Grinders looked organized, hustled, forechecked, and kept the shifts to 1/2 the length of the All Blacks in a 6-0 trounce. In their defense, they only had 10 players and their D-men were slow, but they did have their most predominant players out there as well with Keenlyside, Fraser and Zaragoza.
Goats stepped up and got his 1st shut-out of the season stopping ALL 7 SHOTS. Thats right, the Grinders held another team to only 7 shots. We caught Goats checking the crest on his jersey several times throughout the game as if to double check what team he was actually playing on.
The first practice in over 2 years seemed to have a positive effect on the play. The breakouts were crisp , the puck flowed and the All Blacks had difficulty maintaining any sustained pressure. Goats’ head really went for a spin when he once heard a Grinder D-Man shout “Set It Up” from behind the net and the forward line zipped into position to execute a picture perfect break-out.
Too many people had strong games, making it impossible to recount all efforts 2 days later, but some memorable players include; Father Williams on the back line with the poise and hockey sense that we all wish we had; Tidy with his usual solid no-nonsense performance, Bob with his first point of the season after a strong effort in the corners to free the puck out to the middle, Jason Clarke with the hard work ethic and heads-up mid-ice pass to free Tanchak on his 2nd goal of the game, and of course Tanchak with the hat trick! “Tanner” matched his 06/07 season goal output on the first night of the 07/08 season!
The next game is on the 13th versus Spoolmak! Can the Grinders keep the momentum going? Will they realize it came out of hard work and smart play, or will they get cocky and actually think they’re good? Time will tell.
