Fighting MS in PA

After enduring the traffic hell that caused a 260 mile trip to take 8 hours, GoalieHusband and I were on the road again Saturday morning to meet up with the three QCats teams that had gone to Bethlehem to participate in another Hockey Fights MS tournament. We had two teams in the D division and one team in the C division. I was playing on the C team this time around. Bacardi had subbed for me in Friday night's game, which we won 3-1. I have to admit I was pretty nervous about playing with the C team, even though I knew I could handle it.

The first game on Saturday was one of those deceptively difficult ones- I only saw 5 shots. Fortunately I improved over my last experience in a game like that and came out of it with a shutout. Whew. It always feels pretty crappy to get scored on when you have so little to do, but that's exactly what makes it so hard to stay focused. I cleaned imaginary snow out of my crease, sang to myself, and yelled helpful things to my teammates, even though I'm sure they couldn't hear me anyway all the way down in the other zone.

The next game was slightly more challenging. I didn't count shots and neither did the scorekeeper but I'd estimate about 15. We won 6-2. The most challenging game of all though was the championship game, which we played Sunday morning. The team we'd faced on Friday was our opponent again in this game, and I was pretty nervous after hearing the others talk about how intense that game had been. It was everything I expected: physical, fast, and even a little chippy. We went up 2-0 but they answered back and the first period ended at 2-1. We traded goals a few times and with just a few minutes left in the third period, we were ahead 4-3. Until they scored.

Here's a little tip from your friendly neighborhood goalie. Skaters- when the other team scores, especially a crucial goal, it really makes the goalie feel lower than worm turds when you slam your stick on the boards/glass in frustration. Yeah, we know we screwed up. The puck's in the net, glaring at us like a giant accusation. We don't slam our sticks if you miss a wide open net or lose the puck on a breakaway. So even if it's only in frustration at yourself, knock it off, ok?

The format for this tournament was a five minute, 4 on 4 overtime, followed by a 5-person shootout if necessary. We didn't make it that far. We took a penalty about a minute into the overtime, and they scored with someone camped out all alone on the back door. I had twisted around to try to grab a piece of it, and after it went in I just flopped forward onto my stomach. Worst. Feeling. Ever.

Fortunately the tournament didn't end completely on that note. We had time for a nice relaxing lunch at the outdoor tables of the rink pub, and then headed in to watch the D division championship game. It's unusual for people to stick around on a Sunday afternoon once their game is over. But this one was different: it was Quarry Cats vs Quarry Cats. It was fun and bizarre all at the same time. (In fact, both teams came out in their away jerseys for warm-ups. The home team changed into their whites for the game, but that was pretty funny.) I'm just glad I didn't have to play. I hate playing against my teammates, as is well documented here. With less than a minute to go, we moved from the stands to the door in the boards, and joined the on-ice festivities. The "white" team won, but after they were presented with the trophy someone started handing out all the extra black jerseys to those of us from the stands. All three teams mashed together for the official tournament picture. It's awesome. One giant mass of happy Cats. I love us.