A Fine Line at Playoff Time

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The regular season gave way to the playoffs this week for the Boy’s team. They finished the season in third place in the league which netted them a series against the sixth place team.  In their league all the teams, save for the bottom two are pretty evenly matched.  From second place to sixth place there is only a seven point differential. The first place team has a sizeable lead on the pack, but even they are beatable as the Boy’s team proved earlier this year.  After a thirty game schedule good rivalries are established with pretty much every team.  A playoff series winner is the first team to record six points with a win counting for two points and one point awarded for a tie. 

From the Boy’s perspective, a series with this sixth place team is particularly intriguing because they represent a town where the Boy first started to play hockey. He’s even played with some of the boys on this team.  Off the ice, he considers many of them his friends.  Hell, they even play Call of Duty on XBox Live together.  But on the ice, this is the one team the Boy really wants to beat.

The team goal, in general, is to obviously proceed to the next round and one step closer to the finals. There are actually two levels of playoffs, with the primary goal being the provincial championship.  If a team is eliminated from the provincial playoffs they drop down into their regional playoffs, which some perjoratively refer to as “The Toilet Bowl.”  No one is particularly interested in dropping down before their time and without a good fight.

And so, I hesitated to begin this post as the Boy’s team has not fared well in their first two meetings with their sixth place rivals.

They lost game one at home 4-1 after coming out flat and falling behind 4-0 after two periods. The team looked much better in the third period, but were not able to muster enough scoring opportunities to get back in the game.  Before the series started, we all had some fear of how the boys would play after finishing their season with wins of 6-1, 18-0 and 9-2 against the lowly, winless last place team. Game one definitely felt and looked like a hangover.  We hoped a remedy would be in the offing for game two.

In the second match at the rival’s rink, our boys came out strong off of the initial puck drop. However, as fortune would have it, a wild shot thrown from behind the net in the first minute of play by an opponent would ricochet off the back of our unsuspecting goalie’s leg and into the net.  This one flukey goal lead would be upheld by a strong goaltending performance at the other end of the ice. The bad guys eventually scored a second goal with only a couple of minutes left in the third period. The Boy and his mates were arguably the better team in game two, though neither team was particularly sharp and the scoreboard told a different story. 

Game three is tomorrow night; one of those must-win affairs you always hear the pros talking about in pre-game interviews.  Down four points to none, the boys all know the task before them.  Win to stay alive.  Passes will need to be a little crisper.  Shots will need to find their mark.  Hustle will be tantamount. There’s no reason to think this series is over by any stretch of the imagination, as a win puts them right back in it, with momentum swinging back on their side. I am fairly confident the lads will give it their all, while we in the stands will also implore ye old Hockey Gods to come through with a couple preferable bounces.

To take this back to where we started and put it in some perspective, the second place team is also down and within a point of dropping their round-one series against the seventh place team. They lost both of their first two games and tied the third.  In short series like these, anything can, and usually does, happen. That’s at least part of what makes this game so much fun.

#imahockeydad

A Fine Line at Playoff Time

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The regular season gave way to the playoffs this week for the Boy’s team. They finished the season in third place in the league which netted them a series against the sixth place team.  In their league all the teams, save for the bottom two are pretty evenly matched.  From second place to sixth place there is only a seven point differential. The first place team has a sizeable lead on the pack, but even they are beatable as the Boy’s team proved earlier this year.  After a thirty game schedule good rivalries are established with pretty much every team.  A playoff series winner is the first team to record six points with a win counting for two points and one point awarded for a tie. 

From the Boy’s perspective, a series with this sixth place team is particularly intriguing because they represent a town where the Boy first started to play hockey. He’s even played with some of the boys on this team.  Off the ice, he considers many of them his friends.  Hell, they even play Call of Duty on XBox Live together.  But on the ice, this is the one team the Boy really wants to beat.

The team goal, in general, is to obviously proceed to the next round and one step closer to the finals. There are actually two levels of playoffs, with the primary goal being the provincial championship.  If a team is eliminated from the provincial playoffs they drop down into their regional playoffs, which some perjoratively refer to as “The Toilet Bowl.”  No one is particularly interested in dropping down before their time and without a good fight.

