The Bombers and Boxers had a great Saturday night as both teams won in overtime (with the Boxers taking its win into a shootout).
The Bombers played the Spiders in the first battle of the season for the two NYCGHA teams. The Bombers were looking for the first win of the season after two overtime losses. The first period was scoreless. In the second I picked up the first goal of the game in an end-to-end rush. I had a couple other rushes during the game as well, but without the same result. We got the game winner with just a few seconds left in regular overtime, which saved us from going into another shootout.
I was thrilled to pick up the goal after getting an assist in each of the other two games this season. Also pleased with my defense. I wasn’t on ice for either of the goals against. John and I made a good defensive pairing as well as we had each other’s backs when necessary.
The Boxers game was great. The team made a great turnaround from its first game. The thing that I hated was being on ice and watching the first goal against coming in the first shift of the game. Instead of a few seconds in, it came at the end of the first minute of play. Maybe I shouldn’t be on ice for the first shift of Boxers games? After that though the game went pretty well for me on defense. There were no other goals against and I got a couple offensive rushes as well.
The fact we won against the Thundercats is great. They are a tough team. One of the Wizards arch foes. To see the Boxers take them on with such focus and with winning results is a good sign for our chances of having success this season.
This was a mixed game for me. It’s certainly a blow to me that I have been out in the first shift and had an opposing goal scored for a second time. On the other hand, there was fairly solid defense after that. I got rattled after standing up one of their players in the slot. It knocked us both down and my right side is still sore today in the aftermath. I also got two penalties within minutes of each other. One roughing and one tripping. I understand the refs reasoning for both, so I’m okay with that and luckily my teammates killed them both effectively.
Thankfully the evening’s games were much better than Ronnie’s Ice in the morning. I just wasn’t reading the plays right. Both the drills and scrimmage were not my best playing so I’m glad I seemed to get all of that out of my system in the morning.