Game 17. Freeze Blue (H) (L)

Game 17. Freeze Blue (H) (L)

1. Hoover.

2. Warren Peas hurls a shutout - yes she only faced nine shots, but it is hard to keep your concentration when the puck is on the other side of the rink.  You start to think of what you're going to have for lunch, your husband in the stands, life in general.

3. I was waiting for this match-up all season: Pope versus Pope.  And when the Lightning was up by eight goals in the third, the forwards switched up with the defensemen and it was real Pope on Pope action!

4. This was the last game on the regular season, and most of the team convened at the old watering hall.  By my records, the Lightning went 17-1-1 and head into next month's playoffs heavy favorites. 

Game puck: Hlin (2 goals, 2 assists, +8, 24:03 TOI).  Incidentally, she earned the season's first game puck.

And now … on to the second season.

Game 16. Janesville Jaguars (H) (L)

Game 16. Janesville Jaguars (H) (L)

The Jaguars, now fully mad, came up to Madison to try to finally (finally!) defeat the Lightning.  I was just happy to witness it.  I can't call myself Lightning's #2 fan if I miss three games in a row, can I?  (Meanwhile, the Lightning's #1 fan was nowhere to be seen.)

The Jags looked leaner; their hair, more colorful, indicative of a youthfulness usually accompanied by a swiftness of foot.  I don't remember seeing that player before?  And where was Specs? 

Assistant Coach Johnny Bye-Bye was behind the bench, calling the shots, putting a calming hand on the excitable Vapo Rub.

Assistant Coach Johnny Bye-Bye settles the troops

The Lightning started out horribly, inept even.  Even with the Bourbon Wall in net, within two minutes the Jaguars scored two goals.  But Nicole and I weren't worried.  No, not at all. 

It was when the Lightning couldn't muster up the equalizers that we began to worry.  But then, this happened:

With less than ten seconds left, Nicole's Friend takes a desperation shot from behind the blue line.  The goaltender, obviously aware of how little time there was, kicks the puck away with her skate blade.  I repeat: she kicked the puck away with her skate blade.  Instead of re-directing the puck to the corner or covering it up with her glove, she kicked it away with her skate blade.  And as you know, you can't really kick it all that far. 

The goalie was obviously unaware that Nicole's Friend's line mate, Vito, was doing what all the kids should be doing: playing to the whistle!  Vito was to the goalie's right, exactly where the puck had been clicked.  She collected the puck, collected her thoughts, and lifted the puck over the surprised goalie's left pad and glove.  The horn sound: she scored!  The period ended! 

The game would end like that: 2-2. 

Game puck goes to Vito.

Game 15. Madison Thunder (A) (L)

Game 15. Madison Thunder (A) (L)
Saturday, February 9

Oh what a game to miss!  Any game where it was reported that Amanita had to help break up a fight - even now, typing these words a few weeks later I can't believe it - is a game I would've loved to have seen.

Apparently, some player on the Thunder got pissed at Snootch and punched her in the face mask.  After the game, this same player came over to Snootch and called her something like "the dirtiest player ever."  Tempers flared.  Amanita and The Bearcat, who actually coaches the Thunder, intervened. 

Might've been different had the Thunder won.  It's one thing to be a sore loser, and yet another thing entirely to be a sore winner.  (In my other life as a tournament Scrabble player, I've definitely met my share of sore winners - a strange group.) 

But let's give that Thunder player some play: what does it take to be called "the dirtiest player ever."  What is Snootch actually doing?  She may be the chattiest player on the ice, but dirtiest?  Again: C'mon!

Game puck goes to Snootch, just 'cause. 

Incidentally, this was the first game Vito missed.  In another life, Vito used to play for a club in California, and this weekend, a few of those players came to Wisconsin to participate in the Eagle River Pond Hockey Championship.  Playing for the San Francisco Treats, she got to hoist the cup!

Game 14. Janesville Jaguars (A) (L)

Game 14. Janesville Jaguars (A) (L)
February 2

Six skaters and Warren Peas against the increasingly angry Janesville Jaguars.  I certainly picked the wrong game to miss; I always liked watching undermanned teams prevail.  Yes, despite our numbers, the Lightning escaped with a win.  Despite racing out to a 6-1 lead, the Jaguars regrouped and nearly beat the depleted Lightning, rallying for four goals.  With less than thirty seconds left, the Lightning were clinging tenuously to a 1-goal lead. 

Those thirty seconds must've felt like hours!  But they gritted it out. 

Game puck goes to the Black Locust.  Why?  C'mon, despite logging in 36 minutes, you know she was flying all over the place!

Eggs from Nicole and Nicole's Friend's Chickens