JCC Floor Hockey

 

Juranka's Corner

March 21 & 28, 2005

now with only a couple of
hours left before gametime
i realise this may be
my last newsletter as an active participant this year

its elimination day again
and another third of the league
will be ending their season tonight

so far the survivors have been
the teams with the best seasonal standings

the sistas and the choppers
were the first to exit

if that trend continues then
it may be adieu for the zeps and
the eminence but...

if history serves me correctly,
the finalists have traditionally come
from the middle of the pack

so some of that middle will likely
continue into the next round

the games have all been tight and
intense

the closest thing to a blowout came
last game last week when grey
went on a rampage in the second period

alan silverman has been sensational

chris chambers rising to the top,
how about that

jesse has put in some spectacular performances

one thing is clear

to be up by two or three goals
doesn't mean a thing in the playoffs
unless there is less than a minute left

players that are considered second tier
during the year often tilt the balance
of the entire game as the heavy defense
focuses on the stars

mark gregus is a scoring machine

- - - - -

i know that when i walk into the gym tonight
i will feel THAT BUZZ

its not there during regular season play

everyone will be friendly but
even with the joking and
regular pre-game routine
its still there,
still different from normal

everyone knows that these games
mean a lot more than usual
and its written on our faces

its the seriousness which
seems to cut into smiles
just before it fades

its the seriousness which makes
jokes a bit more edgy and choppy

its the big game and all of a sudden
staying loose is more important
and less easily accomplished

RONNELLYS vs. EMINENCE
at the beginning of the year
most would have predicted that
these were the two dynamos
and even now the good money
would bet that the winner
of this one may take the cake

in the first game
black was without lev and noah

grey pounded black and
led by two goals 4-2
going into the second half

two of those grey goals
were from alan who had
impressed everyone
with his playoff savy

in the second period chris chambers
would have two as well
and end up with a hat-trick
for the night

roy's second period goal
was unbelievable

i didn't see it but supposedly
he deaked out the goalie
and that is always spectacular

in spite of these heroic efforts
the ronnellys would not be beaten
this game

they came back in the second period
with five goals to tie it
in the dying minutes

a hat-trick by marrus
and goals by
ron, jeff, shane and jamie
set up the first over-time period

it only lasted a couple of seconds
because on the first rush
jamie took a backhand
from an impossible angle
that no one was expecting
not even jesse
and it was over (all too soon)

what makes this game
and especially
the play of the eminence
so heroic is that they were
not only without tanner
but also without paul and gabe as well

harris chris roy and alan
took on the ronnellys and
came within minutes of beating them

thats the weird amazing spirit
of the playoffs

amir noticed it right away
he said from the amateurs
to the pros its really obvious
that the quality goes up
when teams are facing elimination

perhaps the stars are already playing
closer to their best all year
that the slackers can crank it more
and make a more profound difference

GAME TWO
after having such a close call,
the ronnellys were not going
to take it easy

especially with tanner back in the line-up
and a full 7 player eminence turnout

defense was so tight that
only one goal was scored in the first period

that one by none other than alan
from his rising star team-mate chris

the second goal of the game
was also by alan from chris

chris would assist on grey's third goal as well
and then score two of his own before
this game was through

shane scored twice and
singles by adam and ron
had both teams tied but then
tanner finally got on the scoreboard

both of his goals were classic
slapshots along the ground
into the absolute corner of the net
hugging the goalpost,
leaving the goalie
shrugging and guilt-free because
nobody in the gym would
dream of stopping those

tanners goals and the final one
by chris happened so fast
that it started to look
for the first time this year
that the ronnellys
were beginning to unravel

perhaps it was the ronnelly agenda
just to make the eminence over-confident
for the rubber match tonight

ZEPS vs. BEES
all year long
these two teams have been jousting
for second place

from the start the zeps were aware
that gregus was a hungry pointgetter

he finished the year at his best
in one game he scored all 6 of the bees goals
(they lost that one i believe
but it was clear that
had mark been playing that way
all year long then he would have
finished first like he did
three years ago)

during the first period
both teams scored twice

for the zeps
steve scored and then
assisted on my goal

for the bees,
mark scored twice
one unassisted and
one from sander

unfortunately
amir injured his knees
in this, his first period
of his first ball hockey playoffs

although he was out of action
his presence was loudly obvious
from then on as he
yelled from the track

the second period
was another funky event
for the zeps

most of the time
we had control
but none of our
attempts were successful

we were too fancy

one too many passes
or just not tricky enough

we missed vinnie

anywhoo
we were shutout
so a goal by sander
and the hattrick by mark
sealed this one
BEES 4-2

game two

okay i'm rushing a bit now
because its past 6
and i want to see the
greyblack game from the beginning

the bees would be without
their number 2 and 3 scorers
namely puya and amir

we had vinnie back
so the two line structure
would naturally emerge
which is great for getting all
to make quick shifts

when we shift quickly
we are twice the team

kitch runs more and
plays way better defense

even aron and steve
seem lighter on their feet

the zeps passing game was back

aron tried shadowing mark
and in spite of him being
on top of him
mark had that midas touch again

every simple silly little thing he did
went straight in the net

i'm sure he surprises himself sometimes
because he even gets fluky ones

in response to marks
first period hattrick
the zeps scored twice
which meant the game
was far from over

steve showed up which
was crucial because
he could at least tire out mark
by running him down a bit

as i write this i realised
that we will probably
be playing without steve tonight

he is acting in another beer commercial

maybe this summer
i'll see the commercial
and be reminded of
this fateful evening

anyway, steve and i did manage
to prevent mark from getting
any more goals but then
he began dishing it off
and assisted on the rest
of the bees three goals

the next two by sander

mitch opened the scoring
for the zeps on a powerplay

steve and kitch scored the next two
and with the game tied
aron passed it to me in the slot

the pass felt sooooo slow

it felt like minutes before
it got to me

larry dived across the goal mouth
but i had a totally empty
top half of the net to shoot at
and with opportunities this good
i always imagine myself fucking up

i was sure i was going to
put it over the net

i took my shot and scored
and the zeps took the lead

steve scored an insurance goal
on the empty net and
it turned out to be the game winner
because paul scored once more
before the time ran out

wow
a super close game

tonight the bees will have puya
and the zeps will be without steve

its 6:30
gotta go


Juranka's Corner Archive

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