Last Sunday’s game was a nail biter, but a joy to skate. We had a full bench, three lines of forwards and three lines of D, ready to take on Bridgewater. The last meeting between the teams resulted in a 5-4 loss for the Blades, so we were ready for a different outcome, on our home ice.

The game was fast and furious from the first puck drop. The Wings were aggressive, racing to the puck and pushing down the ice, three across. But the Blades back checked like crazy, and spread out to play the whole ice.

Our centers skated like they had tracker jackers breathing down their necks. Meredith pounced and loose pucks and showcased a mighty backhand and a GPS-like accuracy finding Tanya and Laurie for cross ice passes. Katie dropped low to scoop up pucks in our zone, and dodged defenders to shoot on their goalie. Kelly was always two steps ahead, anticipating the bounce of the puck would go and her teammates’ intent.

Our wings played tough and smart. Laurie continued her aggressive play, making crisp passes even after getting knocked to her knees. Sue found open spaces and had give and go’s with Katie. Nina held the puck against the board resisting all attempts to dislodge her until another Blade could rescue the puck.

A few minutes in, the Wings got a goal, when the Blades all got stuck on the ice for far too long. But Bridgewater’s happiness had a shorter lifespan than a mayfly. Halfway through the period, Alyssa sent the puck to Kelly, who took a shot that rebounded to Karyn, who sent it up and over to tie the game!

Just like last time, the two teams were fairly even and the action moved quickly. The defense had many great plays. Sophie and Hutch both took the puck end to end, Sophie in a flat out sprint that would have left the Wings in the dust, if ice had dust, and Hutch with quick, dizzying twists and dodges. When Deb wasn’t coaching on the bench, she was thwarting forwards; she made one of the prettiest poke checks I’ve seen all season.

In the second period, the KAK line scored again when Alyssa passed to Kelly, and Kelly buried it to put us ahead 2-1! That score held for another period. In the third, they pulled their goalie at the end, as expected, but even a sixth player couldn’t help them beat a unified Blades team.

As for Steph, she was awesome as usual, ensuring the victory with a string of excellent saves, including several point blank attempts that she stopped with a magician’s hand. Now you see ‘em, now you don’t!

Another in a series of hard fought and well-deserved victories!

Sometimes when you’re playing a team that’s just faster
The final score looks like your players were plastered.
While they whiz about, taking shots as they please
You chase behind, mad, like a pissed swarm of bees

They scored twice in the first, and the same in the second
Could it get any worse? Martini dreams beckoned!
But the gin had to wait: for the whole second half
The Blades started shining like Edith Piaf

Like a Mafia accountant who skims off the top,
Sooner or later the bleeding must stop
While Alyssa and Sue kept them running like crazy,
Kelly set shots up like Martin Scorcese

The Cats found that Meredith, Nina and Tanya
Could shake ‘em and bake ‘em like uncooked lasagna
Together Laurie, Sarah and Hutch on
Offense cleaned the blots off our Blades escutcheon

Laura and Jackie cleared goons from the crease
With smarts and with sass (and of course elbow grease)
Sophie and Deb played like Lidstrom or Orr
They covered both ends, while still guarding the door

Steph played like an All Star, save after save
The net as off-limit as Genghis Khan’s grave
Their forwards thought rebounds would pay dividends
But Steph dove so fast she came up with the bends

Like Piaf, the end was not technically glorious,
We never scored, and the Cats were victorious
But no one shone as bright as our star in the net.
We regret nothing, and we’ll get them yet!

Our last game against Westchester was a one-goal nail-biter, and we were starting out with a few handicaps this time, with people like Cherry and Duffy and Herlihy out on the DL, Jackie playing with a fever, and Sophie rocking a new pair of Christmas skates that, regrettably, had never touched ice before, causing her to splay out and skitter like Bambi sailing across a frozen pond.

Luckily we had a full bench. With so many teams, a full roster means you might as well bring a magazine because you’re gonna sit so long between shifts. But the Blades have been doing a great job keeping shifts short and action-packed, rolling the lines quickly so there are always fresh legs on the ice.

