Monday, February 28, 2011

Beautiful Finish


Well I completely missed posting yesterday. Sorry about that. Big news in the hockey household. Our son's team beat their opponent 4-3 in a shootout to clinch 3rd place in the division. Not too many people would be as happy with 3rd place as we were, but this team had not won a league game during the regular season.

The final game was the best game they played all season long. They got off to a fast start, putting in the first goal about 3 minutes into the game. The Black team came back and tied the game in the 2nd period, but the Red Devils went back on top shortly thereafter.

The 3rd period was tough. The Black team scored two quick goals to go ahead 3-2 with 5 minutes left in regulation and I'll admit I thought the game was over then. Then the Red Devils did something we hadn't seen all year. They battled back from a deficit. They pushed the puck hard, attacked the net, and scored a goal with a little more then 2 minutes in the game. The score was tied after regulation and they played a 5 minute overtime that went back and forth with both teams having great scoring opportunities.

Still knotted at the end of OT, the game went to a shootout. This was the first time we had seen a shootout, and being a goalie parent let me tell you: Shootouts Suck! I think our son was excited with maybe a side of nervous. I was a nervous wreck. The Red Devils shot first and the first shooter put a wicked move on Blacks goalie, getting him to move to the right before bringing the puck back to his backhand and flipping it up into the net for the score. Blacks first shooter looked a little nervous, or maybe he was just unsure of what he wanted to do, but he ran out of ice before making up his mind leaving our goalie to make the save. The second and third shots against Blacks goalie both missed the mark, but the Red Devils goalie, (our son!) stood tall stopping the two best players on the Black team to preserve the 4-3 win.

Fantastic finish to a really tough year. That's the kind of thing that will bring you back to youth sports for next year.

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