Regular Season Game #18

Last game of the regular and I was in the press box. In front of the biggest crowd we have played in front of (1,500 strong) that were making the noise of twice that much, and I had to sit back and watch with anticipation as the team faced off against the Corsaires of Dunkerque. A team I should mention that had only lost two games all year.

It was a standing room only crowd in Dunkerque.

We started the game as one would against a world class chess player: cautious. We played it safe and kept the puck out of our zone. Nothing fancy and without a lot of style, but it was effective as Dunkerque never really seemed to be able to establish any type of rhythym. The teams traded powerplays for the first twelve minutes and then IT happened. At the end of a penalty-kill, Baptiste Blommaert jumped on a loose puck at the top of the circles in their zone and wired the puck home. All of a sudden, we had the lead. Dunkerque seemed to be a little stunned by the fact that we had scored but to their credit, they were determined to stay in the game. Near the end of the period, our penalties caught up with us and the Corsaires notched one on the powerplay to even it up at 1-1.

I never want to blame the referees for penalties, but in the second period, the refs called a few too many penalties with not all of them being deserved. The pace of the game slowed down tremendously. After eight minutes of penalties being served, with the teams back at full strength, Baptiste notched his second of the night on a wicked from the top of the circles. Top shelf. The refs thought they needed to keep it close however and immediately gave us a couple of minor penalties. Dunkerque took full advantage and scored on the 5 on 3 advantage on a puck that Tommi didn't have a chance to see. I have to give the team credit however as we really buckeled down and worked to keep the momentum going in our favour. A power play goal by J.C. Fornero allowed us to finish the period with a 3-2.

In the third period, the boys came out knowing that they could win this one. Their was a look of confidence in our play as we pushed Dunkerque to make a mistake that we could capitalize on. Eight minutes in and J.C. found the mistake and buried his second of the night. Dunkerque, being the exceptional team that they are, continued to work and eventually forced us into making a mistake on a power-play. They converted the short handed goal and all of a sudden were back in the game. J.C. was determined to make sure that we didn't give up the victory and notched the hat-trick marker while short-handed! We were up 5-3 and that proved to be enough. It was a great victory and a fantastic way to finish off the regular season.