Another Perspective

At last! We just had a week where we finally played hard for 30 minutes. A week where we finally didn't have a lapse of laziness, a mental swoon or a literal crapping in our collective pants. It was great to watch. It was fun to be apart of it (i had two defensive stops!). I loved the defensive awareness by some of our wingers (though some of our wingers need to learn how to block a shot). We finally showed a killer instinct. It was a pleasure to watch.

So, without further ado, the recap is brought to you from Brett this week. I love when people take the recap by the horns every once and a while. Takes the pressure off of me. Keeps the opinions "fresh". But how come recaps aren't sent to me after a typical week? The recaps practically write themselves after a game like this. But seriously, I appreciate the work put in by Brett. It was a solid read.

Anyways...here is the better Driscoll's recap (wpr still has to show!!!):

Every Piece of the Puzzle

It’s the little things in life that make me happy.  And last night, those little things meant a win.  A huge win.  A great win.  The patients of Mike D, the penalty killing by Ron, the board play by JB,Griff playing to the whistle and healthy knee ligaments in 9 out of our 10 players.  All of it adds up to a win. Now that’s not to say that there weren’t any big plays.  There were plenty of those.

Giving up the first goal isn’t something we’re used to.  Usually we come out and sink a few shots into their net. But down by one goal and on a PK with 15 seconds left in the first  was just what the Alliance needed apparently.  It worked the week before, 3 times in fact, and this week Johnny buried the short-handed chance right under the goalie’s glove.  But we didn’t have much time to celebrate as they scored on that very same power play.Down 2-1 in a “win or go home” game.

Power play time.  The team stayed calm and work the ball around, looking for their chance.  It came with a cross ice pass to the team’s leading scorer and Jared buried it five-hole.  But Jared wasn’t done as, not long after, he fired a weak slapper that caught the goalie and everyone else by surprise when it went in. They don’t ask how, they ask how many.

Period 2 came to an end with the Alliance holding a 3-2 lead and with Griff and Brett trashing the other goalie as he walked by the bench.  How many times can the Alliance’s ability to close out a game be questioned?Seems like it’s a part of every recap. They haven’t been able to close out the last 2 minutes of games never mind the entire third period.  And they will continue to be questioned until they win it all (even if it is in division 2).  But at no time was this game in question at all for the whole third period.  Smart play after smart play kept the Black bears from accumulating any pressure on Darrin until the game was coming to an end.  A ball that should have gotten out with 40 seconds left was shot right at their point man…………..Who grabbed and held  the ball!!!! Whistle blows.  Penalty called.  Game NOT over.

With 40 seconds left anything is possible.  We beat this team 2 weeks ago only by pulling our goalie and scoring with 15 seconds left to send it to O.T. But alas, with the top line out there on the PP and time winding down, the Alliance potted their 4^th goal with 5 seconds left to rub it in and send the Bears into hibernation for the rest of the playoffs.