Final (OT) Thunder - 2 Stampede - 3 Attendance: way more than is healthy for an HNA game; 'early' start and free cups of hot fan draws a crowd
Well, it was a disappointment, but it could have been worse. The day started off with a call from K-Feld, who came down with some Montezuma's Revenge (tip: "Don't drink the water" means don't eat the ice or bathe in the sewer, either), and Spenard came down with the "I say I sucked in the last game, er go I sucked, plus I have Blues tickets" excuse. Other HNA keepers contacted similarly behaved like goalies (Dejai fell off some stairs and dislocated his shoulder; another keeper also had coveted Blues tickets; others were deemed incapable of handling the complex Thunder defensive scheme). But Geoff from the IceDevils came through, so we had a guy in pads by game time.
And then the game. Boy, if things align right next year, this could be a helluva wild division, with the Stampede and Wildkittens both playing consistently tough against the rest of the teams in our division. We came out with good tempo but without getting many shots, and the Stampede matched our tempo stride for stride. They also got the good bounces, including one wobbler that created a breakaway goal for them to make it 2-0 by the end of the 2nd.
We Come Back Then -- with our backs against the wall, our playoff chances floating away -- came the comeback. Perhaps we were inspired by the stunningly quick return of Adam from the DL (all of his power tools have been confiscated and sold on behalf of The Thunder Fund: 'Cause God Makes Thunder). Or maybe we were inspired by DL'dGarrett, who arrived at the bench in street clothes for the third period wearing a cast, and whose mere intimidating (yet silent) presence incited paranoia in the quite-paranoid-enough-already-thanks ref, who came over to our bench with a ferocious "You got something to say, guy not in uniform?!" Apparently the ref doesn't realize that whenever Garrett has something to say, the entire rink hears it. Or perhaps we were inspired by Stenson's 2nd-intermission cat-moan-pitch rant of, "SKAAAAAAATE. You have to MOOOOOOOOOOOVE your FEEEET!"
Whatever the impetus, we outshot them 16-5 in the final period and tied the score at 2-2. The first goal was plausibly, allegedly, bounce-kicked off my foot, perhaps, but we deserved it anyway. The second was backhanded in fair-and-square by me, so naturally Wiggins took credit on the scoresheet. We had many chances for a third, and it really felt like we'd pull it out either in regulation or in OT. But a fluke shot from the corner early in OT ended the rally.
I'm not gonna say K-Feld or Spenard would've stopped that shot or anything...I'm just saying I sure hope they each enjoyed their time crapping through a screen door and watching a blowout loss to the Blue Jackets, respectively (Ed.: aren't those activities the same?). Not like we enjoy their company, anyway.
'I'm not dead yet...' Miraculously, the playoff fight lives on yet another day: Sheldon's Wildkittens defeated the Icemen this week, so now we're a point behind them with two games to play (including our final regular season game against them). We win out, we're in. We don't win out, we've run out of time for getting help from others.
But our next two opponents should be our fiercest yet. We need constant backchecking, constant skate-the-whole-shift-then-sub shifts, and more offensive pressure to make it happen.
The After-Gathering: Nipple Hair, Fund Management, East Side Politics, Summer Canoe Float Plans The traditional stragglers who gathered after the game retired to Stenson's for some unofficial fund advice from "The Greater" Hoagland; some East Side politics insight from Sloppy Rob; some "Things You Do When You're Retired" tips from Walker (e.g. "wake up in time to meet your friend for happy hour"); and the traditional trolling for lawsuits from Decoy Jansky, Esq.
Not sure how it came up exactly, but we also learned that the proudly bald-chested Decoy ['Family Guy' wmv file] hand-plucks the random nipple weeds that sprout from his areola and taunt him in the mirror. I thought this was perfectly rational behavior -- embracing the few genes that override his furry East-European lineage -- but he denies all charges and now I face a libel suit. Fortunately for me, the prosecuting attorney is in over his head.
[This thread also led to Stenson recalling some sort of college-era nipple-hair (non-male) sucking incident, and things predictably deteriorated from there.]
The Float But we did manage to tentatively establish a date for this summer's canoe float trip: Fri. June 29 afternoon through Sun. July 1. The Gov'na -- still out of town on a haberdashery supply mission -- was not consulted on this, but we have feelers in to his advisers. So write the date down now or raise a very substantial objection, or forever hold your peace. If you need convincing on whether this is a good use of your weekend, read the details and testimonials from last year's trip.
Back to Hockey As mentioned, we can still make the playoffs, extend our season and create the possibility of Toronto. But the next game is critical:
Wed. April 4, 10:00p, Ice Zone vs. Longnecks (we are home/white)
Comments (1) for "Stamp My Heart"
Nice effort, especially in the 3rd period. Stenson is good when he plays angry (Gofers are out of the Frozen 4), so someone take away his hooch before the next game. Nice Nipple plucking story. Put all your assets in Lisa's name, just a suggestion.
By Martin "Decoy" Jansky, the other white meat - 3/29/2007 5:53 AM
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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Comments (1) for "Stamp My Heart"