If you only looked at the game sheet you would think it was a rough and tumbled affair. The list of penalties looked like this: Roughing, High Sticking, Tripping, Tripping, Roughing, Hooking, Slashing, Roughing, Roughing, Roughing, Interference, Too Many Men, Hooking, Roughing, Cross Checking, Interference, Roughing. 40 minutes in penalties shared by the two teams.
But the real story of the game isn’t the power plays and penalty kills, it’s the goal-tending: all 4 of them.
“Part-Time” Peter got stuck in traffic on the way to the rink leaving the Grinders scrambling. “5 minutes away,” he says but doesn’t show up until the puck has dropped. Then he has to register, then he has to get dressed. WHat’s a team to do? Step Up , is what you do and Ashworth and Nickason did just that. As Nickason raced down the hall to go borrow goalie gear from the pro-shop , Ashworth played as 6th man hung back in the goal crease ready to take on any shot. Sure he had a full cage on, but other than that he was unprotected.
The Grinders held off the Warthogs for the first 3 minutes until Nickason arrived on the scene and placed himself in goal with the rented equipment. Grinders made it through the first period 0-0, just in time for “Part-Time” to join the game. No warm-up, a wee flustered, very rushed… just how good could he play?
Damn Good! Grinders come away with a 2-0 victory, potting 2 goals in the second period from Tidy and Tanchak.
The 5 Point Warthogs started to express their frustration and in typical Grinders style we echoed their behaviour (Santa was having a grumpy day) In fact Santa had 2 penalties, Houghton had two penalties and Triggs had 2 penalties. However, both times, Triggs took someone with him as is usually the case.
Next game Tuesday 9:00pm vs the Puckers!
