On Saturday, the London Werewolves Senior Masters team headed up to Erin for the 1st tournament of the 2015 season. A quick one day event, 2 games, loose eligibility rules…a chance to get on the floor to get the 2015 season underway. Overall a pretty good day.

First game was against Niagara who had bulked up with a number of younger players for the day. When there are a couple of 21 yr olds playing on the same team as their fathers plus a current JrB(?) player plus a couple of other <35 yr olds, pretty well assured that nothing good will come of playing. London started the game with 6(!) runners ….sigh…. but Niagara  lent us 3 (young) players to balance things out and with Brick (our Orangeville ringer) showing up in the middle of the 2nd period we were ready to rumble … and the game was afoot. After a close 1st period Niagara pulled away but London kept clawing back – end result Niagara 11 – London 7. An enjoyable game and a fun time for all.

After some food and beverages at the Legion next door, we were back for game #2. As usual, Halton had a full bench but London had some mid afternoon recruits to start the game with a full 10 runners – BONUS! Halton scored on their first shot but London came back with 2 quick ones and the 1st period ended with London up 3-2. London added 1 in the 2nd and the titanic defensive struggle continued (either that or all of the scorers were still _VERY_ rusty after a long winter). In the 3rd London added a couple more before Halton popped 2 quick ones to start their comeback – as usual, the Werewolves were on track to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory….but…but….NO! with the Goats pushing hard, a couple of lucky saves (or poor Halton shooting) the ball was pushed down to Russ at the far end with less than a minute to go. As usual our bench is screaming at full volume that there is an empty net and Russ (probably) remembers the years of telling his players that, near the end of a close game with a small lead, it is more important to run out the clock than try to score a meaningless goal ….RIIIIGHT!…. he turns and bounces in an easy shot to put a nail in Halton’s comeback attempt. Final score London 8 – Halton 5. Funny how winning a game makes for a much more cheerful dressing room afterwards – also nice to win in the first weekend as opposed to the last game of the season – much more opportunity to get a 2nd win (or more) sometime in 2015! Lots of positives and stuff to build on for the rest of the summer.

Next games are in Midland in 2 weeks (May 1-3, 2015)

G2