All Swedish no Finish

Saturday

... I won't apologize for using such a well-known cliche in this blog...
... Similar to the saying "1. so-and-so couldn't put a beach ball in the ocean"... the quote is a well-known part of hockey culture...
... most likely.. and in a similar vein to the other quote... is because they're common... beach balls belong in the ocean... so do pucks belong in wide open nets... yet some players have a mental block making them unable to score, even with a wide open net... They could be as skilled as anything... sometimes they're even Swedish... but no Finnish...
... but ya... goal droughts can lose you a game you should have won 20 times over... and they deserve to be placed into the realm of cliche to be used over and over again... because similar to politics or WWF... sports thrives on cliches... they're as crucial to hockey as hockey hair and bad referreeing...
... So... what does this mean?...
... 3 open nets (bouncing puck somehow each time the stick goes right under it), a breakaway (fake slapshot for a deke), a 2 on 0 (hesitated on the pass till the other guy overskated the pass), 3 2 on 1's, one-timers from the slot, rebounds... rebounds... rebounds... where's our guy going to the net?... and after buzzing around their end for 40 seconds they get a turnover and race down the ice while we're dead tired and draw a few penalties and get a few junk goals... And sucks to our assmar...
... The headlines (the morning of) said we should have one... which usually means all you have to do is show up and throw your sticks on the ice and you win right!?... but credit where credit is due... they played as a team and cleared out rebounds... took only 2 penalties... created 16 turnovers at their blueline... played as a team... team... team game fellas...
... The good news is that after the first 28 games they divide everyone's points by 3 and play the final 14 games for full points. Meaning that no matter how down and out a team is in the year they still have a chance in the past 14 to get back in it. Kinda like F-1 racing I guess...

... We... ate... supper... at... 11... in... the... restaurant... where... the... other... team... eats... ... ... then... sat... around... for... half... an... hour... then... got... on... the... bus... for... a... 5... hour... bus... ride... home... arriving... at... four... thirty... A... stinkin... M...!!!!

I hope that was as painstaking to read as it was for me on the bus...
... It was cruel...
... no movies...
... can't even lay down because going through mountain passes gives me the worst kind of motion sickness I've ever had... only leaving if I sit straight up at the front of the bus and look out the window to prepare myself for each 180 degree turn we take as we literally go up and down the sides of mountains...
(by the way this same trip on the way to the game.. while giving me similar nausea... was one of the most breathtaking sights I've ever seen in my life.)
... And home to bed where I can't fall asleep because I've somehow passed my sleep threshold and my bodies kicked into wired adrenaline time with that awful acid in your stomache feeling... I used to get at around this same time AM wise as a kid when I pulled all-nighters at sleepovers... sucks...

Sunday

...Sunday actually worked to take my mind off the game.. we hiked up to a castle surrounded on 3 sides by cliffs... pictures can't do this justice.. at least my pictures don't... maybe Danelle's do (danellebernakevitch.blogspot.com)... then we discovered we were only 19 miles from a Mcdonalds... yet 19 miles somehow equals 40 minutes... add on getting lost... tack on finding out Mcdonald's has moved to the other side of Bolzano... so relying solely on information that it's near the airport we find it... Golden arches might be the only thing in the city that are allowed to be built taller than church steeples... I think... Ein (a) Big Mac mit (plus) chicken Mcnuggets bitte (please)... Cola... szwei ketchups... ohne (without) majonaise... bitte (thankyou)...