The Hansley Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Review of SLAP vs Teddy Donuts
Now I know what you're thinking--I've never heard of such a movie and you're right it doesn't exist. No today we move out of the entertainment world and review last week's epic hockey game in the league I am in. The team I play with Teddy Donuts, who are in second place- were playing SLAP, the team in first place. It was destined to be great as it was the only time these two teams were to meet in the regular season. SLAP is the most prolific offense in the league by far. In 7 games they had scored 53 goals--an amazing average of 7.57 goals a game. By contrast the team with the second best average is Stupid Pucks averaging 3.28 per game--4 goals less than the first place team....In opposition to that is our defense which has been amazing. In 7 games we've given up 7 goals...a goal a game..So you have your classic battle of offense vs. defense....Could Teddy Donuts shut down the offensvie juggernaut? Could SLAP just run roughshod over Teddy like they have the rest of the league? All those questions would be answered when the puck dropped.

In the first period you could tell that everyone knew this was a big game. A lot of the game was played on our side of the center line. SLAP's strategy was simple...Pass along the points and pass behind the net looking for the big one-timers in the slot and out top. They were turned away in almost every case by our defense. Eventually we won a puck out of the zone and our first line was out offensively. Matt Miller--our "superstar"-- had it behind the net and found my buddy Joel in front, the goalie was not ready for it and Joel found some space behind him for a 1-0 lead for our team. You could tell this was a position SLAP was not used to as they became determined to score. And everytime we stopped a rush or broke up a pass it frustrated them. They brought the ball into our zone late inthe first period and our center, tried to punch it away from him but it kicked right to one of their players who ripped a shot past Bryce our goalie tying it at 1. SLAP had responded with a goal, now it was our turn to respond to their pressure. At the end of this "playoff atmosphere" first period it was tied at 1.

The second period was dominated by SLAP in every facet. They applied pressure in our zone and held it their for seconds and sometimes minutes at a time, which feels like days in hockey. One spot was highlighted by them holding the puck in for a full 2 minutes. Somehow our defense and more importantly our goalie withstood the pressure and escaped the second period with the score still tied.

The third started again with them applying pressure. Except this time it seemed like it was more out of desperation than confidence. Nothing is better than seeing someone who thinks their invincible as that facade slowly drifts away. It was leaving SLAP quickly. They were getting chippy in the boards and becoming less crisp about what they were doing. Our defense though was wearing down considerably. We had two miscues which led to real good chances for them but our goalie bailed us out both times. As the seconds ticked off the game was destined for overtime and really was their any other way.

Overtime was probably the most even period we played the whole game as equal amounts of time was played on either side of the center line. We ended overtime still tied at 1 and that meant a shootout for the win.

Shootouts work like this each team picks 3 shooters and they take turns sending one out to go 1 v 1 with the goalie. whoever scores the most goals of the 3 wins....If it's tied after that it becomes sudden death. Both teams took turns sending shooters in the firt round and the goalies stood up tot he challenge stopping all three shots. In the second round both goalies stood tall again....The third round gave SLAP their best chance to win as their second shooter ripped a shot that somehow got through our goalie but trickled wide of the net. The fourth round again saw no one score as the goalies were standing tall trying to not be the one to lose it for their team. In the fifth round it was scoreless again heading into the last shooter. One of our defensemen Brian went in and ripped a shot that got past the goalie and gave us the 2-1 win. SLAP gained a measure of respect for us in defeat and we gained respect for them in victory. They were a good team and still are but that night we found a way past them. The only way we'd ever play them again is if we both make the playoffs (most likely) and get past our first round opponents (not a given). I got stars for you.

3rd Star---Joel--he got the first goal and played hard forcing turnovers in center ice and making life miserable for the shooters at the point. In fact all the forwards deserve credit for that.

2nd star--Brian--our defensemen got the game-winner and played great defense taking less chances than he normally does and forcing SLAP to play physically (Something our whole defense deserves credit for as well)

1st star--Bryce--our goalie who turned in another in a string of memorable performances this season. His goals against is under 1 and he saved the team twice and then turned away 15 shots in the shootout to get us a win. The only goal against him was a bad luck bounce our he might've had the shutout.
It was the greatest game of hockey I've ever been a part of and it was exactly what it looked like on paper. The two best teams in the league who knew a win might not mean a whole lot in the long run other than gaining respect from the other team.......I'm gonna have to give it the full on this one 4 out of 4 cups
- posted by Brian @ 11/28/2004 08:21:00 AM

 
its been forever
i have had nothing interesting to say lately so I havent posted....theres the reason...i really have nothing to say now so no idea why i am posting....oh here's an announcement

I am going to do something i know i will live to regret..I need a new dvd player so I will attempt to head to best buy on black friday early to get a good deal...i think i will hate myself for it
- posted by Brian @ 11/21/2004 03:50:00 PM

 
mini update
Hockey season has started and for those that care our team is 2-0-0-2 so far...We've lost twice but that was in shootouts...We've stumbled a little but are in position in get into first with some big games over the next three weeks. I've yet to score any points but really that's no big surprise, but I've played better than I ever thought I could.

Our class reunion is in a two months and I don't know if I'll be attending. See the number of enemies I have has increased in the past 4 years so maybe it would be best to go to the ten year reunion and wait for time to heal some wounds. Although I could give them the satisfaction of seeing my life is nothing right now and that would probably make them feel better. Either way
- posted by Brian @ 11/10/2004 06:20:00 PM

 
Last nights adventure
i went clothes shopping last night trying to use up some of my gift certificates at the mall that I received as gifts last christmas....see i was going to wait til i got a job and then buy some nice dress clothes but that never materialized so i waited until this past week i just decided to buy the dress clothes...

the problem when i shop is this---its not that i cant tell what colors match...cause i can..in fact to me its not that hard..so the whole time in buying stuff i'm trying to think about what matches the clothes already in my wardrobe...the problem is i don't know what looks good on me. i can't try something on and look in a mirror and say i look terrible in this or i look good in this....to me as long as im clothed its all good....but really i think certain clothes make me look better than others....maybe someone should open up a service where you can buy a woman for a certain amount of time to go shopping with single guys so they can get stuff that looks good for them....just a thought
- posted by Brian @ 11/07/2004 09:19:00 AM