Against the Wall

What does it all mean? A win in game four, does it just delay the inevitable? Is it the beginning of the 33 year prophecy? Is Morrow back?

What will you do if your Stars go home without the cup?

Onto other things . . .

Is it I-league or not? Who cares, with half of the games ending in shoot-outs last week, the competition appears to be almost equal. Saturdays are a great night for hockey players with lives outside of their games and without martial law descending on the rink, most of the players ain't leavin'.

How 'bout those Privateers? When these guys head for the rink it must look like the Partridge family loading up for a show. Not only do you have the Haley dad, son one, and son two, but the daughter also. There are also a couple of Payne boys on the roster. I wonder who their Danny Bonaducci is? Offensively this team is singing "Come On, Get Happy!"

. . . Before you start singing "I think I Love You", she's spoken for . . .

The play-off beard lives on for another day, the one thing that I am looking forward to about the end of the Stars run. I am not a beard guy. Morrow has his responsibilities to bear and I have mine.

The ice on the gold rink is already fighting the humidity. I thought I was skating on a snow cone. This is only May, we have a lot of slush to look forward to.

Can anyone recommend a podcast for learning Spanish? I have tried a couple and feel there must be better out there. I am like, year one Spanish.

I don't care what people say, I am pretty familiar with rock-n-roll history and I still thought that "Walk Hard" just sucked. Yeah, I got it, it just wasn't funny.

Gotta go, here comes the storm.

Hockey Means Motherhood

This weekend is Tom Yockey's birthday (cake and punch), shoot-out intensive, for mothers, and full of mother f***ers.

DFW Titans(2-2-0) 2, Gravediggers(1-2-1) 1, OT, Shoot-out


A very evenly matched contest between the newly arrived Titans and the ascending Diggers. In the first it was all Titans as they rained shots onto the Digger's net and swarmed the rebounds, with almost no possessions for the Diggers. And it pays off when Chris Holder sweeps in the loose puck behind the sprawling Ellis. But, in the second the Diggers turn the tables and don't allow a single Titan shot on goal. Under the intense pressure, Titan's netminder Troy Elliot, finally gives-up a parturient rebound of his own, Joel Gigliotta collects the goal. The third sees few shots, plenty of penalties, and the stalemate continued through the overtime. The goaltending for the Digger's breaks down in the shoot-out with the first two attempts going five hole. Elliot holds strong for the Titans making the final clutch save securing the victory.

Brewzers(3-1-0) 6, Silverwings(3-1-1) 5, OT, Shoot-out


For their unprecedented third week in a row the Brewzers out last their opponent. The first period saw Sergio Castillo on the scoresheet again with the first goal, followed by two more Silverwings: Greg Espinoza, Justin McCullough. Then in the second Espinoza commits the game's only penalty resulting in the Brewzer's first goal from Jamil Al Jabri. Espinoza rights his wrongs with another goal, maintaining the healthy lead. David Runyon scores another Brewzer goal directly after. The third starts with Marie Lindley regaining the three goal lead for the Silverwings, but the Brewzers were undaunted tieing the game with work from Nidal Al Jabri, Rob Walker, and again from Jamil all with three and a half minutes on the clock. The game makes it through OT and 14 shooters before it is finally resolved by the unanswered goal from Runyon of the Brewzers.

Blue Devils(3-1-0) 3, Chiefs(0-4-1) 2


Ben Stillwagon and the hard luck Chiefs can't answer the bell, again. The Devil's Tim Green, puts in two goals in the first and the Chiefs answer with half of that via Kent Collins. In the second Arnie Osuna gets another one for the Blue Devils. And that's about it for the second. In the third Kent Collins gives his all for the Chiefs pulling them within one. With penalties from two Blue Devils the scene was set for a dramatic third period come back justifying the exemplary efforts of Stillwagon against the 29 shots (to the EIGHT on the other end), but alas it was not in the cards, the Devils kill both off without incident. The Chiefs own the worst record in the league.

