Array of shots no match for clog-the-middle tactic
Final Thunder - 3 Stingers - 4 Attendance: Beelzebub and his minions
Well, the Stingers done did it again. Not much to say. They got a lead early, we tied it; they picked up the lead again to open the second, but our hustle wasn't hustle enough, our shots not precise enough. Lots of comedy, but no bounces our way.
On the Matter of that Ref Guy Not to harp on officiating, since we lost this game even without his help, but his comedy must be documented, since it's always more fun than blaming ourselves.
The mousey ref established his credibility by incorrectly calling three hand-passes in the first 5 minutes of the game (none of which were passes within the same team), then being challenged by his partner, only to explain "There's absolutely no hand-passing in NHA" -- to which his partner replied, "First, it's HNA, and second, that wasn't a hand pass."
Undeterred, he still made himself a nuisance: He ruled the shot at the end of the 2nd period to be a goal against us -- even though his partner waved it off, having seen it not leave the blade until after the buzzer. Then he told me to back away from our own bench door, because that -- rather than in the ref's semicircle -- was where he decided to confer with his partner on why the "goal" should be allowed. Later he called Walker for four minutes in penalties late in the third for the crime of possessing the puck in the corner and accepting 10 seconds of checking, holding, and general smothering. Strange.
But at least he had his over-vigilant eye in hyperdrive on the faceoffs. There wasn't a faceoff all night in which he didn't delay proceedings with corrections and exhortations for wingers to stay outside the circle, don't step on the hash marks, don't act like you want to play. Tuck in that jersey. Pick up that blood.
Then There was Us (sans Hoaglands and Beck) But we didn't pressure them enough early. Their goalie missed the first shift with alleged stomach flu, and we didn't put one in the empty net. And, as is always the case when the Stingers beat us, we let them slow the game down, they clogged up the middle, and they waited for cherry-pick home run opportunities to get odd-man rushes and breakaways.
The shots were a ridiculous 41-14 in our favor, but many of ours were attempts through a crowd of defense, while theirs were quality chances on "The Left-handed K-Feld" Spenard, who was subbing during K-Feld's demotion to Mexico. On their third-goal, we failed to backcheck while their two best players took it to the net.
And of course their second goal, at the start of the second period, was so funny that it almost doesn't need extra harassment. The "90-Footer," as it may be called was a curving, tailing slap shot right off the center-ice faceoff that, with its Minnesota Fats English, eluded Tony and gave him a new slate of material for which to curse himself. Somewhere in Mexico, K-Feld was day-dreaming, feeling free of pressure, Wiggins taunts, and "sincere" inquiries about his optical health.
Ack, what are you gonna do? Even with our poor start, a lack of friendly bounces despite many fat rebounds, and the funky ref, we still had the time and the ingredients to pull off a comeback -- and we did get it to 4-3 with time for a final push -- but it wasn't in the cards.
Now to make the playoffs, we have to win out and hope for luck. If we do that and end up in a standings tie with the Ice Men, we would win the first tiebreaker on the basis of having more wins than them (they have a tie and an OTL on their ledger).
The next task is the Stampede, who are in the words of Judge Smails, "no slouch myself."
Next Game: Tuesday, March 27, 8:45p, Kirkwood vs. Stampede | We are away/dark
As you may have noticed, the site has changed. Sampa, the free-site host, did a version 2 of some sort.
Despite an FAQ that made it sound like allowing one's site to go through v.2 surgery would be okay, there were several flexibilities that surprisingly disappeared with the click of a button. (e.g. I cannot believe sidebars like this one are even narrower than before.)
And I'm told -- miraculously! -- that the conversion cannot be undone. Truth be told, I'm actually quite pissed. But free is free. Sampa has otherwise been good to me.
So I need to sort through site "features" to see how I can make do. Except that I don't have the time at the moment, in the middle of graduate classes and Lighthousehockey.com. (btw, I've removed that Lighthouse RSS feed so that you're not clogged with random Islanders hockey gibberish).
But I promise to touch up the accessories when I get a chance, and return to irregularly scheduled blogging.
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