| Opponent: JFC Result: Lost 1 - 3
Our second matching found
us up against the first place JFC team. This was
basically the reincarnation of the young and skilled
(and ROUGH!) skaters from the 2000 Season IceMen.
The IceMen had split in 2001 into two teams - the lean
mean JFC team and the older/steadier IceMen. [Rumor
has it that the best players rotate back and forth
depending on schedule (and who's watching!)]
JFC had beaten the Knights
4-1 during the season in what was actually a hard fought
and close game. This time the Knights promised to
be ready - AND WE WERE!!!!
The Knights came ready to
play - with a full roster - no ringers - just the same
Friday Knights that had been the champions in the Spring
of 2000 (of course minus one very small detail - Marty
Pavelich ... but we vowed to win one for Marty!). The
Knights and JFC both started the game cautiously - the
game was pretty much back and forth for most of the first
few shifts - but Pat Granowicz decided to change all that
by taking a loose puck, putting on a few moves and
letting one rip! His shot found the net and the Knights
were up 1-0 for the rest of the first period.
By the second period, JFC
was starting to get frustrated and were starting to play
a little rough ... out of frustration a JFC
defenseman teed up a high slapper from the red line a
Phil quickly and easily fielded the shot with his glove
hand - but as luck would have it - BAD LUCK, the puck
slipped out of the glove and into the goal. That
tied it up 1-1.For the rest of the period JFC tried
taking shot after shot - but Phil stood tall in response
- defending the 1-1 tie.
It was the third
period that would tell the tale for the Knights - here
they were, tied 1-1 with the first place team and keeping
them pretty much at bay ... all it would take would be one of Benninger's
hustle goals or one of Dharte's slappers or one of the
Production Line's patented 3-on-2-stuffs or one of Krause's
razzle-dazzles or maybe a Kinlin cannon or a Boice "trick
shot" ... heck - we would've settle for one of
Scotty's goalie-screened dribblers! Anything to get the
lead and break the JFC spirit as it almost was in the
first period.
But that goal never came -
instead JFC got two quick goals at 10:54 and 7:00 in the
thired period and the Knights found themselves needing
three goals in six minutes to stay alive in the playoffs.
The game took a decided
turn for the worst when strapping defenseman and all
around good-guy Tommy Partain lost his tooth on a helmet
to face encounter in the corner - miraculously he found
the tooth and kept on playing without so much as an
icepack! (Tommy's tooth gets the game star - even in the
loss!). Photo's to follow!
With Tommy showing this
much heart, the Knights were inspired, dug deeper and
took it to the next level - the pressure was on! JFC
found themselves reeling back from wave after wave of
fresh legs and rested attackers - the Knights were
changing on a blistering 25-35 seconds per shift basis
and were starting to get the upper hand. A JFC roughing
penalty followed by a JFC hooking penalty a few seconds
later and the JFC team was shorthanded AND SCRAMBLING!
JFC took it up to the next level - but were also playing
extra ROUGH! Unfortuneately for them they picked the
wrong team to play rough with. The Production Line
was on the power play and dominating play when at 4:11
out of utter frustration, a JFC defenseman tried to
tackle Mike Macaskill and Mike didn't take it sitting
down. When Mike pushed off the defenseman and went for
the puck - the JFC player started swinging with
frustration and a scuffle ensured ... luckily assistant
coach McDonald was right on top of the play to come to
Mike's defense - but did so with a little too much "gusto"
for the ref's liking and within a second or two a
full brawl erupted and the gloves and the helmets were
flying .... as Pete and Mike and the JFC defenseman were
being assigned game misconducts - Pete thought it would
be a good time to comment on the intellgience and
officiating skills of the referees and what Pete thought
about them - this gave Pete game misconduct number 2 ...
with this new information, Pete thought it might be a
sensible time to inquire about the potential male-male
sexual encounters between the linesman and the
entire JFC team that Pete was sure was scheduled for
after the game in the JFC locker room. Upon this
line of questioning, Pete found the linesman and the
referee BOTH signaling Pete to the locker room and
assigning him yet another game misconduct. Pete ended up
with 4 game misconducts and the game's last 4 minutes ran
out with the officials trying to fit all of the penalties
on the scoresheet (THEY COULDN'T!) and figure out who got
which game misconducts. Not a pretty way to be eliminated
from the playoff finals - but certainly colorful! Plus -
the Knights learned that if they are ever ahead in a
closely contested game and find them selves with their
backs to the wall - they can simple start a fight to use
up the last 4 or 5 minutes of the game!
Well - all we can say is :
"Just wait until next year!" In the mean time,
there's one last grudge match left with the IceMen to end
the season and of course we'll have to practice extra
hard from Sep-2001 thru March-2002 to come back and re-take
the Troy Cup!
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