Bridesmaids

The summer hockey playoffs did not go as well as expected.  The Renegades ended up the Bridesmaids and could not come through and win the championship.

I must say the last round that we played against the eventual champions, the Sea Changers, was the least fun I have had playing hockey in many years.  These guys were really aggressive and very quickly aggravated.  This resulted in really chippy play, and a lot of penalties... mostly to them.  To make matters worse, they brought out a ringer, who was dominant, particularly in the last game.  Now aged 30, he was a 5th round draft pick of the NHL Colorado Avalanche, and plays professionally in Europe.  He was a spare, and got enough games in during the regular season to be eligible for playoffs.  But, he constantly switched jersey numbers all year so no one could figure out who he was.  And for the regular season, he played mostly in goal, even though his normal position is defense.  But, come the final round he played out as a forward.

I questioned the league as to why they allow a player of this caliber to play in the lowest division of beer league hockey.  I didn't really get a response.  I'm hoping they make some changes to the edibility rules next season, at least for the lower divisions.

The final game on August 16 wasn't really close.  To make matters worse, the league booked our ice time at 6:30PM and as a result some of our guys were unable to make it in time from work, so we played with a bunch of our spares, and a short bench.  The Sea Changers got the first goal, and soon had increased that to a 4-1 lead.  We got a goal late in the game to make the score a little more respectable but the game ended in a 5-2 loss for the Renegades.

On the bright side I got to shave off the playoff beard that I had been sporting since the end of July.  Good Riddance.