Well as you can tell from the title, things did not go as planned in Berlin. We played our first game against Lugano, last year’s champion from the Swiss League. Since I played in Switzerland last year I have actually played against their team before. We were tied 2-2 going into the third period and then I’m not sure what happened as we let in 4 goals that period for them to win 6-2. We could definitely play with them, and it didn’t really help that we had 17 penalties to their 7. It was a crazy game to say the least with there rarely being a full five on five on the ice. We were disappointed with the loss but I think it did give our team some confidence it was the toughest game we have played all year.
Then the next game we played against a French team, they were not all that bad but we came out flying and beat them 8-1. So that set the stage for our game on Sunday night. We played against the German team, Berlin. We had both beaten the French team and lost to Lugano, therefore the winner of our game was to go on to Sweden for the next round as the top two teams advance. It was a great game to play in, the type of games that I wished I played in every day...reminded me of one of my college games with physical back and forth hockey. We ended up with a 3-3 tie after 60min and from there went into OT. IIHF has a 5 minute OT with 4 on 4 hockey. After that we were still tied and then went into a shootout. I wish I could say I scored the winning goal and we are now off to Sweden but that is not the case. I shot first and didn’t score...my success rate in shootouts is terrible and I’d be just a-okay if I didn’t have to participate in another one. We ended up going to the fourth round of shooters...sudden death. Well they shot last this time and scored. So we are not going to Sweden. I’ve lost some pretty tough games before, but losing in a shootout really stinks. I’m not a fan of those rules and would have preferred to play OT until someone scored.
Now on a more positive note...I did have a great time in Berlin. We sure didn’t see any of the sights (I have to go back) but I did have a great time with my teammates and felt like I got closer to some of them even with the language barrier. Our team played really quite well if you take into account that we win most games by quite a bit and only have a couple of games where the score is close. We did struggle in the defensive zone but that is to be expected as we are hardly there during games and our coach doesn’t seem to see a need in practicing it. I think the weekend was a good eye opener for the girls and maybe gave them a bit of confidence in that they can play with some of the top teams in Europe but also see that there is tons they can work on in order to make it to the next level.
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2 comments:
that's too bad, jackson.
berlin though? sweet! you'll definately have to go back. i've heard some great stuff about it.
Sucks about the shootout... My thoughts are go with a fake shot (at the five-hole or at high glove) just before the hash marks... the goalie has to freeze and they're still far out of their net so they're stuck in no-man's land standing still. Secondly, you're too far out for the goalie to poke-check, and then after the fake shot the goalie can't poke-ckeck because they've had to play for the shot. Then you can either shoot, or deke to your backhand, or fake one way and go the other (that's what I choose cause the goalie has to go with the first fake) or you can go backhand and slide it five-hole as the goalie is coming across. Don't second guess yourself I say, just pick your move and go through with it all the way. Because your one advantage is that you know what you're going to do and the goalie doesn't.
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