Play the ball

I have always said that Crap Teams will always be Crap Teams until they decided not be Crap Teams. Its really a simple concept. There's a choice, an effort, a motive that can change everything. Losing Stinks. And its about time the Alliance takes that next step over the line that divides the winners and losers.

 

The time is now boys, the time is now.

 

After a dominating effort on Saturday, the Alliance found themselves, yet again, with a favorable matchup in the second round of a sudden death playoff. Taking Care of Business was inevitable in game one, but we wouldn't be the Alliance without some bumps along the way.

 

Playoffs, Game One: It's not easy being big.

 

This was rematch of our first regular season game, a game we won 8-2.

 

I would describe this team as a team that just didn't belong. What they lacked in skill was not made up for with size or defensive acumen. They consistently let 2 on 1's go against them and let's face it; Brett, Jared and JB will kill you if they have numbers. Brett is awesome at manipulating a 2 on 1 into a high percentage scoring chance. And it's the reason why the first line dominated this team. Toasted them. They basically scored every shift they had, including 10 seconds into the game.

 

The other team knew they had no chance against our top line and they tried to compensate for it.

 

Fail.

 

Their "ringer winger", wearing a Lucic jersey, ended up being a whiny player that Darrin stoned easily many times. They were better off without him.

 

But that wasn't their only plan at knocking the number one seed down. As the first line dominated with 2 goals from JB, 3 from Jared and 3 from Brett, they decided to poke at the bear on the second line known as Griff. "That's not going to be good for anybody."

 

This created a rough game, with cheap shots, cross checks, bickering and some trash talk by Griff on the side. This game became very, um, not fun. I couldn't wait for it to end. But before it could there was a side issue with Eric and the other team. I'm going to be honest, it looked a lot worse than I think Eric intended it to be toward the opposite winger. The ref had no choice but to throw out both players involved, 2 on 2 hockey!

 

Thankfully the game didn't last long after that. The ref finally had enough of the style of "hockey" being played, the game was called. 9-0 final.

 

Scoring Notes:

 

• Griff had the other goal tallying up to the 9 total 
• Darrin had the first ever Alliance playoff shutout. Ironically, I'd argue, his worst playoff performance. Nice work Darrin!!
• Jared could have had another goal, if Griff didn't blow a 2 on 1 by bickering instead.
• Nick could have had a goal on his great penalty shot move (cough) but was stoned.

 

Next: The first line is vulnerable?