking crease.
Setting up for the ensuing face-off, I heard someone banging on the glass to my left. Ohhhh crap.... my parents were there. I'd invited them because it was a pretty early game and they hadn't seen us play in a while. I completely ignored them, until later when we got off the ice. I figured I was going to see the Disappointed Mom face. Hardly! She was practically giddy and was going "YEAH!!! That's my daughter!" Oh boy... see what watching hockey has turned you into, Mom? Even my Dad had a shit-eating grin on his face. They don't watch a whole lot of hockey, but even they could tell that dipshit got what he deserved. I'm well aware that I'm going to have to keep my head up but you know what? Bring it. I'm ready for ya.
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3 comments:
I look at it this way- I gave him plenty of warning, a shove, a hit to the back. If he's not being belligerent about staying in my crease, he doesn't have to worry about his nuts. It's not like that's the first thing I pull right off the bat. I sort of thought my team would give me shit about it afterward so I apologized in the locker room on behalf of their scrotums. But no one was pissed off... they all kind of had the "you did what you had to do" attitude.
You're not hitting in the nuts. You're hitting his cup. And if he's not wearing one, then doesn't deserve to have them protected.
We played better in the latter two periods, and while not ending things on a win, at least we played hard and played as a team.
Here's to the team and the next time the puck is dropped.
After several warnings, he should have known. He should have a cup, and been ready for it. Its frikkin rec league, and bothering a goalie like that is a pure d-bag move. I understand that everyone wants to win, but being a d*ck about it gets you slapped in the...junk too.
I think you did what you had to do, and shouldnt worry about it. Maybe talk to the guy before the next game and tell him why, or just act like it never happened and just play. I wouldnt worry about it too much unless he makes a deal about it.
(but yes, that frikking HURTS! LOL..thank God for cups!)
Moose
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