There was no time for rest in my men’s hockey league. After winning the playoff championship last Sunday, we were back on the ice this past Sunday. Our opponents for this game would be the regular season champions. Though they lost in the semifinals of the playoffs, they are still a team that I can recall only beating twice. They are always at or near the top of the league, and when the game started I knew we were in for a rough one.

We only had seven skaters show up for the game, and no goalie. Fortunately another goalie from the league was at the rink early and was able to fill in for us, even though we still had to play the first few minutes without a keeper at all. Somehow our opponents did not score during that period of time, and our team was actually the first one to get on the scoreboard. About halfway through the game one of our defensemen got his third penalty of the game and was kicked out for the remainder. That means that we had to finish the game with just one substitute player on our bench. Amazingly enough our opponents only managed to put one goal in the net, which was not enough. We won the game 2-1, which was an amazing accomplishment for our entire team.

Last night was our second to last broomball game. We were taking on another team in the same position as ours, a must win game if we want to have any chance at getting into the playoffs. Broom Goes the Dynamite, our opponents, had one very skilled player on their team, who was able to get a deflected shot into the goal in the first period. We were down 1-0 at halftime, but not out. Halfway through the second, I one-timed a great pass from my buddy Ken and was awarded my first goal of my broomball career. As the game winded down, it looked like the result would be a tie. However, the opponents good player snuck in another goal with just a few minutes left to play. Though we had some good shots and scoring chances as the game wrapped up, unfortunately we lost 2-1. Our chances at the playoffs are pretty much gone, but we still have one game left to play next Monday at 6:30.