And so, I hesitated to begin this post as the Boy’s team has not fared well in their first two meetings with their sixth place rivals.

They lost game one at home 4-1 after coming out flat and falling behind 4-0 after two periods. The team looked much better in the third period, but were not able to muster enough scoring opportunities to get back in the game.  Before the series started, we all had some fear of how the boys would play after finishing their season with wins of 6-1, 18-0 and 9-2 against the lowly, winless last place team. Game one definitely felt and looked like a hangover.  We hoped a remedy would be in the offing for game two.

In the second match at the rival’s rink, our boys came out strong off of the initial puck drop. However, as fortune would have it, a wild shot thrown from behind the net in the first minute of play by an opponent would ricochet off the back of our unsuspecting goalie’s leg and into the net.  This one flukey goal lead would be upheld by a strong goaltending performance at the other end of the ice. The bad guys eventually scored a second goal with only a couple of minutes left in the third period. The Boy and his mates were arguably the better team in game two, though neither team was particularly sharp and the scoreboard told a different story. 

Game three is tomorrow night; one of those must-win affairs you always hear the pros talking about in pre-game interviews.  Down four points to none, the boys all know the task before them.  Win to stay alive.  Passes will need to be a little crisper.  Shots will need to find their mark.  Hustle will be tantamount. There’s no reason to think this series is over by any stretch of the imagination, as a win puts them right back in it, with momentum swinging back on their side. I am fairly confident the lads will give it their all, while we in the stands will also implore ye old Hockey Gods to come through with a couple preferable bounces.

To take this back to where we started and put it in some perspective, the second place team is also down and within a point of dropping their round-one series against the seventh place team. They lost both of their first two games and tied the third.  In short series like these, anything can, and usually does, happen. That’s at least part of what makes this game so much fun.

#imahockeydad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnsngTNeGTg Hockey Defined Methinks it’s time to inject a littl

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Hockey Defined

Methinks it’s time to inject a little levity into the proceedings before we get all playoff serious.  So here’s a little list of new age hockey lingo; complete with illuminating examples. These are a few of the more colourful and current words and phrases of today’s game that have been uttered in and around the Boy’s and the Devil’s games.

Spin-o-Rama – A 360 degree spin with the puck used to avoid an oncoming checker, fool an unsuspecting/over-committed goaltender or simply add flair to an otherwise non-descript penalty shot (see video above).

BD (Bar Down) – A quick shot that strikes the top crossbar of the net and deflects directly down into the net.  A player who performs this feat is said to “go bar down”.

Sui (soo-eee) – A blind pass to a teammate which puts said player in a highly vulnerable (suicide-like) position and makes opposing body checkers salivate at the prospect of an unexpected hit.

One-Timer – A shot taken immediately off of an incoming pass.  One-timers are highly effective as they generally catch goalies off-guard, but also require good hand-eye coordination to ensure accuracy and speed. 

PK (Penalty Kill) – A situation whereby a team is shorthanded by one or two players because of penalties. Box and triangle systems are the norm to defend a zone in five-on-four or five-on-three situations, but in general, the key to any good PK is pure hustle.

PP (Power Play) – The more favourable alternative to the PK is the PP (Power Play). Having a one or two-man advantage is obviously a preferred status.  Good, disciplined teams are able to capitalize with PP goals.   The following, by an unnamed but not surprising NHL team, demonstrates how NOT to run a power play.

Top Shelf (Where Gramma Keeps the Peanut Butter) – A shot scored in either top corner of the net.  Knocking the goalie’s water bottle high into the air adds a dramatic exclamation point to top shelf goals.

Toe Drag or Dangle – A nifty evasive move whereby the puck is pulled back slightly with the toe (front end) of the blade of the hockey stick causing a defender to lunge forward awkwardly while the toe dragger or dangler skates by him. Mad danglers appear to have the puck glued to their sticks. Stick work like this takes a fair bit of practice.

The Can Opener – A devious defensive maneuver, which involves placing the stick between an opposing players legs and then twisting (not unlike a can opener) typically causing the player to fall to the ice.  You need to be sneaky quick to pull off this move, while avoiding detection by the ref.

