February 22, 2004Early Bird leads the wayThe early Bird got the win. The diminutive forward sparked his team to a quick 6-0 lead, chasing Gump from the net and giving his side the cushion they'd need to survive a 20-16 win in Sunday's game. Playing on a line with the always dangerous Kid, and newfound sniper, Cowboy Bill, who was coming off a career-high seven-goal outburst in last week's game, Bird was allowed to roam in from the wing almost unchecked, positioning himself at the top of the crease to knock in rebounds or stick his blade into goalmouth scrambles. "When two guys go to the Kid, I'm left open almost all the time," says Bird, who always seems to flourish when paired with his petite partner. "I've got to bury the chances I get." He did just that, scoring three times, and setting up the Kid for another, before the game was three shifts old. Disorganized and disconsolate, their opponents seemed destined for an early demise. "You get off to a good start like that, it kinda kills the team for a bit," says Bird. "We were pretty tentative at beginning," says Pig Farming Forward, who made his second start of the season as a runner. "We're not playing good defense at all, left lots of guys wide open." "We had several bad bounces in the first half that really put us way behind," says Rudy, who hasn't played for a winning side in almost two months. "It has a big effect, we're already down." Desperate to concoct a competitive combination, the unexpected underdogs pulled their veteran shotstopper, Gump, who was doing anything but. "The team wanted me to come out, they wanted me to play out," says the chastened creaseminder. "We just weren't getting the bounces." With Ottoman now steadying the defense, and a fresh set of legs powering the offense, the setback almost became an upset. Rudy drove hard to the net, Pig Farming Forward battled the boards, Beetle Boy sliced through the slot, and the six-goal margin eroded to a three-goal nailbiter. Even a missed penalty shot by Nibs, who was awarded the opportunity after he was tripped up by Cowboy Bill as he streaked towards a scoring chance, couldn't deter the comeback bid. "I think we outhustled them through the last half of the game," says Rudy. "We really put on the pressure." "Our passing was better in later part of game," says Pig Farming Forward, who will miss most of the rest of the regular season as he travels to a faraway country to service the onerous demands of his exploitative employer. "Other team was tired... maybe we have little bit more legs down the stretch." But the climb from that early hole was just too steep. "That first six goals is what killed us," says Pig Farming Forward. "If we didn't spot them 6-0 lead, we would have won game." "We had to keep going 110 percent, keep putting the pressure on," says Rudy. "If we had a couple more minutes, we might have been able to do it." "We knew we weren't going to be able to blow them out," says Wink, who returned to the lineup after missing last week's game. "It's not how you start, it's how you finish, and we got the last goal." "I think we knew we had it in hand," says Bird. "I think we knew we had enough of a lead that we could withstand a bit of an attack like that." Comments
Antipodean bound--just remember that the upside down people's weather will be getting worse as you are visiting them at the end of summer... fonzie rules! Posted by: lobsterboy at February 26, 2004 05:02 PMRotten bastard ... I mean, have a great trip. Posted by: Wendel at February 26, 2004 08:23 AMso foreign corre-despondent PFG is off for australia tomorrow. sure, is going to be tough to endure hot sunny weather, with little cover from sun out on those long white beaches, but know that at every moment, he will be thinking ov all ov you, and missink hockey very much. he will try to find some evidence, even the mostest of remotest, of ice hockey in land of sand, sun, and scorching hot babes. Sad, sad days indeed. Posted by: Wink at February 25, 2004 03:54 PMC'est une bonne idee Wink, even if my computer is accent-challenged. And Monsieur Fonz, tu sais les vieux programmes des TV tres bien but I worry about any 17-year-old who has nothing better to do than watch Happy Days reruns. Come out to the Wet Coast and play sometime, at least we'll have a nickname ready for you. ;) You may have to play twice to earn the nickname though, at least that's what the rule was back in the Jurassic Period. Hey Commissioner, what's up with handing out nicknames to first-timers like Hoss and one-timers like