Game #4, home vs Alliés-1
7th place (us) vs 2nd place (them) going into the game but only three points separated the two teams with us having a game on hand over them. I didn't want to give the kids false hope but I reminded them before the game that they had beat Pointe-Lévy-2 8-3 last week but were behind 0-3 after one period. They also showed the worst goals against average of the top 12 teams going into this game.
Loïck wasn't sure if he'd be able to be at the game but he called me on Friday to say that he would. That left us with two missing forwards, Gabriel and Frank, with Frank leaving me the possibility of maybe making it real close to gametime.
No change with my defender pairings:
Charles and Vincent started the game and C.W. and Alex Fa were the other pair.
C.W. teased Alex a bit, asking for not too many passes across the middle. Quick look toward Alex told me he kinda laughed but still felt bad/nervous about last week's mistake(s). I told him in front of everyone, jokingly, that it was only because C.W. was a bit lazy and didn't to skate any extra length.
As gametime approach, with no signs of Frank showing up and down two forwards, I decided to go with 2 pairs of wingers and three centers, each of them skipping a turn every time they'd come back to the bench.
Winger pairings were same, or similar as last week:
Alex Fo with Loïck
Max with David
The three centers were Antoine, Chris and Sam. I told every center that since they'd have a minute more to recuperate that I wanted them to really go all out on every shift. I reminded everyone that this Alliés team was bigger than the other Alliés team which beat us 5-1 a couple weeks earlier but that they were also much slower. I wanted our guys to pass the puck, work hard, and skate around them slower fellas...
Couple things happened before and during the 3 minutes warmup. The way our home ice rink is set up, our players get on the ice from the end of our defensive zone, but the coaches have access to the bench through a tunnel that comes up between the local team bench and the marker's/penalty box. The visiting team gets on the ice through that same tunnel, but their bench in on the other side. This meant that before the game, as I got to our bench before the zamboni got off the ice, I had to walk thourgh a group of their players. their mood was VERY joyful. Of course, they'd destroyed the other Pointe-Lévy 8-3 the week before. Their mood changed as the game went on...
What happened during warmup is that we didn't look ready. Weak or unprecise passes, guys not looking ready to start playing... I tried to wake 'em up as they got to the bench but withing 50 seconds, we were down 0-1 on a long shot against which Andrew looked weak and also unprepared. Changed lines right there and whipped them up a bit and it got better after that. But still, I'll try to get them more ready and remind them of that slow start for our next game.
We got back on even terms about half way through the first on a nice pass play from Max to Sam who put it past their keeper from the slot. We kept putting more and more pressure right after that and I could feel that we had rattled them a bit. David gave us a 2-1 lead around the 10th minute on a great individual effort when he brough back the puck from behind net only to slip it between their goalie's pads. They scored again before that period was over to make it 2-2.
After only scoring only twice in two games since the big trade, it felt good to see the kids put two in in only one period.
We started strong in the second period but had a very week middle of the period. Guys trying ot do too much alone or not looking where they were passing the puck leading to it staying in our zone for way too long. What had to happen finally happened and we went down 2-3 after 12:30 in the second but we showed great resiliency and started picking up the pace shortly after that and evened it up 3-3 just a minute later. That goal was the result of a mistake from Alex Fa. There will be some and I'm not mad at him, for one simple reason. The kid was playing with A LOT of heart and hustle. He just got pressured on a play that should have been routine and he fell while trying to turn. He looked devastated as he layed on the ice as the puck went behind Andrew. I've see too many players with a bit more talent than him do stupid things and just not care about the result. The fact he cares and feels bad he let his teammates downs speaks volume to me. 3-3 was the score after 2 periods.
Between the 2nd and the 3rd period I reminded our boys of what we were getting done. The guys on the other side were freaking out a bit, we had survived a lull in the second period but we could stay with these guys. And we started real strong getting ahead 4-3 after only 30 seconds.
We kept playing well but got a big hungry around the 4 minute mark when, during a power play, one winger tried a wild pass across our defensive zone that was cut in the middle, leaving a guy alone with Andrew. He score to tied the score again, 4-4. It hurst when you're one man up and you give up a goal like that. Kids knew it when they got to the bench too. It was David, Max and Antoine on the ice and I told them that was just a bad "ghost" pas to nobody in particular.
For the second week in a row, we had to kill another 4 minutes for blow to the head. This time it was Antoine. When I asked him what happened and why, he said they other guy had hit him in the balls with his stick. Hrm, ok... Still, we survived it and with less than 2 minutes to play they got a penaly of their own. I did what I usualy don't do during a game, this being recreative hockey and all, I put a power play unit on the ice. I decided to go with Antoine, David and Chris. Up until then, David had 2 goals and an assist while Chris had a goal.
Put a dang lot of pressure on them but were unable to convert...
Final Score:
Commandeurs-1: 4
Alliés-1: 4
VERY happy with that score. Even happier to see us finally score some goals.
David was a beast on offense, working real hard and creating chances. We finished the game down a couple players. C.W. who has a history of concussion went into the board head first ni the middle of the third period, giving us a MAJOR scare. It body checking is not permitted at the recreative level (A or B, any age level) but some contact playing the puck is allowed. C.W. and the other player were skating side by for the puck when C.W.'s skate wobbled and he fell forward, hitting the board with the top of his head. He stood on all four for a little moment but was able to stand up on his own and skate to the bench. He looked a bit distraught when he sat on the bench. He told me quickly that his neck hurt, not his head. Within mayb 45 seconds of him sitting on the bench, his mom was by our team bench looking nervously. His neck was stiff he said but he knew was his concussion symptoms were and he assured me it wasn't his head. He hadn't seen his mom and she had gone back to the stand but I could see her looking toward our bench. At one point, C.W. said "hey, could you tell my mom that my head is all right?". I thought it was so sweet and I flashed her a thumbs up in the stand. He looked ok when he left the locker room after the game but I called them yesterday to get some news. I talked to his mom who told me she was sure it wasn't a concussion. She said he started throwing up in his last big one. She said they applied ice and heat to his neck overnight and that he had a very good night of sleep.
The other one was Alex Fo who took a hard shot on his right thumb at the beginning of the third period. He shook his hand right as the puck hit his hand and spent most of the third period with some ice on his thumb. He was able to move his thumb and eventually asked to go back into the game toward the end of the third period. His thumb looked swollen after the game but he was able to move it a bit.
FM