Over the weekend I participated in a hockey tournament as a fill-in for the Dawgs.  I used to play against one of the Dawgs teams when I played in another league at the different rink, but I think this team was down a level from my normal level of play, thus I didn’t recognize many of my teammates.  There were a couple of other players from my current team also on the roster, and one guy I had played with in an earlier tournament.  Our first game was after 10pm on Friday night against Blueline.  I ended up playing on a line with another guy from my normal team, so at least I had someone on the ice with me who I connected with.  Our team came out strong and there was no looking back.  Then final score was 9-2 and I talied a couple of goals and probably some assists as well.

Our second game was on Saturday at just past noon.  Our opponent for this game was the Knights, a team that I knew nothing about.  During warmups I quickly realized that this team was much better than the team from the night before.  It was a good game through the first period, but by the second my team was really struggling to keep up and our opponents quickly built a sizeable lead.  Some of the players on our team thought that the team had dropped down a league from where they should have played, but I felt that our team was nearly as good as they were and that it could have been a differnent game.  The end result was a 5-1 loss.  My team also had another game at three that afternoon, which I had to miss due to prior obligations.  I’m told it was a nailbiter, and it went all the way to a shootout, which my team won finally after around a dozen shooters from each side.

The two wins (and presummably some tie breaking) sent our team into the championship game on Sunday morning.  I didn’t know who we were playing, but I sort of guessed it would be the Knights again.  And I was right.  This time the game started a little better for us.  We actually built a 2-0 lead by the end of the first period.  But after that it was another brutal second period.  Our team allowed five goals in the second and once that started happening, we ended up in the pentalty box rather frequently, just like the first time we played them.  We had a better third period, but couldn’t find the back of the net.  The final score was 5-2, as we finished in second place.  After losing to them twice, I guess the Knights were just a better team.