A good win to the Knights on our return to the ice from mid-season xmas break. Also, to break in our brand new jerseys, complete with names on the backs of them (this is a sought after milestone in its own right to me, having my own named jersey). We had nine skaters. This was a couple more than I'd expected and very welcome as the Pred's had eleven. We had Tommy in goal.
I played my usual role in defence though, being the only regular defender present had to play a more conservative game than perhaps I normally would have. Even so, I was directly tied up in the (non) plays which resulted in both of their goals early in the second period. On the first, I was backing up from their carrying forward and as I crossed the blue line I dropped my guard on him due the fact that my rookie partner made a play onto him and I therefore started looking for another assignment so that we weren't both tied up on the one player. The attacker utilised the momentary confusion created to put on the breaks, creating more space to take an unexpected shot that sailed through.
Their second goal was put through not long afterwards. Again, confusion between me and the rookie. This time, I was on the bench and watching the play deep in our zone when the D who was coming off came in exhausted from the forward lines, totally outside my field of vision, and several valuable seconds were therefore wasted before I was able to skate into our zone and the action. By the time I got there they'd released a shot and scored again.
We put in our first goal late in the second period. I wasn't closely watching the play, having just passed it up ice to get us into our zone. I had just stepped off the ice to the bench when our score went in. We went in at the second intermission 2-1 down, but fairly confident due the fact that we had put more shots on goal than they had and seemed to be skating stronger (despite having fewer skaters).
The third period was hard hockey. We scored early in the period to tie it up at 2-2 and then it was a game of punch and counter punch until we put another in with about two minutes to go. Almost immediately afterwards Stewey took a boarding penalty and we had to play out the entirety of the closing minutes in our own zone a man down against six skaters (they'd pulled their goalie). There were about six faceoffs in that small amount of time and it was a blessed relief when the final siren went.
I took a hooking penalty early in the third, playing catch up to one of their fast skaters who almost had a breakaway. I managed to impede him by grabbing his stick with mine and keeping it elevated as we raced for the puck and had no complaints about the penalty when the whistle went. Importantly for me, they didn't score on the powerplay. Mine was only one of three which we took in the final period. Not something we wish to repeat in the next few games against more disciplined forward units.
The Preds didn't feature a strong forecheck and thus on occasion allowed me time to hold the puck for a stretch pass to the forward blue line or carry it up past the centreline before passing it on.
The defence game
Early in the first period I had a crunching collision with one of their rushing wingers shortly after he'd crossed the blue. Not quite sure now how it came about but I do recall being faced with a choice and choosing not to surrender the ice as I saw him barreling into the same ice I was heading to. So, we both landed heavily on the ice (I was up and off pretty quickly, I gathered that he felt he'd been blitzed and was hence a bit delayed).
Later in the period I spent an entire shift holding the blue line, sprinting to cover both sides and the centre, finding time to pinch forward and take one of our team's only two shots for the period (they got off seven) and, on the one occasion I let the puck cross back into the neutral zone, I still managed to collect it and hold it until everyone was back on side before passing it forward again. Quite a shift.
I was described as 'tenacious' as I returned to the bench at the end of a shift late in the second period. I had spent the whole shift covering the D zone, alternating between racing to the corners and holding station in front of the creaset, blocking shooting lanes from the point, directing traffic as last man back while holding up the tide by controlling the gap. I thought being a 'Tenacious D' is a great thing and did my best to keep it going for the rest of the game. We outshot them10-7 this period, which perhaps gave rise to a certain confidence even though we were down 2-1 at the end of it.
The final period was great fun, especially once the game had been tied and the pressure increased with every minute. Their senior players pushed forward, exerting their size and strength. I had one such try to dominate the netfront while his comrade fought for, and eventually won, possession of the puck in the corner. I quickly assessed my opponent as not being easily susceptable to simply being shoved out of the danger zone, saved my ferocity until it came time to prevent him screening our goalie or otherwise interfering with our defence. I totally tied him up for the important five or so seconds, leaving him unexpectedly impotent after he'd thought he'd have it all over me.
The other key play I recall in the third (besides blocking a shot with my armoured thigh) involved losing my footing in the slot during the final desperate half minute, pulling the puck in with my stick as I got to my knees, sensing three opponents swooping on me from different directions while my team mates scambled back towards me and, while still on my knees, protecting the puck, deking it (!) around an opponent's questing blade, and then tapping it with a deft backhand slowly into the corner to use up a few more valuable seconds.
We outshot them 10-6 in the the third period, 22-20 for the game. Considering we were down two of our regular defenders for the evening, everyone rose to the occasion. We will have to step it up another notch in the coming weeks, the teams we face play a harder game than that which we've faced recently.
I played my most consistent game to date on the ice, keeping up a high energy level for the entire game. My increased general level of fitness, specifically combined with my training program over the previous two weeks, allowed for a much improved return to the ice than last year's effort coming out of the mid season break. Perhaps most hearteningly, I wasn't the only one who showed signs of having made some effort towards play off fitness.
GP 13 G 2 A 3 Pts 5 +6 9/3/1 12 PIMs
Ice 1
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