And another hot one on the floor tonight. A different reffing crew that usual (by definition different==abnormal… hmm….if the shoe fits!). At least the JKOW should be able to communicate his opinions on refereeing procedures more easily tonight.
In the first game Team Dirka exploded out of the gate with Russ terrorizing Shawn with multiple shots and goals, building up a 5 goal lead before Dylan was able to get on track and score 2 in reply. A couple of goals exchanged near the end of the period and Team Dirka entered the first intermission leading 6-3. In the 2nd, it was all Team Lia, (mostly) all Dylan, popping in 5 while only allowing 1 in response. At the end of 2, Team Lia leads 8-7, obviously a 5 goal lead is not safe in LMHLL! In the 3rd, a couple of goals were exchanged and with the teams heading in to the final few minutes with Team Lia up by a single marker. Team Dirka’s pillar (pylon?) of defense, BrianL had a glorious chance to tie it up with less than a minute to go but pinged his shot directly off the crossbar….sigh…. Team Lia added a very late goal to guarantee the victory, ending up with a 11-9 win. Pretty enjoyable game – close and lots of back and forth. A couple of human fans watching from the lobby and more importantly a battery operated fan on the Team Dirka bench. No Jason, a portable, battery-powered “LAX” fan is not an upgraded, higher priced version of your inflatable “fan”!
In the late game, attendance was…sparse. Team Blair(less) only had 5 runners again and Team Jacquie wasn’t much better off with only 7. Team Blair was able to recruit 1 and the game was on. Goals were few and far between with the heat and lack of spares slowing down the pace of the game dramatically. An early exit by 1 of Team Jacquie runners slowed it down even more. As usual Rob opened the scoring for Team Jacquie and Justin was able to stymie Team Blair(less) shooters for the entire period – Team Jacquie with 1-0 lead at the 1st intermission. In the 2nd Team Jacquie was able to put a couple more goals past Shawn but Team Blair was able to finally solve Justin to reply with 2. A couple of dangerous shot penalties (with Freddie sacrificing his body to stop a heavy shot with his chest …”Fred, your not the goalie in lacrosse, you don’t HAVE to stop the ball!”) slowed down Team Blair but Team Jacquie wasn’t really able to capitalize and the teams exited the 2nd separated by a single goal, Team Jacquie leading 3-2. In the 3rd, Fred left the game complaining of heat and not being paid enough to put his body in front of painful shots and Team Jacquie’s bench numbers were down to 0. But, as usual, low player numbers usually results in smart(er) play. Team Jacquie’s shooter were able to pop in 2 more goals while putting out enough defense to allow Justin to easily shut down any further Team Blair scoring. The game crawled to its expected conclusion – Team Jacquie with a 5-2 victory. No further players collapsed or had to be helped off the floor – BONUS! Not the best of games – just not enough turnout.
Standings are tightening up. After what seemed like an easy march to another regular season championship, Team Blair’s wheels have fallen off – 3 losses in a row and only a single point lead on Team Lia, 3 on a surging Team Jacquie. Team Dirka, though still trailing the field is keeping all of the games close and they are still in the playoff picture. If everybody shows up, could be interesting – as Team Bill (Team Cinderella? Team Sparkle?) showed last year, you only need to win the last 2 games of the season to be remembered.
Next week is Week #12 Wednesday July 20, 2016 Kinsmen Arena
Team Jacquie vs. Team Lia 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Team Blair vs. Team Dirka 9:00pm – 10:00pm
See you then.
G2