Seriously, wtf WAS that?

I've been on this team for two years now, and the only times I've/we've ever gotten completely blown out is when we've gone to this one particular rink. The first time there were local TV crews there filming for some kind of special on women's hockey, so of course they brought all their ringers (gotta look good for the cameras, right?) and killed us 8-2. They didn't blow us out the next time we played there, but the relentlessly chippy and obnoxious play was the same. And then there was last night.

I don't even know how to describe last night other than a complete cluster fuck. At times I just stood there shaking my head and laughing in complete amazement. It seems they brought their ringers again, as well as their Class A Whiners. The first period, we played like we had our heads up our asses. We managed to get out only down 2-0, but there were two 3-on-0s (two!!!) not to mention several other odd man rushes. (I made the save on the first 3-on-0. Not so lucky the 2nd time around). Fortunately after that we played a little better. Unfortunately, a few bad deflections and one silver platter give-away by me resulted in the second period ending with us down 6-0. That was also when the real bullshit started heating up. At one point, one of their larger players completely flattened our smallest one at center ice. The nasty play just got worse from there.

I should mention here that the ref (yes we only had one, why bother getting two, it's just a women's game) was completely useless. We might as well have played without one for all he was doing. Aside from not calling penalties, except for the blatant center ice hit, he also seemed to forget that he was supposed to signal whether there was to be an icing or not. I lost count of the number of times one of my D would be trucking back to get a puck, and I'd be looking up at the ref, who was doing absolutely nothing, and have nothing to tell my D. Sometimes he'd blow the whistle when the puck crossed the line, sometimes he wouldn't. It was a gamble. He clearly didn't give half a crap about the game at all and was just there to collect his fee.

The third period is when it really started to get ugly. I missed what started the first fight, because I was once again trying to determine if the puck coming into my zone was an icing or not, when I heard a big commotion and looked up towards the benches to see "Pants" and another player rolling around on the ice. They were soon joined by several other players, from both sides, and separated. Even though I didn't see how it started, it was amazing to me that the other bench was screaming and yelling and carrying on, long after the players were separated and had gone to their respective benches. The ref was standing in front of their bench trying to talk to them and they were just all going completely ballistic. I later asked Pants what had happened and here's what she said: "What happened with mine was I got fed up with the way they were playing. So I just started playing the same game they were playing. It appears that they can dish it out but can't take it. After I leveled a couple of them by just playing their game the one decided to skate from mid ice and check me. So I threw a punch and there you go!"

The ref did not throw Pants out. He didn't even put anyone in the box. He just told us to continue playing 5 on 5, and that he would "start calling penalties now". Oh! Really! That would be great, thanks for noticing the game has gotten totally out of hand! By then, word must have gotten around the rink that the chicks were fighting, because there was quite the crowd gathered around my end of the glass. Several little kids were banging on the glass behind me and yelling; I was expecting them to break out in a sing-song chant of my last name at any moment, given that the score was 6-0 at that point. 

The game continued, with tempers on both sides still flaring. A few minutes later, one of their players had a semi-breakaway. I made the initial stop and was sprawled and covered the puck when the player gave me a pretty good whack. Gionta182 was just a few strides behind her, saw that, and took her out. Two or three players from the other team were suddenly there and piling on, and I heard Gionta182 yelling "don't hit my fuckin' goalie!". I'm not gonna lie, that made me feel pretty damn good. Eventually they were separated, and Gionta182 skated over to the bench to get her stuff, since the ref had suddenly decided to pay attention and threw her out of the game. The girl she had taken down skated by on the way to her bench and oh so "accidentally" brushed Gionta182 on her way past. Gionta182 turned and shoved her, and she fell to the ice. She came up swinging. It was at that point that I think Gionta182 decided not to even bother- this other girl was half her size. It was actually kind of amusing, like watching a small dog yip at a German Shepherd's heels.

A few players were so frustrated at that point that they suggested leaving. Coach put it to us for a vote and the majority decided hell no, we're not quitters, we're going to finish the game, get the hell out of there, and never come back. The general consensus in the locker room later was that this repeated bullshit was not worth driving as far as we did (an hour and a half for me) and paying $28 in tolls. Our Captain was working that night and wasn't at the game, but texts were flying afterwards and she concurred; this team is definitely being crossed off our list. I believe we have a home game scheduled against them, but it won't be hard to get an extra game from one of the other teams we play, in their stead. Enough is enough.