Game 9. vs Madison Meteorites (H) (N)

The Shell (Madison, Wisconsin)

In the tradition of all the great player/coaches, our own Thunder Road ditched her beloved NY Giants hat for a hockey helmet and skated with the Lightning as they took on the top division Madison Meteorites.  It was a rousing sight, but there was a real part of me that felt for the other team.  In my playing days (not over yet, knock on wood) we'd always mark the player with the mis-matched jersey.  "Watch out for number 11," they'd say, pointing out the player with the practice jersey with a number 11 made out with masking tape lazily taking slapshots from the blue line. 

Since this was a non-league game the results did not matter in the WCHL standings.  But you would not have known that if you were witnessing the game.  It's a sports maxim that you rise to the level of your competition.  And so it was.  Never had I seen the Lightning skate so fast and so determined as this morning. 

Yet late in the first, they found themselves in a 2-0 hole, victimized by the garbagiest of garbage goals, the result of the Bourbon Wall having gave up some juicy rebounds and the doggedness of the red division Meteorites.  Check out how ATM (#11 for the Meteorites) unlocks herself from MJ's usually top-notch defense.



A1 showed off her natural instincts, actually making two saves and nearly making a third with a stick poke.  As many Lightning insiders know, A1 used to be in the Union.  (And you know what they say: "Once in the Union, always in the Union.  That is, until your significant other convinces you to sell your damned stinky pads that are takin' up all the closet space and don't even think about it puttin' it in the space above the garage cuz I'm convertin' it into a yoga studio.")



But then the Bourbon Wall clamped down.  Clamped down hard.  Here's a few saves, including one from the opposing netminder, Warren Peas (!):


In the waning seconds of the first period, Hlin scored off a feed from Thunder Road.  Then the Lightning tied it up in the opening moments of the second.  Here's Thunder Road unassisted:



Later, Hlin scored the go ahead, and then Gloster* (nee Deren, nee Mama Jet) gave them a 2-goal lead, taking a backhand feed from Coach Road and scoring on her signature one-timer from the slot, five-holing poor Warren Peas.  Just like she does in practice.




All smiles for the team photo afterwards:

lying down: A1; kneeling: Amanita, Gloster, The Bearcat, Nicole's Friend
standing: Bourbon Wall, Snutch, Vapo Rub, MJ, Coach Thunder Road, Vito, Hlin, Purify, Warren Peas
missing: Black Locust, Timbers

Notes:  The game marked the first win in the young coaching career of Thunder Road's little sister, Hungry Heart.  The Green Bay Packers also won.  The game puck goes to Thunder Road who had 2 assists, 1 goal, a few sparks.  And all hats go off to Purify, who had her contract bought out by the Belfast Hockey Maidens in the N. Ireland league.  She'll be bringing some of that Madison Lightning spirit to the Irish Sea. 

Purify's last shift

* Gloster neatly combines experimental (the word behind Deren (see Maya Deren)) and jet. 

Updated odds on Meteorites v. Lightning

Vegas has changed the odds on this Sunday's matchup between the Meteorites and the Lightning, the what WCHL-fans are calling The Battle For the Skies.  Much like the Battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe, I think the winning team actually gets to take home the sky. 

Anyway, the odds:

Madison Meteorites +2 -140
Madison Lightning -2 +150

I suspect it's not because Vito just got her skates sharpened at Hartmeyer tonight.

Game 8. Brew City Blades (A) (L)

[Due to the Scrabble-laden post of Game 7's review, this post has no Scrabble content.]

Game 8. Brew City Blades Blue

The Pettit Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Ah, the Petit Center, site of my home/away games when I was the net minder for The St. Pats.  I checked how the old boys were doing this season and was not too surprised that they were pretty much how I had left them, just under .500.  "Leave the campsite as you left it."  I try to follow that motto at all times.

