Division Champs! 1 Win in a Row! Lookin' for 4 More

This weekend was a fight.  Boulder came ready to play.  They wanted to win, and, honestly, I don't know how ready we were as a team to face that kind of a battle.  On Friday night, we played pretty well.  We played most of the game in Boulder's zone, but we found ourselves in a 2-0 hole.  Boulder came out and scored an early power play goal and then got another one in the third period.  We could not score.  But that's playoff hockey.  You run into a hot goalie, and you have to find ways to put the puck in the net or you're going to end up going home earlier than you want.  We were determined, though, to win.  With 5 minutes left in the 3rd period, we found the back of the net by blasting a puck to the net and getting a rebound.  2-1.  Less than a minute later, I got the puck behind the net and wheeled as fast as I could.  I took the puck up the ice and crossed Boulder's blue line before getting checked by two of their players.  But I had chipped the puck to the middle of the ice for a 2-on-1, and we scored to tie it up!  2-2.  With less than a minute left in the game, one of our players streaked up the ice, shot the puck on net, and tapped in his own rebound.  3-2.  It was unbelievable.  The crowd was going crazy, we were going crazy, Boulder was shocked.  We did the unthinkable and turned a sure loss into a win--in regulation.  That doesn't happen much in playoffs.  We were very lucky.  But like I said we were determined.  We refuse to lose.  Time and again this season, we have come back from deficits to win games.  We were ecstatic after the game, but our coach came into the locker room and put an end to that.  He said we were very lucky to be up 1-0 in the series and that we better be ready to play tomorrow because he knew Boulder was going to come out with another fierce effort to take us down.  That was our 30th consecutive victory, but that doesn't mean anything anymore because the next night, our streak was ended.

Saturday night was our chance to put Boulder away, and they knew that.  They came out and played a very good game.  They were winning puck battles and just outworking us for the majority of the game.  It was very even, and once again we found ourselves in a 2-0 hole going into the third period.  A familiar spot, so we were confident.  We believed, like Tim Tebow.  (Side note: sorry to see you leave Tebow, but come on--it's Peyton Manning we're talking about here.  Tebowing becomes Manninging.)  In the third period, we got a penalty shot goal and found the momentum from there on out.  We scored to tie it up, and then with a minute left in the game got called for a penalty.  It was kind of deflating.  But our penalty kill has been stellar all year, and we weren't about to give up a power play goal.  My roommate took the puck from our zone, streaked down the right side and took a beautiful shot.  It went in, top glove.  A shorthanded goal!  It didn't seem real that this was happening again, that we were going to pull off a miracle comeback--again.  But there we were, up 3-2 with 1:16 left in the 3rd period.  Then, there was a faceoff in our zone with 22 seconds left.  One faceoff win from a trip to El Paso, and we put our best faceoff man in for the draw.  He tried to win it forward and shot it right to their defenseman, who one-timed it into the back of our net.  3-3.  Heading to overtime.  The overtimes were well fought, with both teams getting good chances.  We killed two 5-on-3 power plays.  That doesn't happen very often, either, by the way, but we were blocking shots all over the place.  Their goalie played great, and we couldn't bury some of the good chances we had.  Halfway through the second overtime, they scored a goal that was deflected off my D partner's stick...That kind of stuff happens in overtime.  That's why it's imperative to get pucks to the net no matter what.  We headed to the locker room in defeat, for the first time in 30 games.  An unusual spot for us.  But we weren't done.  We knew what we had to do to win this series, with our backs against the wall.  (This double overtime loss brings my career double overtime record to 0-2, unfortunately.  Heartbreak city in the HS state championship game a few years back...)

I've never been in this situation.  Do or die in a playoff series.  Win or go home.  Put up or shut up.  Insert popular cliche here.  But I wasn't ready for this season to end.  Before the game, in our team meeting, I stood up and told the team that I wasn't happy with the way I played on Saturday night and that I was going to do everything in my power to make sure this wasn't the last game we would play together.  I backed up my words.  In the first period, I got in a fight with Boulder's captain.  It was a good scrap.  We were both tied up for the majority of the fight, but he ended up getting a few good punches on my eye, and I started bleeding everywhere on the ice.  Neither of us went down though.  I skated by Boulder's bench after the fight, and they were all yelling at me, chirping me, trying to get in my head.  I just smiled at them.  I think it probably scared them a little bit to see me pouring blood and still smiling at them.  I wasn't going to be denied this victory with my team.  I went into the locker room and got stitched up, then came back out on the ice for the second period.  I was a different player from that point on.  I came out of the penalty box, smiled at Boulder's bench and said, "I'm back, boys.  You guys are in trouble."  My adrenaline was pumping, and I played rock solid the rest of the game.  My coach even went so far as to say it was the best game I've ever played.  He said I was a rock wall, and that I "should get punched in the face more often."  Thank you?  It really woke me up, and made me play with no fear, though.  I wasn't really mad, I was just fearless, confident, scary on the ice.  We went up 3-0, but Boulder fought back to 3-2.  We got an empty netter and won the game 4-2.  It was a helluva game and a helluva series.  So much fun.  It embodied what playoff hockey is all about.

Our coach told us after the series that he thinks we are a much better prepared playoff team after this playoff victory.  We found out a lot about ourselves, and we're ready to get another championship in El Paso.  I have a feeling that we're not going to be denied.  Not after all we've been through together.  Our winning streak is now at 1.  We're going for 4 more in El Paso!