Captain? The League's standards are slipping, nothing's as good as it used to be, grumble grumble snort. Posted by: Wendel at February 25, 2004 03:12 PMone who likes happy days? Posted by: Jeff Green at February 25, 2004 01:02 PMI think for Colonel we should do a card all in French. Posted by: Wink at February 25, 2004 12:27 AMNice one PFG, absolutely priceless! I'll watch the master (PFF) next time to determine just how I should go about being a more colourful and celebrated personality on the court. As an aside, it seems that, as a new immigrant, you are adapting to your adopted Canadian homeland quite well. I don't think you slurred your "R's" even once in your last post. The Latvian Pigs would be proud of the strides you've made. Posted by: TheColonel at February 25, 2004 12:02 AMSo if we get everyone throwing tantrums etc. to get their own cards, and we bring a digital video camera to the courts, then we can do our own on-line version of "Rock Em, Sock Em". That should please our new Oakville teenager fan base immensely. But I'm suspicious about the fan who claims to be a 17-year old but has an e-mail address "fonz_15@hotmail.com". I mean, how many 17-year-olds have any idea who the Fonz is?? Posted by: Wendel at February 24, 2004 08:57 PMColonel, perhaps you haven't gotten your own card yet because you haven't contributed enough to the colourful history of Sunday Morning Road Hockey. We rarely hear from you on the website, and your presence on the courts can be best described as invisible. Really, Colonel, you should do what I do as goalie: throw a tantrum now and then! Even if you don't mean it, it'll get you good media coverage. Your good-boy image has got to shelved if you want to get a card... Way to go Wendel. Your rambling is attracting impressionable young boys from far-off, not so exotic, places. Perhaps you will now give him a history lesson on the Canadian West's oldest and most Royal city? All grumbling aside, I'm with you. You can be in on Series 6 as well, even though you have three times the exposure that I do in the Kit's Boys series. Come to think of it, "once-a-year" player Bulldog has as much exposure as the two of us combined. Personally, I think that the Kit's Boys series should be up and deleted completely, and replaced with individual collector cards. It even features a "once only" player in Captain. And now that I'm rolling with this, how did Captain even get a nick-name having attended just one game? Did he slip you a little something on the side Suburb? Should Hoss slip you the same thing? Posted by: TheColonel at February 24, 2004 06:31 PMWOW... you guys are my heros.... im a 17 year old from oakville, ontario, canada btw... and i wish our town had a leage like this... im a golie when we play.. where does this take place... i must move there in my old age... Posted by: Jeff Green at February 24, 2004 03:52 PMNow hold on a minute Colonel, I may have been an intermittent participant over the last couple of years but I'm another of the original Kits Boys and I don't have my own card yet either. I want in on the Series 6. ... and this Sunday I'll be sporting bright new colors. They won't be as outlandish as Lobster Boy's tinfoil outfit but I can pretty much guarantee it's a jersey never before seen on our court. Maybe the media can do a piece on court fashions. Posted by: Wendel at February 24, 2004 03:15 PMI agree, let's boost the multimedia section further! As a shameless self-plug, why doesn't the Colonel have a collector card yet? And don't give me that garbage about the one shot in the Kit's Boys section. It's an outrage, an outrage I tell you! For Pete's sake, New Guy even has his own frickin' card! I'm sure that Jay Suburb has the photos to post a comprehensive "Series 6" that includes Sunday Morning Road Hockey icons Nibs, Beetle Boy, Coyboy Bill, Rudy, and The Colonel. Posted by: TheColonel at February 24, 2004 10:50 AMMore player cards!!!! More player cards!!!! More players cards!!!! Posted by: Wink at February 23, 2004 04:26 PMHey it was really great to see that BB decided to make the game despite his commitments to his family. I wonder if the sunshine had anything to do with that? The reason Im posting though isn't to get down on BB, but to make a request to Jay Suburb for a Beetle Boy 'Greatest spitz' photo gallery. I laugh out loud everytime I see a picture of BB and his tongue dragging on the court! Maybe on his collectors card he could have a bobble tongue. ...BB you crack me up. E Posted by: elvis at February 23, 2004 03:05 PM |