The Pettit was abuzz with activity: kids from 1 to 92 speed skating, folks in shorts jogging on the outer ring (having paid $7 for the privilege), kids selling Krispy Kreme donuts and hot chocolate to raise money for their speed skating team, a guy shooting off the starter's gun (and clearly getting off on it) to, well, start races.  General mayhem. 

I bought a donut and went to watch the Lightning play the Brew City Blades Blue, ready to sit back and enjoy the carnage.  The Lightning had shutout the Blades 8-0 a month ago.

But I did not witness hockey carnage.  I did not witness a much-hoped for Amanita Ovechtrick (definition: 9 consecutive scores in an athletic competition).  I witnessed the unwitness-able: The Lightning were held scoreless in the first period!  Sure the team was missing Snutch, MJ, The Bearcat, and Deren, but to not score in the first period?  Unheard of!

Props should be given to the oft-beleaguered Brew City Blades goaltender, who was making some Original Six style saves. 

But the wall came crumbling down in the 2nd period.  The line of Nicole's Friend and Vito, centered by Amanita came through with two quick goals.  The first scored by the opportunistic Vito, who top-shelved a rebound from a hard shot by Nicole's Friend.  This was rise-out-of-your-seat stuff!  It was then that I decided to put down that donut and take out my video camera to hopefully get some action.   This is what I got:



Afterwards, Vito, Timbers, The Scoot, and I went to Corazon Cafe to get some Mexican grub in Riverwest, my old stomping grounds.  During the car ride over, I told Vito that she was going to get the game puck.  She protested, saying that it belonged to Nicole's Friend, who also had two goals and assisted for at least one of the other goals.  But her protests fell on ears deafened by love and desperation.  "Take the game puck, Vito!  It isn't often you get a 2-goal game." 

Puck taken.

Notes: Next Sunday, the 8-0 Lightning face the Madison Meteorites of the Red Division.  That's the top division in the WCHL.  It'll be the Lightning's first major test of the season.  Vegas currently has the puck line at a remarkable Madison Meteorites -1.5 +120 / Madison Lightning +1.5 / -130, and that's on the rumor that The Bourbon Wall is going to be in net for the Lightning.  The over/under, by the way, is 5.5.  Call your bookies!  This is going to be a hot one.

Game 7. Green Bay Dragons (H) (L)

Game 7. 

Blooming Grove Town Hall, Town of Blooming Grove, Wisconsin

There's not many things in life that would make The View From the Clouds miss attending a Madison Lightning hockey game, but a chance to spend $25 to hang out with these folk is one of them:

One of these Scrabble Sharks actually played the word YAKITORI on me

Yes, these are the people that made up the top division of the Madison "Winter" Scrabble Tournament, from Verona's Dastard Deltiologist to Chicago's B#*ch B#*ch Bingo.  Foremost among them is Magellan, the number one seed in a field populated by proven experts and past National Champions.  Hell, The One Circa 1981 represented the United States in Poland in last year's World's.

I was the 6th seed and, over a span of 8 games, I was expected to win "3.4" games.  Unfortunately, I won less.  I mean, it is a bit intimidating playing on a board like this:

In Scrabble's hey-day, the tourney directors gave the champions of each division a personalized board

But the day was not a total loss: The Lightning dispatched the Green Bay Dragons 8-0.  I learned this while talking to Vito over the phone after the game.  A bunch of the players were at the watering hole tossing back a few cold ones.  The phone call went something like this:

A View From the Clouds: Hi. 

Vito: A-yo!  How'dju do? 

AVFtC: Ah, not so well.  I went 2 and 6.  The Dastard just destroyed me by, like, 200 points.  He pulled the bag, though.  Guy plays "towering" with two blanks.

Vito: Yo!  F*ck that guy, he can't hold your jock, man.  You use them golden racks? 

[Vito was referring to my special gold racks.]

AVFtC: Yes, I did use the gold racks.  I let Zig use one of them.

