A spot opened up between sessions on my men’s league hockey team, and my brother has now joined the team. Our game on Sunday was the first time he has played organized hockey in ten years. It is also the first time that him and I have played on the same team since we were very young, both of us were probably under 10 when it happened last.

I'm carrying the puck, while my brother looks on from behind.

Surprisingly he picked it back up, almost as if there was no lull in his play. Sure he took a few good falls, but I was shocked at how quickly he was able to deliver quality passes and even take a couple of decent shots on goal. Our team dominated the play and won the game 6-1. We now features five alumni of Moeller High School, four of which are pairs of brothers. Hopefully we can add more alumni to the team in the future, and maybe even have an all alumni team.

We had an awards banquet and pizza party for my broomball team last night, celebrating our 3-3 season. Typically a season with a .500 winning percentage wouldn’t normally be celebrated, but our team had yet to win a game in the previous seasons and somehow managed to only score one goal in doing so. I have a feeling that even if we lost all of our games again, the Little Kings would have still celebrated a fun six weeks, but winning games is always nice too.

After chowing down on some Adriatico’s pizza and beer at Market Wines, awards were given out to members of the team and even some infamous members of our fan club. Some of the awards that I can recall for other team members were Best Falls and Best Dressed. Personally I won the award for Best Beard! My face has never been so proud.

Best Beard

This past Sunday was sunny and warm in Cincinnati. We took advantage of the situation for a little bike ride on Little Miami Trail. It was the first time that we used the bike trailer that Kim’s mom bought for us. Before doing so we had to run to Target to get Trey a bike helmet. As we suspected, his head was too big for the infant helmets, so we had to get one that was labeled for ages three and up.

Unfortunately Trey fell asleep on the way to the bike trail, and since the new trailer makes hit sit upright, I don’t think he enjoyed the ride as much as we had hoped. He seemed to tolerate it for the first few miles, but after we let him out to run around at our turnaround point, he did not want to get back in. After getting him strapped in again and trying to calm him down, we eventually stopped a few minutes later so Kim could stay behind with him and I went to get the car. Despite the failed return trip, I still think once the even warmer spring and summer days are here, he will really like biking.

Kim posted some other photos from our biking trip, as well a ton more from the last few months, over on kimandedjr.com.

Over the weekend I finally made it to my first Bearcat basketball game of the season. In my days living near campus, I rarely missed a home game. So it was definitely cool to be back to the arena where I spent so much time as a student. I actually think this may have been my first time catching a game since those college days, but I could be forgetting something. I brought along Kim, Trey, and a couple of Kim’s brothers. We bought the cheap tickets, and I was pleasantly surprised by the view. Turns out a friend of ours from the college days had tickets nearby and since it wasn’t overly crowded we were able to enjoy the game together.

The game itself was close through the majority of the first half, with the largest leads being only five points. DePaul was winning 38-36 at halftime. The second half was much of the same with neither team really taking a large lead. That was until the final minutes of the game where the Bearcats finally extended their lead to ten points. At the final buzzer the score was 74-66 Bearcats. It was an exciting game and we all enjoyed it. My only complaint about our seats was that it was very warm up near the rafters. Small price to pay for an evening of exciting basketball action.

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.

We’ve had two games since my last broomball update. We won the first game a week ago and lost the second one last night. We now have a 2-2 record overall and sit in second place in our division. Only six teams advance to the playoffs, and our only chance at making it now will be by claiming one of the two wild card spots. Our last two games are against other second place teams in other divisions, so we pretty much control our own destiny.

Awesome Backdrop for a Game

Last night we faced off with a first place team from another division, a team that has yet to be scored on. Their goalie was easily 6’6″, but I thought their defensive play was even better than his performance. I nearly snuck a goal in during the final minutes of the game, but my diving shot didn’t make it through the keepers legs. And with that we lost the game 0-1. I’d say that we drew a pretty tough schedule, but we are doing our bests to play in the postseason.

Photo credit once again belongs to 5chw4r7z. See all of his photos from this season on flickr.

