roadhockey.net

Vital Idol

Billy Idol scored six goals on Sunday, snapping his season-long scoring drought and leading his team to 20-13 win.

The versatile veteran, who only scored for the first time this season in week nine, after a string of starts as a goaltender, finally looked comfortable in an offensive role as he hustled up and down the court and got himself into position to take advantage of scoring opportunities.

"After you settle yourself down and get your coordination back, it's pretty easy," says Idol, who was spared another start between the pipes when Lak Attack decided to strap on the big leg pads. "I just tried to stay in front of Pig Farming Goalie today, create some opportunities and be there for the rebounds."

"He was hustling his ass off," says Beetle Boy of his resurgent linemate. "He was back working defense, he was winning faceoffs, he was scoring goals, he was doing it all today."

But perhaps most importantly, he was doing it under the radar. As harried defenders tried to keep up with the court-length rushes of Kid and poke their sticks in the way of the half-court bombs of Nibs, Billy Idol was free to roam the zone, cashing in scoring chances as he cruised the crease.

"My job today was just to stay in front of PFG to frustrate him, and it seemed to work," says the offensive onanist.

"A lot of times we let Kid do all the work for us, but it's important to get contributions from everybody," says Beetle Boy.

"They played a good team game," says Wendel of his prolific opponents. "They were able to spring their secondary guys open if we were covering their main guys, and if we were covering their secondary guys they were able to spring their main guys."

Firing on all cylinders, the winners never trailed, and the losers never threatened.

"We got a lot of good bounces, we picked off passes and the whole team played well," says Billy Idol.

"We couldn't do anything right," says Wendel, as his side never got closer than two goals. "We had poor communication, we kept trying to go to the same guys, doing the same things, we were missing defensive assignments. It was just one of those days."

"We just had no legs," says Pig Farming Goalie, who suffered the loss in his last start before an extended hiatus to service the onerous demands of his exploitative employer.

In a season fraught with rain games, the first game of the new year was dry. But the cold temperatures and bright sunshine created new challenges for the roadsters.
The frozen ball bounced crazily, careening off shafts, skipping over blades and inflicting pain whenever it contacted flesh.
"It was so cold the ball was just bouncing everywhere," said Beetle Boy. "It was really hard to control."
"It was a tough game to play for sure because the ball was so hard," said Wendel. "It was like playing with a ball of ice, it was tough to control, tough to contain and tough to get it to do what you wanted it to do."
But it was the sun that created the most difficulty, especially for the goalies, each of whom had to stare straight into the blinding orb for half the game and then contend with harsh shadows at the other end.
"It difficult on both ends," said PFG. "At one end you're looking directly into sun and at other end there was shadows on court in front of you. I think both goalies had hard time."

•••••

The good weather should have ensured a big turnout after a rare week off last week so the roadsters could spend the holidays with their families. But with only one spare player on each team, there was nowhere for holiday-weary players to hide.
"You've got to try to play positionally and keep and eye out," said Beetle Boy of his side's strategy for overcoming heavy legs. "I think because we didn't have as many subs today, we were able to get a little more comfortable with each other."

Posted by jaysuburb at January 2, 2005 05:09 PM