Last Sunday’s hockey game in Delhi was going to be a true
test for our team, as Delhi have claimed the top standings in our A pool,
behind our Paris Bantam LL1 team. However,
just a week earlier our team was just seconds to winning against Delhi Rockets;
unfortunately, Delhi found a final goal cutting short our anticipated win into
a tie game in a blink of an eye.
Before game time, our team watched James’ amazement as he put on his newly decaled helmet; unbeknownst to him, Coach Kevin Bristow had decorated his goalie mask with a variety of Wolfpack inspired artwork. You can say that James would now lead out his team onto the ice in greater style.
As the puck dropped in the first period, it was soon evident that Delhi were running on all cylinders and that they weren’t going to settle for another tie against our team and they were focused on making a win against us. Just 4 minutes into the game, the Rockets were leading the game 4-0, incredibly their number 8 player scored 3 goals early in the game earning him a ‘hat trick.’ There was a delay in the game as the officials had to retrieve the single hat from ice side, my guess from his proud father.
Although, our team stunned by the recent turn of events in the game, Spencer managed to claim a goal for our team that was assisted by Jackson, putting us on the scoreboard.
At one point, in the second period, our team monopolized much of the play and were able to chisel down the score against the Rockets to 4-3, giving us a new lease on this game. Both of our goals in the second period were earned by Fletcher that had Jaden offer him direct assists on both goals and had Evan support the later goal with an assist of his own.
The third period belonged to the Delhi Rockets as they outplayed our team and scored four more goals in the final period, increasing the lead to an untouchable orbit reach of 6 goals. Realizing winning this game was not feasible, our team held on to one remaining feat and rallied behind Fletcher to strive in getting him a third goal of the night and earn him a hat trick of his own. Focusing on this task, at hand, gave our team something positive to focus on for the remainder part of the game. Those final minutes of the game saw our team set up some great, close chances of having Fletcher claim a hat trick.
Before the game, Spencer and I celebrated Chinese New Year with his Uncle, before leaving Chinatown we picked up some lucky candy for our team that I handed out to all players, except to Jaden ~ who still doesn’t accept candy from adults. I jokingly told Jaden, post game, that refusing the lucky candy cost us the win. 2017 is the Year of the Rooster; however, after a 9-3 loss, it would have been better described as year of the feline, as our team seemed to loose all nine lives on the rink this evening.
This weekend we have two games and our team is ready to redeem themselves by playing their good, ole game style and making a difference when we meet up against Langton and Simcoe, respectively.