Wrap Around – A goal scored quickly from behind the net before the goalie is able to get from one side to the other. The older and the bigger the players get, the tougher it is to pull off the wrap around.

Split the D – A burst of speed that enables an oncoming puck carrier to scoot between two defencemen and in on their goalie, which usually makes them look foolish. Finishing with by going bar down or top shelf is a preferred outcome.

The Flow or Hockey Hair – A wet and/or greasy slicked back long hairdo accentuated by the combination of post-game sweat and years of hockey helmet moulding.  If you look up The Flow in a dictionary you’ll find a picture of Jeremy “JR” Roenick.  Several on the Boy’s team have fashioned respectable flows. 

This list would not be complete without the following penalty explanations from a fan fave, Denis Lemieux, keeper of da goal for da Charlestown Chiefs of Slap Shot fame.  ”You do dat, you go to da box, you know.  Two minutes, by yourself, you know and…you feel shame, you know.  And then you go free.”

Feel free to comment with any of your favourites from the past or present.

#imahockeydad

Finishing on a high? note

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The Boy’s team ended their regular season this past week with three games in a row against a team with a perfect record; an underwhelming 0-27-0.  That’s right; zero wins, 27 losses and zero ties.

This team was unfortunately the victim of a flawed player selection process which allowed several players who should have been on the team at this level to forego trying out to play on a team at a lower level.  These players effectively wanted to play at the lower level so they could win more games and maybe a championship at the end of the year against presumably weaker competition. The lower team these players were able to make is in second place in their division; while the other team, as mentioned, has a perfect winless record.  In fact, coming into the final three games of the thirty game schedule, this team had only scored 14 goals (less than 1/2 a goal per game) and had given up nearly 200 goals.  How much fun could these kids, some of whom had never played rep hockey before, be having.  And we do try to keep coming back to this being the whole point of minor hockey — having fun.

At the other side of the rink was the Boy’s team, having to finish their regular season and enter the playoffs against a team who would provide little competition. The first meeting of the year saw our boys record a 7-0 win.

In game one of the final three, the first good scoring chance came seven seconds in as a quick shot beat the goalie, ringing off the cross bar behind him.  A few minutes later the boys let their guard down and Team 0-27-0 counted the first marker on a weak shot.  The tying goal would not come until there were only three minutes left in the first period. A second would be added before the first frame ended. But the opposing goaltender proved to be sharp (you have to figure he’d had plenty of practice in the previous 27 contests).  He made some spectacular saves.  At one point our goalie slapped his stick on the ice in approval.  Yet, the game ended with our boys on the the right side of a 6-1 score.

What was not positive in the first game was the loss of a player to a two-game suspension on a questionable major boarding penalty.  In games like these you hope to escape with no suspensions and no injuries.  The player in question was one of the lastever intentionally commit an illegal play.  Rumor has it this particular player’s dressing room nickname is “knuckles” in parody of his non-aggressive demeanour.  

Game two would be quite a different affair. If the boys held back in game one, they certainly didn’t in this second match, as the scoreboard revealed 6-0 after one period. They continued to skate, pass and shoot to win.  We found out later they were shooting on a temporary back-up goalie who was two years their junior – not the keeper they encountered in the previous game.  The final score was 18-0. The game proved to be nothing more than a stat-padding exercise; akin to a scrimmage in practice.  There was certainly little to no cheering from the home side. Not a fun game to watch.

The regular goalie would return for game three, backstopping his squad to a 9-2 loss, which saw his team score the first goal again.  Their netminder had another strong game that could have just as easily had a score of 20-2 if not for his heroics. One player from the Boy’s team even went up and gave him kudos after he stoned him with a great glove save. This game also found the now 0-29-0 team floating two players up near their opponent’s blue line for at least half the game in an attempt to generate a breakaway or two, which indeed it did on a couple of occasions.

And so the regular season ended for our boys in third place with a record of 16-5-9. A far cry from 0-30-0.  The Boy, for his part, commented after the second game that he didn’t think he could handle losing every game as they did; though we heard they did win a game in a tournament against a U.S. team, who were obviously themselves misplaced.  He wondered how some of them could be laughing during these beatings, but what else could you expect them to do at this point.

