“Man, my first book wasn’t supposed to be about a goalie!”

Me (last night)

Light night showed how tight the NM Ice Wolves can truly be. We pulled together and didn’t allow a single solitary goal through until well into the second period at which point the Mudbugs slipped one past Josh Graziano #43, our goalie in-net.

Graziano was on fire all night long, despite the shots that did get past him. Twice other players were there to save him from even having to take the puck, one of them pinging off an Ice Wolves’ stick and soaring over the heads of the other players.

We sat in section A instead of C last night due to last-minute deciding to go to the game because I wanted in on the jersey auction and it was completely different being on that side and made me watch our goalie just that much more often (not that I wasn’t watching normally, because trust me, all eyeballs on the goalie, even sometimes when I’m supposed to be watching the puck somewhere else!). Graziano’s focus is obvious and his skill is sure to have him being picked up Tier 1 one day. (Now we just pray we don’t lose him too soon!)

Another fight broke out after the horn had sounded and of course, following the pattern so far, over next to section C so I got to see it from afar but not up close (I may be a bit into the hockey fights, sue me, lol). #4 Davis Goukler of the Shreveport Mudbugs and #17 Griffen Sanom of the Ice Wolves got into it right in front of #30 Richie Parent’s net. Parent booked it to the side, the reps descending and I’m not entirely certain there wasn’t extra interference from additional players that just wasn’t called. If nothing else, I could see another Ice Wolf straining away from a ref, trying to get in on it, so something much have set them off.

On that note, my brain got to thinking of chirps and nicknames and I amused myself for nearly three minutes thinking the Mudbugs must call Parent “dad” half the time. My husband pointed out the other teams probably chirp him incessantly with “mom”. My reply was well, I suppose hockey is like herding cats, so he very well may be exactly like either parent left to corral the children. It amused me enough to share it, so here we are.

All said and done, we ended at 1-2, only one point behind the Mudbugs! We really showed the team we can be last night and I can only hope we keep it up. It was back to the breathtaking game the first home game had been and I’m beyond happy I have season passes.

I came home the shiny new owner of #20 Drew Lorinchak’s autograph and #4 Keegan Langefels’ jersey. A $500 donation to Making Strides Against Breast Cancer accompanied that jersey and it’s worth every penny in multiple ways. The Ice Wolves sold every jersey last night and they earned over $12k for ABQStrides. Go Ice Wolves!