Our two remaining games:

• Monday January 30th at 8pm
• Monday February 6th at 6:30pm

Last night my men’s hockey team won our league championship! This was my first session playing on the team, but I’m told that the team has been in the championship game multiple times recently, but have always lost to the perennial champions who were again the first place seed this time around. Somehow that team lost in the semifinals to a team that they should have beaten and had beaten three times in the regular season. Fortunately for us our unlikely opponents in the championship game was a team that we had already beaten three times ourselves in the regular season.

We started off a little sluggish and were down 0-1 at the end of the first period. Eventually we evened the score in the second and the game was tied at 2 through the early parts of the third period. Finally, my buddy Jon weaved through half of their team and found the back of the net to give us the goad ahead goal. And it didn’t end there. I had a nice assist on our fifth goal of the game, and that proved to be too much for our opposition. They did manage to add another goal late in the game, so the final score was 5-3. It was a hard-fought battle and a big win! Our next session starts up right away this coming weekend, so there is no time to get out of shape. I hope we can keep the victories coming.

On Saturday night I attended my second Cyclones game of the season. Kim’s family was getting a group together for the game, so we gladly joined in and brought my parents along for the action. It was kids jersey t-shirt night, basically meaning that a free shirt was given to kids with a player’s name and number on the back. That player was #17 Mike Liambas who was involved in a big fight before the first period was even over. He averages nearly five minutes in penalties per game. Quite a role model.

Overtime Win

Despite a questionable start to the game, with the Wheeling Nailers taking a 2-0 lead at the end of the first, the game was nearly all Cyclones from there. They added three goals of their own in the second while only allowing the Nailers one additional. The Cyclones took a 4-3 lead in the third, but before the game could end Wheeling added one more goal of their own,which sent the game into a sudden-death overtime period. Just 2 minutes and 36 seconds into extra time, Robert Slaney scored his second goal of the night for the Cyclones and ended the game! He also had an assist on another goal for a three-point night. Perhaps he would have been a better choice for the backs of the kids’ shirts.

After a disappointing start to our broomball season last week, I am happy to report our team has made some major progress. We had our second game this past Monday and my buddy Ken scored our first goal of the season! We drew up a quick little opening face-off play that worked. He took the draw and kicked it back to one of our defenders. She kicked it up to me and I was able to then center it back to Ken who was wide open in front of the net. GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAL!

Me and Ken After the Game

The team we were both invited to play on only scored one goal last season and lost every game. Well after Ken’s 2 goal game Monday, The Little Kings have their first win of the season! Our goalie also archived his first shutout, which was made better by the fact that he was feeling a little under the weather. Our team has played great defense through both games, and we finally generated a little offense.

Photo credit again belongs to 5chw4r7z. See all of his photos from this season on flickr.

Our remaining games:

• Monday January 16th at 6pm
• Tuesday January 24th at 6:30pm
• Monday January 30th at 8pm
• Monday February 6th at 6:30pm

This past Friday night I headed to the Cincinnati Gardens with a couple of my buddies from high school. Earlier in the week we had decided to go watch our alma mater ice hockey team. This would be the first game we have seen the Moeller Crusaders play since we all played our last games for the team and graduated. When we were playing our home ice was out at SportsPlus and we played in the Southwest Ohio High School Hockey League. Now they play their home games at the Cincinnati Gardens and play in the Columbus based Capital Hockey Conference.

Cincinnati Gardens

Friday nights game would be against the top team in their current league, Dublin Jerome. The Crusaders came out full of energy and gained a quick 2-0 lead over the Celtics. Both teams added a goal each in the second period to make it 3-1. After another Dublin Jerome goal in the third, it looked like the game would end 3-2, but that all changed starting with another Celtic goal with just 17 seconds left in the game. With the score tied at 3, the game went into a sudden death overtime period. It seems that the Crusader team is young and full of speed, but that they grew increasingly tired as the game went on.

Moeller Cruader Hockey

The game was quickly over in the overtime period, as Dublin Jerome scored after just one additional minute of play. It was a great game overall, and I’m glad we went. The young team is now 11-9 with about a month of regular season games still left to play. Only two of the remaining twelve games are at home, so it will be a tough end to the season. I hope to attend more of their games in the future though I don’t know if I’ll make it this season. With eleven juniors returning for next season, it could be an exciting year for the team.