The Ordinals have two arch nemesises (yes, I know, that’s not exactly a real word) in our division: the Canucks and the Hornets. They are friendly rivalries, but we try our absolute best every time we play these two teams to get our first wins against them. We’ve come close in our recent meetings with both teams this season (we played the Canucks earlier in June). While we crashed big against the Hornets in May, this week we kept it close, losing 4-5 and very nearly getting the game into overtime.
We opened the game solidly, getting our first goal short-handed. We picked up a second before the Hornets could score their first. Unfortunately, we pulled back a little bit late in the second and early in the third, and the Hornets got on the board. We did pour it on with three minutes to go as I made the decision to bench the third line as well as myself (I hate benching players, but it was going to be worth it if we could push into OT). We were valiant, picking up one goal and leaving about a 45 seconds to pick up the second. We pulled Peter out of the net to give an extra attacker, but the tie just wasn’t to be. A couple pucks clanked off the goalposts, but they did not go in.
I have to say, the Hornets showed some extra sportsmanship as the clock ran out. As they cleared the puck out of their zone with about 15 seconds to go, rather than send a puck into our empty net, a player simply sent the puck down the boards. The Hornets didn’t need another goal for the win and there wasn’t enough time for us to regroup and make another run. It was very cool of them to simply let the clock run out.
The Wizards game later in the night was not pretty. We played the Sled Dogs, a team we are very competitive with, and lost 1-3. The Wizards were not in sync last night. In the last Wizards game, back on the 14th, I mentioned how out of sync I was. I felt like I played better last night than two weeks ago, but the team on a whole just wasn’t clicking right. People weren’t skating as hard as they should, pucks were passed blindly and opportunities were missed.
Ronnie’s in the morning was awesome. I’m enjoying a lot playing with Heather, Kevin and some of the other new folks as well as playing against Jack (come on Jack, wear a black jersey so you’re playing with us). Even though it’s gotten later in the morning, I’m not minding the crowd this year. I felt like I played well too. Heather and I are a good D combo. She’s going to join up with the Ordinals for the rest of the summer to help fill a slot opened by our injured defense.
Maybe the word is NEMESES or NEMESI (like fungi). :-)