This was it. The moment we'd been waiting for all season. In its inaugural season Lokomotiva Hockey Club was in the championship game. Nerves were high, expectations even higher. Win or go home.
The game was incredibly fast paced from the first drop of the puck. The play zipped back and forth, end to end. Both teams were playing with a fierce determination. As things heated up though, the whistles started blowing, and most were not in our favor. Much like in the game against The Brigade, Loko players started marching towards the penalty box. By the middle of the second period the Puckheads put up three unanswered goals, two of them on the power play.
Finally, after arguably outplaying the Puckheads to that point, Mike Kunkle scored a beauty of a goal up in close, late in the second period, and Loko was given some hope.
The third period was a frenzied battle, the likes of which Lokomotiva had never seen before. The defense was holding the Puckheads off of the scoresheet but they needed two more goals themselves just to tie it up.
With 2 minutes left in the game, and Loko on the power play, Anthony was called to the bench and at 0:54, with 6 skaters and an empty net, Matty Miller, the team's regular season leader in goals (and second overall in the league) scored to make it a 1 point game.
Anthony returned to the net for the face-off but as soon as we won it he came to the bench and Derek jumped on the ice. Loko, with 6 forwards and no defensemen on the ice, threw everything they had at the Puckhead net and nearly scored on several occasions. Sadly though, the clock ticked down and the game ended.
While it's obviously disappointing to lose in a championship game, the reality is that someone had to walk away the winner. The sentiment in the locker room after the game was that we were all winners. To have made the championship game with a group of guys who had never played together as a unit prior to this season was a great accomplishment. And the fact that we've all become fast friends has been an added bonus.
Luckily there's only 2 weeks to wait until our next season starts. Loko will be playing KoSports on February 20th. See you all then and thanks for a great season!
By: Yehuda Miller
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