Tacoma Twin Rinks – South Rink – May 2, 2023
Muscle Hamsters vs. Polar Bears 5 – 1
Game Stats: https://stats.ttr.timetoscore.com//oss-scoresheet?game_id=28279&mode=display
Video Link: https://youtu.be/Ee9f-NLllGs
Goals at: 13:15, 29:26, ??, 49:10, 1:00:33

Sorry this blog has been so quiet, folks. The Spring Thaw tournament took a lot out of me (physically and time/responsibilities), and I just couldn’t catch up.

But now, it’s playoffs time! We’re back, and with a FULL BENCH, including all of our top points leaders. We welcomed back Nico and Mason, giving us our “power line” including Quaid. Nico provided all the goals we needed to win with his hat trick, but Todd and Kevin (SH) added on a couple just to seal the deal.

You would think that adding back in players we haven’t seen for a while would mean we were a bit disjointed, but the flow throughout the game was really fantastic. Great passing and communication led to us dominating posession of the puck, limiting the ‘Bears to only 13 shots on goal (sorry you were bored, Shae, we know you’re more used to SOG totals in the 40s).

Yet it wasn’t a blow-out early. The Polar Bears kept it tight for a while, tying up the game almost mid-way through the second when Manny got tired of passing and just took it in himself for a pretty forehand-backhand goal that bounced in off the left post. It wasn’t until the third that we were really able to get the puck into the net.

The Bears’ goalie was pretty strong all night, with lots of our shots that seemed a sure thing being denied entry. He faced 33 shots from us, and only let 5 past. It was hard to see from the far bench, but I think I even saw a scorpion save on one of them!

Overall, everyone on our team stepped it up for the playoffs. We kept our shifts relatively short, so we were able to play hard while we were out on the ice. Shae was a brick wall as usual. Our defense did a great job of boxing out the attack in our defensive zone, as well as holding the offensive zone and contributing quite a few SOG. Laurel got a few quality shots on goal, Chelsie played center for a while!

In the locker room, Sanguinet was awarded to Nico for his hatty. He gave us a rousing MVP speech, extolling us to play the same game tonight and finish off the series.

P.S. LiveBarn cut out for a while, so we missed out on Nico’s third goal, but it came back just in time to catch the “celly” for Todd’s goal (standing there asking, “Did it go in?”).