Mother Russia Works Overtime, Sees it Payoff in the Playoffs

Ever since the second round was completed and PW and the Soviets were slated to play each other, every hockey fan had 1/17 circled on their calendar. Perhaps the expectations were too high, and some wondered it was even possible for the two teams to come close to playing a game comparable to the slew of thrilling games that they have played recently. It turns out, they had one more in their system. With four minutes remaining in overtime on Sunday night, Tony Horton redirected a harmless looking shot past an unsuspecting Sean Hanley, and vaulted the Red Army to the first ever championship series in franchise history.

"I don't know what so say right now," Horton said. "I'm shocked. I didn't really see where the puck was, but I felt it hit me. Next thing I know, I see the goalie look behind him and Steve has his arms raised. It all happened so quickly. The puck had eyes for sure, and we could try that deflection 100 times and not get it once. Perhaps, and this is only my theory, but there may have been a second shooter. I'll have to wait and see how many programs the History Channel can crank out about tonight's deflection to get to the bottom of this case."

"I got to the bottom of this case," Pat King said, lifting the empty Natural Light box above his head. "Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch!"

Ten minutes into the game, it seemed like Mother Russia was going to run away with the game. Mark Hendricks took a cross crease pass from Brad Lotocki and stuffed home the opening tally. Moments later, Hendricks intercepted an attempted rink wide feed from a PW skater, and skated in alone on a breakaway before potting a backhander under the sprawling Hanley.

"I remembered last playoffs when they really did shut me down," Hendricks said, making his second omelet of the evening as he was convinced he could beat Pat in the first annual omelet cook off. "I knew I wasn't going to get a lot of open space, so when I get chances I needed to convert. Hey man, look at that flip! Look at that flip! That is perfect technique, none of that two spatula mumbo jumbo you used on yours. What's that? Runny? Oh come on man you wouldn't know a good omelet if it hit you in the face, and that's what is about to happen if you don't shut up. But yeah, I'd say I get three or four breakaways a game against other teams, but against PW I'm lucky to get one. Tonight I got one, and I scored. I had to. They just don't give you many chances, kind of like a girl who gets mad at you when you make one joke about her mom being fat. Why won't she give you another chance? It's Martin Luther King day for heaven's sakes!"

Before long however, the tides would turn. The Prestigious Ones beat Andy Schram five hole to make the score 2-1, then tied it with a blast from the point, then took the lead on a shot from in tight that snuck upstairs on Schram.

The first period ended, and the pregame nerves that had vanquished with the 2-0 lead had returned.

"A problem our team has is that can get down on ourselves when we give up goals. We know we give up goals in bunches, but we can also score them in bunches. That first intermission it was pretty quiet on the bench," Captain Steve Hand said. "I try to keep the mood light and not let the guys know I'm nervous too, I'm pretty sure, to quote Laura Jeanne, that the game was giving me heart palpitations."

After a lengthy shift in the offensive zone to start the period, Hendricks made it a productive one despite not denting the twine. The forward drew a penalty as he was taken down at the tops of the circles. The Soviets changed lines, and the power play went to work. After a few missed opportunities, Ben Breiterman got the puck in the slot and fired a shot that nicked the post on its way in.

"I wanted to keep my post hitting streak alive," Mario Breiterman said after the game. "Seriously though, it was a big goal. So big, it kind of makes you want to do a shot out of a horn fashioned from the head of a ram. Ch-ch-ch-ch!"

After Hendricks drew another penalty, the Soviets went to the power play again. It didn't take long. Scott Hoefer, who finished with a game high 14 blocked shots, kept the puck in the zone and passed to Ryan Odell. Odell zipped a crisp seam pass to Hendricks and the leading scorer proved why he is such. Hendricks' one time blast beat Hanley short side, and the Comrades had the lead back.

Schram would steer away all shots he faced the remainder of the period, and the game entered the third period with the Soviets fifteen minutes away from boarding the ship.

"We kept things positive," Odell said. "We knew it was going to be a long period, and a few more goals would really help, but going into the period defense was the name of the game. Well, hockey is the name of the game, but its alias was defense. Whatever happened to Jennifer Garner?"

The game was tied fifteen seconds into period. Hendricks, taking an ill advised water break at the water fountain, heard the Tuxedo Wearing Skaters celebrate.

"I heard sticks banging against the boards and yelling. I knew it wasn't good. That water though, that water was so good," Hendricks said.

