Summer Hockey

My Renegades hockey team is now 13 games in to the Summer regular season.  There are a total of 18 games in the regular season, so we have five left to go.  The season wraps up in late July and then we roll into summer playoffs.  Technically we are playing in Division 8.  But the league just calls it Division 8 because most of the teams played at that level last winter.  The are four divisions playing above us, and eight divisions below.  I suppose you could consider us to be division five... but what's in a name.  We are currently tied for second place, out of the seven teams in our division, with a record of 8 wins and 5 losses.

It's been a challenge to fill the roster this summer.  With the slower economy some of our guys can't afford to play winter and summer.  Some have work commitments and can only play part time.  My long time team mate Vince, who has played with me for 15 years, has terminal brain cancer and can no longer play.  A full bench consists of 9 forwards [3 lines] 6 defense [3 pairs] and a goaltender.  I think we only played with a full bench once this summer.  Most of the time we have been playing with 8 to 10 skaters. 

Last night we played a game at Castledowns Arena verses the Tropics.  We only had six forwards and three defense.  This has been the norm for most of the summer.  Fortunately the other team had similar numbers so we were evenly matched.  I can easily play with four defense, but three is a real struggle for an old guy like me.  Two defense are on the ice at all times so when there are only three, there is not much time to rest.  I ended up playing the entire game with 5 to 6 minutes shifts, then a quick break of 2 to 3 minutes, and then back on the ice.  To make matters worse, conditions inside the arenas in the summer are very hot and extremely humid.

We jumped out to an early 4-0 lead.  They got a couple of lucky goals to make things close in the second, but then we rallied for a 7-3 victory.