We had a full bench for the first time in a while for our game against the Stampede on Wednesday night: 15 skaters, which meant three full lines. For the forwards, line 1 was (from left to right) Derek, Murph, and Adam; line 2 was me, Matt Y, and Lee; and line 3 was Doug, Gerry, and Matt Z. Yep, that's right, I was on line 2. It occurred to me when I heard my name read off that our captain might be thinking that Lee's and Matt's superior skills made up for what I lacked, but I chose to be positive (or perhaps delusional) and consider it a compliment.
It was an interesting change to move to a line with extra-strong skaters/players—both Matt and Lee play up a division in the fall league—because it meant a return to my old job of net-crasher (though I did have one or two opportunities to fight for the puck along the boards). It also meant that I went from being able to keep up with my line easily to bringing up the rear on most plays, though I actually think this had as much to do with the net-crashing as with actual speed. If you're down low, you have farther to go when the play turns around. In any case, I thought I did pretty well in covering my checks, getting open for passes, etc., and I even had a shot on goal (plus the rebound when the small hole I was aiming for closed at the last second).
I thought I did a good job of getting open in front of the net, covering the points, and forechecking; I probably could have been a bit better at taking passes (although I caught a few right on the tape, I stupidly tried to take one on my backhand up the boards from behind—no mean feat, I assure you, which is why I was stupid to attempt it—and there was another I just missed entirely and ended up falling on when I lost the puck in my skates). I wish I could have gotten control of the puck I'd knocked a defenseman off of not once but *five times* while forechecking him hard, because Lee was waiting for me to pass to him in front of the net. (Lee remembered from the first game we played together that I said I was good at digging the puck out of corners and flinging it to the middle. I am, if I can just get in front of the defenseman. :)
I still think Lee's probably too good for me as a linemate, but we still managed to work fairly well together; he was the one who passed to me the time I almost scored, and he tried to get the puck to me a few other times as well. (This was not the case, btw, when I ended up on the ice at the same time as a different Center—one who ignored the fact that I was wide open in the slot and BANGING MY STICK for a pass and instead attempted to score himself from slightly behind the net. Lee definitely would have passed; Eric would have, too.) Matt turned out to be pretty fun to play with as well; I think if we were linemates on a regular basis, we could probably work out some cool plays. (A murmured tip-off from Matt that was going to try to win a faceoff in the offensive zone forward reminded me of a similar situation I was in with Fuz once; I mentioned to Matt later on the bench what my strategy would be in that case.)
Overall, I probably was more of an extra appendage than a necessity on line 2, but I worked hard, and my linemates seemed to appreciate what I was doing. At the very least, they didn't seem to think of me as a liability. Our captain apparently did, however, because with one minute to go and the score tied 4-4, he announced that he was moving up from D to take my place on line 2. I was a little annoyed but tried not to look at it as a personal slight; it made sense that the captain would want to play on a strong line, and I was certainly the weakest player on a strong line. On the other hand, our line had never been scored on with me on it.
When the remaining minute of regulation play—during which line 2 was on the ice—did not result in a goal for either team, we went into a five-minute overtime. Our captain sent the first line out again (skipping the third line entirely) and announced that the second line would go out as usual, followed by the third line. I said, "the *real* second line?", though I knew the answer to the question already. "Sorry, the MODIFIED second line will go out next," he replied. This was when I started to get a little angry. I didn't want to stand in the way of my team winning if they could, but even with the captain moving up there was no guarantee we would score—and with me on line 2, there was a good chance the other team wouldn't.
I won't even bother with the argument that I paid as much as everyone else on the bench—and that I paid that amount to play, not to sit—because it should be obvious. Instead, I'll just repeat what one of my linemates said to me after the final buzzer rang: "That was so stupid. You do all the work, and then you have to sit? That's not right." Yep, and it didn't change the score, either: We skated away with a 4-4 tie.
Posted by Lori in Galaxy ~ Summer 2005 | August 12, 2005·06:21 PM