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Last weekend we were headed to Milwaukee for a one game stand against the top team in our division the Milwaukee Power. We left around noon on Saturday for a 7 p.m game that night. As usual I just tried to sleep for most of the bus ride there , and we watched a couple movies on the way as well. We got there around 4 p.m, but since we only had one game there we weren't staying in a hotel so we had to just sit around in the bus for an hour until it was time to go in and warm up.
Once we got inside it was time to get serious. Like usual we started off with our team warm up to get loose, and then once we finish this everyone goes off and does want they need to do to be ready for the game. This day I was feeling a little slow from the bus ride, so I went outside and ran two laps around the rink. It was pretty cold out that day, but feeling the cold wind on my face just helped me wake up. After I came back in there was about an hour till game time, so I played sewer with a couple of my teammates for about 20 minutes then went into the locker room to start getting ready. Going into this game I knew we were gonna be in a battle because this team only had 3 losses in their first 20 games. This team was also the first placed team in our division, so picking up 2 points against them would be huge in catching up to the them in the Central division. The horn is blaring and were on our way through the tunnel onto the ice. 7 o'clock hits and the puck drops, and the battle begins. The first 15 minutes of the game was a goalie duel, and the game was still tied at 0 with only 5 minutes remaining in the period. They went on the power play with 3 minutes left in the period, and they went end up scoring a goal with a man up. That is how the period would end with Milwaukee carrying a 1 goal lead. We knew we hadn't played that bad, so we weren't stressing In the locker room during intermission we just knew we had to keep playing our game and we would be fine. As the second period started it didn't take the power long to up their lead to 2. Less than a minute into the period and they were already up two goals, and we knew we were in for a battle tonight. W started getting a couple of our own chances, and actually hit the post twice but with 8 minutes left in the second period they ended up scoring again and making the game 3-0. That is how the second period would end with the power holding on to a three goal lead. We weren't playing bad they were just a very skilled and hard working team, but we knew we couldn't give up on this game because it wasn't over yet. The first 10 minutes of this period were pretty uneventful, and we were still down 3 with less than 10 minutes left in the game. We would finally break their goalies shutout with around 7 minutes left in the game, and make the game a little bit more interesting. Unfortunately that is how the game would eventually end with them taking a 3-1 win over us. It was a pretty sad bus ride home because obviously no one likes losing especially not to a divisional rival. It was around 11 p.m by the time we started on our way home, and everyone was tired from the game so pretty much everyone slept all the way home. By the time the bus rolled into the parking lot back home in Peoria it was around 2:30 a.m and I was ready to go home and jump into bed. It had been a disappointing loss, but we also hadn't played too bad so we still kept our heads high.
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Going into this weekend I had a pretty good feeling that we were going to play well and come out on top again. We had a good week of practice, and our game wasn’t until Sunday so we had gotten an extra skate on Saturday to prepare for the game against the whalers. Since we didn’t have school last Thursday or Friday it meant I had more time to hang out with the boys before practice.
When Sunday finally came around I was feeling good, and I knew I was ready for this game. The game was at 1:15 in the afternoon so we had to be there by 11:15. I woke up that morning around 9:30 a.m, and had some eggs and toast before I had to leave. Once I got to the rink it felt good to be with my teammates getting ready for the upcoming game. I did my usually pre game routine to get ready. I stretched out for a bit, then went and kicked the soccer ball around for a bit to get my feet warmed up, then we did our 15 minute stretch as a team, and I end my pre game routine by playing one last game of sewer with the boys. Game time. The time has come and it’s finally 1:15, and the opening face-off is about to happen. The puck dropped and right from the start of the game we were all over them. They had a very good goalie, and for most of the first period he kept the game tied. Eventually with 4 minutes left in the first period we broke the tie and went up 1-0. We had the momentum and we kept the puck in their zone for the rest of the period, but we couldn’t capitalize and score another goal, so the first period eventually came to an end with us still hanging onto a one goal lead. While we were winning we still got ripped by our coach in intermission because he knew we had more in us. If we had really played as well as we can the game should have been four or five to nothing after the first period. This just motivated us to go even harder, and to prove to ourselves that we can play better. As the first intermission came to a close we got dressed again, and we were all excited and ready to go play the second period. Right out of the gates we were flying, and we scored 3 minutes into the second period. This was a big confidence booster to the team, and the two goal lead gave us a little cushion to start playing more on the attack and not as defensively. The score would stay that way