This game was another nailbiter. Overall we looked a little rusty for the first half of the first period, not surprising for our first game of the year after a long layoff. We had a powerplay and failed to convert. But we didn’t make any major mistakes while we were getting our legs back under us, and slowly the Blades began to get an edge. On one pivotal play, the Wildcats had a breakaway, and it was looking like a three on one till Sophie came from behind, stole the puck, and sent it to Meredith behind her, who took it into their zone and got off a fine shot.

Every line had great chances for the rest of the game. Meredith, Tanya and Karyn took so many shots on net that they may have spent as much time on the resulting faceoffs as they did skating. In one shift, the desperate Wildcats almost the puck out of their zone, until Deb stopped it, made a sweet wrist shot to the high slot, straight to Meredith. Three face-offs in a row followed, and Meredith won every one!

Kelly and her line were robbed three, maybe four times – I’d like to see the video review of at least one of those close calls! Katie’s line, with Laurie and Sarah, also should have had a couple on the scoreboard. Katie won faceoff after faceoff. She also raced across the ice like a greyhound, swift and seemingly effortless. In one crucial moment in the second period, it looked as if the Wildcats were going to settle in and keep the puck by our net for an extended time. But Katie swooped in, grabbing the puck and executing a graceful U-turn to turn the tide of pressure away from us and onto them. Sarah’s not afraid to get physical – she broke up so many shots up the boards that she’ll probably be picking splinters out of her jersey all week. Laurie was beautifully positioned at every turn, always open for a pass. Under pressure in the neutral zone, Deb caught a cross ice pass and quickly and calmly sent it across the ice to Laurie, who was already making tracks to the blue line in anticipation.

Two factors kept the game from ever breaking open for the Wildcats: the forwards backchecked like champions, and the defense never let the WCats control the puck for long. Hutch sparkled on D, playing like a latter day Bobby Orr, aggressive on offense as well as defense. Laura played tough and smart, facing down breakaway attempts and clearing the front of the net. Deb controlled the tempo every time she got the puck, playing several moves ahead of the opposition around her. And as for Jackie and her fever? Clearly, she’s got hockey fever, and the only answer for that is more ice!

What turned out to be the play of the game came with just four minutes left in the first. Kelly, Sue and Nina were in the offensive zone, pressuring the Wildcats. The Cats got the puck and sent a clearing pass up the ice. But they didn’t count on Nina, playing what might have been her best game yet. She intercepted the puck before it got over the blue line, passing it to Kelly. Kelly took it behind the net then sent it to Sue on the side. Nina went to the front of the net and tied up one of their defenders, while Sue who took a shot that Jackie deflected into the net for a goal! This win was a total team effort but if Nina didn’t reach that puck first, the play didn’t happen and the Blades didn’t score!

The Blades held on to that slender one goal lead for the entire game, with smart play and a strong team effort. Time after time, the D pushed puck carriers to the side before plucking the pucks away. And when the WC broke through – there was Steph. Steph had too many amazing saves to count, including one in the second where the shooter had a clear breakaway and a straight line into an empty corner of the net, until Steph seemed to stretch across the crease like Gumby. Late in the third, a fast moving player broke away and got a powerful shot off, that rocketed high, wide – and straight into Steph’s glove hand. Stamp that shot Denied!

In the final minute the WCats threw everything they had on the ice, including pulling their goalie. They threw everything they had down on the ice, but no one could break through, and that one goal lead held up. The Blades started the new year in style, winning the second game in a row against Westchester! Well done, everyone!

The LI Hurricanes, in their new home (a rink about twice the size of the ping pong table where they used to play) were true to their name; they came out storming, and at the end of the first we were down 0-2.

They might have been ahead, but they weren’t confident, because despite the score, the Blades were keeping pace with them. It was almost as though the first period was about taking their measure and settling down, getting into synch with each other. And right at the start of the second period, not a minute passed before the first line scored. Kelly, Alyssa and Sarah were on the ice, swapping passes and moving the puck steadily forward. Kelly had the puck to the right of the net, saw Alyssa heading toward the front, and threaded the puck through two sets of legs right onto Alyssa’s stick! She sent it to the back of the net, and just like that, the deficit was cut in half.

