Champions

Yup. We are. Coming back from a 1-0 deficit in the SIHL 2006 Sewell Cup Series, my team, the Predators, roared back in game 2 and game 3 to take the cup. Game 3 was awesome. Tons of my friends came out to the rink. Some of them were there for the first time(Anthony, Sabrina, Dustin, April, to name a few), while the rest of my gang had seen several games played before. In addition to my crowd that came to watch, pretty much half of the league’s other teams came out to watch, John Guinn’s usual posse was present(and brought beverages, which could have explained the rowdiness, haha), and Ben Evans’ barrage of sorority followers also arrived. The atmosphere was freakin’ unbelievable. With every goal there was a roar from the crowd, and when there was a flashy save there was applause…well at least from my group….ba-zing!! Long story short, we played great that night, winning 12-7. Make that THREE(1 shared, 2 outright) SIHL championship titles for yours truly J.

This year was also the first year that I was able to take part in the All-Star Game, as it was started the semester I left for Houston. The all-star voting took place about a month ago, and I was fortunate enough to have been selected by my fellow peers in the league. The game took place this past Tuesday, and it was a blast. I got to play along guys I played against all semester, so that was definitely a treat. We even have All-Star jerseys that were given to us by e-Puck. I was stoked because my All-Star jersey is the first jersey I have ever worn in this league that actually matches my equipment! Unfortunately, my most spectacular saves of the season came during this game, a game that didn’t count towards anything:

We had just broken out of the zone, and had put a few shots on goal. Their team regained control of the puck and it was a two-on-one for them, with Nels and Tommy coming into our zone against my one defenseman, Richard. Tommy came in on the right with the puck, Nels sliding in on the left; Richard took away the pass, as he is supposed to do. I skated about a foot out of the crease to cut down Tommy’s angle of shot. He’s got a wicked hard wrister, and it elevates quickly, so I figured I’d cheat some with my positioning. I stopped at my spot, triangle with the pads, stick down covering the 5-hole, elbows in, and glove elevated(remember, high elevation with his shot). Tommy normally takes this shot at this point, as he’s left-handed and had a great look at the net. Of course he doesn’t do as I expect this time, and he makes a brilliant pass through Richard’s legs and stick right across the slot to the left face-off circle, where Nels was waiting to bang it in from about 13 feet away. With almost no hesitation, I skate backwards as quickly as possible, and with great right-to-left movement, I push off my right skate, propelling me to the other half of the crease. Knees come down, pushing the leg pads up on the surface, eliminating the threat of the low shot and allowing my upper body to make the save. Stick still covering the daylight between the pads. At this moment, Nels receives the puck perfectly and absolutely crushes the puck with a one-timer slap shot; the puck is headed for the upper left 90 of the net. With my body sliding left and perfect positioning, my hands were free to move, and I snagged the bullet puck with my trapper mere inches from it crossing the goal line. It was beautiful. Roy would be proud.

As you can see, despite the non-impact of the game on the season, it was still played with plenty of intensity. Pictures were taken after the game, and other pics were taken of the Championship game as well. I’ll try to get those from Richie or Brian sometime. The SIHL Banquet is Sunday night at 7:00. I didn’t get any of the goalie awards this year, but I’d like to think it was because we had to forfeit two games due to lack of players. But Nathan had an outstanding year this year, so he definitely deserves those 2 awards. I did reach some career milestones this season, though. I am now the SIHL’s all-time leader in wins in the regular season, as well as the postseason leader. Pretty cool stuff.

Last weekend I went to Chattanooga to see Mal. The annual Chemistry Department’s banquet was that Friday, and Mal racked up. She was recognized for her work in research this semester, and she was also honored for acceptance into the Chemistry National Honor Society and being selected for a huge scholarship. That Saturday the UTC club soccer team played Georgia Tech. The girls were down 2-0 early in the first half, but they rallied in the 2^nd half with goals from Mal(completely unassisted) and another brilliant shot from just inside the eighteen from one of her teammates. The game ended in a tie, but it was great to watch. The UTC girls played really well.

Speaking of club soccer, Dan, Trevor, and I have been asked to coach the MSU girls club soccer team in the fall. It goes without saying that I’ll be the goalie coach. I’m gonna make sure that if we lose, it wont be because the goalies suck. I have a feeling they’ll hate me before the year’s over, haha.

The Avalanche, up until tonight, have been absolutely BALLIN’ on the ice. They took the first 3 games from the Stars(2 were in OT), but they lost Game 4 by a count of 4-1 tonight. No fears though, as I am sure they can close it out within the next two games. Dallas was such a great defensive team this whole year, but they have been giving up so many goals and scoring opportunities to the Avs. Sakic, Hejduk, and Tanguay have been lighting it up on Turco. Theodore, although not Roy-impressive as of yet, is doing his part. I’m hoping he improves with each round.

How are those Wings doing, Rich? The OILERS!?! Com’on! Haha…nah, the Oilers play really well at home, so it doesn’t surprise me that the series is tied. Just think, if the Wings survive the first round, they get to play us! You KNOW everyone wants to see that J

Sox are streaky as of now. They win a few in a row, they lose a few more in a row. We just aren’t being patient at the plate like we did last year. We aren’t getting the pitch counts up for the opposing pitchers. Our defense has also been kinda shaky, but that will improve. Our infield is freakin’ full of talent. Pitching is suspect now. Beckett was just way off last night, giving up 3 homers and a bazillion runs. I’m hoping he has got the worst out of him in that outing. Schilling was great in his last start, but he was left in too long. I hope that doesn’t come back to bite us later on down the stretch. Oh, and our interim pitching coach Al Nipper seems confident that Roger Clemens will come back to Beantown to pitch. Al and Clemens have a close relationship (hell, they were even in each others’ weddings!), so I’d like to believe him. Just think of that first 3 in the rotation: Schilling, Clemens, Beckett. Holy sh#@!

When I woke up Sunday morning in Chattanooga, my right side of my jaw(just in front of my ear) was feeling really really sore. I didn’t think much of it until it bothered me during my entire trip home that afternoon. I figured it would just subside overnight. Nope. I did some research online, and I had the symptoms of TMD, or temporo-mandibular disorder, which is basically when there is too much tension in the muscles that connect your skull and lower jaw. They’re just sore and need rest. So that was my diagnosis. I decided to see a doctor as soon as possible. I came home this morning to go see our family doc, Dr. Durfy. Mom went with me, and after Dr. Durfy took a look at my jaw, he said he couldn’t feel anything out of place. He thinks it’s just tendonitis in my temporo-mandibular joints, which corroborated my assessment. He gave me some Celebrex to try for 2 weeks, and then I’m supposed to come back to him and let him know how it’s going. The whole Celebrex thing was fine until my mom mentioned that’s what she takes, haha. Oh well, if it helps, then I don’t care what I take. I’m getting Mrs. Belot(my dentist and next-door neighbor) to take a look at my jaw tomorrow and get her opinion too.

Tomorrow will be pretty fun. The NFL Draft coverage starts at 11am central time, and then at 2pm central I get to see some playoff hockey on NBC. I have a test on Tuesday in Materials class, so I’ll have to get some of that studying in too. Our cable service in Houston has OLN(Outdoor Life Network), and since they now carry all of the NHL playoff games until the finals, I’m looking forward to watching all of those when I get down there.