roadhockey.net

Emotion extinguisher

Two quick goals by the Living Legend doused an emotional comeback led by his veteran rival, Wink, and sparked his team to a 25-16 win in Sunday's soggy game.

The Legend's unlikely slapshot that found the low corner of the net on Billy Idol's glove side tied the game at nine, while his follow-up on the same shift was the first of seven straight by his mates that buried their opponents.

"It really was the fact that we got a couple of quick goals," says Rudy, who played his first game in more than a month. "They were really coming on strong, but our shots started to go in."

"I think that was the turning point," says Beetle Boy, who defied his critics by playing his second consecutive game in a rainstorm. "They'd been building some momentum."

That momentum had come largely from Wink, who tried to lift his team from an early malaise by crashing the boards, driving hard to the net and exhorting his mates to follow his lead. For awhile they did, storming back from a three-goal defecit to take their first, and only, lead of the game, 9-8.

"It's a game of emotion," says Bird of his fiery teammate. "I was expecting someone to get punched in the back of the head by Wink; he's that kind of player sometimes."

But that fire in the belly seemed to get extinguished by the Legend's offensive outburst.

"As soon as you think you've got the momentum and then you get a couple of goals scored against you, it deflates you super quickly," says Cowboy Bill.

"Any time the Legend scores at all, it does humiliate the other team considerably," says Elvis.

"Having the Legend score one goal against you, much less two, is the most disspiriting thing that can happen to you in road hockey," says Bird, who's broken open some games on his own with his knack for timely fluke goals. "There's just nothing you can do or say to lift up a team after that kind of atrocity happens."

Indeed, his mates seemed to collapse. Disconsolate and disorganized, one line got caught on the court for seven straight goals.

"I think when you're minus seven on one shift, you should probably take the hint to sub off," says Elvis.

"The guys wanna stay out there because they wanna get some of it back," says Bird. "But if it's not working, you've gotta switch it up."

"We took advantage of their lapses," says Beetle Boy. "We knew they were getting more desperate, they were starting to think more about trying to score goals than trying to play defense."

"While they were taking really long shifts, we just kept rolling through our guys as quickly as we could," says Cowboy Bill. "We took advantage of the chances we had."

Posted by jaysuburb at March 14, 2004 04:28 PM