Suds fall in Championship to Shock

Schlitz 3-1 vs Shock 3-0
Tuesday September 29
UMass Boston 8:10pm

Championship Game Islanders Division

Shock 2
Schlitz 1

Season over.


The Schlitz, courtesy of a wild and improbable win on Monday night, gained a berth inn last night’s Championship Game against the Shock at the Prison By the Bay. The Shock, a much improved group showed up in legion, eighteen guys for the much anticipated tilt that could bring them their first division championship as a club

The Schiltz were not so thick in numbers. The crew from the Monday night spectacle was thinned by not only injury (Howard and his patella) but from the rest of life’s commitments that left the Gold with only 9 skaters out of the ENTIRE ROSTER that could conceivably make the game. Poor Neil Shah, who took an earlier flight back to town to make the game, had never played at Umalcatraz and spent some confused time int the parking lot before making the game. He didn’t get to the bench, to make 9, until the first period was in its final minutes.

That’s right. Championship Game, everything on the line, and the Golden Beercans skated a hearty and heady 8 players to battle the Shock Juggernaut. They had guys falling off the bench they had so many. It was noted that even though they had so many, the D that really mattered for them, Number 43, and 53 seemed to spend every other shift on the ice, at the very least. Also interesting to the Blogger is that again, 43 doesn’t appear on the roster on the scoresheet, just like when the Cads played these guys in the first round. Just interesting is all I’m sayin.

Lets get back to the hearty few that made it happen for the Gold.
Matty CEO BMF Kilroy in the pipes
D: George, Mark, and Jeff
O1: Nelson, Larry, Steve
O2: KenMitch, Neil, and Kevin Parker

Just for reference sake friends let me pass these items along. Mark Reynolds changed work travel plans to be able to play. Neil changed work travel plans so he could be back in time for the game. Kilroy cancelled a planned evening with his wife’s friends. Jeff scrambled for a sitter and worked it out (not to much success) with the Mrs. to make it, despite her plans. We only had 9 guys for a game that… well, meant quite a bit. To use a cliche we’ve heard before… I’m not bitchin’… I’m just sayin’.

That being said. The Gold played great against the well rested Shock. Not quite as many sparkling moments as the night before, but really there were long periods of time that the Beercans have every right to be very proud of.
We played smart, and tough and kept the Shock from just inundating our end. A major part of the Shock’s success has been their very young, very talented goalkeeper and he would serve his roll very well keeping the puck out of the net on many occasions when it seemed impossible for him to do so. He had just a sick game. Larry was flat out robbed on the doorstep a minimum of two times during the night. Parker, Nelson, Jeff all would have solid chances that somehow he would end up with.

The first period was a sort of controlled chaos on the Gold bench, just trying to make some changes and not let anyone get too tired until Neil could get dressed. The game was scoreless for a long time. Ken Goldenberg would take the game’s first penalty, a rough(thug), and was followed by George not too long after for a check. The Gold did a nice job keeping the Shock at bay and keeping it even.

The Shock would get the inevitable break and pop one home past Matt before the first would end. This goal was punctuated by 52 barrelling like a train through the slot, making his shot (wicked) and smashing through Mark Reynolds just for good measure as it went in.

The Gold didn’t back down and our typical 2^nd period let down wasn’t as dramatic as it could have been. There was plenty of courage and effort in the tired faces on the Beercan bench, but everyone played strong and stuck with the game and kept it tight. The Shock would extend their lead when one of their faster forwards rushed up the left side staying outside of Jeff who was backtracking (slowly) as the play came into our zone. Their guy stayed outside and then fired a laser that found the top left corner over Matt’s shoulder. Just for reference sake the dude was on the move and below and outside the faceoff dot in our end. A good shot for sure. Despite being down 2 the Gold continued to grind. They kept generating chances against the goalie that would not be beaten

The third period saw the Gold gain some as they crawled and clawed their way back into the game. Nelson and Larry would hook up on a classic hard work goal, keeping the play in the zone Larry swung around the back of the net and hit Nelson who was parked out front and he banged it home. The goalie had no chance at all and was the first time we got him really moving and out of position all night. So down just one the Gold was bearing down and gaining some momentum as the minutes ticked away.

With just under 5 minutes to play the Zeebras would finally give the Blue a whistle, and it turned out to be a 2-fer. The Gold were handed a 5-3 power play and the Shock took their time out so the big guys could get their wind and stay on the ice.
Unfortunately this is where things caught up to the Beercans and things started falling apart. The Gold got a wicked shot right away but then could hardly muster another shot as the penalty time melted away along with the golden opportunity we’d been handed. The penalty over, the Shock scrambling the Gold would again get some excellent chances. Jeff pinched and took a nice shot from no more than say 8 feet. Not only does the Keeper make the stop, but Ken Goldenberg who was perfectly positioned on the doorstep whacked at the loose puck and it went under his pads. Kenny would whack at it again, Jeff was sure the puck was in… but the whistle blew… and there was the puck, safe and sound, just outside the line. No dice. It just wasn’t going to happen against this keeper. This was his night.

The Gold would pull Matt with just under a minute and that only resulted in a Too Many Men penalty as Jeff went back out on the ice when Matt got on the bench. He hadn’t looked to see that someone else had already gone.
The last 30 seconds would pass without event, even with the empty net there was no blood as time expired and the Shock began the celebration.

The trophy was handed to the Shock along with some very nice Royal Blue shirts as is the standard Division Championship Booty. Good for them. A good match, and only a slightly bitter defeat for the Schlitz who really came very close to forcing just one more game. It just wasn’t to be this year.

Kudos to Larry for sponsoring the fourth period with ice cold Bud Lites and everyone, all 9 of us nursed our wounds and toasted the now completed season in the parking lot.

It was a nice playoff run for what was really a kind of mediocre season.

Someday when the Schlidaveur International Statistics Division is reconstituted we’ll get a handle on how things stacked up.
For now, its over. That big thump you just heard is the book closing on the summer of 2009.

See you next week when the winter season starts.