Just a few minutes later, the puck was back in our end, with Sophie and Jackie defending, and the forward line of Nina, Sue and Hutch on the ice. The Hurricanes were trying to set themselves up around the net, but like a magician working a sleight of hand trick, suddenly Hutch had the puck and was pushing it up the ice at top speed while the Canes were standing flatfooted behind her. Score! And a tie game!

The first period was well played by both teams, and the second tilted in our favor. But the third was when the Blades brought the hammer down. The play was thoughtful, fluid, physical. Players circled, found open spaces, pushed hard, improvised, and got results. Of course, it helped that our goalie decided to shut the door. The only way to describe Steph’s game was that it was the opposite of an out of body experience: she used everything she had and the results were out of this world. Puck in the air? She snapped it up like a frog snicking a fly with its tongue. Down low? She snaked across the ice like a concertina, condensing, expanding, and trapping it in her gloves. The Hurricanes never scored again.

The Blades, on the other hand, had plenty more to give. Meredith’s line of Tania and Karyn were heartbreakers, stopping the Canes every time they thought they had momentum. Meredith tied up the other center on faceoffs, letting us slip in to steal the puck away. All three had give and goes around the net, and plenty of chances that would have gone home, against lesser opponents. Hutch’s line, with Sue and Nina, used speed, space and solid persistence to work the puck around the ice. It was great seeing Sue back on the ice – she showed she hadn’t missed a step, always finding the open ice and putting herself in the play. Nina, steady and sure, managed to reach the puck at key moments, blocking a player on the boards, or flying under the radar to center ice to poke the puck up to Hutch. Kelly was superb at getting to the puck and finding Alyssa and Sarah, setting up triangles around the net. The Hurricanes simply couldn’t dislodge them, and it was deja vue all over again when Sarah passed to Kelly who passed to Alyssa who scored and broke the tie!

Now halfway through the third, the D worked on preserving the one goal lead – well, except for Sophie, who decided it would be safer simply to extend it! She scored and gave the Blades some breathing room, as well as our fourth unanswered goal.

With about a minute left, LI pulled their goalie and sent a sixth player onto the ice. But so late in the game, they simply had no traction. The Blades controlled the puck easily. They got it into our end, but with five seconds to go, Jackie picked it up and cleared it easily down the ice. The whistle blew, and the first game of our doubleheader weekend was a decisive victory!

If the NHL lockout wipes out a whole season, never fear – Blades hockey is here! Our first game of the season started with Deb’s locker room chalk talk. With fourteen skaters on the bench – some new, and some returning after long absences – there was plenty of potential for chaos. Instead, we got chemistry.

First and foremost, our goalie Steph rocked the house! She missed a lot of games last season due to injuries, and to make things more interesting, she suited up after spending the day driving back from Rochester. But any doubts that she wasn’t rested or ready vanished faster than Lance Armstrong’s endorsement deals. Steph was on fire! She caught ‘em high, she stopped ‘em low. It’s hard to pick out the best moment but one pivotal stop may have been when a Quarry Cat found herself alone in front of the net, dead center, puck on her stick, easy shot to the back of the net, or so she thought. Steph used her blocker to stamp that application DENIED!

Meanwhile Kelly got the party started in the first period when she swooped in for her first goal of the season. Centering Karyn and Tanya, then Karyn and Jackie, the first line kept the pressure on and found themselves in front of the net time and again. Karyn was in great position throughout the game, and kept the puck moving, with such verve that she broke her stick. Someone’s been working out! Tanya was her usual relentless self, making crisp passes and sprinting to catch the puck in return. She always find the open ice, always knows where her center is headed!

Steph noted that she heard a lot of talking on the ice. (And she did a lot of it herself, always letting the D know where the attackers were.) Meredith was one of those chatting it up with her line, and they swooped and circled as if they’d worked out the choreography in advance. Meredith also centered the comeback line, with Laurie and Sarah. Laurie, returning after a broken toe, compensated for a weak foot with careful and precise puck handling, including one superb deke deep in the enemy zone. Sarah, playing her first game in several years, never stopped smiling (and neither did we, watching her play!) Early on she showed her fighting spirit when she tangled with a QC on the boards and refused to leave without the puck. By the end of the game she was carrying the puck up the ice with confidence.

