The GOLD MEDAL GAME! – its what we play for all summer, through short benches, hot humid nights, sore muscles….if only we could get a TV contract – we might be able to afford an actual gold medal…

A pretty good turnout for the LMHLL signature event of the 2016 season. Could Team Jacquie build on their regular season, league leading performance to regain the twin summit like they last accomplished in 2014? Could Team Lia repeat their 2015 Cinderella season by cementing their spot at the top of the LMHLL pecking order and start on the road to dynastic status?

First faceoff – a long drawn out battle and the game was on. The 1st period proved that both teams were serious about what was at stake – lots of shots, stingy defense, tight goal tendeing. No goals until late in the period when Team Lia was finally able to solve Justin for a single goal and exited the 1st period leading 1-0. In the 2nd, Team Lia scored another and then a 2nd just before the goalie change – always a good idea to shake up the goaltender just before he has to play the rest of the game for your team! The last goal on Justin may have been a good thing because after the change Justin shut down any further Team Jacquie chances -stopping everything coming his way. To build on Justin’s stellar saves, Team Lia just kept on plugging away scoring another goal to open up a 4-0 lead at the end of 2 and adding another to make it 5-0 heading into the home stretch. Team Jacquie just couldn’t get untracked and the only questions remaining revolved around which goalie would win the GA battle and whether we would see the first shutout in LMHLL history. Apparently Lia, usually a go to defensive specialist decided that she needed a statement to punctuate the 2016 season, looked at her defensive partner, pointed to the right field wall (sorry, wrong sports story!) far goalie, charged up the floor, took the pass and drilled a laser shot to the upper right hand corner of the net! SO THERE! Lia with more goals than all of Team Jacquie’s players combined! Bragging rights for a year! Team Jacquie’s hopes, what little there were, evaporated, the shutout was guaranteed and the 2016 season came to an end with Team Lia repeating as LMHLL MemorialBraggingRightsUsedBallOfTape Champions.

As they contested for the regular season lead for the entire summer we can’t really describe them as “Cinderella” champions this year – maybe just the Team “Princess” champions.  Based on Matt’s “pink” team shirt this image seems appropriate –

Lia’s late goal evened up the goalie GA at 3 so the championship game ended up as a goalie tie between Justin and G2 BUT we can focus on the fact that the goalies ended up with that lacrosse rarity – a shutout.

On to the Alibi for some cold beverages, nachos and lots of ribbing, abuse and selective-memory bragging – Team Jacquie’s goal scoring prowess, the Dirka and Lia goals and MattA’s  pink (coral?) T-shirt fashion sense were topics most often mentioned. Overall a pretty good season, lots of competitive games, only a few minor issues.

On to 2017 – only 32 Wednesdays to go.

G2