Overall we’ve done well against these guys but there is a disturbing trend  in the works.   In September we shmoked these guys 6-2. Then we faced them again in November ad squeaked away with a win scoring two in a 2-1 win. But then the new year came and met them on january 29th when they won by a goal in a 3-2 game.  Is the pendulum swinging their way?  Are they due for blow out against the Grinders?!  Me thinks we have been taking them for granted and now have to come out full force looking to putting them away.

So…. right from the opening face-off… take a good, long, hard look at the opponent and make that decision that you will over come.

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do NOT follow that url. NSFW

A) We made an attempt to stay out of the box and found the the other team to be good sports about it.

B) Some of us mistook lack of penalties to mean lack of aggression.

C) Shaun really wanted to take the beer cooler but couldn’t because he had to leave quickly due to…..why? Why, Shaun do you rush out so quickly? Stay, relax, have a couple of beer.

D) Gord floated at centre and blamed his back.

E)Andy flailed down the right wing, got slashed, hooked, mauled, elbowed, and got beat about the head and shoulders with a burlap bag full of soggy  dishcloths, but still no penalty was called.

F) Bob rushed at an inopportune time and yelled at the wingers to get the point.

G) Santa and Tidy remembered the water bottles and reminded everyone about just how reliable they are.

H) We scored an own goal.  Sorry Peter.

I) Frank kept it all in perspective by reminding that we are one division away from women’s hockey.

J) Guy retorted, “Yeah, one division behind”

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Speaking of behind……

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(SEO note:  Keywords in the previous sentence will do well in search terms, only to sorely disappoint the users that land here expecting something a little more risque. We’ll have to do our best to satiate their desires with the end graphic.)

No, Courtney Cox was not involved. Just a bunch of over weight middle aged men clinging to their last vestiges of youthful activities they can still perform (not so well). About once a week they get out and play a little hockey. More often than they have marital sex. This game took on an atmosphere you may expect, one of competitiveness but good sportsmanship, as the oddly polite Cougar team took advantage of the Grinders own goals and penalties (sound familiar? I may just cut and paste from previous 83 entries)  to settle the game 3-0.

Actually let’s try that…. Here’s excerpts from Dec 1, 2007 versus the Cougars…

• We came out with a short bench, 10 skaters. It went without saying, keep the shifts shorts and stay outta the box.The tempo of the whole game was rather lax, so we could have been in there. And in fact we were for the first period. we made it through with no scoring from either team, but we realized that if we were going to make an impact we had to step things up.

That was about right!

October 14, 2008:

• The Grinders were clicking and getting many quality scoring chances, including at least two posts, but simply couldn’t get the puck past a hot goalie .

April 22, 2008

• The effort was big, the beer was cold and the smokies were hot; what else could you ask for? A win, maybe, but alas it was not in the cards. Gord set-up two wingers with saucer-like passes at point blank but to no avail – who were those wingers anyway? The Cougars got their first goal on a power-play.
  

March 28, 2008

• Peter plays a text-book game, making glove-hand saves, pad saves, sprawling saves and saves off his own defensemen.
  

March 24th, 2008

• The Grinders played a hard game with a few unlucky bounces that sank them, but there was a solid effort by Everyone, and I mean everyone including non-Grinders to make this game the best it could possibly be.

April 16, 2007

• Regroup at the bench. Troy is tired; Kuznak gives us the gears about getting some shots on the net. He’s right, at my count we’re at seven shots heading into the third. We’re down two goals and the frustration is starting to kick in. Puck drops in the third – me and Tanchak are out to kill off the remaining seconds in Geib’s minor, and we have Frank and Bob on the point. It goes well. Shortly after the Atoms pot their third goal and the Grinders’ spirits are crushed.

It’s who we are; long-shifting, penalty-taking, bad-lucking, no-scoring Grinders.   You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, so they say.

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But you can make them salivate at the ring of a bell

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The start of the second looked promising as well with PSP doing the most of the work (as it should be) and Trainor standing in front of the net (as it should be). PSP fed a perfect pass to the stick of Trainor, who then proceeded, for the first time in 4 games, to “think”.  He decided to “fool” the goalie and go short side. It’s just that kind of sharp minded offense prowess that has Trainor so far up the standings in total points.

…And then we got old. The clock struck 10:15, and halfway through the second period the All-Blacks potted their first of the night.  The Grinders started taking too many men penalties, which was understandable since some team manager posted the line-up BEHIND us on the wall, expecting us to actually turn around and see what our assignments were.