The third line had Hutch centering Nina and Jackie, then Nina and Tanya. Hutch proved a master strategist, quickly analyzing the dynamics of the opposition and setting up plays. (She also brought fans along – her parents – who must have been proud to see their pride and joy dominating the ice with her speed and quick hands.) Nina sailed straight to the net, pulling attention from defense and the goalie, while her line mates got set up. Jackie had played street hockey earlier in the day, but still managed to eke out the energy for powerful shot. She also covered the point whenever the D carried the puck in.

And that happened pretty often, when Sophie got the puck! Her speed and energy were spectacular to watch, which is pretty much all the Quarry Cats could do while she wove around them until she could dump the puck deep into their zone. All the D worked the whole ice, not just clearing the net but carrying the puck out whenever a regular breakout wouldn’t work. Deb would disappear behind the net, spin a quick reverse then head up the boards. Laura showed her running career has worked as dry land training – she never let a cherry picker sneak behind her. Clare held the blue line in the offensive zone, and blocked shots in ours.

The first period ended with the Blades up 1-0. But the game was so evenly matched that you just knew the Quarry Cats were waiting for any chance to even up the score. They got it midway through the second period, when the QC got a power play with Kelly off for hooking. About a minute in to the penalty kill, the Quarry Cats caught a break, lifting the puck up just as Steph was going down. Even so, she almost got a piece of it.

Less than a minute later, they scored again. But before panic set in, Laurie, who’s a judge in real life, proved why she’s so valuable no matter what kind of bench she’s sitting on, when she suggested to Deb that this might be a good time for time out. Deb called it, settled everyone down, and instead of falling apart, the Blades hit the ice running. And Kelly scored again!

The game was tied at the end of the second. The Blades and the Cats were evenly matched, spending time in each zone. But many little things the Blades did right began to add up to something big. Everyone was communicating. Everyone was looking for the open player or finding open ice, sending and catching smart passes. Forwards were back checking, defenders were challenging and forcing turnovers. Everyone kept moving. The shifts were short, fast and hard – no one sat cooling their heels on the bench too long. The breakouts looked amazingly like what we’d been practicing – and they worked! Everyone had great opportunities, and just as important, great passion!

The Quarry Cats never gave up. Halfway through the third, they came down the ice like the Mongol hordes storming the Russia empire. They sent the puck in deep, but Deb outraced the forwards and sent it all the way around to Karyn, already moving up the boards. She skated several steps, looked up and found Kelly. Kelly sprinted up the ice and found the back of the net. 3-2 Blades!

Tension was high. Separated by a single goal, there was only one question – who wanted it more? The QC tried to flood the crease, sending all three forwards down low. But each time their blockade was broken. Sophie took matters into her own hands, when she moved the puck out herself when she couldn’t find an outlet pass, then recovered the puck three times in a row. The QC tried putting two players on her, but even that wasn’t enough! Hutch had several great runs down the ice, sometimes solo and sometimes with Tanya keeping pace. So many shots, so very close! Meredith, Laurie and Sarah kept the pressure on, shift after shift. The QC tried to send cherry pickers back, but the D caught them every time.

Two turning points came in the last few minutes. One came after the Quarry Cats finally broke out of their zone and came barreling into ours. A player wound up, took a shot – and had it blocked by Clare, completely deflating their momentum. The next came with three minutes to go. The Quarry Cats were watching the clock, waiting to pull their goalie, but they couldn’t get the puck. Shift after shift, it stayed in their end. When they finally broke it out, pulled their goalie and sent a sixth skater out, there was less than a minute left.

Those of us on the bench were yelling as we watched the QC swarm and the Blades repel. Steph was like an octopus – no matter how they tried to get around her, she was always there. Laura and Clare dug deep and seemed to keep circling the net, one in front, one behind, chasing and disrupting the attackers. The final twenty seconds felt like an hour. But when the buzzer rang, the game was ours! A fantastic first game to start the Blades season!

Christine, who also played with many of you at Chelsea Piers, will be remembered for her strong spirit, and upbeat personality. Always unique, Christine was fierce in the net and in life, and she will be missed.

I have included a link below with her obituary, which has a secondary link to a guestbook where you can post thoughts for her family to read.

