We were a bit worried how we would come back from the winter holidays (gained some weight, no workout, got out of shape, etc.) , but it turned out that the 3-week break didn't harm our game.
Although we had only one sub in the beginning, we started very well, used our energy wisely, and controlled the game. At the end of the first half, we had a 2-0 lead that was never in risk.
In the second half, the game got rougher for a while. The ref did not show much authority (as usual), so that random penalties were called against pairs of players (one from each team) no matter who did the foul. We got to get better in not talking back and pushing back if we want to avoid those penalties, but it didn't harm our game this time. Instead, scoring more goals was the correct response and calmed the game down.
At the end, we started with a nice 6-2 win into the season.
Highlights of the game:
- In the first minute, the goalie tried to throw the ball onto Joe's head from a 3-yards distance, after a rough tackle from Joe. The curiosity about this was that the goalie tried this twice. The first time, he hit the head of his defender. Scary at first, but pretty funny after all.
- Mark scores the first goal of the season. Congratulations!!!
- We had to take our first goal of the season in a 5-4 powerplay. It's ok to get a goal in a powerplay. The only problem was that the powerplay was to our advantage...
- But we did very well surviving a 3-4 powerplay against us for 2 minutes. Major credit goes to Seamus for controlling the ball for about a minute in his incomparable Irish-Riverdance-style while being chased by 2 opponents across the field.
- Kevin had several great saves throwing his body in between with no fear. He even stopped a tough shot between his leg and it took him not even the usual 3-minute break to recover from such incident. Impressive save.
- Frank scored a great goal in the upper left corner with his butt (!). Too bad it went into the wrong goal...
