So we’ve had two more games against Alvesta (on the 13th) and Jonstorp (15th).
The loss to Alvesta was particularly disappointing. While being the better team, we were beaten by a good goalie. The goalie is actually an American also coming over to Sweden after graduating college (Cornell). Nice guy. Unfortunately, he was also nice enough to shut us out. All of Alvesta’s goals were powerplay goals which has been a common theme for us. The turning point of the game was in the second period when we were down 1-0. On the PK, I threw a puck off the glass to James who was floating in the neutral zone who won a 50-50 battle with their defenseman to go in on a break away. James scored but after the fact the linesman complained to the head referee that James had interfered the Alvesta defenseman to win the puck so instead of scoring shorthanded, James went to the box to give Alvesta a 5 on 3. Alvesta was then able to put two in before our boys could leave the box. We never recovered.
Beating Jonstorp was essential. They are currently in 7th place (one place above us) and are a team that we need to pass in the rankings if we want to avoid the play-down (relegation) playoffs. Coach Higgins has actually written a review of this game in English on the team website (http://www.laget.se/OIKALAGET/start.html) but I’ll do my own. After a first-shift goal against us, we were able to power back to a 5-1 lead going into the third period. Surprisingly, it almost wasn’t enough. In the third period, we took 9 penalties, some of them over lapping (i.e. 5-on-3, and a 6-on-3 for their 4th goal with 3 minutes to go in the game!). It is one of the worst feeling in the world to watch an insurmountable lead slip away. Fortunately, it actually was insurmountable and we were able to get the two points. Even-strength play we were dominant. Unfortunately, you can’t even breath on the opposition in this league (depending on the ref). I’m proud to say that I actually didn’t get a penalty this game though. James had an assist. I may have had one , too.
Värnamo this coming Wednesday (20th). Very important game because they are another team we need to pass to stay out of the relegation playoffs.
