Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category

Injury Update and Start of Fall 2008/Winter 2009 Season

Friday, October 10th, 2008

X-rays seem to indicate that I did fracture my left big toe, but they weren’t conclusive.  However, the pain seems to be radiating from where the x-ray hints at a fracture; so I, myself, conclude that it must be broken.  I missed the first round of the playoffs due to the broken toe, but my team managed to win a nailbiter without me.  I was able to lace up the skates for the semifinal matchup versus the number two seed, but we couldn’t pull off the upset.  I thought I skated pretty well, but one of my teammates did notice that I was favoring my injured foot during non-critical plays.  So, I guess whenever the adrenaline was going, I skated normally.

So, I skipped the consolation game to rest my toe and was back on the ice with my team last week.  This season, I’m playing for the Geckos with a lot of players that have been on my team before.  I’ve never been on the same team with only three of my current teammates.   So, it shouldn’t take me too long to click with my current team.  We won last week’s game 5-4 against the Desert Dogs.  I didn’t contribute anything to the scoresheet, and didn’t have a vert good game.  So, I stayed and played one more game since the game after ours needed players.  I always get the urge to play another game whenever I have a bad game; or else it’s another week before I can redeem myself.  Unfortunately, I didn’t fare any better in the second game, and my team lost 8-4.

I finally had a good game this week though.  I contributed two goals and an assist in a 7-5 victory over the Arabian Knights.  I tied the game at four apiece with my first goal of the season.  My teammate Jason had the puck in the corner and spotted me trailing the play.  He got me the puck and I had plenty of time to shoot.  I put everything I had behind the shot and my shot glanced off the goalie and in.  Later, I returned the favor by setting Jason up with a goal.  I was streaking down the right side with the puck looking for an opening to shoot at.  The goalie came out a little to cut the angle, and that’s when I spotted Jason streaking down the center of the ice.  I fed him in front of the net for an easy one since the goalie had come out to take away my shot.  And finally, late in the third period, I jammed in a rebound to seal our victory with our seventh goal.

Spring/Summer 2008 Hockey Season

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

The playoffs start tomorrow.  We finished the regular season in 3rd place with a 15-9 record, trailing the first and second place teams by just one point in the standings.  It appears that our forfeit loss to the last place team three weeks ago has cost us a first place finish.  I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised by that, since this entire season has already been totally weird for me.  I started the season with a 12-game goal-scoring drought even though I felt that my skating was improving.  I wasn’t too worried though, since I knew that all it would take was some lucky bounce, and I would turn things around.  Sure enough, once I got that first goal of the season, I began to resemble a hockey player once again.  I finished the season with 7 goals, where 5 of them came from my last three games played.  Hopefully, this hot streak will continue through the playoffs. 

Championship Hockey Game – Geckos vs. Camels

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

Six minutes into the game, the other team tallied first with a power play goal.  They scored again to open the second period and take a 2-0 lead.  A minute later, we were able to trim the deficit to one with a goal of our own.  But halfway through the 2nd period, the other team scored again, taking 3-1 lead.  With two minutes left in the second period, we were able to score and get within one goal again. 

Both teams battled hard in the third period, but the score remained 3-2.  With a minute and a half left in the game, we were left with no choice, but to pull our goalie in favor of an extra skater.  And the gamble paid off.  We tied it just seconds after pulling the goalie and forced overtime.  Neither team was able to score in the 5 minute overtime period, and the winner would have to be decided by a shootout.  Neither team was able to score in the first round of the shootout.  We scored in the second round of the shootout and our goalie was able to stop the other team’s shooter again.  So at this point, our championship hopes were in the hands of our 17-year old high school kid.  Score and we win, miss and the other team gets a chance to tie.  And was he ever clutch.  He buries the puck in the top-left corner of the net, giving us a thrilling come-from-behind victory.  Woohoo!  It’s been five years since I won a free t-shirt!  =P

Final Score:
Geckos 4, Camels 3 (SO)

Stanley Keg Playoffs

Wednesday, March 12th, 2008

I think it has probably been atleast 4 years since my team has made it to the championship game, but we finally made it and will be playing next Wednesday 3/19/2008 @ 8:15PM. It took overtime for us to get out of the first round with a 4-3 victory. And last night’s 6-2 semi-final victory has us playing for the Stanley Keg next Wednesday. In years past, free dinner was provided to guests during the championship games. But that was years ago and under different management, so I don’t know if they still provide food during the game. I will have to find that out get back to you. Let me know if you will be interested in attending. If so, root for the Geckos (Blue Team) and keep an eye out for #6 (I think that’s my number; I will have to check on that too).

Final Scores:
Geckos 4, Suns 3 (OT)
Geckos 6, Desert Dogs 2

Geckos 4, Arabian Knights 3

Wednesday, September 5th, 2007

I played well tonight but had nothing to show for it on the scoresheet.  I guess I shouldn’t complain too much since we did get the victory.  Acutally, I did have 5 shots on goal and four of those shots were excellent scoring opportunities, but the goalie just had my number tonight.  Here’s a recap of my scoring opportunities.  With heavy traffic in front of the net, I fired a shot off the goalie’s right shoulder for my first SOG.  Later in the game, I blocked a shot attempt from the opposing defenseman which resulted in a fast break in the other direction.  I skated in from the right side and tried to wait out the goalie.  As he moved to cover the near side, I tried to fire a shot across his body to the spot he vacated.  I almost had him too, but he was just able to get a piece of the puck with his right arm.  My best opportunity came when my linemate fed me the puck in front of the net for a one-timer.  I unloaded, but drilled the puck into the goalie’s facemask.  I had one more solid opportunity later in the game.  Right off the faceoff, my center drew the puck to his right where I was.  Although I had the opposing defenseman draped all over me, I was able to protect the puck, spin and fire a forehand shot which the goalie paddled away.