Dec 08, 2008 | Rob Gordon | 766 views
Hosting a Return Match with Monkton
A storm hit, vacation and illness reduce our roster to the bare minimum. A player gets stuck but arrives in time to help out.
Monkton could see we were running a short bench and wanted to take advantage. We had more coaches on the bench than players, but were eager to play. The puck drops and we began a game that would test the heart of the Blyth Atom LL team. Did I mention that our regular goalie was out of town.
Well, we sent a rookie goalie to face the Monkton onslaught. Trial by fire is quite a way to learn a new position but Jeremy was eager to give it a try. Right away Monkton stole the puck and raced into our end for a shot. We were all eager to see the outcome. A tremendous save and no rebound. The whistle blew and they headed to the circle to Jeremy's left. His first test was passed with flying colours. It seemed we found another goalie. Both teams had their chances in the first but could not beat either goalie, ending the first in a 0 to 0 tie.
The guys were tiring but eager, so we rested as long as we could and attacked the second with ferocity. Blyth controlled the play for most of the period, sending a barage of great shots at the tremendous Monkton goalie without success. Monkton took a couple of opportunities to test our new goalie but had no success. Craig and Curtis refused to allow a straight shot on Jeremy, any shots that got through were smothered by our goalie. Curtis used his experience to block several shots from even reaching our goalie and Craig would pick up the loose puck and send it out of our zone to safety. With only 3 defense we had to make quick shifts to keep fresh. Jeff played a tenacious and aggressive style througout the entire game keeping the puck in deep in their zone and moving the puck quickly out of our zone to transition to attack. The defensive umbarella our defensemen and center icemen put up was quite impressive.Thank goodness Brett came out of the dressing room to add more legs to the team. His addition seemed to add a spark we needed. His first shift saw him grab a great pass from Gavin. Brett roared down the right wing and let a blistering wrist shot go that beat the Monkton goalie but could not beat the post. Two shifts later saw the line of Gavin, Colton and Patrick hit the ice. They got inspiration from Brett's shot and grabbed a loose puck at center. Patrick sent a nifty pass accross to Gavin who drew the Monkton defense to him and sent a sneaky pass to Colton that sent him in 2 on 1 with Patrick. Gavin kept up pace and followed the play to the net. Colton's shot was denied by the goalie so Patrick grabbed the loose puck for a shot, denied, Gavin grabbed the puck for a shot, denied, Colton was in the right place at the right time. He found the puck on his stick, not to be denied, he fired a hard shot under the goalie for a hard fough and well earned score. We were up 1 to 0.
Our next shift saw two fresh sets of legs in Owen and Brett. They seemed to look at each other as if to say let's get one too. From the face off they grabbed the puck and raced toward the Monkton net. After 3 pretty passes Owen fired a hard shot that looked like it was in for sure. However, the Monkton goalie slid across and made a tremendous save. The second ended with Blyth up 1 to 0.
The gas tanks were just about emply. It was time to check if this team had the heart to compete under such overwhelming circumstances. The coaching staff knew they could, we just had to wait and see if the team knew. The third proved to be a wonderful display of determination by YOUR BULLDOGS. The defense trio of Craig, Curtis and Jeff refused to cough up the puck in our end, they cleared our zone with ferocity and determination and not a single player was left unguarded in front of our net. All shots directed and Jeremy were stopped and smothered allowing no rebound opportunities. With his wingers covering their pointmen, Colton came through for us by clearing a loose puck in front of our empty net before any damage could be done. Owen, Gavin, Patrick and Brett put up a huge effort in clearing our zone and forcing the play in their end. We got our chances but could not get any more goals. Their goalie was playing great. With only seconds left in the game a Monkton player got free for a partial break. With no gas left in his tank a determined Craig chased the Monkton player hard to our net. This seemed to be enough to distract the player who sent an early shot at our net. With our hearts in our mouths we awaited the outcome..... Was it a save or a goal........ WOW! Jeremy made an excellent save and Craig cleared the rebound up to Jeff who cleared it out of our zone. The final seconds ticked by and the buzzer went. A hard fought victory for the home team. 1 to 0.
The team dug down and showed what kind of heart they really have. Not to mention that our rookie goalie put up a goose egg to earn not only his first win but his first shutout. Way to go Jeremy.
Great effort guys. We look forward to the return of two of our players -- Cam and Franklin -- they missed this game.
Remember what the old coach always says.
We skate with our knees -- BENT
We skate with our heads -- UP
Who's puck is it? -- MY PUCK
And most important of all -- We are here to have lots of FUN !!!!!
Coach Rob