Deborah Glazer

http://obits.silive.com/obituaries/siadvance/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=159157986#fbLoggedOut

In a game where we were only 8 skaters, the Blades took the Hurricanes by surprise and took the game in hand early.

We had only 4 Blades (Meredith, Clare, Liz and myself) and 4 subs (former Blade Niamh, plus Lisa, Wendy and Melissa) but it didn’t matter because Lisa came out hard and skated fast and gave us the early lead, 1-0, in the first couple of minutes.

The ‘Canes came back with spirit, and managed to get two goals before we got ourselves collected and Wendy got a shot off to make it 2-2.

After that, we had some scrappy moments in both ends. They got a bouncing goal past Steph and took the lead back to make it 3-2. Then the ref called a tripping penalty – which was of course, on me – but the team stepped up and killed it beautifully. Steph stood on her head and made save after save, including a really amazing sliding stop – and one with her glove that was so unbelievable that the Hurricanes were actually celebrating it as a goal until she stood up and it was clear that it was in her mitt!

In the third, Lisa and Niamh pressured up front, while Wendy skated out of our end and tied it up with her second of the night to make it 3-3. Then it was their turn to play short-handed as they took a tripping penalty and we went on the best power play we’ve had this year. Liz and Meredith had a terrific give and go down low, which ended up as a shot on net that flipped up off the goalie and Liz popped it in to give us the lead, 4-3.

We sat on that lead, skating hard for every loose puck, until Melissa, swooping out of our end, brought that puck down and roofed it over their goalie for a decisive 5-3 lead.

With two minutes to go, the ‘Canes tried to pull their goalie. But our forwards were relentless and both Clare and Wendy on D stepped it up, and they couldn’t control the puck to bring it into our zone. Their goalie was caught out, halfway to the bench, and forced to freeze the puck – and thereby took a costly penalty as she was out of her crease. We forced them back into their end for the rest of the game, and came away with an exhausting, exciting and exhilarating win!

The rain may have stopped but that meant nothing as the “Wild Blade Cats” brought a torrent of offense to Long Island last night.

With visiting players from both the Wildcats and the Quarry Cats, our mashed-up team came out ready to play, even if we couldn’t get the names quite right. It wasn’t really our fault: we had QC Karen (not to be confused with our Karyn), wearing Laurie’s old jerseys, so we had Woods and Woods on the opening face-up. On D, we had Glazer (me) with Glazer (Cassidy) and Duffy (Clare) playing with Duffy (Laura A.) Take into account that we had brought Lora D, Laura A. and Laurie with us, and really it was amazing we could figure out who anyone was! Plus they had us playing three 15 minute, mostly running-time periods and we were pretty lost before we started.

But that didn’t matter once the puck dropped, as Clare found QC Karen on a nifty outlet pass and Karen put us up 1-0. The Lipstix Ms. Dizzy came right back, out-racing all into our zone and feeding one of her wingers to put the score back even at 1-1. As the first period wound down, we played hard and skated fast, and Lora D. skated her pretty little circles in their end, feeding Cassidy for some nice on- timers, with Nina poised for the rebounds but their goalie stood up to all.

In the 2nd period, we caught a break as WC Aveline got the loose puck to QC Karen once more, and she put in her 2nd of the night – and we had taken the lead once more. We held tight to that lead going into the third, confident that a little defensive play would hold us. However, at the opening face-off, Ms. Dizzy, moved from D to center, “lost” the face-off, scooped up the puck from behind our center, split the D and headed in 1-on-1 on Steph. Steph got a good piece of it but it just squipped through, and they had tied it, 2-2.

Their celebration was short-lived, however, because they hadn’t counted on Lora D, who wasn’t about to let some Quarry Cat do all the scoring. Paired with QC Claudia at center, she moved the puck smoothly up the ice, and got one of her quick shots off – and we had the lead 3-2. We played tough after that, with both our Karyn and Laurie holding down the center positions, and keeping the puck in the other zone (hey, the best defense? a good offense…), while Cassidy skated up, down, sideways, longways, back ways until the other team really was “Dizzy.” Finally, Lora intercepted a pass, took off on got a break-a-way and beat the goalie cleanly to give us the two goal cushion we needed!

