Championship Game vs SLJ

Cadavers (3) VS SLJ (1)

Thursday 9/22

Dedham 9:30pm

Coyote Division Championship

7-2 loss

The Dead in Red took to the sheet at the Boch Ice Palace in Dedham last night, not only later than scheduled, but incredibly playing for the division championship despite a less than sparkly 8-7-3 overall record. The 3 seed Cadavers would take on the always difficult SLJ. These guys are all around good with a few standouts as well. They wore a black version of the old Phoenix Coyotes jersey and it should have been an omen that the Blogger caught even before the game began.

Here is your Title Game Zombie Roster

Jay McNamara in Net

D1: George, Bauer

D2: Jeff, Parker

O1: Larry, Sully and Gregson

O2: Baker, Daley and Elliot

O3: Roman, Matvey and Doc Pounds

Team Zombie was enthusiastic despite the delayed start time. Not jumping up and down mind you… but the potty training discussion had an expectant edge to it during the pregame locker room.  As Doc Pounds said not that long ago… “Didn’t we used to talk about hot chicks?” Now… peeing. Sigh.

Anyway… if we were going to win this one it would take a whole bunch of what we brought with us to last week’s game against the Blues. Some scoring, hard shifting, and great overall team play. We got some of that stuff but whatever we did get only lasted so long. I’ll tell you what we did get, and was another terrific performance in net from Jay McNamara who has turned out to be quite a find. Hope we much more of him going forward this winter.

It was clear we had our hands full from the open. Very fast pace and it was all we could do to play them even up and down the ice. Its nice to report that not only were we holding our own in the first 5 minutes but we also generated a few scoring chances.

Just after the 12 minute mark the play would go around the attacking zone due to some excellent work by the Daley, Baker, Elliot line. Mike Daley would zip a pass out to Baker who was open about 15 feet out. Steve ripped a famous slapper that went top shelf and the good guys were up 1-0. Good stuff.

The SLJ (they need a snappy knickname) didn’t take kindly to being down a goal and a whole minute of playing time later they bing bang boomed a great play that left the Red spinning and the game tied at 1.

Things still looked pretty good for the puffing Cads, including two penalties that went our way, but there were no breakthroughs and really we kind of chugged into the first intermission tied.

The Second would see much more of the same grind. I’m happy to say that the Red momentum would continue. No more than 2 minutes in Mike Daley, after an exhausting shift would come to the bench as the play went into our end… not ideal but Mike had to get off… and Sully jumped over the boards. The play was already coming back up the ice and Sully would pick up the loose puck in the neutral zone and charge into the Black end. Jim made a nice move shaking the D and then buried his bid and the Zombies were up a goal again.

Of course, once again SLJ would take all of one exact minute of playing time to put together a play in our end and tie the game at 2. After a few more shifts the game went by the midway point, 8 minutes in the second and we were still in a tie game for the trophy.
Pretty good… the Blogger thinks… all you can ask for the last game of the year really. Just wanted to get that in, given that the momentum was fading, and even though we were in it, the feeling that the game was quickly slipping away would be in full effect by the end of the frame.

At 7 minutes the SLJ would pot another one to take their first lead. Baker would go for a trip after taking down one of their speedsters in a play he had no choice on. Red stood strong on the PK but at the 2 minute mark they would land another one and the period would end 4-2. The fourth was a cheepey… shot along the “baseline” that slipped through a narrow space.

Team Zombie had the heart but not the legs to make it through the third let alone mount a comeback. Black would turn up the heat , like all good teams looking to finish and would score at 14 minutes and again at 12.  Red was just hanging on for the ride at this point but the shifts stayed short and the effort was there for everyone, despite the fact that we couldn’t get anything going.
Sully had another almost breakaway in the third but the defenseman knocked him off his balance and he couldn’t finish the play. There was good work all the way around and really Jay kept it close by making lots of quality stops as the period wore on.

Matvey would tackle a guy coming out of our end at the 5 minute mark and we would play down most of the rest of the way. SLJ would land one last parting shot with one minute left, just to let us know they had this one wrapped up.

So that was how this one would end up. No joy. A good skate, a lot of Zombie Pride in effort and desire. It just wasn’t going to happen.

We even gave them a run in the 4^th period. Sporting 5 coolers we stood out in the warm humid air and sipped a salve to our sorrows. Of course they weren’t f-ing around here either and soon they had a huge cooler hemmoraging beers and a grill going on the back of one of their pickups. The oversized trophy sitting on the edge of the group, closest to us I noticed, a reminder of what they’d done. 

It wasn’t easy to take as it became clear they were going to outlast us in the lot, five coolers or not.


Doc Pounds told Jeff to “let it go” as the victorious scent of Cheeseburgers wafted over our consolation gathering as he muttered curses under his breath, sidelong glancing at the trophy… or maybe the burgers.

Night over. 4^th period lost. Game lost. The Summer of mediocrity appropriately wrapped up with a 8-8-3 overall record.

Last one out turn off the lights… see you in the winter… I mean Monday.