The final – a bridge too far?

The Farts lined up against the Young Guns on Fathers Day yesterday in the R2 men’s final at NHS1.

The sideline was packed with supporters, including kids of the older players cheering them on.

For most of the first hal the Frats had all the pressure, they peppered the circle with attacking moves, had numerous PC’s and forced pjhil to make some good saves in goal, as time went on they threw more resources into the attack, until the inevitable breakout by the Young Guns down the right flank, eventually drawing Rear-end out of the goalmouth, and with a square pass the Young Guns were ahead on the board.

That was how they hit the sheds at halftime. The Farts weren’t worried, they still had a half to go and had enough pressure to encourage them that eventually the dam would break.

Veitchy equalised not long into the half, and the Frats applied more pressure but it was all to no avail. The Young Guns defended well, getting low in the tackles, and then breaking out quickly into spaces to release the pressure. 

The game took an interesting turn when one umpire called Adrian over to give a team warning, we think for back chatting.  However when Adrian tried to gather the team to communicate this the umpire then seemed to decide this was a pure time wasting tactic and reversed the hit in that he had give to the Farts. The young Guns went to take it quickly, as most of the Frats were still crowded near Adrian at the top of the circle. Seeing what was happening, Trapper rushed over to mark the hit, and successfully deflected the first hit in, however from only about 4 metres. The Umpire seemed to decide this was a consistent breech or something and promptly yellow carded Trapper.  I suppose pressure does interesting things to different people?

The Young Guns held on gallantly, and after 2 more successful break outs had notched up 2 more goals, running out with a 3-1 victory.

They deserved to win the final, they had definitely improved throught the season, with better tackling (much lower) and good situational awareness of where each other were coupled with quick passing, something the Farts failed to do to their own demise.

MVP

Hard to pick as well played below our best, but 3 point to Rear-end, not only was this his first game for most of the season,  but he had an injured wrist and still played on.

Conclusion

So another season of WHA hockey closes, and although they lost the final, they had and 18 – 3 win/loss record, with 114 goals scored (and almost everyone getting at least one goal) and getting through to the final.

Certainly a platform to build on for next year.  In the mean time we have the great northern road trip, incorporating what hopefully will be the first of many pilgrimages to that holy mecca of Mangatinoka, and then possibly a short masters season.  Maybe trapper will get to play in goal at some stage!

On the social front, it was a great year, with the re-introduction of Oranges a focus point after games. The number and consistency of the supporters was also heartening.