Well another season has begun for the Minivans ball hockey team. We began our run for the championship against an old rival, the Pylons. I've been trying to think of a clever anecdote and the best I could come up with was that this minivan was left out all winter and didnt get serviced. She didnt run very well when we finally started her up and she needed a few periods to warm up. Looks like she'll be back up to optimum performance soon, just need some of that Castrol Syntech shit and she'll be money.
Needless to say we started off the season pretty flat.
We've got the same old team as before barring any unforseen changes in the roster. Hackett is now playing defence and other than that we're pretty much the same. We also have Jeremy for the summer season this time so that's one more fast player who can deal the ball.
Almost forgot! Baskie is back in net for us after his hip surgery and it couldnt have come at a sooner time. Not to say that we didnt appreciate Maj last season but Baskie is the original Minivans goalie and he's the reason why we either been to the semis or the finals every year with him. He was also the goalie of the year 2 years ago before he took the season off so I like to think he's still the reigning ball-hockey Vezina goalie.
Ok now on to the game.
So like I said we started off slow and you could really see the rust once things got going. I was actually surprising because for once we were being outplayed by the Pylons and that never happens. They got on the board first off of a weak rush that the streaking center somehow flipped the ball through Baskie's legs. I was backchecking to stop the play and shoved the guy but he managed to get his tip on the ball on get it in the net. I blame myself for that goal and vow to make it up to the team. The rest of the first period was relatively quiet. We started to get back into the game with a few minutes to go and we were running on full steam by the end of the first.
By the time the second period started you could tell the Minivans were the better team by the amount of time we spent in the offensive zone and the number of shots the Pylons got on Baskie. I counted less than 10 for the Pylons in the second period and our time on attack easily topped 5-6 minutes. We just couldnt seem to solve their new goalie. He tended to drop low on alot of shots but we were firing the ball wide almost every shot we got.\
The third period is where things finally picked up for us and we started to play like we were used to playing. Kells managed to draw a roughing penalty 2 minutes in and although we didnt score on that powerplay you could tell by the end of the that the entire Pylon's bench was exhausted. 4 minutes later we got a lucky break with a high sticking penalty going to the Pylons and finally struck for our first goal of the season. Jeremy fed the ball to Younger Brawley and he managed to beat the goalie to tie it at 1. Things stayed the same for the remainder of the third although the Pylons took another high sticking penalty with about 1 minute left that carried over into the overtime.
In OT we had our chances and the ball didnt leave the Pylons zone except for 2 clearing attempts by the defenders. With that said, we just couldnt manage to beat their goalie to end the game. Late in the extra frame Stabs got into a scuffle with a Pylons player and they both got slapped with a roughing penalty. Even though they didnt really do anything I assume it was a pre-emptive move by the ref to avoid a fight. 30 seconds later it happened again but this time it was between Cheese and a Pylons player and the guy tried to hit Kevin in the head with his glove but ended up smacking him with his stick. By then the convenor had seen enough and called the game with 30 seconds left in OT.
Final score 1-1. Minivans walk away with a dissapointing tie against a team we are entirely capable of beating. Looking forward to the rematch.\
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Shoutouts
- Beavy has a better shot this year and I have the feeling that this is the season he snipes cheese. He's more than due
- Good to have Baskie back, we missed him
- Cowin also looks like he's been working on his shot
- I think Ross and Older Brawley are on the team too but they werent at the first game. I guess that is yet to be seen.
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