Before I get into tonight's preview, I wanted to bid farewell to a friend. Shane Bast has been a member of the same hockey leagues as me for the past several years. Although I usually played on an opposing team, I did get the opportunity to play with Shane during the Alien-Chops League at Wells Fargo Arena a couple of years ago. Shane was goalie that I have never scored against in the current ABC League at Buccaneer Arena last season, a distinction that carried over to our earlier meeting with his long time team Alien Hockey this year.Shane got married over the weekend and is moving to San Antonio with his new bride. Tonight will be his final game in Des Moines. Sadly we are not playing Alien tonight, so his record shutout against me will stand... Regardless, I wish Shane the best of luck with his new life. It was a pleasuring playing against you, my friend. For more information about Shane, visit Joe Bafia's blog.
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Now that the sentimental crap is out of the way, let's talk hockey!
Last week we faced a largely unknown Puck Hawgs team. Based on last year's team, I predicted a victory; Joe Bafia predicted a major loss. Turns out Mr. Alien was correct as the Hawgs handed us our asses 8-2. Our guys couldn't string together passes worth a damn and our transition game was non-existent. Worst of all, nobody was parked on the crease which caused us to pass up many legitimate scoring opportunities. I blew a great chance on a penalty shot opportunity.
Tonight we play Cup O Kryptonite for the second time. Last time we met was on a Sunday afternoon where Cup beat us 5-2. Cup is a strong team, and is still highly favored to repeat (especially with Bast's departure from Alien). Current, Paoli, and Kundel are constant scoring threats while Schneiders, Gugat, Dean, and Hill might be the strongest defensive corp in the league.
Complicating our problems is our goalie situation. Todd Daniels injured his MCL early in last week's game, which resulted in Funky Pickle goalie Tony Hansen subbing in the third period. At this point I do not know the extent of Todd's injuries or if he will be playing with us tonight. With our goalie situation up in the air against a strong team, I am predicting a loss tonight. Hopefully we can pull ourselves together and shock Cup. I will be skating my heart out either way.