Lotocki chipped in with his first of the playoffs and gave the Comrades another lead when he snuck in on a mini breakaway and potted one five hole.

"Bear cavalry! Playoff edition!" Lotocki said, fashioning a horn out of the head of a ram he had slayed.

The captain also got in the action, scoring the biggest goal of his career when he jammed home a rebound on the door step to make the score 6-4 with seven minutes remaining.

"I saw the puck at my feet, and I took a page out of Joaquin Phoenix's character in Signs and decided to swing away. Weird analogy? Why can't Signs be an acceptable movie to quote? Would you like it better if I compared my goals to Vin Diesel films? I call them films because anything triple X is in is art."

PW called time out. They organized, talked, and made plans. The Red Army tried to organize, but it was clear the excitement was getting to them.

"We definitely were a little giddy on the bench," King said. "We were trying to focus and talk strategy, but our eyes were glazed over with what we thought we had already won."

They hadn't. Yet.

PW, in true PW style, scored two goals on two shots in what seemed like two seconds. The proverbial ship that so many Soviets had dreamed of boarding seemed to be leaving them at the dock.

The final nervous seconds ticked off the clock, and, surprise surprise, these two teams needed overtime.

"I know I'm a guy a lot of players look to for advice about hockey and I'm some what of a coach," Hendricks said, removing the usual comedic aspect of his being for a moment to talk serious sticks and pucks. "And as I skated to the bench right before the start of overtime, I noticed some of the guys with their heads low and they looked demoralized. Sure, we had just blown a two goal lead late in the game, but hell, we were in overtime. Anything can happen. I just banged my stick on the rink a few times and told the guys 'Look, any shot is a good shot. One goal and its over. Let's get that goal.' That isn't to say I wasn't nervous though. My inline pants were soaked in urine."

Well, he was mostly serious in that quote. Mostly.

Hendricks set a world record in overtime for the longest shift. He skated the first three minutes, then when a penalty was called on Ben Breiterman, he decided to stay our to kill it off. After a minute of frantic diving and shot blocking, mostly done by the man himself Scott Hoefer, Hendricks drew a penalty. With three on three action, #18 kept himself in the game and skated out there with Lotocki and Odell, who were both skating their second shifts of the extra frame. Once Breiterman rejoined them, and more line changes were made, Hendricks remained out there unable to end the game. Four goalless minutes later, he skated to the bench, resembling Ghandi, and told Hand who was replacing him to "keep the shifts short."

PW had the better of opportunities in the overtime, as two of their forwards hit the crossbar. But, it was iron will of Schram that kept the Soviets in the game. Schram would not yield, and though his fatigue was evident, he swam around in his crease like a man possessed.

"I was exhausted," Schram said. "They were throwing everything at me. Our defense was all over the shot blocking, especially Scott, and what got by them, didn't get by me."

After the puck was deflected out of play, the Soviets changed lines again. King and Hendricks took a seat on the bench and they were replaced by Hand and Horton.

"I saw them coming on," King said. "I grabbed Tony and I just said, 'end it'. It was one of those things you see in the movies."

"Vin Diesel movies," Hand added, flipping through the original script of the Pacifier.

Horton, like any good German boy, carried out the orders his fellow Comrade had delivered to him. After a shot deflected off the skates of Hand, the puck ramped up and hit the Big Rig in the calf and snuck across the goal line.

They had just scored the biggest goal in franchise history... and they didn't know what to do.

Horton raised his hands and was mauled by every red jersey wearing player on the rink. King and Hendricks nearly killed each other trying to both squeeze out the bench doors at the same time to get into the dog pile. Hoefer had jumped into the arms of Schram and was forming his own rival dog pile.

The two teams lined up and shook hands. There was no malcontent, no ill feelings towards each other, just a mutual respect shared by two titans who had just battled it out and added another chapter to a rivalry that seems to get better with each game.



So... There were highs to this game. There were lows to this game. In the emotional roller coaster that was some fifty five plus minutes of hockey last night, both teams more than exceeded expectations of the highly anticipated third round match-up. At the end of it all, it was the Soviets who fortune favored most. So enjoy the win Comrades, but don't enjoy it too much, you play again tomorrow.

THREE STARS:
3: Mark Hendricks
2: Scott Hoefer
1: Tony Horton

UPDATE: Scott Hoefer was unable to comment about last night's game because he is overcome with his emotions towards winning.