March 1, 2019: Evening the Score

Friday night brought the much awaited rematch. It was the Knights against the Avalanche with first place on the line.

I liked the night game. I could get used to playing in the evening. It just had a different feel to it. It was a big game, but being at night, in primetime if you may, made it feel that much bigger. Our whole team was there, nine deep, early too. They seemed amped up too; coming off that 12-0 blowout I think the kids couldn’t wait to get back out there. Did they realize that this was 1st vs 2nd? My son did. We had talked about it a few times this week. As we walked out the door to the car, he told me he was ready. Love that kid.

The other team..not so much. It was almost game time and they didn’t have a full team. They had to start the game one kid short. I wondered how that would go. It made sense. They had 1 kid on offense and 1 on defense, while their best 2 kids were able to play both ways. Surely we had a leg up in that scenario, but to have 2 kids, their best kids, play both ways…that wasn’t so bad. It didn’t take long to get the scoring going.

One of our top 3 kids lit the lamp early to give us a 1-0 lead. We knew at the start of the season who our top 3 were. They’ve been great pretty much every game. I think what has made the difference, what has pushed us to the next level, is our “2nd line”. We’ve had another 3 kids emerge as really good players. After giving up a goal to tie the game, one of them scored to start the 2nd period to give us another one goal lead. Yet before the period ended, the Lanche tied it again. 2-2 heading into the 3rd.

Another adjustment has been the change in strategy at goaltending. Starting the year off, nobody wanted to be goalie except the little kids. That was ok. I played them in goal, and beefed up the defense. Well, the past couple games our best kids have wanted to be in goal. My son came to me before the 3rd period and said he wanted to do it. I wasn’t sure. It wasn’t because I didn’t think he could do it; I knew he’d be good. I just was afraid to take him out of the mix on offense and defense. He convinced me. What took place next was crazy. I was worried…if he were to give up the goal to lose the game, it may be melt down time. The first shot was easy; it stopped right in front of him…he gloved it. The next shot wasn’t like that. It was ticketed for the back of the net; I thought it was in…what a save! The next one…was probably his best save. He flashed the blocker and just turned it aside. With under a minute to go, it certainly looked like we were going OT.

Everybody was playing good. Although they got quality chances in the 3rd, it wasn’t because our defense was so bad. Even though we couldn’t score, doesn’t mean we didn’t have our chances either. With under a minute to go, there was a mad scramble in front of their net. All three of our kids were hacking away, trying to get that puck past the goalie. That’s why I couldn’t tell who should get credit for that go ahead goal. It ended up being one of those 2nd line kids; it was an exciting finish to an exciting game. With only 30 seconds left, all we had to do was keep the puck on the other side…of course it rolled right to ours, but it didn’t get too scary. The seconds ticked away, and we did it. We beat the first place team, which put us into a tie with one more game left in the season.

Would the result have been different had they had their full team? Maybe. Maybe not. Logic says that another kid on the floor would have helped them, but then they would have only had one kid playing both offense and defense. Who knows, who cares. This was a huge win; it showed our kids that we can beat them, which should come in handy when we meet again. Because while we were busy evening the score on this evening, it just means that this season series will be decided on the biggest stage, in the championship game, 2 weeks from now. We certainly can’t take any games for granted before then, but it would be a real surprise if we weren’t matched up for all the marbles in that final game of the year. Until then, we’ll enjoy the heck out of this one. What a game!