for awhile as neither team could get an upperhand. There was a couple times it looked like they might sneak a goal, but our defense as well as our goalie held strong and shut them out for the rest of the period. We ended up putting in another goal in the final minute of the third period to make it a 3-0 and at this point it felt like we had the game pretty much in the bag. Coach didn’t have much to say this intermission as he was happy with how we had been playing, and we knew if we kept playing the same way they would have no chance to come back. The third period started, and we knew that we couldn’t give them an inch because then they might get a little bit of momentum, and we didn’t want that to happen. This didn’t last for long though because around 7 minutes into the third period the got a lucky goal to make the game 3-1. It was just one lucky goal though, so we weren’t worried because we knew they wouldn’t get anymore of those. We quickly started playing better , and with 6 minutes left in the game we scored another one to make it 4-1, and this game finally felt like there was no way the could come back. Once again though they answered back pretty quickly, and once again it was only a 2 goal game at 4-2. The time was running out on them though, so with around 2 minutes left in the game the took a chance and pulled their goalie to get an extra attacker. With about a minute left in the game we scored an empty netter to put the nail in the coffin. We finally ended up winning the game 5-2, and ended the weekend on a high note. This weekend I had two games in Evansville, Indiana playing against the Evansville Thunderbolts. Coming into the weekend we had a record of 2-4, so these were some pretty big games for us because we wanted to get back to .500. Evansville is one of the lower teams in our league, but we still knew if we didn’t show up and play hard they could still beat us. We left from the Owens Center at around 10 a.m to embark on the 5 hour ride to Evansville. This year we have a lot of games on Fridays and Saturdays which I like because I get to miss school, but I also miss the football games and I can’t hang out with my friends which kinda sucks. Also, last year being my junior I constantly had so much homework, and just schoolwork in general so that it got hard sometimes since I was missing so much school.
We got to our hotel around 3:30 p.m, and checked in then got everything unpacked while we relaxed and settled in for a bit before we had to leave for the game. My roomates and I just watched The Office until we had to leave, and hop on the bus to take the short 10 minute drive to the game. The game that night was at 7:30 p.m that night, so we left the hotel at 5:30 to get there. Once we get to the rink we all warm up as a team then we all start to do our things to get locked in for the game. Me personally I play sewer, which is a game with a soccer and some teammates were you kick the ball to each other and try not to let it touch the ground, and whoever lets it hit the ground is out. After I play sewer for a bit with my boys I do some more stretching on my own then i’m ready to play. 7:30 comes around, and it’s game time. The first period was a battle back and forth, and eventually we got a goal and went up 1-0. This was a great start for us because in our previous six games we had gotten off to terrible starts, and ended up having to play from behind. Just like usual though the Thunderbolts answered back within minutes to tie it 1-1, and the score would stay deadlocked till the end of the first period. Going into the second period we knew that we had to play a lot better if we wanted to win this game. We played hard through the first half of the period, but we still could not score. Eventually with about 8 minutes left in the period we finally scored a goal and took the lead up 2-1. After this we were rolling, and scored another goal 5 minutes later to extend our lead to 3-1. The score would stay the same, and we took this lead into the third period. We would go on to add 4 more goals in the third period, and ended up with a big 7-1 win. We went back to the hotel that night satisfied with the game, but still knowing we could be better. My roomates and I all slept till 10 the next morning since our game that day wasn’t until 7:30 that night. We had to check out of the hotel at noon, but we didn’t have to be at the rink till 5:30 that night, so we had a lot of time to kill. After we checked out we had our tem meal at Fazoli's, and then we watched movies on our bus till it was game time. Once we finally got to the rink we were all ready to play because we wanted to prove that we could play even better than we had the night before. We came out very slow, and before we even knew it we were down 1-0 in the first period. The score would stay that way until the end of the first when we finally scored, and tied up the game. After the first period even though we had tied up the game we got chewed out in the locker room for playing so bad. Going into the second period we knew we had to pick it up, and we did as we opened up the scoring and score early in the second to make it 2-1. After this goal we finally started playing well, and added 2 more goals that period to make it 3-1. In the third period we kept up the intensity, and there was just nothing they could do as we added another 4 goals and ended up with another big win taking this game 8-1. After this game we tried to get onto the bus as quick as possible because it was already 10 p.m, and we still had a long 5 hour bus ride ahead of us. We watched movies, and I tried to get some sleep on the ride home and we finally got home at 3 a.m. It had been a good weekend of games, and now I was finally home and could get in my own bed and get some much needed sleep. |