Renegades - Game 16

The second half of the season did not start out well for the Renegades.  Despite the fact that I had lots of players lined up to play, several didn't make it to the early ice time at 8:45AM at KofC Arena to face off against the Icebreakers.  To make matters worse five of the guys that did show up weren't allowed to play as a result of suspensions and ejections from the game less than 12 hours earlier.  We were rattled and upset and started the game with 4 forwards, 3 defense and a goalie.  We quickly found ourselves down by about six goals.  Later a couple of extra players showed up but it was too late.  About then our goaltender was injured.  He was hit in the mask by a shot and fell to the ice.  He may have hit his head on the ice when he fell.  In any event he was out cold.  When we awoke he insisted on shaking it off and continuing to play.  We later learned that he suffered a concussion and clearly should not have continued.  He couldn't focus and was understandably unable to stop anything.  As a result the game quickly got out of hand.  He actually got hit in the mask by two more shots before we finally called off the game.  The final score ended up 14-3, and there is a league review underway to sort out all the issues surrounding the improperly administered suspensions, the injury and the poor scheduling.  There is one more game before Christmas and then we get a bit of a break over the holidays to lick our wounds and regroup.  The two losses this weekend put us in third place in our division, and we need to try and get back on track.