Starting lineup: Center #74 Alex Gomez, Left Wing #23 Jackson Wille, Right Wing #44 Brandt Pedersen, Defense #4 Keegan Langefels, Defense #2 Mitchell Becker, Goalie #1 Henrik Laursen
Last night’s game was at least a little less biased in the calls, though still heavily toward penalizing us and not penalizing the Pilots. Fans were still angry from last night and it showed in what was being yelled. Pretty much the only shit being given was toward the ref, not even toward the Pilots for stirring the pot. The energy was less strange than it was Friday night, so that was a plus at least. Things felt more like the usually do despite what was once again a loss. Not being shut out was good, too.
I brought a friend to see them last night and she seemed to very much enjoy herself and wants to come again. It’ll be a joy to have her there once again and reunite with an old friend a bit more often than the twice a year we’d been managing the past few years.
I was still riding the high of Ovetchkin’s 700th goal earlier in the day and definitely wore my Caps scarf, earrings, and shirt (under my Ice Wolves jersey of course) and even managed to get the three of us doing the Capitals bench bounce which… yes, it’s fun, so do it, I dare you.
The hockey mom that sits behind us engaged with us and it makes me happy that despite not being a mom, I’ve been included in the hockey mom’s world and that’s awesome. I can live vicariously and enjoy little kids in a limited capacity that I can handle (we decided I’m not cut out for being a mom full-time and sadly probably not cut out for being a billet parent either given my anxiety, seasonal depression, and overall health, which while I’ve made peace with it, it’s sad on the billet parent part as I wanted to help the hockey boys as much as I could). Alas.
Anyway, the game. Our lines have been changed up without some of our key people, we still have some Defensemen playing as Forwards and we’re in a shakeup again. I think the boys know it’s okay because they’re trying to see what works and we’re not in a playoff spot anyway in our opening year. Still having seen what a gelled team looked like and then having that ripped away is a bit sad. Without Keenan Johnson, Drew Lorinchak (back with South Shore Kings NCDC team), Emil Gabrielson (with Fairbanks Ice Dogs NAHL), or Garrett Mackay, it’s hard. (On that note, we found Zach Frisk, who apparently is now with P.A.L. Junior Islanders NCDC, I’m so relieved he’s somewhere.) It’s hard to see the guys you know leave, even knowing it’s going to happen and it’s hard to watch a team try to fill out where the gaps are after just having found their footing.
Quick review of the goals during the game: Period 1 the Pilots scored at 11:06 and 5:11 leaving us 0:2 going to the locker rooms. Period 2 Pilots scored 12:21 and we answered with Alex Dominique #21 scoring with an assist from Sean Henry #6 at 8:41. Sadly they replied at 7:32. In the third period, Pilots scored again with 37 seconds left in the game directly after a fight right in front of us. I’ve never had front row seats to a fight before, but uh… holy shit. Just sayin’. And no, I didn’t take pictures of it. It seemed weird to do when everyone was right there in my face, so I didn’t. There was animosity on the ice all night, fights left and right including one that got two players ejected from the period though they came back in during the third and sat in the box for half of it (10 minutes each). Two guys got ejected at the end of the game as well for the fight that happened in front of us.
There was a skate with the players event after the game and it was great. I got Amy Aslin’s zipper pouch signed on both sides by the team and while I didn’t mean for it to be, it was kind of a test in the end and the boys didn’t seem to mind at all that there were two hockey dudes holding hands on it. It even garnered some comments like “look, dude, it’s us!” and some smiles and ribbing. No one seemed strange with it and that sincerely lightened my heart. I told the only remaining of my three helpers that the book was done and in editing and it turns out some of the other guys also knew I was writing it and wanted to know when they could read it. I think I’ve made a decision that I’ll let them know where it is and if they don’t heed the warnings at the front about the sex scenes, well… that’s not on me. Plus it’s like… mostly hockey, so… deal with the romance and sex, right? 😉 It feels like relief that they all know. I’m just gonna say, there’s so much hope in this coming generation and it’s beautiful.
Alexandria Redding 