Nov 25, 2014 | goldfield | 693 views
Bigfoot Sighting in Elmvale
Oro had a late date vs Elmvale1 on a make up for our cancelled snow game and despite not playing their best, came out 7-0 victors
I'm sure the boys wondered why coach wasn't thrilled with a 7-0 effort post game..and it reminded me of a similar 6-0 victory two years ago when the message was the same
Expecting best efforts every game and practice is what makes Champions...and tonight we saw too much individual play from our team
The late start and bad ice was no help...refs warned us pregame that there were some bad spots at center and in our starting zone.
It didn't deter Owen's line as they got us on the board early with O burying a chance with assists to Doogie and Fast Eddie
The D had trouble early on with the bad ice on pivots with numerous falls,one that led to a clearcut Elmvale breakaway.
The Justinator stared down the sniper and moved laterally to not just stop the shot,but immediately absorb the rebound and freeze the puck. Excellent focus and movement to keep the game 1-0
Later Chaser showed his sweet hands by pulling a loose crease puck to forehand in tight sliding it home with a workmanlike apple from the Roadrunner and was 2-0 after one
Second period saw Captain Harry put the Oro Henderson's on his back and led two strong rushes for paydirt.
The first was a not so often seen wrist shot from the young man I affectionately call Bigfoot,who proved he doesn't need a slapper to make the puck turn invisible. Top glove and not a chance for the poor Coyote tender.
He went glove side again,this time putting it THROUGH the goalie's mitt for an "ouch that hurt" ripper
Justin likely smiled from the other end knowing how those feel
EDIT;Nov 29. I learned today that our Captain went to apologize/be sure the Elmvale goalie was ok after being more injured than I realized from that slapshot.
Impressive and commendable sportsmanship from our leader.
Kudos Harry
These two much needed markers put the game in hand and player of the game honours for the big man.
Some penalties and an injury saw the lines go into the blender and I missed the next goal by Aidan from Chase
Apparently I wasn't the only one confused as the refs awarded our final goal to Chase instead of Flash who went end to end with a sharp wrister to finish the game.
In between those two markers and all the the line juggling,the newly minted Busy Bee line of Taz,Roadrunner and Ty were pestering me to give them a shift together
After chastening them for trying to coach, I relented and threw them out.
They showed instant chemistry in moving the disc exceptionally well and being hard on the puck in both zones
Aidan set Ty up for a breakaway that didn't work but then they regrouped where Ty moved it quickly from our zone to Aidan who hit winger Jacob then back to Aidan for a puck movement/sharing goal we hadn't seen all game. Saw some smiles back at coach when they lined up at the center dot :)
No matter the line combos though,this is the stuff that wins our team hockey games and we will continue to impress upon our players that heads up,quick puck movement beats doing it all ourselves...and the inevitable turnovers/frustrations that result.
Not to be overlooked was Justin's THIRD CONSECUTIVE shutout and he made some big stops in this one to earn it while remarkably reducing his GAA to BELOW 1.00!!
So we'll take the win and use this game a reminder going forward hopefully getting back to our best hockey for the tough Wildcat team on Saturday
Final;
Oro-7 Elmvale- 0