It was two hard working games last night, but both ended in losses.
A Tigers/Rockets battle was first up. The Rockets have come out strong this season and this is the Tigers second loss to them this season, although this one was not as bad as the first.
The 4-2 loss was still tough to take. We had a hard time keeping a consistent rhythm last night, even though there were some beautiful plays. Bob and Ari got one goal, and nearly got a second due to a great mix of hustle and positioning.
So it wasn’t a disastrous game, but it was not us playing at our best either. I still had a lot of fun. I was partnered on D with Mike and that was very enjoyable. We had a solid first half, with no goals happening during our shifts. Unfortunately, that tide turned in the second half as two did get by us and Tom.
Later, the Ordinals fell 7-4 against the Wild Turkeys. It was another rough game for us as the Turkeys came out swinging. Our first period was strong with some good offensive pressure and pretty good D. The Turkeys still got on the board. In the second, however, things fell apart. I finally called a time out and did something I rarely do: got angry with the team. We were running around out of position, not being disciplined and allowing the Turkeys to run the game.
Post time-out we played much better. We had a fire in the third with some smart, solid hockey that let us to post goals (more goals in this game than the past three combined). Unfortunately we still had lapses of judgment. The seventh goal was the result of people out of position or not doing their jobs. I’m hoping we can break out of this soon as our record keeps deteriorating: now 1-5 and a goals against of 47.
For my own game, I feel like both games were strong. It’s like something renewed found it’s way into my game right before the holiday with the Wizards game and has continued. Particularly in the Ordinals game there was some pretty outstanding defensive moves (and ones I didn’t know I was capable of), especially my use of the poke check. I hope I’m able to keep growing with this since I didn’t care for the plateau I felt like I’d landed on.
The other thing I enjoyed about last night was playing with a RBK 5K stick again. The two 5Ks I had were destroyed in Wizards game during the last spring season. I replaced those with a cheaper Easton stick which was okay, but not perfect. It just never felt right. Part of my Christmas from my mom was some money towards some new hockey stuff and I picked up a new 5K stick with some of that. It felt great playing with it last night and really helped me get pucks airborn again.
Ronnie’s was fab in the morning too. The crowd was light at 15 and we worked on some defensive and weaving drills. The scrimmage, of course, was good because of the light crowd. Ronnie was finally back on the ice too after weeks off because of injury.
