It is a whole different attitude, mindset, or you could even call it a feeling even though we don’t condone feelings in hockey. Playoffs! It is great to see the energy just deluging out of each of the Weevils as they get ready for the upcoming battle. No one is talking down to anyone, Mad Cow is not making cracks, and there are no pre-game Thhheno jokes going around. Hell, even Toad showed up, even though the game didn’t start until the wee hours of Wednesday morning due to an injury and the Ringers somehow slowing the clock down with their man on the “inside”, in the game before ours.

Many Weevils were surprised when we saw the Odwyer skaters being dropped off by mommy and daddy in the parking lot at 11:45pm, they must be tracked out. Captain Diddlicious puts together some stellar lines to face this first obstacle in the 2006 winter playoffs. First line was lead by the ever generous Sattoras-San who seems to find everyones tape all of the sudden. B Moore shored up left wing and was full of great passes and net shakers as he flipped pancakes past the goalie all night. And of course Teno, who despite getting bent over twice by the goalie in a matter of seconds still contributed in countless scoring opportunities during the game.

Our second line was no less successful, as they contributed many scoring opportunities and great penalty kills as well. This line was lead by Timmy V who won a bunch of face-offs and battles in front of the net all night. Weber was also stellar on the right wing as he hustled to every puck within his sight throughout the game. He was working around back of their net feeding Timmy and Pinna with great passes causing the young Odwyer goalie to lose his bearings. Pinna was in rare form on the left as he took some well heeded advice and started ripping shots at speeds tipping mach 3. One of these slappers from the blue line was rocketed so fast that the minder didn’t even have time to blink before he realized the back of the net was ripped in half. Pinna also pulled a Bobby Orr and held the puck for 1 minute and 30 seconds during one of Myze’s penalties, before he decided to score on top of all that.

Although there was great play in the offensive zone, our defense was the key as Toad and Cow played most of the game, thwarting chances and shutting down the goalie’s twin brother as he attempted to slide past our encampment. Diddle and Myze also played great, covering the man in front and going hard into the boards to fish out the puck to our ever backchecking offense. Between penalties, Myze even found time to roof one, scoring his first goal of the year from the back lines! Even though it took Myze several chances on the rush leaving Diddle alone to shut down several 3 on 1s.

Our last line of defense, Pee Slow, who earlier ordered a Gingerale at the bar, was very strong and even though not many shots got through he was always ready for the occasional rush from the school kids. The one goal they scored was a rush from the twin, beating Diddle to the outside and cutting back across the goal. But wait! Slow throws a miraculous poke check extending his whole 4′2″ frame to gank twinny boy. Unfortunately no one picked up the rebound as Pee Slow was a good 4′2″ from the goal and they slid their only goal across the line.

All in all this game was some of the best skating we have done since beating Eye Care last year in the first round of the playoffs. I think we excel when the time comes to step up and give out the spankings to adolescent teens. I bet today there are a few students who don’t have their homework ready to turn in. But they do have some welt marks on their behind to brag about during show and tell.