I got to play with both the Boxers and Polar Bears last night and the games had significantly different outcomes.
For the Boxers, this was our first game since December 17 so it was good to come back from the off time to post a win, which now makes us 2-4 for the season. The Honey Badgers put the first goal on the board, but we came back and put up three–two in the second period and one in the third.
The game was a good one for us as the team worked well as a unit. There was solid passing, good energy and pretty decent positional play, although sometimes the wings collapsed. Luckily this mistakes didn’t hurt us too much. Personally, I felt good in the game. Jonathan and I are finding a good groove as defense partners again, which we’ve only gotten back to this season as he joined up from the Wizards. I had a few shots on goal–most form the blue line but one due to an offensive rush I made since I saw an open lane to skate in.
Meanwhile, the Polar Bears game was a mess. We lost to the Sled Dogs 9-2. Usually you can spot the issues with the game, but talking with the captain, other players and some spectators, it was not real clear where things went so wrong. We had a solid lineup and, while the Sled Dogs did have a ringer on the ice, we just couldn’t get our game together. Yes, their ringer ran up 4 goals (at least two of which were unassisted), but we’d have lost even if they didn’t have him. It was a weird game that we all took in stride. As our captain said, our worst game of the season is now behind us.
I did have a good time playing with Mark on defense. It was his first time on D and he did a great job while he was getting used to playing the position during such a weird game. I hope we can do that again sometime.