Adding some cushion

Huge win last night for us. Everyone, on both teams, knew that game was going to be a battle. Apparently their coach gave them a lecture before the game about taking penalties, because it was a much different Westfield team than we saw last time we played them.

What I didn't mention was that before the game, I had a killer toothache. Now you're probably thinking, toothache - big deal. It was. I tried to relax and prepare for the game, but the tooth shot a pain upwards towards my temple. It was agonizing, and I didn't know how I was going to get through the game. I spoke briefly to my trainer (who is the savior of our team), but she had no remedy for this obstacle. I hoped that it would get numb throughout the game, but it didn't.

Our first shift was about 3 minutes into the game. We had an offensive-zone faceoff, and I set up on the right side. My job as a winger on that side is to cut through to their forwards who try to bust through to our player with the puck. Tucker won the faceoff back perfectly to our defenseman Dolan. I cut perfectly through their players, blocking two of them from getting through, and even knocked a stick out of their hands on the way through. I then made my way to the front of the net to provide a screen on the goalie. Dolan's shot made it all the way through to the goalie who probably couldn't see it coming. Bang. 1-0 Falcons.

In between periods, I had to ice the side of my face. The pain was starting to get worse. My toothache was the epitemy of my life; I always got these little nagging injuries that weren't enough to keep me from playing, but just annoyed the hell out of me and made things difficult.

Pesco made a great play to set up Riggs to make it 2-0 in the 2nd period. We knew they weren't going down without a fight though, and we went to the intermission 2-1. Their goal seemingly gave them some extra energy and momentum. Time for more ice on my mouth.

Quinn made it 3-1 halfway through the third. It was a huge insurance goal, and we were now 10 minutes away from winning this huge game. My line got caught at the end of a long shift, and we got hemmed in the zone. I skated after their defenseman and he knew a hit was coming. He dumped the puck in quickly and quickly raised his stick to cross-check me in the face. It lifted my cage up, and got me right in the sore-side of my mouth. I spit out a few peices of a tooth, and he headed to the penalty box for 2 minutes.

Although there were a few mix-ups near the end, we ending up holding them off and won 3-1. Everyone was pretty happy, besides two of our players who got into a shouting match about some plays that had happened. In such a high-intensity game, everyone was on edge. Our coach got a little mad because of this, and a fan that was stationed nearby took the brunt of it.

I got to celebrate this victory by sitting in the trainer's office, getting my tooth looked at. It turned out that half of my wisdom tooth was gone, and the root was exposed. Great.

I went to dinner with my parents after the game, and then headed to CVS to pick up my prescription. I probably won't be able to see a dentist until after Monday. God I hate dentists.

I am now getting ready for practice, as we prepare for our game tomorrow. It's senior night, and our last home game. I am going to attempt to soldier on through the pain. We shall see.

"4 Point game" tonight vs. Westfield

Tonight is probably the biggest game of the season. We are currently in first place, one point ahead of Westfield State. Therefor, it is a four-point swing for whoever wins. We will either be up 3 points on them if we win, or will be down 1 point if we lose.

It's been a long day for me already. I have been up since 7 AM, went to work for a while, went to my 2 classes, quick lunch, and now I am back at my desk at work. Thats the norm for my Thursday game-day routine. By the time I get home I will only have about an hour to prepare before I go to the rink. Not the ideal way to get ready for a big game, but thats life.

There's something about Westfield's team that I just despise. They have an aura about them that just rubs me the wrong way. The last game we played against them was a circus. They had two 5-minute major penalties for slashing which got two of their players ejected. We ended up winning 8-4 in a game that barely resembled hockey. Hell... I even got a few power-play shifts that game, go figure.

I will be playing tonight on the fourth line with my usual linemates; Canter and Callen. I really feel like us three are a great combo. We combined for two goals last game, including my third goal of the season. It really is imperative that we win tonight. I haven't been this nervous for a game in a while.

The game is at 7PM tonight in Fitchburg. Should be a noisy crowd. It should have a playoff-esque feel to it for sure.

An Introduction

Starting tomorrow I will be posting daily (hopefully) on whats going on with the team and me, personally. This year in itself has already been a crazy ride, so I thought it would be nice to take along some passengers with me.

It just so happens that this first post comes the night before probably the biggest game of the season. We are playing our divisional rivals; Westfield State. They sit only 1 point behind us for first place in our division. Since I set this whole thing up tonight, I'll wait to give you the first real post tomorrow before the game.

In the meantime, please read the pages on the right side of the page entitled "Team background" and "Personal Background". These two pages will give you insight on this season, as well as things that have happened to me over my hockey career. This hopefully will also give you some more incentive to follow along as the rest of the season unfolds.