Vito: WHAT?!?  Man, don't evah let that douche use yer gold racks.  He has enough mojo as it is.  Did he beat you?

AVFtC: Yes, he beat me.  He played "hieratic" during the end game. 

Vito: See?  So I guess we ain't going to Sizzler.

AVFtC: No, we're not going to Sizzler.  Um, how'd you guys do?

Vito: Us?  8-0 win, dog!  We were the Dragons' second opponent today, so … yeah, no sweat.  Game puck goes to Purify, she had a couple of goals.  She was feelin' it. 

AVFtC: Purify.  Check.  Good for her.

Vito: And don't worry about Sizzler.  Apparently, it's going down at Timbers' tonight.

[click]

Notes: I went 2-6 with 14 bingos - including BIOPICS, EPISCIA, and STIRRUPS - and my rating went down from 1542 to 1514.  Also, Guluth is a tropical location.

The action at Timbers'

Game 6. Janesville Jets (H) (L)

The Shell, Madison, Wisconsin
mood: rushed

The day marked the introduction of Warren Peas, the Lightning's other goaltender.  Followers of the team will already know that a few teammates moonlight for other hockey clubs.  Such is the climate in hockey-crazed Wisconsin.  One of these players is our own Bourbon Wall, the goaltender who back-stopped the Lightning to a WCHL championship two years ago.  This season, she's also in net for the Baraboo Bugaboos.  (And frankly, I would play for the Bugaboos if only to get a sweater.)

So, with nobody too worried about the opposition (the understaffed Janesville Jets who had managed only 6 shots against the Lightning in their previous game), all eyes were on Warren Peas.  And not only because she was making her Lightning debut, but also because she was coming back from a concussion sustained in the team's 3rd practice session back in October.  AND apparently, she was coming back with a marked lack of depth perception, a skill sort of handy when your job is to keep track of vulcanized rubber coming at your from all angles.  Some team officials think that Warren Peas had always lacked the ability to perceive depth and satire, speculating that this malady is not related to her recent concussion.  To this I say "Bosh!  Goalies march to a different drum!  They are cut from the tie-dyed wool!  They make their own kool-aid!  If a goalie can rely on the sounds and smells of the game - as I believe Warren Peas does - then so be it."

And except for a first-period goal that surprised her, she looked good in goal:



Hlin again opened up the scoring.  This time with a sweet wrap-around.  As a goalie, I hated giving up these goals because it's basically a matter of speed.  Can I move from one post to the other, a mere 6 feet, faster than it takes for the skater to circle behind the net and extend her stick just beyond the post to stuff the cradled puck into the net?  For those in the Union, these are the goals you hate to give up. 



The Bearcat scored a beautiful goal later in the first.  Sprung by a pass by Amanita, The Bearcat raced in behind the defense, deked, and then went to the back claw and snuck it beneath the goalie's flailing glove hand.



In the third period, the team rallied to fulfill Amanita's goals-per-game clause in her contract, but she was stoned at least twice by the now-stinkin'-mad Janesville Jet goalkeeper.   



But eventually, Amanita and Nicole's Friend performed a near-perfect "give and go."



The 7-1 victory seemed like mere formality, and it was very difficult to decide who deserved the game puck.  But then Amanita produced this at lunch:



Then it was like: no doubt.

//

Buoyed by the success of the still undefeated Lightning, in the afternoon, The View From the Clouds romped at Scrabble Club at the Eastside HyVee, going 4-1 with 13 bingos.  In my first game, I played HIDALGO, TIRRIVEE and DASTARD. A tirrivee is a "tantrum."  For example: "As part of her tirrivee, Janesville player #6 throws a body check, putting her team at the disadvantage."



And when I got back to the homestead, I found that Vito had made a yummy squash galette and my favorite Brussels sprouts dish.



Then we watched the Big 10 Football Championship and It's a Wonderful Life on TV.  We're all winners!