roadhockey.net

Shifts of momentum

First the Colonel came back from a knee injury that kept him out of the lineup for more than a month. Then he sealed a four-goal comeback late in Sunday's game to steal a 20-18 win for his team.

But the table for his late-game heroics may have been set much earlier, when his side's second unit snapped their own scoring drought and sparked a similar four-goal outburst, giving them the lead for the first time.

"Without that shift, we wouldn't have been in the game at all. It was pivotal" said Colonel of the earlier turnaround that put his side ahead, 7-6, but, more importantly gave them a boost of confidence at a critical time in the game. "It was perfect timing."

Indeed, the outburst transformed their team from a one-line unit to a full-on threat, serving notice that goals could come from anyone, anywhere.

"That was really the turning point," said Bird, crediting the effort by Wink, Doo and the Living Legend for getting their side back into the game they seemed on course to squander. "We were having a lot of problems just hitting the net and scoring. We had a lot of chances and we couldn't bury them."

"All of a sudden, they had all sorts of confidence," said Smith. "We thought the game was already over, we had a comfortable lead, we thought we were going to cruise to a win, and it just fell apart. They started shooting, Gump started missing a couple of shots he should have saved and everyone on our team started losing confidence."

In fact, Sunday's game was one of momentum swings, as each team seized leads, only to squander then seize them again.

"Momentum was huge, and you saw it shift," said Beetle Boy. "Each team was scoring goals in stretches."

"You get a couple of goals, you see them drop their heads and that gives you an extra shot of energy," said Paul One, who made his first start of the season.

And in a game fueled by momentum, one bad shift can end up making the difference.

"We just didn't have that consistent of a game," said Beetle Boy. "Some shifts we'd go out there and do really well, and some shifts we wouldn't do so well. We just couldn't keep it consistent."

"We blew it," said Smith. "We were all going for the game winner and we ended up getting scored on four straight."

"We had our worst shift right at the end, and it cost us four straight goals and the game," lamented Paul One. "We picked the worst time to have our bad shift."

Posted by jaysuburb at February 18, 2007 08:06 PM