The Summer 2010 season began on Wednesday night witha classic 'daveurs matchup and postgame that kicked things off in style. Lizzy and Team Dead would earn a tough 2-0 shutout shutdown of the Golden Beercans that would see lots of hard work, (and wheezing), but not much scoring.
The season opening rosters would include some new faces, and a bunch of old ones, as Schlidaveur International would welcome Eric Bauer and Jason Seaver to the ranks of our merry band of skaters. Who knows what their impressions were halfway through this slow-speed slugfest, but I’m pretty sure that when they left the parking lot they felt indoctrinated into what it means to play with the ‘daveurs… but more on that later.
The old faces included appearances by Matt Kilroy, yes you read that correctly, the CEOBMF 
is back, and skated out even, and Brian “long arm of the law… now surgically repaired” Carey who also skated out. Kevin Parker would also be returning from surgery as well, and it was great to see all of you guys back in the game.
This game had a bit of bigness to it right from the start, being first game of the season, a ‘davuer, new faces and old, and a warm summer night with the promise of beer and pizza, really all the elements were in play. You could feel it. Ok before the blogger gets lost…Here’s your game rosters
Cadavers
Lizzy “The GrimKeeper” in the pipes
D: Daley, Valenti, DWH, and Kilroy
O1: Capraro, Nelson, and Baker
O2: Eric Bauer, Elliot, and Gregson
Schlitz
Sully in net
D: Sgt. George, Reynolds, Brian Carey
O1: Jason Seaver, Neil and Scott
O2: Jeff, Roman and Parker
So the game would get underway and right off the Gold were a bit back on their heels. The Gold bench didn’t quite fill out right away as they would skate with 8 for a while before Parker would arrive five minutes into the period. The Red was definitely ready to play and immediately took the game to the Gold pressing the play in the Suds end and giving Sully some shots early on.
It wasn’t long in when the Gold would get caught in the neutral zone and Steve Baker would make a great play and spring a breakaway with Capraro. A slick pass and Pete buried the shot for the 1-0 lead at just the three minute mark. It was clear the Suds had their hands full, as it was no more than another 2 minutes later when Baker would take the puck and making some space for himself would unleash a nice shot that made the game 2-0.
Aside from getting Sgt. George to an early boiling point… you could tell as he started bubbling out condemnations and ”guys we gottas…” the Gold seemed to hold themselves together a bit and tried to match the intensity from the Cads to try and settle things down. This was mostly accomplished but the Red would get a handfull of other chances as the period went on. Sully did a great job keeping the suds in the game, for the rest of the way really.
The end of the first saw another bubbleover by Sgt. George who seemed to have plenty of wind for blowing hard at the Gold bench while the rest of us caught our breath. The Gold would keep after it, and had their chances but they were much fewer than the Zomies over the next two periods.
The Big Red defence that included Marc Dan and Mike with regular brief appearances by Kilroy, played formidably all night long, taking away chances, and setting the play down when needed. They were just plain tough to get around. The Gold didn’t get large numbers of quality chances, and when they did Lizzy was there and made the play. Lizzy was looking like her namesake, decked out in all black she stood a bit taller as she turned aside everything that came near her, reaping the shots and collecting loose pucks.
The Gold for their part couldn’t get any consistent pressure going in the Red end, and despite a handfull of breakaway chances for Jeff they couldn’t come up with anything over then next two periods. Jeff would clank one off the post in the first, Lizzy would squash the next shot, and the third breakaway, late in the game Jeff just faked himself out, trying to make a pathetic backhand and plowed himself right into the net instead of the puck. He got up muttering something about how they all now knew why he usually played D… or something like that.
Seaver, Roman and Neil had little other luck. Lots of just missed passes and bouncing pucks. Mid range shots were gobbled up by Lizzy and the Defense and trips were not plenty in to their end to begin with. Great work byt the Red all the way around.
Mark Reynolds would take the game’s only penalty in the second for interferece but the powerplay was a wash.
The Beercans would pull Sully for the final minute but again no blood on the odd man situation. The Red celebrated the first win of the year and a nice shutout and the teams adjourned to the locker-rooms and then the parking lot for the fourth period.
True to the special feeling of the night, the lot did not 
disappoint. Thanks in major part the CEO who provided Zorba’s Pizza (like seven of them) and icy cold Limeys for all to enjoy. All did enjoy as the weather was downright summer-like in the sixties under the stars. The teams were joined by Scott’s wife, Carlotta Pounds and Neil’s girlfriend Sarah and it was great to have both of them with us. Scott (true gentleman that he is) grabbed the seat from the back of his mini-van for Sarah to sit on. She was with cast, recovering from knee surgery. Sarah actually has a human cadaver ligament in her new knee so she has now been confirmed and Official (maybe the most official) Cadaveur by the organization. Welcome!
The Pizzas were devoured, the Limeys and Coronas slurped and smiles were plenty. The assembled ‘davuers basked in the start of summer hockey and it was pointed out by Roman that just a week ago the Cads were standing in the same parking lot and the feeling was totally different. A week ago it was chilly and the guys sulked around a few beers and felt bad about the whuppin just put on us in the dampness.
This week it was all good, even for the guys that got shutout, by the end of the night. Summer was here. The beer was cold and the pizza delicious. Good friends and teammates doing what we do, having a good skate and then a nice hang afterward. Welcome to the summer season. I have a feeling its going to be good.
Game Stars
3rd Star: Big Red D. DWH, Mike Daley, Marc Valenti, and Matty Kilroy. Great work all night.
2nd Star: Steve Baker. A two point night for the victors. Nice work all around.
1st Star: The dark keeper of the crease. Lizzy for a season opening shutout. Nice job.
Nice job to everyone who came out. That was a good way to start off the season.
Cadavers (14) vs Schlitz (15)
