roadhockey.net

Sneaky Kid leads offense

Holding Lak Attack to one goal should have been enough for Cowboy Bill and his mates to take charge of Sunday's game. But they forgot about his linemate, Kid.

The diminutive centerman was nearly unstoppable in close, as time and again he was able to sneak behind distracted defenders to lift seeing-eye shots over a defenceless Ottoman and lead his team to a 20-9 win.

"He definitely had it today," says Cowboy Bill of his sure-footed foe. "He's the guy, especially in the wet weather he takes advantage. He really knows how to play in the wet weather, he's able to keep his footing well, he's able to go around everyone else and leaves the rest of us kinda spinning on our feet."

"He had Ottoman's number today," says Wendel, who watched from the wing as his linemate weaved his magic . "It was pretty impressive to see."

Indeed, as bewildered defenders converged on the boards to take away the outlet pass, and swarmed the ever-dangerous Lak Attack, they left Kid with ample time to deke for the open corner. And he rarely missed.

"He's bad enough when you've got somebody on him, but when you leave him alone, he's deadly," says Paul One.

"He's got too much time out there, and when he gets time like that, he's going to put it in," says the embattled Ottoman.

"He's so quick you can't give him too much time," says Lak Attack. "He had a little more time than usual today, so he was able to bury them eevn easier."

Of course, Lak Attack might have had something to do with that. As he carried the ball over the center line, from one side of the court to the other, he drew defenders towards him like iron filings to a magnet, opening a seam for his dimunitive linemate to exploit.

"Those are two guys who can handle the ball, and they're quick," says Cowboy Bill. "They're manouverable and our defensive corps just wasn't the most fleet-footed."

"We were on our heels," says Paul One. "We just left them with two-on-ones and three-on-ones and they converted all their chances."

"When you've got both of them out there at the same time, it gets really interesting," says Wendel. "They open up so much space and the make so many things happen."

While Kid and his play-making linemate, Lak Attack, took care of business in the offensive end, Gump closed his pads in the defensive end, holding opposition shooters to less than ten goals, the Sunday Morning equivalent of a shutout on the small hockey court. Even a furious offensive flurry late in the game as his opponents tried to avoid their ignominious fate couldn't deflect his will to achieve the milestone, his first of the season.
"I like the pressure," says Gump. "The team played pretty well in front of me."
"As the game went on, he got better and better," says Lak Attack.
"There's just so much firepower out here that it's really hard to keep one team down that much," says Wendel. "A shutout in this game is a real rarity, it's like a hole-in-one in golf. It's something you just have to savour and enjoy."
While opposing shooters wallow in their misery.
"Gump was solid right from the beginning," says Paul One. "We kinda stepped it up a bit, but he did the same thing, he stepped up his game against us."
"He had a pretty good game," says Cowboy Bill. "But as much credit as we can give him, we didn't really get a lot of shots on him. We didn't have much offensive punch today."

••••

Lobsterboy was a surprise visitor to the courts on Sunday, as he took a break from his fatherly duties to his newborn daughter to knock the ball around in the neighboring court with his other crawfish.

••••

Wink will miss next week's game, as he travels out of town to service the onerous demands of his exploitative employer. He played Sunday's game despite battling a persistent cold, joining the Living Legend as another roadster still recovering from illness.

Posted by jaysuburb at January 30, 2005 05:35 PM