With two minutes left, they pulled the goalie and put Ms. Dizzy out front on wing. It was a good strategy and they held the puck in our end for a bit but we were tough in our end and Steph was perfect in net. In the end, QC Karen caught a bouncing puck, raced away with it down the ice – and put her third of the night into the empty net for a lovely hat-trick.

With the win firmly in our pocket, we lined up for the post-game photo and headed off to the lodge for some champagne, sushi and chatting. All in all, a perfect night of hockey!

It was a truly well-played game, from beginning to end, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen our team skate so well together.  Even going down 1-0 early in the first didn’t take us out of the game.  We came back with three unanswered goals and I don’t think there were many moments where we weren’t in control of the game after that.

The highlights were definitely our 4 goals:

Kelly, off a blast from Sarah.  Sarah took a hard shot that bounced right to Kelly’s stick – and she put it away.  Next best thing, Sarah, to scoring?  An awesome assist!

Kelly and Alyssa on a 2-on-1: Alyssa took the shot, Kelly caught the rebound and slammed it home – but the best part was Nina starting the play by tipping a loose puck in our end out to center to be scooped up for the rush.

Lora, on a feed from Sue.  Sue, filling in on D, picked up a loose puck in the slot in front of our net and flipped it up in the air straight out of the zone to Lora, who went in alone.  I think we all held our breath but it wasn’t necessary; she had it all the way.

Lora, after sustained pressure in their end, took a shot that took a crazy bounce in front of their net and went up, over and in.

Way to go, Blades!

In honor of Thanksgiving, I am thankul for…

Having a coach: Coach Greg is the steadying influence that we’ve missed in our leadership; and it already is making a difference in how we approach each game.

Additions that work: It was obvious from the first practice that Kelly could skate but the question is always: can she skate with us? The answer is a resounding yes, and Kelly brings an offensive force to the ice that gives us the third scoring line we’ve sorely missed.

Players who take the body: Sarah is the best at knowing when and how to take a player out cleanly, and she did this all game long. She was tough on the boards and fierce in front of our net – and even got herself a couple of scoring chances along the way.

Pucks that bounce: I was beaten to the outside and down on the ice – but the puck took a little hop and I was able to just get enough on it to poke it off the opposing player’s stick so that my D partner could get back and get control of the puck. Whew.

Years that don’t show: Laurie is our very own bionic woman, with a repaired wrist and brand-new eyes, a skating style that belies her age – and an instinct for the front of the net that you just can’t teach.

Teammates who hustle: Tanya, picking up my “hail mary” pass up the boards to the off wing from behind our net, taking off with the puck and getting a really good scoring chance.

Unbelievable goals: Lora, on a beautiful heads-up feed from Liz, going in on a breakaway, while we alternately cheered and held our breath, drawing the goalie out on her forehand before deke-ing to her backhand and sliding it in for an NHL-worthy goal.

Rusty goaltending: That’s how Gina referred to it herself but she was terrific in the net and really made a difference. And while did miss our Steph on the ice, at least we had her steady presence behind the bench – and thanks to her, we had half the team because without her, they had no ride.

Key plays at the right time: Meredith, always in the right place at the right time, sizing up the play instantly, picked up a loose player by the side of our net and saved a sure goal.

Extra effort: I saw Namiko go down battling along the boards, Lora D. getting knocked about in the neutral zone – and Nina, stepping up and into an opposing player in our zone, actually getting yelled at for her physical play!

Yards and Inches: Cassidy plays her game in quick spurts, and her ability to change her speed almost instantaneously is phenomenal. She always seems to get to the puck first, and her speed forces the other team to play back on their heels, opening up the ice like magic.

Defense(wo)men: Laura A. had an awesome play in the slot, shooting the puck out of our zone when we had been stuck in our end for too long, and Lisa, in her first bid as a D, was terrific – and tough – shaking off an tough hit and turning it into a play on goal.

Awesome two-way playing: Clare was good in our end but she was really good in the offensive end, and it was her line that absolutely had the best scoring chances.

Yummies: Okay, no secret, I like my post-game snack. Today was my favorite – donut holes – and they were courtesy of a change in my driving route that now brings me right past a Dunkin’ Donuts – whoohoo!

Happy Thanksgiving all!