Passes went astray, checks went unchecked, ad the game got choppy.  If not for a few Grinders; Tidy with his new-found youthful exuberance as he enters retirement, Andy with his usual organic energy, Troy minus his 35 pounds (when did that happen!?), and Jay and Triggs showing off that they actually had hockey skillz.   Perhaps they could try to teach the rest of the adult-learned players some of these skillz. As Santa did!  Late in the third as he was defending our net he decided to show Trainor just how it was done. No hesitation and definitely no thinking involved, Santa buried the puck with authority in the back of the net, turned around and shouted at the forwards on the bench: “Thats How its Done!”

Andy did his best, ringing one off the crossbar in the third in an attempt to get us back in the game. And the line of Gord, Frank, Newts had the shift of the night keeping the puck in the All-Blacks zone for the entire shift ad banging away at the front of the net, but alas, to no fuition.

The game ended, the teams departed and the best part of most Grinders games commenced, the locker room banter. Which goes to show that in Hockey, sometimes the best action isn’t always on the ice.

The clean first period and friendly atmosphere was soon marred as Santa couldn’t bear being kept off the score sheet, so he got there by way of an interference minor.  But have no fear Chacko is here and managed to save face by potting the Grinders 3rd of the game. In fact Andy got a point on 4 of the Grinders 5 goals. He then assisted on Guys and PSPs to end the game.

According to the official shot-o-meter we, the Grinders were outshot 22 to 21 that game.  Apparently dump-ins and icings count as shots on goal when you’re losing 5-0. Not to take anything away from the brobdingnagian performance of Peter who did keep the Kickers at bay during the third as they poured on the pressure trying to quash his shutout.

But alas there was no love for the Kickers as Guy and PSP buried two for the final tally of 5-0.

Those last few points of the game extended some significant streaks for some Grinders personalities, no, Bob did not get naked (this time) but he extended his point per game streak to 3 games, and Guy and Trainor (that dreaded Teigen-Trainor combination strikes again) extended theirs to 4 games. While Andy now tops the team with most assists in a game at 3.
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makes the site safer to view at work

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But 10 other skates and a goalie did honour thy commitment and came out as ornery as ever.  Chacko made his marks early into the game scoring the first goal with help from Tanchak and Newts at 10:11, and then sitting in the sin bin 22 seconds later with an interference minor.  Not to be outdone, Jay took a penalty as well at 13:53  for hooking, and then again at 10:53 in the second for roughing, and then again in the third for Body Checking…apparently Jay wanted to go home early.

Tanchak put the Grinders up by 2 in the second with an assist from Guy, but the Storm rallied back quickly in the third, first taking advantage of the Power Play and then tie-ing it up even strength at 8:09.

But no one is keep the Grinders out this late and then hand them a loss, no siree! Dave Tanchak put another point on the board an scored the game winner after being set up with a sweet pass from Ashworth. Then Goats and Nickason added the insurance to put up a convincing 5-2 win.

But there is a story left untold as we look at the details of the game with Mr Chacko getting a 10-minute misconduct for harassing the official and setting the Grinders up for a season of officiating misery. Please, do tell.

Fine….

But when all was looking rosy, it was Goats who it seemed was destined to be the goat, taking a 4-minute roughing penalty at the end of the 3rd period for being a bully in front of our net. But, thankfully it was PSP who, although at first looking for a line change, was told to hoof it, and hoof it he did; end to end, with handlebars flapping on his cheeks, PSP nets the short-handed OT winner sealing a sweet victory for the team.

“No Goal! Net was off”  shouts the ref.   Well yeah, because the goalie made a concerted and obvious effort to dislodge the post as the puck was crossing the line. How about a delay of game penalty in return?  No such luck.

So the Grinders are determined to get that one back.

“No Goal!” shouts the ref, “uhhh… lemme think…. in the crease! Yeah, in the crease.”  The other team then presses and goes up 2-0.

It’s okay though because we have control of the game and are continually out-chancing them, so we have more goals coming for sure, don’t we?  Yep, there it is.
“No Goal!” shouts the ref, “Just Cuz!”

Then those guys score another and run Toller Crantson. But we don’t get discourage but keep on trying with one last press, jamming and crashing at the net with the puck going wide by the far post at the buzzer.

A good game and a great effort that was a fun one to play.Nothing to be ashamed of, but disappointing nonetheless.  And hey! A free jug o’ beer for a penalty free game on our part.

