Last Hurrah!!

I'm taking a break for the summer, but I forgot to post about a upcoming ( already passed ) tournament that was my last hurrah. So it already happened, but its Puck'N Monkey related & I feel bad that I didn't post any schedule or info. on here, even though no one reads it.

The tournament I took part in was the 3rd Annual Stacked Deck Tournament. No website yet!! But it was a blast. There are only 4 teams in the tournament. Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts & Spades. In order to make the teams a deck of cards are placed on a table & cards drawn by players, whatever card you get is the team you are on. I drew the 10 of Diamonds. Diamonds was not my first choice schedule wise. We had the first game of the tourney, the last that night & the first the next day. Brutal. We also had Bill & Dan playing on the Clubs, with Captain Club Darryl. G-Low playing on the Spades & Christine sharing the Diamonds with me, so the Monkeys were well represented in this tourney.
For our first game, the Diamonds played last years Champions - Hearts. I had the first penalty of the game. Then I scored a goal to give us a temporary lead. It was a beautiful pass from Karl ( Fighting Cohos ) cross the crease from the right corner & I blew it passed a sliding goalie. Then heading into the final minutes we were down 1. Captain Karl ( Real Bacon & All Blacks ) had me as the extra attacker when we pulled our goalie. With 13 seconds left I had the puck on the right corner & was looking to make a pass center, when the goalie noticed & moved, leaving the net empty on his right & I took advantage scoring the game tying goal. But we lost in OT. So close to the upset.
Second game of the night for us took place at midnight. We were in the game late in the 3rd when we lost it & gave up 4 goals & lost. Didn't do well in that game.
Third game was against Darryl & the Clubs, Saturday 1 p.m. That game had us winning 5-3, Christine scoring two. One on a pass from me left corner to Christine posted in front of the goalie. Then her second was a empty net. Monkeys representing well.
The 3rd place game found us facing the Clubs again. I got another penalty, but I also scored again to give us a brief lead. Unfortunately again we found ourselves down late in the 3rd & having to pull our goalie. Again I was called upon to be the extra attacker. I had the puck behind the net & was trying a wrap around when I saw Bill commit to me & I passed it between his legs to Capt. Karl who backhanded it over the goalie & into the net tying the game & sending it into OT. This time we pulled it out & won. But that first lost took away that chance at the Championship game. The Hearts pulled it out for the 3rd year in a row, but this time in a shoot out against G-Low & his Spades. G could not put one in during the shoot out & if he brags about beating us, we are going to bring that up.
Well that tournament was a blast & I'm looking forward on doing it again next year. Time to work on a few things for the summer & I'll keep you all posted on any hockey or Monkey news!! GO MONKEYS!!

Taking A Break...

The Puck'N Monkeys will not be skating this summer session. Some of the Monkeys will be skating on other teams & we will be supporting them. We plan to come back next winter & I'll be updating the blog accordingly. We are just taking a break... the Monkeys will be back!! GO MONKEYS!! Good Luck tomorrow night to our 2nd favorite team - The Icelagers in their championship game vs. the Icemen.

Seasons Over...

Well, it became official tonight. A 6-2 loss to the Hackers ended our wonderful season. I'll just start off by saying how proud I am of our team. We battled hard & we earned our 2nd place. We started the season 0-4-1 & then battled back to get the 4th seed going into the playoffs. Then to go out & get 2nd place, by beating the Blu Bombers twice, the Red Raiders & Crush. We had a hell of a season. Most of the players after the game commented on how they enjoyed being able to play 6 games in the playoffs & that the fact that we did mattered more than a glass that they were handing out to the champions. I feel close to that, the cup would have been a nice bonus. That being said. I will vent a little...
Like I said earlier, we started the season horribly. The Hackers that won our division started in another division. One below us. Well now you say... Then why are you complaining if they were below you?? Well since coming up to our division half way through the session, they have beated every one. Not by a little, but by blowing them out. So now my beef with that is... why not move them up another level?? Clearly they are having a easy time in our division. And if you don't believe me you can look up the stats on this GSHL page.... GSHL LINK. I just feel like we worked our way through our division, playing hard fought games, earning our spot. We played every team in our division tough, every team that was in our division before it was altered half way through the session. Anyways that is my vent...
In the end, we did out shoot them, we just couldn't get the puck in the net... & in the end, thats how you win games. Til next session... GO MONKEYS!!