The playoffs start in just a few days with the boys taking on the sixth place team; a good regular season rival who they will need to be on their toes against.  Let’s hope the final three games didn’t serve to develop bad habits and lacklustre play. The boys and coaching staff are looking forward to a strong run. The playoffs are a whole new season, where anything can happen for the teams who are best-focused and disciplined.

Let’s also hope the players from the team with the perfect record haven’t lost their love of the game altogether.  Maybe between all the goals against they were able to have some fun.

#imahockeydad

Finishing on a high? note

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The Boy’s team ended their regular season this past week with three games in a row against a team with a perfect record; an underwhelming 0-27-0.  That’s right; zero wins, 27 losses and zero ties.

This team was unfortunately the victim of a flawed player selection process which allowed several players who should have been on the team at this level to forego trying out to play on a team at a lower level.  These players effectively wanted to play at the lower level so they could win more games and maybe a championship at the end of the year against presumably weaker competition. The lower team these players were able to make is in second place in their division; while the other team, as mentioned, has a perfect winless record.  In fact, coming into the final three games of the thirty game schedule, this team had only scored 14 goals (less than 1/2 a goal per game) and had given up nearly 200 goals.  How much fun could these kids, some of whom had never played rep hockey before, be having.  And we do try to keep coming back to this being the whole point of minor hockey — having fun.

At the other side of the rink was the Boy’s team, having to finish their regular season and enter the playoffs against a team who would provide little competition. The first meeting of the year saw our boys record a 7-0 win.

In game one of the final three, the first good scoring chance came seven seconds in as a quick shot beat the goalie, ringing off the cross bar behind him.  A few minutes later the boys let their guard down and Team 0-27-0 counted the first marker on a weak shot.  The tying goal would not come until there were only three minutes left in the first period. A second would be added before the first frame ended. But the opposing goaltender proved to be sharp (you have to figure he’d had plenty of practice in the previous 27 contests).  He made some spectacular saves.  At one point our goalie slapped his stick on the ice in approval.  Yet, the game ended with our boys on the the right side of a 6-1 score.

What was not positive in the first game was the loss of a player to a two-game suspension on a questionable major boarding penalty.  In games like these you hope to escape with no suspensions and no injuries.  The player in question was one of the lastever intentionally commit an illegal play.  Rumor has it this particular player’s dressing room nickname is “knuckles” in parody of his non-aggressive demeanour.  

Game two would be quite a different affair. If the boys held back in game one, they certainly didn’t in this second match, as the scoreboard revealed 6-0 after one period. They continued to skate, pass and shoot to win.  We found out later they were shooting on a temporary back-up goalie who was two years their junior – not the keeper they encountered in the previous game.  The final score was 18-0. The game proved to be nothing more than a stat-padding exercise; akin to a scrimmage in practice.  There was certainly little to no cheering from the home side. Not a fun game to watch.

The regular goalie would return for game three, backstopping his squad to a 9-2 loss, which saw his team score the first goal again.  Their netminder had another strong game that could have just as easily had a score of 20-2 if not for his heroics. One player from the Boy’s team even went up and gave him kudos after he stoned him with a great glove save. This game also found the now 0-29-0 team floating two players up near their opponent’s blue line for at least half the game in an attempt to generate a breakaway or two, which indeed it did on a couple of occasions.

And so the regular season ended for our boys in third place with a record of 16-5-9. A far cry from 0-30-0.  The Boy, for his part, commented after the second game that he didn’t think he could handle losing every game as they did; though we heard they did win a game in a tournament against a U.S. team, who were obviously themselves misplaced.  He wondered how some of them could be laughing during these beatings, but what else could you expect them to do at this point.

The playoffs start in just a few days with the boys taking on the sixth place team; a good regular season rival who they will need to be on their toes against.  Let’s hope the final three games didn’t serve to develop bad habits and lacklustre play. The boys and coaching staff are looking forward to a strong run. The playoffs are a whole new season, where anything can happen for the teams who are best-focused and disciplined.

Let’s also hope the players from the team with the perfect record haven’t lost their love of the game altogether.  Maybe between all the goals against they were able to have some fun.

#imahockeydad