There's no question that I'm a genius head coach in tournament play. One need only look at the banner hanging over the
toilet for proof of that. However, my critics like to point out that I've never proven myself in the regular season. Saturday
the Ventura Mariners Bantam Killer Bees took on the Los Angeles Jr. Kings of El Segundo and it marked my SCAHA regular season
head coaching debut. Could I finally silence the nay-sayers or would the tabloids have a field day with me?
All
kidding aside, when Sergey handed the team over to me I kind of felt like he was giving me the keys to his exotic Italian
sports car. I was nervous as heck because I didn't want to scratch or dent the thing. He spent all year building theses guys
into an awesome hockey playing machine and they had an undefeated season going on. To compound my nervousness, Zach, Conrado,
and Patrick were all under the weather and Blake had a hurt wrist-arm. I've never run a bench by myself before and I begged
the kids to make things easy on me. I just wanted to roll the lines and walk off the ice with a decisive victory.
Things
certainly started off shaky with unforced turnovers and too much time in our defensive zone. My worry turned into mild panic.
Thankfully, the boys got it going on. Patrick Gibson made a nice chip pass over a couple of Jr. King sticks right to AJ Zavitz.
The Swiss/Canadian winger took it hard to the net. Brian Zacchia had a whack at it and Conrado Gesauldi was there to clean
up the garbage. The Mariners had the first goal and momentum was on their side. A few minutes later, Tyler Serianne and Niko
Utash were playing catch behind the net when they got the puck to a heavily covered Killian Anderson. In ninja-like fashion,
Killian fought through the checks and jammed it in to extend the lead. Things were looking good.
The
second period saw the Jr. Kings come roaring back. Too much spectating on the Mariners part led to way too much defending
and a pair of goals against. The lone bright spot in the middle frame came from, surprisingly enough, the third line. EJ Frank
was playing aggressive and moving his feet the whole time. Josh Donovan was weaving through defenders and getting rubber on
net. Shawn Wentzle got to the crease and had several glorious chances. I was really proud of the third unit. Though they didn't
score, they played their best game of the season.
Defensively, we had a real weird game. It was either
black or white. They either did something awesome or something horrible. Zach Marshall delivered a devastating hip check.
Then he stood there and watched as the kid he annihilated got up, picked up the puck and walked in for a shot. One shift Brad
Kriegel was tripping over his own skates then the next he was pinching off off the play at the boards to perfection. Tom Dobrokhot
would back in all the way to the goalie, giving up a great chance, then he'd turn around and make a perfect stretch pass to
spring an odd-man rush. Blake and Patrick were up and down the entire game. Only Luke Tickle turned in a solid three-period
defensive effort, marred slightly by his hilarious roughing penalty. If I had any hair, I would have pulled it all out.
We
were tied at two apiece heading into the final period. Up until that point I had been rolling the lines and I told the boys
that the bench was going to get short if they didn't come out strong. And they did...kind of. Here's what the score-sheet
says: Blake Burlew scored on a pass from Luke. What actually happened is line number one had some crazy pressure going
on. The puck came out to the point and Blake ripped a beauty. Someone, and I don't know who, made a perfect deflection to
redirect the puck into the net. Let's give it to Brian Z. and keep the B theme going by giving back-up goalie Brian Felt the
secondary assist. The boys were playing hard, but the pesky Jr. Kings came right back and tied the game at threes.
I
was getting ready to tighten things up when Conrado scored his second goal from a nice Brian Z. tip. Then, Killian got his
second goal when he one-timed a precision Niko centering pass. Could I finally relax? The boys seemed like they had it going
on. They continued the pressure and the game was in hand. Or was it? With under two minutes to play, the JR. Kings scored
a goal that never should have been. I took a hit off of AJ's inhaler to keep from hyperventilating. With a slim one-goal margin
the team really had to dig in. Thankfully, they kept the JK surge at bay and won 5-4. Goalie Timur Katsnelson was good enough,
making 16 saves. It was a thrilling game to everyone but me, but it was a win.
The boys found a way
to get the victory. I somehow think they were just messing with me. They wanted to see if they could give me a massive coronary.
So, I give this team back to Sergey basically unscathed. There's a few scratches on it, but I know a guy who can buff them
out.
Mini-Miracle
How freakin' awesome was that USA/Canada game? I told AJ if the
Hosers won he'd be running 1000 laps in dry-lands. He got lucky, but Canada did beat the US in curling today, so there will
be some form of pointless retribution.
Fashion Police
Three cheers to Todd for leaving
the purple sequined pimp-wear at home. I think he looked a lot spiffier in the red-white-and-blue anyways.