Game # 6 vs. Hackers

Game #6 vs. Hackers- Wednesday, April 29th - Everett Comm. @ 10:30 p.m.

If we win, then we play another against the Hackers. We lose & the Hackers are division champions. We want another game!! GO MONKEYS!!

Late Game Dramatics... & Heroics!!

For the second night in a row the Monkeys found themselves down 2-0. After a Ian goal cut the lead to 2-1, the Crush added another to put them up 2 for the second time. Cutting away at a 3-1 deficit, the Monkeys collected goals from Brie & Christine to tie it up at 3-3. Then the Crush added 2 more goals to put us down by 2 AGAIN.
It was 5-3 with 3 minutes left when Darryl took the puck behind the then net & while being tripped up & laying on his side, made a pass in front of the net to a waiting Troy for a backhand goal to get them within 1. The Monkeys then took a time out with 45 seconds remaining. Pulled Deb ( our goalie ) & had our 6 freshest skaters out there. It was do or die time. Steve managed to win the face off back to Darryl who placed a perfect shot past the goalie & in the back of the net to tie the game seconds left. Pefect execution of a drawn up play!! In OT, G-low ( Scott ) ended the game with a nice shot, I don't remember exactly how it went in, just that it did. We celebrated & now it's on to the next game. GO MONKEYS!!

Ed. Note - Somewhere Captain Purple scored. It was late when I wrote this so I'm missing a goal somewhere. When the GSHL website posts it, I'll update this blog.

Game # 5

Game # 5 vs. The Crush - Lynnwood Ice @ 8:50 p.m. Win & we move on, lose we go home!!
GO MONKEYS!!

Phew...

The game against the Blu Bombers didn't start the way we wanted it to. People at work kept asking me how we did against these guys in the regular season. I said we won all of our games against them, including the first round. But it didn't matter, one bad game & we were out of the playoffs. So it sucked when a minute into the game we give up the first goal. The rest of the first period was uneventful, just a hard fought hockey game.
Second period was looking to be the same. The word on the bench was that we were only down 1 goal, we can do this. That is... until we gave up the second goal.
Start the third period, down 2-0, we were running out of time. Aaron was fighting hard in front of their net with a Blu Bomber & both got called for penalties. Then Steve & Bill both took penalties to give them a 5 on 3 advantage. Not looking good!!
We worked hard to kill that 5 on 3 & the momentum swung our way. Less than a minute later we were on the board with our first goal from Ian. Moments later the game tying goal was scored by Scott on a nice screen shot from the point. Then Darryl made a great play while laying on the ice to deliver a pass to Ian for his 2nd goal that gave us a 3-2 lead. Then it was hang on time. With less than 40 seconds left, the Bombers took a time out & pulled their goalie. We put our 5 top players on the ice & managed to ice the puck twice, but that gave the Bombers face-offs in our zone. The next face off managed to get to Ian & he made a pass up to me, I crossed center ice & chucked the puck in their zone. Because I had crossed center ice, it would not be a icing & time would just run out. I wanted the empty net goal, but a win is more important & I shot it wide left. Ian didn't give up on the play & put the puck in with 2 seconds left to ice the game. I didn't realize it at the time, but that goal gave Ian his first ever hat-trick. That explained his drive to get that puck. The Monkeys survived a 4-2 win. It was a great game, the team really showed their colors last night & I'm proud that we fought to the end. Next game tonight!! GO MONKEYS!!