Close But No Cigar

Sorry this post is going up a bit late but I finally have collected all my thoughts about our last outing. To give a quick update Paul broke his fibula just below the knee. He is in a cast now and will have to stay off his leg for 4 to 6 weeks. Looks like he can start skating again in 3 months. He also suffered a high ankle sprain but as of right now no surgery will be required to repair anything, which is good news.

As far as the game goes, although we lost in the shootout, I felt like this was our best game. As much as I enjoyed how we reacted in the Jets game by staying positive and clawing our way back into that game. This game was even better. Granted the majority of the Mud Ducks team plays at our level we dominated play most of the game. We skated well, passed well, and played as a team. Their goalie is the only reason we didn't win. He was very good. Their first goal tipped off my stick and probably fouled up David. Their second goal was our only mistake the entire game. We sank down and screened our own goalie.

Zee and Kent played great at center. Kent set up our first goal by getting the puck on net and Paul banged in the rebound. The second goal was a "great" deflection off Mike for his first goal as a Joe. We had several other chances to score but just couldn't put the puck in the net.

Bruce played his best game thus far, obviously spurred on by the return of his son Scott. Collectively we did a much better job of keeping the puck by the boards and cleared the crease repeatedly. Even using the boards to pass to one another and joining the rush to try and score.

I know some people wanted Paul to get the game puck for what happened on the ice but I wanted to reward David for his great play in net. He did a great job in net.

Looking forward to everyone else's thoughts. Next game this Saturday at 10:40 against the Keller Indians. I also lost a lot of phone numbers due to my phone resetting to September of last year so if you haven't already done so, please send me a text or call me so I can contact you again. Also tomorrow, Thursday, John's band will be in Dallas for a show. Contact me if your going, I'll be there for sure.

Average Joes = Dallas Cowboys

Now with the above subject title I bet you can't figure out where I'm going with this one, so just wait for it. If you check the Dallas Cowboys history books you'll see that they didn't play well, and often lost, when they wore their old blue uniforms in games. We have only scored 1 goal now when we wear our blues. The Cowboys seemed to finally break that string with Coach Johnson, we will break our streak this Saturday night against the Mud Ducks. Not to say they are easy, but both our teams are very new, and I believe we are the better team. But we still have to give it everything we've got.

Thanks to everyone who made it to Fuddruckers for dinner after the game. Chili's and Chedder's was just too crowded. I'd like to plan a few outings like this when we have an earlier game. It seemed like everyone had a good time and we had a few good laughs at dinner. Zee forwarded some pics so I'll try and add a few of them later today or tomorrow.

Congrats to Kent for winning the Player Of The Game Puck.

There will be a lot going on over the next month with the team so stay tuned for some cool announcements. See you all Saturday night at 11:55 in your BLUE jerseys.

When I Look Into The Magic 8 Ball

I see a win in our near future, do you? While we lost to the Jets last week it was great to see the team pull together and continue to battle (notice I didn't use the word fight). Although we were down 5-1 we battled back to make it 6-4 and really finished strong. At some point it's more important to play the game than to worry about the score or what the other team is doing, which is exactly what we did. The Jets, to their credit, played a very clean game along with us.

We have officially lost John for a few weeks while he goes on tour with Tera Melos. He will be back in town Thursday night, February 24th, for a show in the Deep Elm area. I know I'm planning on going and I think Paul is as well. Over the next couple of games lets get a headcount of who can go and support our little drummer boy. Sorry John, couldn't resist.

Keep up the good work. Paul passed the Player Of The Game Puck to Kat for her two goals. Will be interesting to see who wins it tomorrow. We have an early game tomorrow against the Whalers and then the Mud Ducks come calling late next Saturday night.