<Pics coming later >

And remember to go to the online locker room to vote for your 3 STARS

Paul Sheppard starts the season right with a 4-Pt night getting a natural hat trick and an assist. Two goals show as unassisted in the box score, but undoubtedly there was a great team effort happening; perhaps Troy coughing up a lung at the bench offering a distraction, or Gord hovering at the opposition blue-line occupying a defense-man while Paul skated coast to coast, or Bob shouting “The point, The Point! so loud as to startle the other team, maybe Frank was in conversation with the other team reminding them that we’re one step away from girls ringette, or Santa had a forward pinned by the neck under his KoHo in our crease, or Triggs was giggling on the bench at the way he was taunting their d-men last shift, while Geiber and Strodl compared notes on how many posts they hit last season and shaking their heads, as Leng was skaiting the right wing, head down,  thinking “just 20 more seconds, just last 20 more seconds” in an effort to have Gord complain at least once per game about a long shift,  while Andy was flailing up the left, his arms and legs going like egg beaters attracting the d-men like moths to light, while Tanchak sat on the bench thiking “Thank god I’m not full time any more,” and newcomer Newton thinking “I wonder why Tanchak left this team…” watched Paul skate up the ice and considered that his acceleration was dependent upon two variables – the force of his blades acting upon the ice and inversely upon his mass. And upon noticing how fast his legs were moving and how short he was started to think “No wonder that little bugger is so quick, ”

To answer you’re first question, Geoff,  we’re just a little dysfunctional, thats all, and having played summer hockey with you and judging by reports from the first game, no worries, you’ll get along just fine.

Turn out the lights the party’s over they say that all good things must end….

REGULAR SEASON STATS – TOP PERFORMERS

Longest Point Streak    5    Glen
Most Points in a Game    4    Paul
Most Goals in a Game    2    Gord / Paul / Andy / Jeff
Most PIMS in a Game    17    Jeff
Goals    9    Gord / Andy
Assists    17    Paul
Points    24    Paul
PIMS    29    Jeff
PPG    3    Glen
SHG    1    Jeff
GWG    3    Mike
PPGA    0.89    Paul
SO    2    Peter
GAA    2.2    Peter
SV%    0.903    Peter

PLAYOFF STATS – TOP PERFORMERS
Goals    2    Jay
Assists    2    Glen / Frank / Troy
Points    3    Glen / Frank
PIMS    4    Jay / Glen / Jeff / Paul / Andy
PPG    0
SHG    2    Jay
GWG    1    Jay / Jeff
PPGA    2    Troy
SO    1    Peter
GAA    1    Tim
SV%    0.970    Tim

The 17 PIMS that Triggsy amassed has catapulted him out in front of Gordie as team leader in PIMS with 29. Gordie, with 2 minutes for holding in that game, is still within reach of the season title with his current 24 PIMS.  With 5 games remaining and Schmidt averaging just over 1minute per game, he may well achieve it.

It was Gordie who started the scoring in this game, apparently he didn’t have a Burn game immediately following because he was putting in a full effort this night. The surprise is that he only came out with a single point from the game. Frank Williams paid his dues in full (thanks for the case) and then potted the teams second of the night with an assist from Andy.   The game winner came from Triggsy (says unassisted on the score sheet).   The fourth of the night was a gift courtesy of a Houghton blast off the back boards to a sure-sticked Trainor who hit the dead center of a wide open net as the Shocker goalie floundered out of position.   The fifth of the night was a coast-to-coast rush from Andy on the power play. Carrying the puck the length of the ice Andy released a wrist shot from the short right side and then picked up his own rebound for the goal.   And then it was Bob finishing off the trouncing with his 2nd goal of the year with a shot from the point. Gordie in front providing the screen to help seal the deal.

The first goal of the game came off the powerplay from left winger, Mr Frank Williams, with assists from PSP and Gordie. This set the tone for the game as it was hard work and a determination to be the first to puck that resulted in the tally. The rest of the team followed suit for the rest of the game. Unfortunately the refs interpretted our grit and hustle as cheating and called wayyyy to many borderline penalties. This resulted in Andy being ejected from the game because he amassed 3 minor penalties within the first one and a half periods.  Ooo that nasty Andy and his darn interferencing.

The penalties slowed the Grinders down and the Toques were able to come back and tie the game 2-2 after the second but the CJB’s were not going to let this game slip by them. Trainor fumbled and bumbled his way (Didn’t I ever tell you about Bumbles? Bumbles bounce. ) to an assist to a wide open Gord and wide open net to put the Grinders up by one shortly into the third period.  Triggsy got the insurance marker with an assist from Toller Cranston with only 3 minutes left in the game.  The Toques pulled their goalie (snicker) in an attempt to pull off a miraculous comeback but Grinder fore-checking and an eager Gordie potted the empty netter to seal the game’s fate with 11 seconds left on the clock.

Go to the locker room to vote for your three stars

While you’re waiting, go to the locker room and vote for the game’s 3 Stars.

I have added a Locker Room image and link to the site for you. Look to your right and go down, look way down Rusty, right below the Beer Fines image. Click on that and it will take you our PointStreak Locker rom or Login page. Please start using this Locker Room to indiate your status for each game. The Grinders website will still be as active as ever, with Grinder Girl updates, game summaries and chats.

And!  Guy decked Tosh!