A little joy in Mudville this weekend. Owen played four hockey games over the weekend, winning two and scoring the opening goal in the first game. Eli came off another loss.
E's game was the first he's played this indoor season where a kid on the opposing side was as tall as he was. E probably had 25 lbs on the kid. The other kid tried to establish dominance on E but wasn't having any luck. There was a lot of pushing and shoving between the two of them until the ref stopped play and spoke with both coaches. What E's coach told me after the game was that the ref told both coaches not to have the two kids cover each other. The ref has covered all of E's games and told the opposing coach that all his kid will accomplish is making E mad and it won't end up well for him. The opposing coach said his kid can handle himself. The ref said, no, he can't. Because E has two black belts and has competed internationally. When E has had enough, your kid will be carried off. So they got separated.
E ended up with a blue card later and his coach just had him sit out the rest of the game. E was hot because the ref wasn't calling fouls on the other team as often as he called fouls on E's team. Most were against E. E had had enough and took down a different kid who'd been shoving E and getting away with it. With a well placed elbow to the head.
After the game, we asked E why the elbow to the head. He said he used his shoulder. Both myself and the other grandfather answered, "Bullshit", in unison.
O's games had high and low points. Like I mentioned, O scored the first goal in the first of four games. They did lose that one 3-2, but the teams' were evenly matched. The winning goal happened when O's goalie lost his stick and couldn't control the puck.
The second game they won 5-2. They were tied 2-2 at the start of the third period but exploded for three unanswered goals. What happened after the second goal kind of surprised everyone. One of the goalies' teammates skated up to the said goalie and started wailing on him with punches and his stick. His coach yanked that kid. He was still chewing the kids' ass when the game was over.
Game three was this morning and they won that one 3-1. It was a well played game without much drama. This afternoon's game, OTOH, wow. They lost 4-2. One player on the opposing team earned himself four penalties, which is an automatic game misconduct and ejection. Lucky for him, there was only 45 seconds left in the game so his ass was parked in the penalty box for that time. The third one he got was for slashing one of the girls on O's team. She got a penalty, too, for returning it followed by a shot to the head. There were a lot of missed calls against both teams, though several players on the opposing team did get multiple penalties. Some pretty poor sportsmanship.
So, that's the end of regular hockey season for O. Playoffs start next weekend. O's Mom, and probably O, are hoping for a short playoff series. They are both pretty burned out. I think E has a couple weeks left and he is looking to join a second club. I know Mom is not happy with that.
