Blowout

Blowout

Obligatory Scrabble post: the word "kidvids" is indeed playable in Scrabble.

 
Yes, your spell check is going to try to change that word to "kiddies", but don't make that blank an "e", make it a "v" so that your opponent (and you) can laugh at the word while challenging it.  When the challenge comes back in your favor, you take the last tile out of the bag and empty your rack, ending the game.  When you collect the points off your opponent's rack, you have enough points to win.

Not that the Lightning needed an late-game heroics to win their game today.

I was wrong to say in my inaugural post that the Brew City Blue was "despised."  The Brew City team that the Lightning despise is some other color.  Not blue.  "Blue" references not the color of one of the two political parties in this nation's flawed two-party system.  No, "blue" refers to the level of ability. 

In the Women's Central Hockey League, teams are placed in five sub-leagues, based on that team's level of ability.  There's the "green" league for beginners.  For the best players, there's the "red" league.  Green, blue, grey, white, and red.  Our Lightning belong in the grey league.  Last year, they played in the white league and won one league game, maybe. 

And so the Brew City Blades Blue team the Lightning faced today was actually playing a division up.

That's how it goes in the league.  Eventually, the Lightning will play the teams in the "white" division: U Wisconsin B, Fond du Lac Lightning Bolts, Madison Freeze White, and the despised Brew City Blades White.  Supposedly there they'll find a more evenly-matched game.  The Lightning will also play up to the white division.

Today, the Ligthning were expected to win and win they did.

The first two stoppages of play in the first period were due to goals scored by the Lightning.  MJ opened the scoring with a chest-high floater from near the blue line.  I like these kinds of shots: pucks wristed off the surface, through some traffic, somewhat surprising the goaltender, and finding a way into the net.  Snutch would score another one of these in the third period. 

The second goal of the game was scored by the incomparable Hlin, who doggedly stick-handled from the left circle to the top of the slot and shot. 

Then, on and on from there.  There were some chippiness (defined: hockey play) that was taken in various ways that ultimately led to Timbers being the beneficiary of some stellar passing.  Timbers positioned herself in front of the net numerous times, and stuffed sure passes into the net three straight times for a natural hat-trick to close out the blowout, 8-0. 

Throughout, the Bourbon Wall (nee Murmuring Wall) faced a sad total of six shots, one in the first, and five in the second, and none in the third.  None in the third.  I thought back to my goal-tending days and how I disliked, somewhat, the lack of shots against me.  It's true, having the puck on the other side of the ice kind of takes you out of the game, such that when you finally face some shots, you are not at your mental peak.  But the Bourbon Wall did make all her saves, and a few of them were good shots.

Despite that, I have to award the game puck to Timbers, who survived being tripped by the ghost of the Shell, to score that natural hat trick in less than 4 minutes.

Timbers

Notes: Vito left the game soon after the beginning of the second period, citing sickness, and smartness: better to conserve energy for tomorrow's game against Janesille Jaguars.  All but Mama Jet found herself on the score sheet.  But only Mama Jet had a film in the 2012 Milwaukee Short Film Festival.  The View From the Clouds had a film in the 2012 Milwaukee Short Film Festival, too, sort of.  The View from the Clouds had composed music to the film Missed Connections, directed by Susan Kerns and Kara Mulrooney.  That film, like the Lightning, won as well.