I Got an Assist at Verizon Center

Yes, I am bragging.

Verizon Center (home of the Washington Capitals) has a promotion where a local recreational or high school hockey team can buy up a block of tickets to a game, watch the game, then play on the ice after the Caps game. The friends and family you brought along with you get to watch your game from section 100. My team, the Puck Hogs, took advantage of this deal last month.

Before the game started, we had to bring all of our hockey gear to the press entrance of Verizon Center. Before bringing it inside, some poor dog had to sniff each hockey bag for explosives or drugs or something. All that dog smelled was 30 different bags full of disgusting hockey gear.

We brought our bags into the basement of Verizon Center, passing by the locker rooms for the Mystics, the Wizards, the Red Rockers, and of course, the Capitals. We ditched our bags in what was basically a closet near the end of the hallway that connects to the Zamboni tunnel. Joel Ward was walking around the bowels of the arena and our Czech player had a chance to talk to his countryman, Milan Michalek.

At the end of the second period, we had to meet with our Verizon Center liaison, go back into the seemy underbelly of Verizon Center, and move all of our stuff to a "dressing room", which was not exactly set up to have a hockey team get ready in. It seemed to be more of a small, all-purpose dressing room. My area was just a folding chair.

The Caps game was fine, I guess. Here's the recap. Caps won.

At the end of the third, we once again met the liaison, and once again went to the basement to get changed.

The Puck Hogs sat on the visitor's bench; the Red Army (our opponents) sat on the Capitals bench. Despite their name, the Red Army wore white and we wore red. The bench itself is higher than at the rinks around the DC area. If I sat on the bench, my feet did not touch the ground.

The ice at Verizon Center is surprisingly nice. It's well-lit, too. I didn't find any of the ads on the ice or the boards distracting at all. The biggest downside to being on the ice is that you can't see the scoreboard very easily. Maybe there was a more subtle one hiding somewhere. I repeatedly attempted to look at the TyrannoVision while on the ice to see how long I had been on my shift.

From the ice, of course, you can see every single seat in the arena. Save for a bunch of seats in Section 100, they were all empty. I can't begin to imagine what it sounds like when all the seats are full.

My assist was anticlimactic. The puck was passed to me along the boards in the neutral zone. I centered it and crashed the net. The first shot bounced off the goalie; someone else picked up the rebound and scored. Still, it was amazing to have gotten an assist in Verizon Center, the same number Andrew Gordon has gotten there. That's right, I'm just as good as Andrew Gordon.

We lost, just like the Capitals. HEY-O!

Am I That Threatening On The Ice?

Last night was our playoff game for the spring season. I drew 3 penalties. Apparently I'm so threatening that the other team needs to take me out by any means necessary.

• First, I had a breakaway where one of their defenders took me out. I landed on all pads and slid into the boards. They called 2 minutes for hooking (I think -- I haven't seen the official box score).
• Later I was going after the puck in their zone and was checked from behind. 2 minutes.
• Finally, in the third, I was high sticked in the face. (Or the cage, rather.) Another 2 minutes.

This is the second game in a row where I was more or less targeted by the other team's players.

In the previous game, I was playing defense and even more things happened to me:

• I was checked after the whistle and landed hard on my hip. That took a little while to feel better. No call.
• I was hooked a little later in their zone. No call.
• In a situation just like last time, the puck went to the boards and me and this guy went after it. He fucking slashed my stick so I pushed him hard and steadily into the boards, which is perfectly legal because we were both there and he was covering the puck. Then one of their other guys comes and checks me. I got up and screamed "What the fuck is wrong with you, you fucking asshole?!?!" He said "I didn't like what you were doing to my guy." "This is a fucking non-checking league!" "You were--" "(mocking) You were wah wah wah wah FUCK YOU!" and I skated to the bench. He got a 2-minute roughing penalty. I'm told he was trying to kick me with his skate, too.
• Shortly thereafter, while I was on  the bench, this one asshole checks our best player in open ice. No call. The period ends and he starts yelling at one of our guys near our bench about it. I got up and yelled "Shut the fuck up, go back to your bench, and sit the fuck down!" He looks up and skates to the bench and comes up to our alternate captain and said real quietly, "What did you say to me?" I said "It was me and I told you to sit the fuck down, asshole!" Before he could do anything, the ref comes over and makes him go sit down.
• Later I got slashed in the shin just below my shin pad. I couldn't skate for a few minutes. No call. Still hurts.

I refused to shake their hands. It's the first time I've ever done that.

I really don't think I'm such an amazing player that I need to be taken out at this level. I had 4 shots in both the last games combined. Only 1 of them was any good.

I'm usually leading the forecheck and I will cover the man on the point, which will occasionally lead to a breakaway, but that's really what any wing should be doing.

Frankly the two teams mentioned above shouldn't be in the D league. They both have several ringers that should be playing 2 leagues above us. We hold them off as best we can, but it does get frustrating in the long run. I'm looking forward to the winter season when the teams have been evened out a little better.

Bad Penalties

Last night the (still undefeated) Puck Hogs played the Wings. We tied, making us 8-0-1 for the season.

This was the chippiest team we've ever played. The refs called the game relatively fairly until the end of the game. In the second period, Ryan and I had a two on one, racing towards their goal when one of their defensemen hooked me and took me out. He was called for roughing*. Good call.
*The guy who roughed me was checked in open ice later in the period. It's a non-checking league. Our man got 2 for roughing of course. In the third the same guy from our team got in a fight that wasn't entirely his fault and was ejected. In one game he managed to get the most penalty minutes of anyone on the team.

In the third period, though, the puck went against the boards and I went after it, pushing one of their guys into the boards, which is perfectly legal. no one had control of the puck, so I kept the guy tied up when one of their guys dropped his stick, BEAR HUGGED ME from behind, and fell backwards, causing me to land on top of him. That is all kinds of illegal. The refs decided we both deserved penalties. I didn't even realize I was being called too. The other guy was on his way to the box because he knows he's a fucking failure, but when the ref came over to me and said "let's go" I couldn't believe it. As I was skating to the box, I asked the ref what the penalty was. He said "roughing I think." What the hell!

Of my 6 penalty minutes this season (though the website says I have 4 PIMS) I only deserve two of them. First, my other penalty that I didn't deserve: I took the puck into their zone (I forget which team) when one of their guys took me down. He didn't get called. As I was getting up I realized my stick was stuck. I looked down and the guy had let go of his stick and had both hands on my stick. I yanked on it and said something like "let of of my fucking stick motherfucker." He had the deer-in-headlights look in his eyes. The ref called me for cross-checking. Does he even know what cross-checking is??

The one penalty I deserved happened a couple weeks ago. I was against the boards when one of their guys tripped me. Again, no call. As I'm trying to get up, one of their guys grabs my helmet and pushed my head into the boards. Still no call. As the guy stepped over me I grabbed one of his skates and yanked. He went face first into the ice. Two minutes for tripping on me. Excellent call, but where were the other calls??

The HNA refs need to call the games both ways. It gets very frustrating how many liberties they let the other team take with us. I assume it has something to do with us being undefeated, but who knows?