The Cuppa Joe Grinders

Bad Grinder habits reared its ugly head last game with the Grinder trademark of giving the opponent a 5-on-3 opportunity to tie the game. But it wasn’t enough to spoil an otherwise fun game.

Ironically thats not a term used very often to describe games. We all love the sport and revel in the opportunity to play, but most games are described in terms such as; good effort, strong play, hard fought, a battle, a tough win, an easy won. But rarely described as fun.

Last game against the All Blacks was fun and I can think of two reasons for this. Style and attitude.

The style of play with both teams was focused on puck movement and skating to the open ice. There was plenty of passing, letting the puck do the work. As a result the game was fast, it was wide open and focused on offense rather than defense.

The attitude, in general, on both teams was positive. This is a fast sport played on ice with sticks. We wear pads for a reason. And in this particular game if there was incidental contact, or clearing a body from the front of the net, or restricting movement along the boards, the players accepted it as part of the game, didn’t whine, and when the whistle blew they skated away. It was decent hockey.

Thank you ALL Blacks for a good game, I hope you feel the same way. Next up: Honeywell Hosers, another fun team to play against, lets hope for a similar style game. And a win.

GAME NOTABLES:
Soft G, or Mr. Schmidt as he’s now known, got a hat-trick and extended his point/game streak to 7.
Shrek also had a 3-point night with a goal and 2 assists with his brand new stick.
Frank got a Grinder hat-trick: one goal, one assist and (at least) one penalty
Santa limited himself to 4 PIMS, at this rate he’ll need at least 2 more games to reach last year’s season total.
The Grinders: short shifts and tons of hustle.