Friday night I played the fifth game of the season with the Whalers. We went into the game with a 3-1 record, facing a team with a 3-0 record. It promised to be a close match.
I felt good going into the game, had my lucky underclothes and all. Warm up went well, although it was short as we were late getting on the ice. I handled a few nice shots early, which is always good to get into the game. The teams were well matched, which resulted in several periods in each others end, and some good work for both goalies. My team got on the board first. A few plays later and it was a 1 on 2, with my two defenseman hanging back a little too far and giving the guy room to shoot. I didn't get a good view on the shot and it beat me between the blocker and legs.
After that I made several really good stops, including one toe save on a cross crease pass that should have been an easy tip in for them. My teammates were commenting on my play and it really helped to pump me up even more. I was getting to the point where I was begging the team to shoot on me. In the second period I faced a breakaway, and while I didn't handle it perfectly, I did manage to get my pad down in time to smother it as he tried to tuck it in near my boot break. There was a bit of confusion around that one since nobody really knew where it went (me included) until I moved my leg and it was under that. Unfortunately a little after that a breakdown in coverage led to a point shot that bounced off a couple of players and found it's way onto the stick of a player standing on the opposite edge of my crease who easily tapped it in. As soon as I saw the puck make it over to him I knew I was beat.
My team pressured to try and get the tying goal, but didn't have any luck. In the dying seconds they made a pass to an open player directly in front of the net who did a nifty spin and backhand that tucked in under my blocker side arm. The buzzer went just after the puck went in.
Despite it being a loss in score, I felt really happy with how I played, and it felt like a win to me. Even when I think back about the game now I have to remind myself that we lost, because it really doesn't feel that way.
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