Puckers(2-2-0) 3, Moose(0-1-1) 2, OT, Shoot-out


Worst record . . . well the Chiefs may have more losses but the Moose have just as few wins. It was far from an easy victory for the Puckers, however, the Moose threw everything they had at Pucker netminder Patrick Donaghue (familiar territory). finally in the second, it's the Puckers who come up with the first score off the stick of David James. The Moose tie it with the amazing play of Catherine Levesque on the power play. The Puckers steal it back with Brian Cudaback's power play bid. But it's Levesque again to tie it up with just over a minute left in the third. The Puckers cannot end the pain for Donaghue in OT, so it falls to him in the shoot-out. Goals cancel out early in the long shoot-out and finally David Jackson allows the winner for Rick Gregory and the Puckers, but not before Donaghue makes the last save of the game square on the jock. Pat finds a way to smile through the pain as the Puckers get back to .500.

Stickmen(3-1-0) 5, Snipers(2-2-0) 1


The Sticks are on a roll again, perhaps with the loss at the beginning, this will be the session that ends with a win? Not a whole lot to this game, the Stickmen dominate the game in all phases. Lynn Young, Brad Bynum, and Stephane Trapp put three on the board for the Sticks, for the second they only manage one goal. Glen Listman beats the Sniper's backstop for the four goal lead. In the third Jesse Henderson beats Sexton again, the Sniper's goalie is getting little support in his valiant effort. Blubaugh at the other end makes short work of the Sniper's attempts turning aside all seventeen of the shots, oh wait, in garbage time Rob Walker steals away the shut-out. Were any hands not in the line tonight?

Privateers(3-1-0) 2, Warriors(1-3-0) 1


The Warriors commit two penalties early putting the Privateers on the 5 on 3 power play early in the game, but before they can capitalize the Privateers lose a man of their own. Never fear, the 'Teers fast paced offense utilizes the open ice of the 4 on 3 just as easily and Cody Payne delivers the first goal of the game. In the second Kent Taub brings the former keg champions back to even with one period left. With an up tempo game and excellent goal tending Patrick Haley (of the nepotistic Privateers) ends the deadlock then decides to test the mettle of his crew by committing an elbowing minor, putting his 'Teers down a man for the final 49 seconds. They respond and escape with the one goal victory. Maybe these Privateer types ain't so bad after all.

Patriots(4-0-0) 5, Iceholes(3-1-0) 2


Two undefeated teams squared off on the gold rink. It looked like it would be a tight one. Before the benches could even finish drawing up their lines for the game Butch Hutchinson gets a goal for the Pats. Then the Holes expose the aggressive Patriot offense springing breakaways to Jon Bird for multiple attempts with only Ellis to beat, eventually he does. With a shot from the point, a couple of deflections, and a little fluttering bounce, the Holes take the lead, Bird gets credit for this one also (Gilbreath claims it is his, yeah, right). The Pats make adjustments and prevent most of the odd man rushes and come up with the tie, the lead, and in the third, the cushion. In a last ditch effort the Holes go with an empty net but ultimately lose possession and give up one more. An odd game for the defense first Iceholes, they out shoot the Pats but still score their mean 2 goals.

Komets(1-3-0) 4, Spiders(1-2-1) 3, OT, Shoot-out


In the final shoot-out game of the night (amazing, half of the games!) the opening period showed no signs of what was to come. Brian Couture of the Spiders leads the charge and Andrew Patti adds another. The second period sees Nina Bonifaz and Brent Bryant stop all shots. All that remains is for the Spiders to go on lock down and cruise through eleven minutes, after all it's just the Komets. Things got off to a bad start when Joel Gigliotta finally nets the first Komet goal but goes to the box directly afterward for tripping. Lynn Kresta scores on the resulting power play to restore the two goal lead, then all hell broke lose. Kevin Kopsky and Rich Duval both score for the Komets, for the tie. OT is again irrelevant and the ensuing shoot-out is one of the longest and most entertaining to ever grace Starcenter ice. After 24 shooters, it's the Komets who come out on top. A J Di Benedetto is carried off the ice on the shoulders of his teammates. Could this be the first in a streak? I doubt it.