roadhockey.net

MVP lives up to title

Last season's Most Valuable Player, Kid, picked up where he left off, whistling a high shot past a handcuffed Lobsterboy to seal a 15-13 win in Sunday's first pre-season game. But not before his longtime rival, Lak Attack, served notice that he has every intention of stealing away the status as road hockey's premier player.

Right from the opening faceoff, the Kid showed he hadn't lost any of his scoring touch over the summer, as crisp passing plays with linemates Bird and the Living Legend bewildered their flatfooted opponents and staked his team to an early lead that ballooned to as large as 10-4 at the second intermission break.

"Anytime Kid got the ball, it seemed to be going in the net," says Rudy, who was a surprise starter between the pipes when other regular rearguards failed to report for the first competitive game of the pre-season.

"The Kid was on fire today," says Lobsterboy, who struggled early in his only preseason start, before he embarks on another fruitless overseas scouting mission for the next four weeks.

"It's tough to climb out of that hole, because they have Kid, and he's a dynamic scorer," says Wink, beginning his 14th season. "We were having trouble shutting him down, we needed to do a better job."

That's when Lak Attack went to work, as he tried to expunge the bitter memory of his slow start last season that soured his fans and may have ultimately cost him the MVP award. Looking lean and moving fast, he wheeled, dealed and whirled through tiring defenders to spark his team to an unlikely comeback that fell short by only a goal.

"We had some character guys, some balls-out guys, and we knew in the end our character had to overcome whatever talent they had," says Wink. "I thought we deserved a better fate."

"Finally our scoring line started to score," says Lobsterboy, who also seemed to settle down late in the game, as he repeatedly robbed the Living Legend and stifled Beetle Boy. "I made some good saves and they felt there was an opportunity."

But while their seasoned opponents may have stuttered, they refused to collapse, feeding the evil orange plastic ball to Kid, as he motored up the wing to his favorite launch pad, from which he rarely fires a dud.

"We're veterans, we knew not to panic," says Southpark, who returned to the courts after missing most of the last two seasons.

"I thought we had a shot," says Wink.

Posted by jaysuburb at October 3, 2004 03:57 PM